The Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan

On this day, March 30, 1981, a would-be assassin shot, and nearly killed, President Ronald W. Reagan (R). Presidents set their agenda in the first 100 days – and Reagan almost did not survive his.

Reagan was leaving a meeting with AFL-CIO leaders when a mentally disturbed man fired six shots from a .22 caliber revolver at the President and his entourage. The assassin - John Hinckley Jr. - had an erotic obsession with the young actress Jodie Foster and thought assassinating the President would impress her. Foster had rebuffed his advances; but Hinckley did not give up.

Hinckley did not specifically target Reagan for his politics. He had been stalking President Jimmy Carter (D); but in November of 1980 Reagan defeated Carter so Hinckley changed his intentions to the new President. Hinckley had even been arrested in October stalking Carter armed and charged him; but the FBI did not share that information with the Secret Service.

In March he sent creepy letters to Foster, who shared them with a Yale Dean, who turned them into police. The police were already searching for Hinckley at the time of the shooting.

Reagan's press secretary James Brady took the first round to his head – the bullet exploded on entry. Brady never fully recovered from the wounds. The second round hit police officer Thomas Delahany in the neck; but bounced off his spine without exploding. Hearing two shots, Secret Service Agent In Charge Jerry Parr forced Reagan into the limousine. The third round missed Reagan's head and hit a building across the street – likely due to Parr's quick action and the efforts of Alfred Antenucci, a labor official from Cleveland, who attacked Hinckley at about this time. Agent Tim McCarthy used his body as a shield to protect the President's escape and took the fourth round in the chest. The bullet hit his right lung and liver. The fifth bullet ricocheted off the bulletproof glass of the limousine. The sixth bullet hit the limousine and ricocheted into the President through his under arm. The bullet penetrated a lung and stopped less than an inch from his heart. The .22 LR ammunition was designed to explode; but only the round that hit Brady did so. Reagan has a very dangerous internal bleeding problem and a bullet lodged in his lung. Secret Agent Dennis McCarthy seized Hinckley. He had to hit two citizens to make them let go of Hinckley.

Initial media reports, from the reporters who saw the President pushed into the limousine and sped away, were that there had been an assassination attempt but that the President was fine. Parr searched Reagan's body and found no bullet hole so declared that Reagan was fine. They could not have been more wrong.

The President was in extreme pain and believed that he had broken a rib when Parr tackled him into the limousine. When Reagan began coughing up blood, Parr, thinking the broken rib had punctured a lung, ordered the motorcade to take him to George Washington University Hospital. Parr demanded a stretcher; but one was not available. Reagan insisted that he would walk into the hospital. Hospital workers did not realize they were treating the President until they asked for the patient's name and address when Reagan aide Michael Deavers replied "1600 Pennsylvania."

Reagan complained about the cost when the surgical team began cutting his $1000 custom suit. The President's blood pressure was dangerously low. They found the bullet hole and realized this was a more serious issue than a cracked rib.

First Lady Nancy Reagan joined Reagan at the hospital. Reagan told her, "Honey, I forgot to duck."

Parr's decision to drive to the hospital instead of the White House and the quick work by the emergency room medical team in pumping IV fluids into the President to bring his blood pressure up prior to surgery likely saved the president's life. Reagan lost over half the volume of blood in his body in the emergency room and during the surgery; but chief of thoracic surgery, Benjamin L. Aaron and his team were able to remove the bullet.

Secretary of State Alexander Haig declared that he "was in charge" with the President incapacitated.

Vice President (future President George H. Bush (R) rushed back from Texas.

Reagan recovered and suffered no lasting effects. He died from Alzheimer's in 2004.

Brady was never the same and he and his wife became gun control advocates. He died in 2015 from complications from the wound he received that day in 1981.

Parr received a congressional commendation for his actions. He retired and became a pastor. He died in 2015.

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate the president. He was released from a psychiatric hospital in September 2016.