Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan

On March 28, Hinckley arrived in Washington, D.C., by bus[19] and checked into the Park Central Hotel.[11] He originally intended to continue on to New Haven in another attempt to infatuate Foster.[13]^: 23 He noticed Reagan's schedule that was published in The Washington Star and decided it was time to act.[20] Hinckley knew that he might be killed during the assassination attempt, and he wrote but did not mail a letter to Foster about two hours prior to his attempt on the president's life. In the letter, he said that he hoped to impress her with the magnitude of 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."[21][13]^: 58

On March 30, Reagan delivered a luncheon address to AFL–CIO representatives at the Washington Hilton.[22] The Secret Service was very familiar with the hotel, having inspected it more than 100 times for presidential visits since the early 1970s.[23] The Hilton was considered the safest venue in Washington because of its secure, enclosed passageway called "President's Walk", built after the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. Reagan entered the building through the passageway[22] at about 1:45 p.m., waving to a crowd of news media and citizens. The Secret Service had required him to wear a bulletproof vest for some events, but Reagan was not wearing one for the speech, because his only public exposure would be the 30 feet (9 m) between the hotel and his limousine,[17] and the agency did not require vests for agents that day. No one saw Hinckley behaving in an unusual way; witnesses who reported him as "fidgety" and "agitated" apparently confused Hinckley with another person that the Secret Service had been monitoring.[24]

Secret Service agents cover Press Secretary James Brady and police officer Thomas Delahanty during the assassination attempt of Reagan. Secret Service Agent Robert Wanko can be seen unfolding the stock of an Uzi in case of further attack.

At 2:27 p.m.,[13]^: 82 Reagan exited the hotel through "President's Walk"[22] on Florida Avenue, where reporters waited.[25] He left the T Street NW exit toward his waiting limousine as Hinckley waited within the crowd of admirers. The Secret Service had extensively screened those attending the president's speech, but greatly erred by allowing an unscreened group to stand within 15 ft (4.6 m) of him, behind a rope line.[13]^{: 80–81, 225} The agency uses multiple layers of protection; local police in the outer layer briefly check people, Secret Service agents in the middle layer check for weapons, and more agents form the inner layer immediately around the president. Hinckley penetrated the first two layers.[26]

As several hundred people applauded Reagan, the president unexpectedly passed right in front of Hinckley. Reporters standing behind a rope barricade 20 feet away asked questions. As Mike Putzel of the Associated Press shouted "Mr. President—",[27] Hinckley, believing he would never get a better chance, assumed a crouch position[28][13]^: 81 and rapidly fired a Röhm RG 14 .22 LR blue steel revolver six times in 1.7 seconds,[13]^: 82[25][29][30] missing the president with all six shots.[31][24]

The first round hit White House press secretary James Brady in the head above his left eye, passing through underneath his brain and shattering his brain cavity; the small explosive charge in the round exploded on impact.[32] District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty recognized the sound as a gunshot and turned his head sharply to the left to identify the shooter.[13]^: 82 As he did so, he was struck in the back of his neck by the second shot, the bullet ricocheting off his spine. Delahanty fell on top of Brady, screaming "I am hit!".[33][34][35][36] Hinckley now had a clear shot at the president,[13]^: 81 but Alfred Antenucci, a Cleveland, Ohio, labor official who was standing nearby, saw Hinckley fire the first two shots,[24] hit him in the head, and began to wrestle him to the ground.[37] Upon hearing the shots, Special Agent in Charge Jerry Parr almost instantly grabbed Reagan by the shoulders and dived with him toward the open rear door of the limousine. Agent Ray Shaddick trailed just behind Parr to assist in throwing both men into the car.[26] The third round overshot the president, instead hitting the window of a building across the street. Parr's actions likely saved Reagan from being hit in the head.[13]^: 224 As Parr pushed Reagan into the limousine, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy snapped his attention toward the sound of the gunfire, pivoted to his right, and put himself in the line of fire. Tim McCarthy spread his arms and legs, taking a wide stance directly in front of Reagan and Parr to make himself a target.[38][13][17][26] Tim McCarthy was struck in the lower abdomen by the fourth round, the bullet traversing his right lung, diaphragm, and right lobe of the liver.[33][34][17] The fifth round hit the bullet-resistant glass of the window on the open rear door of the limousine as Reagan and Parr were passing behind it. The sixth and final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine, passed between the space of the open rear door and vehicle frame, and hit the president in the left underarm. The round grazed a rib and lodged in his lung, causing it to partially collapse before stopping less than an inch (25 mm) from his heart.[39][17][20]

