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N0KFQ > TODAY 30.03.16 15:45l 86 Lines 4196 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 89133_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 30
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Sent: 160330/1335Z 89133@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
1981
President Reagan shot
On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest
outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by a deranged drifter named
John Hinckley Jr.
The president had just finished addressing a labor meeting at the
Washington Hilton Hotel and was walking with his entourage to his
limousine when Hinckley, standing among a group of reporters,
fired six shots at the president, hitting Reagan and three of his
attendants. White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in
the head and critically wounded, Secret Service agent Timothy
McCarthy was shot in the side, and District of Columbia policeman
Thomas Delahaney was shot in the neck. After firing the shots,
Hinckley was overpowered and pinned against a wall, and President
Reagan, apparently unaware that he'd been shot, was shoved into
his limousine by a Secret Service agent and rushed to the
hospital.
The president was shot in the left lung, and the .22 caliber
bullet just missed his heart. In an impressive feat for a
70-year-old man with a collapsed lung, he walked into George
Washington University Hospital under his own power. As he was
treated and prepared for surgery, he was in good spirits and
quipped to his wife, Nancy, "Honey, I forgot to duck," and to his
surgeons, "Please tell me you're Republicans." Reagan's surgery
lasted two hours, and he was listed in stable and good condition
afterward.
The next day, the president resumed some of his executive duties
and signed a piece of legislation from his hospital bed. On April
11, he returned to the White House. Reagan's popularity soared
after the assassination attempt, and at the end of April he was
given a hero's welcome by Congress. In August, this same Congress
passed his controversial economic program, with several Democrats
breaking ranks to back Reagan's plan. By this time, Reagan
claimed to be fully recovered from the assassination attempt. In
private, however, he would continue to feel the effects of the
nearly fatal gunshot wound for years.
Of the victims of the assassination attempt, Secret Service agent
Timothy McCarthy and D.C. policeman Thomas Delahaney eventually
recovered. James Brady, who nearly died after being shot in the
eye, suffered permanent brain damage. He later became an advocate
of gun control, and in 1993 Congress passed the "Brady Bill,"
which established a five-day waiting period and background checks
for prospective gun buyers. President Bill Clinton signed the
bill into law.
After being arrested on March 30, 1981, 25-year-old John Hinckley
was booked on federal charges of attempting to assassinate the
president. He had previously been arrested in Tennessee on
weapons charges. In June 1982, he was found not guilty by reason
of insanity. In the trial, Hinckley's defense attorneys argued
that their client was ill with narcissistic personality disorder,
citing medical evidence, and had a pathological obsession with
the 1976 film Taxi Driver, in which the main character attempts
to assassinate a fictional senator. His lawyers claimed that
Hinckley saw the movie more than a dozen times, was obsessed with
the lead actress, Jodie Foster, and had attempted to reenact the
events of the film in his own life. Thus the movie, not Hinckley,
they argued, was the actual planning force behind the events that
occurred on March 30, 1981.
The verdict of "not guilty by reason of insanity" aroused
widespread public criticism, and many were shocked that a
would-be presidential assassin could avoid been held accountable
for his crime. However, because of his obvious threat to society,
he was placed in St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a mental institution.
In the late 1990s, Hinckley's attorney began arguing that his
mental illness was in remission and thus had a right to return to
a normal life. Beginning in August 1999, he was allowed
supervised day trips off the hospital grounds and later was
allowed to visit his parents once a week unsupervised. The Secret
Service voluntarily monitors him during these outings. If his
mental illness remains in remission, he may one day be released.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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