On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., when they left the engagement speech at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Hinckley's motivation for the attack was to impress actress Jodie Foster, who has played the role of a child prostitute in the 1976 movie Taxi Driver. After seeing the movie, Hinckley has developed an obsession with Foster.
Reagan was hit by a bullet that broke the rib, pierced the lungs, and caused serious internal bleeding, but he recovered quickly. There is no formal appeal from presidential succession, though Secretary of State Alexander Haig states that he "holds control here" while Vice President George H. W. Bush returns to Washington.
In addition to Reagan, White House Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent of the McCarthy Team, and police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady suffered brain damage and permanent disability; Brady's death in 2014 is considered a murder because it is ultimately caused by this injury.
A federal judge summoned Foster to testify at the Hinckley trial, and he was found innocent by reason of insanity over alleged attempts to kill the President. Hinckley remains limited to psychiatric facilities. In January 2015, federal prosecutors announced that they would not sue Hinckley with Brady's death, despite the medical examiner's classification of his death as a murder. On July 27, 2016, it was announced he would be released on August 5 to live with his mother in Williamsburg, Virginia; He was later released on 10 September.
Video Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan
Motivasi Hinckley
Hinckley suffers from erotomania and his motivation for the attack comes from his obsession with actress Jodie Foster. While living in Hollywood in the late 1970s, he saw the movie Taxi Driver at least 15 times, apparently very identifying with Travis Bickle, the main character played by Robert De Niro. The essence of the story involves Bickle's efforts to protect the 12-year-old child prostitute, played by Foster. Towards the end of the film, Bickle tries to kill the US Senator who runs for president. Over the following years, Hinckley followed Foster across the country, going so far as to enroll in a writing course at Yale University in 1980 after reading in the People magazine that he was a student there. He wrote many letters and notes to him in the late 1980s. He called him twice and refused to give up when he showed that he was not interested in him.
Hinckley is sure that he will be the same as Foster if he becomes a national figure. He decided to emulate Bickle and start stalking President Jimmy Carter. He was surprised how easy it was to approach the president - he was only one foot at one event - but was arrested in October 1980 at Nashville International Airport due to illegal possession of firearms. Carter has made the campaign stop there, but the FBI does not relate this arrest to the President and does not notify the Secret Service of the United States. His parents briefly placed him under the care of a psychiatrist. Hinckley then turned his attention to Ronald Reagan whose election, he told his parents, would be good for the country. He wrote three or four more notes for Foster in early March 1981. Foster gave this note to his dean, who gave it to the Yale police department, who searched but failed to track down Hinckley.
Maps Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan
Murder attempts
On March 21, 1981, new president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy visited Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. for fundraising events. Reagan recalled,
I looked into the president's box onstage where Abe Lincoln sat the night he was shot and felt a strange sensation... I think even with all the Secret Service protections we have now, it's probably still possible for someone who has enough determination to get close enough to the president to shoot him.
Saying engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel
On March 28, Hinckley arrived in Washington, D.C. by bus and check in to Park Central Hotel. He saw Reagan's schedule published in The Washington Star and decided it was time to act. Hinckley knew that he might have been killed during the assassination attempt, and he wrote but did not send a letter to Foster about two hours before his efforts on the life of the President. In the letter, he says that he hopes to impress him with the magnitude of his actions and that he will "abandon the idea of ​​getting Reagan in an instant if I can only win your heart and live the rest of my life with you."
On March 30, Reagan delivered a lunch address to an AFL-CIO representative at the Washington Hilton Hotel. This hotel is regarded as the safest place in Washington because of its secure and closed road called "President's Walk", which was built after the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. Reagan entered the hall through the hall at about 1:45 am, waving to the news media crowd and citizens. Secret Service had required him to wear a bulletproof vest for some events, but Reagan did not wear one for the speech, because his only public exposure was 30 feet (9m) between the hotel and his limousine, and the agency did not need a vest for his agency that day. No one saw Hinckley behaving in an unusual way; witnesses who reported it as "restless" and "restless" apparently made Hinckley confused with others who had been overseen by the Secret Service.