John Hinckley's .22 revolver, used in the assassination attempt

Within moments of the first shots, Secret Service agent Dennis McCarthy (no relation to agent Tim McCarthy) dove across the sidewalk and landed directly on Hinckley as others pushed him to the ground.[13]^: 84 Another Cleveland-area labor official, Frank J. McNamara, joined Antenucci and started punching Hinckley in the head, striking him so hard he drew blood.[40] Agent Dennis McCarthy later reported that he had to "strike two citizens" to force them to release Hinckley.[24] Secret Service agent Robert Wanko (misidentified as "Steve Wanko" in a newspaper report) deployed an Uzi submachine gun concealed in a briefcase to cover the president's evacuation and to deter a potential group attack.[41]

The day after the shooting, Hinckley's gun was given to the ATF, which traced its origin. In just 16 minutes, agents found that the gun had been purchased at Rocky's Pawn Shop in Dallas, Texas, on October 13, 1980.[42] 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 was the only one that exploded. On April 2, after learning that the others could explode at any time, volunteer doctors wearing bulletproof vests removed the bullet from Delahanty's neck.[36][13]^: 223

After the Secret Service first announced "shots fired" over its radio network at 2:27 p.m., Reagan—codename "Rawhide"—was taken away by the agents in the limousine ("Stagecoach").[43][13]^: 66 No one knew that Reagan had been shot. After Parr searched Reagan's body and found no blood, he stated that "Rawhide is OK...we're going to Crown" (the White House), as he preferred its medical facilities to an unsecured hospital.[23][44][43]

Reagan was in great pain from the bullet that struck his rib and believed that his rib had cracked when Parr pushed him into the limousine. When the agent checked him for gunshot wounds, however, Reagan coughed up bright, frothy blood.[39][23] Although the president believed that he had cut his lip,[44] Parr believed that the cracked rib had punctured Reagan's lung and ordered the motorcade to divert to nearby George Washington University Hospital, which the Secret Service periodically inspected for use.[24] The limousine arrived there less than four minutes after leaving the hotel, while other agents took Hinckley to a DC jail, and Nancy Reagan ("Rainbow") left the White House for the hospital.[45][44][43]

Although Parr had requested a stretcher,[43] none were ready at the hospital, and it did not normally keep a stretcher at the emergency department's entrance. Reagan exited the limousine and insisted on walking. Reagan acted casually and smiled at onlookers as he walked in. While he entered the hospital unassisted, once inside the president complained of difficulty breathing, his knees buckled, and he went down on one knee; Parr and others assisted him into the emergency department.[24] The Physician to the President, Daniel Ruge, had been near Reagan during the shooting and arrived in a separate car. Believing that the president might have had a heart attack, he insisted that the hospital's trauma team, and not himself or specialists from elsewhere, operate on him as they would any other patient.[46][13]^{: 106–107} When a hospital employee asked Reagan aide Michael Deaver for the patient's name and address, only when Deaver stated "1600 Pennsylvania" did the worker realize that the president of the United States was in the emergency department.[13]^{: 107–108}

The medical team, led by Joseph Giordano, cut off Reagan's "thousand-dollar" custom-made suit[47] to examine him; Reagan complained about the cost of the ruined suit, which was cited by an assistant in a press briefing to reassure the public that the president was in stable health.[48] Military officers, including the one who carried the nuclear football, unsuccessfully tried to prevent FBI agents from confiscating the suit, Reagan's wallet, and other possessions as evidence; the Gold Codes card was in the wallet, and the FBI did not return it until two days later.[47] The medical personnel found that Reagan's systolic blood pressure was 60 compared to the normal 140, indicating that he was in shock, and knew that most 70-year-olds in the president's condition would not survive.[13]^: 108 Reagan was in excellent physical health, however, and also was shot by the .22 caliber instead of a larger .38 as was first feared.[49][48] They treated him with intravenous fluids, oxygen, tetanus toxoid, and chest tubes,[45] and surprised Parr—who still believed that he had cracked the president's rib—by finding the entrance of the gunshot wound. Brady and the wounded agent Tim McCarthy were operated on near the president.[24] When his wife arrived in the emergency department, Reagan remarked to her, "Honey, I forgot to duck", borrowing boxer Jack Dempsey's line to his wife the night he was beaten by Gene Tunney.[17][50] While intubated, he scribbled to a nurse, "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia", borrowing a line from W. C. Fields.[17][45][49] Although Reagan came close to death, the team's quick action—and Parr's decision to drive to the hospital instead of the White House—likely saved the president's life, and within 30 minutes Reagan left the emergency department for surgery with normal blood pressure.[39] He then underwent emergency exploratory surgery.[51]

