SAG fought with film producers over residual payments and on November 16, 1959, the board installed Reagan as SAG president, replacing the resigned Howard Keel. In his second stint, Reagan managed to secure the payments for actors whose theatrical films were released from 1948 to 1959 were televised. The producers were initially required to pay the actors fees, but they ultimately settled for pensions instead. However, they were still required to pay residuals for films after 1959. Reagan resigned from the SAG presidency on June 7, 1960 and also left the board; George Chandler succeeded him as SAG president. Marriages and children Reagan married Brother Rat (1938) co-star Jane Wyman on January 26, 1940. Together, they had two biological daughters, Maureen in 1941, and Christine, born prematurely and dead the next day in 1947. They adopted one son, Michael, in 1945. In 1948, Wyman filed to divorce Reagan, citing "mental cruelty". Wyman was uninterested in politics, and she would occasionally separate and reconcile with Reagan. Although Reagan was unprepared, they split amicably, and the divorce was finalized in July 1949. Reagan would also remain close to his children. Later that year, Reagan met Nancy Davis after she contacted him in his capacity as the SAG president about her name appearing on a communist blacklist in Hollywood; she had been mistaken for another Nancy Davis. They married on March 4, 1952 and had two children, Patti in 1952, and Ron in 1958. Television Reagan initially refused to work in television and on Broadway theatre, but after receiving offers to work in nightclubs in 1954, he became the host of MCA Inc. television production General Electric Theater at his agent's recommendation. It featured multiple guest stars, and Ronald and Nancy Reagan, continuing to use her stage name Nancy Davis, acted together in three episodes. When asked how Reagan was able to recruit such stars to appear on the show during television's infancy, he replied, "Good stories, top direction, production quality." However, the viewership declined in the 1960s and the show was canceled in 1962. In 1965, Reagan became the host of another MCA production, Death Valley Days. Early political activities Reagan began as a Democrat, viewing Franklin D. Roosevelt as "a true hero". He joined the American Veterans Committee and Hollywood Independent Citizens Committee of the Arts, Sciences and Professions (HICCASP), worked with the AFL–CIO to fight right-to-work laws, and continued to