On March 30, 1981 (69 days into his presidency) Ronald Reagan was the target of an assassination attempt. Reagan had been leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel after a speaking engagement in Washington DC. Reagan was shot and suffered a punctured lung while 3 others around him were shot and wounded. Being the president though Reagan received quick medical help and recovered quickly.
The 3 guys who were also shot were White House press secretary James Brady (who was left permanently disabled), a secret service agent, and a District of Columbia police officer.
So this is how it went down. Reagan had exited the building from the VIP entrance. He walked to his car turning and waving at the crowd. At that moment 6 shots rang out. Jerry Parr (a secret service man) threw himself against Reagan shoving him into the car. The car sped away and Parr asked Reagan if he was shot but didn't see any holes. Reagan said he had chest pain and spit up blood. Then they made a quick turn and arrived at George Washington University Hospital where Reagan collapsed. The doctors found an entry wound under his left arm and surgery was scheduled. It was determined that the bullet who hit him had ricocheted off the road, slid between the car and the open door and into Reagan where landed in his left lung.
As crazy as this whole thing sounds, this attempted assassination actually made Reagan very popular. This bullet (literally) "separated him from his politics and made him closer to the American people" which I guess does make sense. He became known for the way he acted through all this, joking about it. He even told the doctos going to operate on him "'I hope you are all Republicans', mock gravely".
Ok so now you know the story you probably want to know who did it. Well it was this crazy guy (seriously, he was declared not guilty by reasons of insanity) named John Hinckley Jr. Hinckley didn't try to assassinate Reagan because he didn't like his policies or something reasonable like that, he did it to capture the attention of Jodie Foster. Foster played the part of a child prostitute in the movie Taxi Driver, he became obsessed with her through that movie. When Foster attended Yale Hinckley stalked her there and enrolled in a writing class. He'd write poems and stick them under her door. He'd even called her a few times. But evidently she never showed real interest in him so he came up with a plan to impress her and make him her equal: assassinate the president just like in Taxi Driver. (personally I think this is ridiculous, they hadn't met yet. How would he know she doesn't like him? Slim chance, I know, but he should've considered other options before "I'll just assassinate the president, then she'll like me".) So at this time Jimmy Carter was president and Hinckley followed Carter around the country waiting for an opportunity but was arrested on a firearms charge first. So Hinckley returned home where he did receive medication for depression that did not work. Then Reagan was elected president and Hinckley started up on the assassination plans again. He even researched Lee Harvey Oswald and his assassintion of JFK because he looked up to him. Then, just before he carried out the attempted assassination, Hinckley wrote one more letter to Foster reading, "Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself. [...] the reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you." (crazy? yes.)
After he shot Reagan he didn't resist arrest. He was sent to court where he was declared clinically insane and was then sent to St Elizabeths Hospital in DC. The verdict from the court did start an uprising as insanity was not a common verdict then. While at St Elizabeths Hinckley has been allowed into the outside world to visit his parents and such. He's even been allowed a drivers license (I'm not sure I agree with this decision). When/If he's ever released he supposedly wants to move to Williamsburg, VA where his mom is. Needless to say this has sparked some upheaval with people living there. I wouldn't rule out him being released though because a psychiatrist has said "Hinckley has recovered to the point that he poses no imminent risk of danger to himself or others." But then again, at his last trial the subject was brought up that on his last unsupervised visit out of the hospital he had two sexual encounters. One with a married lady and one with a lady that's bi-polar. The trial will be sometime soon. Personally, I think he's fine right where he is.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12901691 <has video with audio of the attempt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reagan_assassination_attempt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley,_Jr
how would you like to have this guy as your stalker?
.jpg)
Post surgery
Comments