Lifeguard, sportscaster, movie star, governor, president----there wasn't much Ronald Reagan didn't do in life. "The world was a vast opportunity for him," Lou Cannon wrote in his biography  of the former US president, who died on June 5,2004, aged 93. Reagan's final years saw him fight a losing battle against Alzheimer's disease . But his positive attitude toward life has given hope to many people. Born in 1911 to a poor family in a small town in Illinois, his father was a failed salesman who drank too much. It was in these difficult times, though, that Reagan developed the powerful optimism  that would serve him so well. He always believed better times lying ahead, and this was reflected in his high school yearbook entry. "Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music," he wrote. As a teenager, Reagan spent summers working as a lifeguard at a local beach, saving 77 lives in seven years. He graduated from college in 1932 with a degree in economics and sociology. But America was still in the middle of the Great Depression, and jobs were hard to find. Reagan finally found work as a radio sports announcer and this road led him to Hollywood in 1937. During the 20---year film career, he never became a leading star. As in his lifeguard days, Reagan loved to play the hero and only took the role of a bad guy once in more than 50 films. A talented speaker who was always able to connect with his audience, Reagan became involved in politics in the 1950s. This popular touch led to him being elected the governor of California in 1967. All the while Reagan was in California, he had his eye on the White House. In 1980, aged 69, he became the oldest man ever elected president. He held office from 1981 to 1989, the first president to serve two complete terms after World War II. When he left, aged 77, he held the highest popularity rate of any retiring president in US history. He remained positive even when he discovered he had an illness that would destroy him. "I will leave with the greatest love for this country of ours and eternal(optimism  for its future,"he wrote. Reagan can be best described as a man with   _  .
firmness humour optimism talent