The chief of thoracic surgery, Benjamin L. Aaron, decided to perform a thoracotomy lasting 105 minutes[49][49] because the bleeding persisted. Ultimately, Reagan lost over half of his blood volume in the emergency department and during surgery,[45] which removed the bullet.[36] In the operating room, Reagan removed his oxygen mask to joke, "I hope you are all Republicans." The doctors and nurses laughed, and Giordano, a Democrat, replied, "Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans."[13]^: 147[52][17] Reagan's post-operative course was complicated by fever, which was treated with antibiotics.[45] His entering the operating room conscious and not in shock, and the surgery being routine, caused Reagan's doctors and others to predict that he would be able to leave the hospital in two weeks, return to work at the Oval Office in a month, and completely heal in six to eight weeks with no long-term effects.[49]

Jodie Foster in October 1995

The incident was a traumatic experience for the 18-year-old Foster, who was hounded by the media and paparazzi in its aftermath. She took a semester off at Yale and had to be escorted by a bodyguard everywhere she went. This event produced other stalkers for her, including a 22-year-old man named Edward Michael Richardson, who according to the Secret Service shared a similar obsession with Foster, and carried a loaded handgun planning to kill her but changed his mind after watching her perform in a college play.[77] Since the incident, Foster has only commented on Hinckley on four occasions: a press conference a few days after the attack, an article she wrote for Esquire magazine in 1982 after his sentencing, during an interview with Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes II in 1999, and while speaking to comedian and actor Marc Maron on his podcast WTF with Marc Maron in 2021.[78][79] She has ended or canceled several interviews if the event was mentioned, or if she felt that an interviewer was going to bring Hinckley up.[80] To Maron, Foster said that she voluntarily chose not to speak about the incident in interviews to avoid being labelled as an actress primarily remembered for that incident, and also reflected on how her mother (a former publicist) helped her in overcoming the media frenzy, and the public's obsession with her involvement.[81]

Reagan waves from the White House after his return from the hospital on April 11. He wore a bullet-resistant vest under his red sweater.

Reagan's staff members were anxious for the president to appear to be recovering quickly,[45] and the morning after his operation he saw visitors and signed a piece of legislation.[41] Reagan left the hospital on the morning of April 11. Entering the limousine was difficult, and he joked that the first thing he would do at home was "sit down".[82]

Reagan's recovery speed impressed his doctors, but they advised the president not to work in the Oval Office for a week and avoid travel for several weeks. No visitors were scheduled for his first weekend;[82] initially, Reagan worked two hours a day in the White House's residential quarters.[48] Reagan did not lead a Cabinet meeting until day 26, did not leave Washington until day 49, and did not hold a press conference until day 79. Ruge, the physician to the president, thought recovery was not complete until October.[45] Reagan's plans for the month after the shooting were canceled, including a visit to the Mission Control Center at Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in April 1981 during STS-1, the first flight of the Space Shuttle. Vice President Bush instead called the orbiting astronauts during their mission. Reagan would visit Mission Control during STS-2 that November.

The events contributed to Reagan's initial popularity; though he had enjoyed approval ratings of up to 60% until March, his ratings surged to nearly 70% in the following months.[83][84] Privately, Reagan believed that God had spared his life so that he might go on to fulfill a greater purpose[48] and, although not a Catholic, meetings with Mother Teresa, Cardinal Terence Cooke, and fellow shooting survivor Pope John Paul II reinforced his belief.[85]

Reagan returned to the Oval Office on April 25 and received a standing ovation from staff and Cabinet members. He referred to their teamwork in his absence and insisted, "I should be applauding you."[86] He made his first public appearance in an April 28 speech before the joint houses of Congress. In the speech, he introduced his planned spending cuts, which had been a campaign promise. He received "two thunderous standing ovations", which The New York Times deemed "a salute to his good health" as well as his programs, which the president introduced using a medical recovery theme.[87] Reagan installed a gym in the White House and began regularly exercising there, gaining so much muscle that he had to buy new suits. The shooting caused Nancy Reagan to fear for her husband's safety, however. She asked him to not run for reelection in 1984, and, because of her concerns, began consulting astrologer Joan Quigley.[48] Reagan as president never again walked across an airport tarmac or got out of his limousine on a public sidewalk.[54] In a 1987 speech in West Berlin, Reagan responded, "Missed me," after a balloon popped in the manner of gunfire, which the audience answered with cheers.

James Brady in August 2006, 8 years prior to his death.

Thomas Delahanty recovered but developed permanent nerve damage to his left arm, and was ultimately forced to retire from the Metropolitan Police Department due to his disability. Tim McCarthy recovered fully and was the first of the wounded men to be discharged from the hospital. James Brady survived, but his wound left him with slurred speech and partial paralysis that required the full-time use of a wheelchair.[88] Brady remained press secretary for the remainder of Reagan's administration, but this was primarily a titular role. Later, Brady and his wife Sarah became leading advocates of gun control and other actions to reduce the amount of gun violence in the United States. They also became active in the lobbying organization Handgun Control, Inc.—which would eventually be renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence—and founded the non-profit Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.[89] The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was passed in 1993 as a result of their work.[90] Brady died on August 4, 2014, in Alexandria, Virginia, at the age of 73.[91]

