Reagan's 100th birthday: 10 defining moments

American's 40th president, Ronald Reagan, would have turned 100 on Sunday.

5. Firing 11,000 air traffic controllers (Aug. 5, 1981)

President-elect Ronald Reagan, left, and Vice President-elect George Bush share a laugh in Los Angeles during their first news conference, in which they announced their transitional team on Nov. 6, 1980. Not long into his presidency Reagan faced the air traffic controllers' strike.

Fewer than nine months into his presidency, Reagan fired more than 11,000 striking air traffic controllers after warning them to return to work. By law, federal employees are forbidden to strike.

“Government cannot close down the assembly line,” said Reagan. “It has to provide without interruption the protective services, which are government’s reason for being.”

Reagan himself had been the president of a union, the Screen Actors Guild.

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