Jack Reagan

For those of a similar name, see John Reagan (disambiguation) and Jack Regan (disambiguation).

Jack Reagan
Born	John Edward Reagan (1883-07-13)July 13, 1883 Fulton, Illinois, U.S.
Died	May 18, 1941(1941-05-18) (aged 57) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place	Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Nelle Wilson ​ (m. 1904)​
Children	Neil Ronald
Parents	John Michael Reagan Jennie Cusick

John Edward Reagan (July 13, 1883 – May 18, 1941) was an American salesman. He was the father of future U.S. president Ronald Reagan.

Ancestry

Jack's paternal grandfather, Michael O'Regan, was a native of County Tipperary, Ireland. O'Regan worked as a tenant farmer during his early years in Ireland, before he moved to London in 1852. Whilst living there, O'Regan married an Irish refugee named Catherine Mulcahey, and anglicised his family surname to "Reagan". The couple emigrated to Carroll County, Illinois in 1856. John Michael, their son, became a grain-elevator farmer, and married Jenny Cusick in 1878. Cusick was born in Canada, but like John Michael, her parents came from Ireland. Their son, John Edward "Jack," was born five years later, in 1883.

8. Thomas O'Regan

4. Michael O'Regan (Reagan)

9. Margaret Murphy

2. John Michael Reagan

10. Patrick Mulcahey

5. Catherine Mulcahey

1. John Edward "Jack" Reagan

12. Patrick Thomas Cusick

6. Patrick Cusick

13. Jean Gabbert

3. Jennie Cusick

7. Sarah Higgins

Life and career

At the time of his second son Ronald's birth in 1911, the 27-year-old Jack was working at a store in Tampico, Illinois. He went on to work as a traveling salesman during Ronald's childhood. Politically, he was a populist Democrat, supporting economically progressive policies such as financial support for the working poor, trust-busting, child labor laws, a minimum wage, and progressive taxation. From his Irish heritage he inherited a dislike of the British Empire. He was a keen supporter of the United States' involvement in World War I and attempted to enlist. He was strongly opposed to the Ku Klux Klan due to his Catholic heritage, but also due to the Klan's anti-semitism and anti-black racism. Reagan was a member of the Catholic men's organization the Knights of Columbus, according to an address given to the group by his son, President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Reagan died on May 19, 1941, at the age of 57 after a series of heart attacks. It has been suggested that he might have survived if a nearby ambulance had been allowed to cross out of their service territory. This possibility may have been one reason that Ronald Reagan, as governor of California, signed into law the Wedworth-Townsend Paramedic Act of 1970, authorizing the first paramedic program in the United States.

See also

• Birthplace of Ronald Reagan
• Pitney Variety Store

References

General

• Angelo, Bonnie (2001). First Mothers: The Women who Shaped the Presidents. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-06-093711-4.
• Gullan, Harold I. (2001). Faith of our mothers: The stories of presidential mothers from Mary Washington to Barbara Bush. New York: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN 0-8028-4926-1.
• Kengor, Paul (2004). God and Ronald Reagan. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. ISBN 0-06-057142-X.
• Pemberton, William E. (1998). Exit with honor: The life and presidency of Ronald Reagan. M.E. Sharpe. ISBN 0-7656-0096-X.
• Reagan, Ronald (1990). An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7434-0025-9.