Following Brady's death, the District of Columbia Medical Examiner ruled the death a homicide stemming from wounds caused by the Hinckley assassination attempt. This ruling raised the possibility that Hinckley could face additional future murder charges.[92] However, prosecutors declined to do so for two reasons. First, a jury had already declared Hinckley insane at the time of the shooting and the constitutional prohibition against double jeopardy would preclude overturning this ruling on account of Brady's death. Second, in 1981 Washington, D.C., still had the common law "year and a day" rule in place. Although the year and a day rule had been abolished in the district prior to 2014, the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto law would preclude the upgrading of charges for deaths resulting today from acts committed while the rule was in effect and would prohibit the government from challenging Hinckley's successful insanity defense based on the current federal law.[6]

The shooting of Reagan exacerbated the debate on gun control in the U.S. that began with the December 1980 handgun murder of John Lennon. Reagan expressed opposition to increased handgun control following Lennon's death and reiterated his opposition after his own shooting. However, in a speech at an event marking the assassination attempt's 10th anniversary,[93] Reagan endorsed the Brady Act:

"Anniversary" is a word we usually associate with happy events that we like to remember: birthdays, weddings, the first job. March 30, however, marks an anniversary I would just as soon forget, but cannot... four lives were changed forever, and all by a Saturday-night special – a cheaply made .22 caliber pistol – purchased in a Dallas pawnshop by a young man with a history of mental disturbance. This nightmare might never have happened if legislation that is before Congress now – the Brady bill – had been law back in 1981… If the passage of the Brady bill were to result in a reduction of only 10 or 15 percent of those numbers (and it could be a good deal greater), it would be well worth making it the law of the land. And there would be a lot fewer families facing anniversaries such as the Bradys, Delahantys, [Tim] McCarthys and Reagans face every March 30.[94]

In 1994, Reagan made numerous appeals to support the Federal Assault Weapons Ban in the House of Representatives; at least two representatives, Republican Scott L. Klug and Democrat Richard Swett, credit Reagan's efforts for their decision to vote for the bill, which eventually passed by a 216–214 margin.[95]

After the assassination attempt, Jerry Parr was hailed as a hero.[13] He received Congressional commendations for his actions, and was named one of four "Top Cops" in the U.S. by Parade magazine.[96] He later wrote about the assassination attempt in his autobiography, calling it both the best and the worst day of his life.[97] Parr came to believe that God had directed his life so that he could one day save the president's life, and became a pastor after retiring from the Secret Service in 1985.^[13]:224 He died of congestive heart failure at a hospice in Washington, D.C., on October 9, 2015, aged 85.[98][99]

Antenucci and McNamara both became ill following the assassination attempt. McNamara died on September 18, 1981, six months after the attempted assassination at the age of 62.[100] Antenucci died on May 9, 1984, aged 71.[37]

Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21, 1982. The defense psychiatric reports had found him to be insane[101] while the prosecution reports declared him legally sane.[102][103] Following his lawyers' advice, he declined to take the stand in his own defense.[104] Hinckley was confined at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., full-time until 2006, at which point he began a program of spending gradually more time at his mother's home.[105] On September 10, 2016, Hinckley was permitted to permanently leave the hospital to live with his mother full-time, under court supervision and with mandatory psychiatric treatment.[106][107] After his trial, he wrote that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in the history of the world", and did not indicate any regrets at the time.[108]

The not-guilty verdict led to widespread dismay,[109][110] and, as a result, the U.S. Congress and a number of states rewrote laws regarding the insanity defense.[111] The old Model Penal Code test was replaced by a test that shifts the burden of proof regarding a defendant's sanity from the prosecution to the defendant. Three states have abolished the defense altogether.[111]

• The book Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan (2011) by Del Quentin Wilber
• The novella John Loves Jodie (2015) by Joe Kelly

The following is the list of the movies dealing with the assassination attempt or portraying a portion of it:

• The 1991 made-for-television film Without Warning: The James Brady Story, dramatizes James Brady's recovery.[112]
• The 2001 Showtime TV movie The Day Reagan Was Shot, loosely-based on events surrounding the assassination attempt, depicts a crazed media frenzy, a divided White House cabinet and staff with little control, and a fictional threat of international crisis.[113]
• The 2003 television film The Reagans, which focuses on Reagan and his family, depicts the assassination attempt.
• The 2018 television drama Timeless, which follows two groups of time travelers through American history, depicts his attempted assassination in season 2 episode 8 (Overall episode 24) "The Day Reagan was Shot".[114]

• The musical play Assassins with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by John Weidman features John Hinckley Jr. as a character. The musical first opened Off-Broadway in 1990 with Greg Germann playing Hinckley and the Tony Award winning 2004 Broadway production, featured Alexander Gemignani in the role.