The Day Reagan Was Shot
On March 30, 1981 (30 years ago today) President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest by John Hinkley Jr. while leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Hinckley came to Washington on Sunday, March 29 on a Greyhound bus and checked into the Park Central Hotel. He had breakfast at McDonald's the next morning, noticed Reagan's schedule in the Washington Star, and made a decision to kill the President. He believed that he probably wouldn't survive so he wrote a letter to actress Jody Foster about two hours prior to the assassination attempt, saying that he hoped to impress her with his action and that he would "abandon the idea of getting Reagan in a second if I could only win your heart and live out the rest of my life with you".
On March 30, Reagan delivered a luncheon address to AFL-CIO representatives at the Washington Hilton Hotel. He had done well among blue-collar workers in the election, and hoped to build on that support. He entered the building around 1:45. The Secret Service had made Reagan wear a bulletproof vest for some events, but he did not wear one for this speech because his only public exposure would be the 30 feet between the hotel and his limousine. No one saw Hinckley behave in an unusual way.
At 2:27pm Eastern Time, as Reagan walked out of the hotel's T Street NW exit toward his waiting limousine, Hinckley waited within the crowd of admirers. The Secret Service had extensively screened those attending the president's speech, but in what it later admitted to be a "colossal mistake", agents allowed an unscreened group to stand within 15 feet of him, behind a rope line. Reagan passed right in front of Hinckley. Hinckley fired a Röhm RG-14 .22 caliber blue steel revolver six times in 1.7 seconds,missing the president with all six shots. The first bullet hit White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head. The second hit District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty in the back as he turned to protect Reagan. As Delhanty fell, Hinckley had a clear shot at the president, but the third bullet overshot him and hit the window of a building across the street. Special Agent In Charge Jerry Parr quickly pushed Reagan into the limousine, when the fourth hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the abdomen as he spread his body over Reagan to make himself a target. The fifth hit the bullet-resistant glass of the window on the open side door of the limousine. The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine and hit the president in his left underarm, grazing a rib and lodging in his lung, stopping nearly an inch from his heart. Had Parr hesitated for a moment, the president would likely have been hit in the head.
Alfred Antenucci, a Cleveland, Ohio labor official returning from a round of golf, and who stood by Hinckley, was the first to respond. He saw the gun and hit Hinckley in the head, pulling the shooter down to the ground. Within two seconds agent Dennis McCarthy (no relation to agent Timothy McCarthy) dived onto Hinckley. McCarthy had to "strike two citizens" to force them to release him. Agent Robert Wanko took an Uzi sub-machine gun from a briefcase to cover the President's evacuation and to deter another group attack.
Investigators later found that the gun had been purchased at Rocky's Pawn Shop in Dallas, Texas. It had been loaded with six "Devastator"-brand cartridges which contained small aluminum and lead azide explosive charges designed to explode on contact. The bullet that hit Brady likely exploded in his skull.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21, 1982. The defense psychiatric reports had found him to be insane while the prosecution reports declared him legally sane. Following his lawyers' advice, he declined to take the stand in his own defense. Hinckley was confined at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he is still being held. He later wrote that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in the history of the world", and did not indicate any regrets.
Jodie Foster was hounded relentlessly by the media because she was Hinckley's target of obsession. She commented on Hinckley on three occasions: a press conference a few days after the attack, an article she wrote in 1982, and during an interview with Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes II. She ended several other interviews as soon as the interviewer brought the subject up.
Following is a news report about a video of the shooting that was found in a pile of videos slated for destruction. It's quite interesting:
Hinckley came to Washington on Sunday, March 29 on a Greyhound bus and checked into the Park Central Hotel. He had breakfast at McDonald's the next morning, noticed Reagan's schedule in the Washington Star, and made a decision to kill the President. He believed that he probably wouldn't survive so he wrote a letter to actress Jody Foster about two hours prior to the assassination attempt, saying that he hoped to impress her with his action and that he would "abandon the idea of getting Reagan in a second if I could only win your heart and live out the rest of my life with you".
On March 30, Reagan delivered a luncheon address to AFL-CIO representatives at the Washington Hilton Hotel. He had done well among blue-collar workers in the election, and hoped to build on that support. He entered the building around 1:45. The Secret Service had made Reagan wear a bulletproof vest for some events, but he did not wear one for this speech because his only public exposure would be the 30 feet between the hotel and his limousine. No one saw Hinckley behave in an unusual way.
At 2:27pm Eastern Time, as Reagan walked out of the hotel's T Street NW exit toward his waiting limousine, Hinckley waited within the crowd of admirers. The Secret Service had extensively screened those attending the president's speech, but in what it later admitted to be a "colossal mistake", agents allowed an unscreened group to stand within 15 feet of him, behind a rope line. Reagan passed right in front of Hinckley. Hinckley fired a Röhm RG-14 .22 caliber blue steel revolver six times in 1.7 seconds,missing the president with all six shots. The first bullet hit White House Press Secretary James Brady in the head. The second hit District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty in the back as he turned to protect Reagan. As Delhanty fell, Hinckley had a clear shot at the president, but the third bullet overshot him and hit the window of a building across the street. Special Agent In Charge Jerry Parr quickly pushed Reagan into the limousine, when the fourth hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the abdomen as he spread his body over Reagan to make himself a target. The fifth hit the bullet-resistant glass of the window on the open side door of the limousine. The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine and hit the president in his left underarm, grazing a rib and lodging in his lung, stopping nearly an inch from his heart. Had Parr hesitated for a moment, the president would likely have been hit in the head.
Alfred Antenucci, a Cleveland, Ohio labor official returning from a round of golf, and who stood by Hinckley, was the first to respond. He saw the gun and hit Hinckley in the head, pulling the shooter down to the ground. Within two seconds agent Dennis McCarthy (no relation to agent Timothy McCarthy) dived onto Hinckley. McCarthy had to "strike two citizens" to force them to release him. Agent Robert Wanko took an Uzi sub-machine gun from a briefcase to cover the President's evacuation and to deter another group attack.
Investigators later found that the gun had been purchased at Rocky's Pawn Shop in Dallas, Texas. It had been loaded with six "Devastator"-brand cartridges which contained small aluminum and lead azide explosive charges designed to explode on contact. The bullet that hit Brady likely exploded in his skull.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21, 1982. The defense psychiatric reports had found him to be insane while the prosecution reports declared him legally sane. Following his lawyers' advice, he declined to take the stand in his own defense. Hinckley was confined at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he is still being held. He later wrote that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in the history of the world", and did not indicate any regrets.
Jodie Foster was hounded relentlessly by the media because she was Hinckley's target of obsession. She commented on Hinckley on three occasions: a press conference a few days after the attack, an article she wrote in 1982, and during an interview with Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes II. She ended several other interviews as soon as the interviewer brought the subject up.
Following is a news report about a video of the shooting that was found in a pile of videos slated for destruction. It's quite interesting: