[50]

Screen Actors Guild presidency
When Robert Montgomery resigned as president of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) on March 10, 1947, Reagan was elected to that position, in a special election.[52] Reagan's first tenure saw various labor-management disputes,[53] the Hollywood blacklist,[54] and the Taft–Hartley Act's implementation.[55] On April 10, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) interviewed Reagan and he provided them with the names of actors whom he believed to be communist sympathizers.[56] During a House Un-American Activities Committee hearing, Reagan testified that some guild members were associated with the Communist Party[57] and that he was well-informed on a "jurisdictional strike".[58] When asked if he was aware of communist efforts within the Screen Writers Guild, he called the efforts "hearsay".[59] Reagan would remain SAG president until he resigned on November 10, 1952;[60] Walter Pidgeon succeeded him, but Reagan stayed on the board.[61]
The SAG fought with film producers over residual payments[62] and on November 16, 1959, the board installed Reagan as SAG president,[63] 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. 