Were his life a movie, the critics would say it strained credulity; Mr. Smith's trip to Washington was likelier than Ronald Reagan's journey. He emerged from poverty in the Depressionera Midwest to become a Hollywood star. Chancing an impossible leap into politics, the onetime liberal Democrat and union chief was elected governor of California as a conservative Republican. The leader of nothing less than a social revolution, he then became the 40th President of the United States. He survived a would-be assassin and faced down communism. In words and pictures, this is the extraordinary life of Ronald Reagan.