With veto pen in hand, which U.S. president said, "Go ahead - make my day."?

When speaking out against government taxes at the 1985 American Business Conference, President Ronald Reagan, a former big screen actor, stated "I have my veto pen drawn and ready for any tax increase that Congress might even think of sending up. And I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers. Go ahead—make my day."

Many in the U.S. public and most American business executives greeted Reagan's dare with great applause. Some even found laughter to be appropriate, but members of the U.S. Congress took the words to heart. The president threatening to veto any tax-increase legislation after he had obtained his record tax cut to date in 1981 made no empty threat. President Reagan clearly intended to carry out his warning.

Reagan told his executive staff and others close to him that he would actually go through with it (the veto).