| Director | Sean McNamara |
|---|---|
| Budget | $25 million |
| Box office | $30.1 million |
Moscow, today, Russian politician Andrei Novikov arrives at the home of former KGB agent Viktor Petrovich, and questions why the Soviet Union fell. Petrovich, who was assigned to surveil U.S. politician Ronald Reagan, discusses the Soviet Union's past ambitions to infiltrate Washington, D.C. and Hollywood. Petrovich details Reagan's childhood in 1920s Illinois, where his father Jack was an alcoholic but his mother Nelle instilled Reagan with Christian values.
Reagan becomes a born-again Christian, and works as a lifeguard and radio announcer. He later moves to Hollywood, where he becomes an actor for Warner Bros. After World War II, Reagan's status as a leading man is in decline, though he is elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1947. During the Hollywood blacklist era, Reagan becomes an FBI informant and feuds with Herbert Sorrell, a union organizer. Reagan's marriage to actress Jane Wyman ends in divorce due to his political involvement and the premature death of their daughter Christine.
In 1949, Reagan meets actress Nancy Davis, and the two marry in 1952. In 1964, Reagan campaigns for Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater, and delivers his "A Time for Choosing" speech. Goldwater ultimately loses the 1964 election in a landslide to incumbent president Lyndon B. Johnson. Reagan discusses his political future, and decides to run for governor of California in 1966. In 1969, Governor Reagan clashes with students at the University of California, Berkeley, and has the state National Guard sent in to quell the protests.
In 1970, the Reagans hold prayers with Pat Boone and pastor George K. Otis, who prophesies Reagan will become president if he "walks uprightly" before God. Six years later, Reagan challenges incumbent President Gerald Ford for the Republican nomination at the Republican National Convention but narrowly loses in the delegate count. Ford narrowly loses the election to Democrat Jimmy Carter, and Reagan runs again for president in 1980. He beats Carter in a landslide and forms a friendship with Tip O'Neill, the Democratic Speaker of the House.
In 1981, after delivering a speech at the Washington Hilton, Reagan is shot and wounded but survives. Upon returning to the White House, Reagan clashes with David Stockman, the White House budget director, over his tax cut proposal. When Reagan learns that air traffic controllers are on strike, he fires the air traffic controllers who do not return to work within 48 hours.
Reagan selects George Shultz as his Secretary of State to handle diplomacy with the Soviet Union. Despite this, in 1983, Reagan labels the Soviet Union as an evil empire. Tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union escalate when Soviet interceptor planes shoot down a commercial passenger plane. Meanwhile, there are nationwide protests against Reagan's handling of the AIDS crisis, though Reagan still wins reelection in 1984 over Walter Mondale in a landslide.
By the time of Reagan's second term, Leonid Brezhnev's successors had died in office, making diplomacy difficult. Reagan meets with UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who persuades him to meet with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. At the Geneva Summit in 1985, the two leaders negotiate nuclear disarmament, but Reagan is reluctant to sign an agreement due to his support for the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). A year later, the Iran-Contra scandal breaks, and Reagan is threatened with impeachment. Reagan denies there were arms traded for hostages, but backtracks in an Oval Office speech.
Despite Shultz's opposition, Reagan delivers a speech near the Brandenburg Gate, and demands for Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. In 1989, Reagan leaves office and the Berlin Wall falls shortly thereafter; the Soviet Union dissolves two years later after he leaves office. In retirement, Reagan experiences memory lapses and in 1994, discloses he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Reagan dies in 2004, and international leaders attend his funeral to pay their respects.