Take a picture
At 2:27 PM, Reagan left the hotel through President's Walk and T Street NW exit to his waiting limousine as Hinckley waited in the crowd of admirers. The Secret Service has extensively screened those who attend the presidential speech. In "colossal errors," the agency allows unfiltered groups to stand within 15 ft (4.6 m) away from it, behind the rope line. Unexpectedly, Reagan passed right in front of Hinckley. Believing he would never get a better chance, Hinckley fired a RÃÆ' -hm RG-14.22 LR revolver of steel six times in 1.7 seconds, losing the president with all six shots. The first bullet hit the White House Press Secretary James Brady at the head and the second Columbia District police officer hit Thomas Delahanty behind his neck as he turned to protect Reagan. Hinckley now has a clear chance to the president, but the third bullet outstrips him and crashes into the window of a building across the street. As Responsible Special Agent Jerry Parr quickly pushed Reagan into the limousine, Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy placed himself in the line of fire and spread his body in front of Reagan to target himself. McCarthy stepped in front of President Reagan, saving the President from danger at great risk to his own life. He was hit in the stomach by a fourth bullet. The fifth bullet on the bullet-proof window on the side door was open the limousine. The sixth and last bullet bounced on the armored side of the limousine and hit the president in the left armpit, grazing the ribs and lodging in his lungs, causing it to collapse in part, and stopping less than an inch (25 mm) from his heart.. Parr's quick reaction had saved Reagan from being beaten in the head.
After the shooting, Alfred Antenucci, a Cleveland, Ohio worker official, who stood near Hinckley, was the first to respond. He spotted the gun and hit Hinckley's head, pulling the shooter to the ground. Within two seconds Dennis McCarthy's agent (unrelated to agent Timothy McCarthy) plunged into Hinckley when the others threw him to the ground; intends to protect Hinckley to avoid what happened to Lee Harvey Oswald, McCarthy had to "attack two citizens" to force them to release him. Agent Robert Wanko (incorrectly identified as "Steve Wanko" in newspaper reports) took Uzi's light machine gun from the suitcase to cover the evacuation of the President and to prevent potential group attacks.
The day after the shooting, the Hinckley gun was given to ATF, which tracked its origin. In just 16 minutes, the agent discovered that the weapon had been purchased at Rocky's Pawn Shop in Dallas, Texas. It has been loaded with six "Devastator" brand cartridges, which contain a small aluminum and an azide explosive lead designed to explode when contacted; the bullet that hit Brady was the only one that exploded. On April 2nd, after learning that the others could explode at any time, volunteer doctors wearing bulletproof vests pulled bullets out of Delahanty's neck.
George Washington University Hospital
After the Secret Service first announced "fired shots" through its radio network at 2:27 pm. Reagan - codename "Rawhide" - taken away by agents in a limousine ("Stagecoach"). At first, nobody knew that he had been shot, and Parr stated that "Rawhide is fine... we're going to the Crown" (White House), because he prefers his medical facility to an unsafe hospital.
Reagan was in great pain because of the bullet that hit his rib, and he believed that the rib was broken when Parr pushed him into the limousine. When the agent examined him for gunshot wounds, however, Reagan coughed foamy blood. Although the president believed that he had cut his lips, Parr believed that the fractured rib had penetrated Reagan's lungs and ordered his motorcade to move to the nearby George Washington University Hospital, whose secret service was regularly checked for use. The limousine arrived there less than four minutes after leaving the hotel, while another agent took Hinckley to the DC jail, and Nancy Reagan ("Rainbow") left the White House for the hospital.
Although Parr has asked for a stretcher, nobody is ready in the hospital, and that does not usually keep a stretcher at the emergency exit. Reagan got out of the limo and insisted on walking. Reagan relaxed and smiled at the people who saw him when he entered. When he entered the hospital unaided, once inside the president complained of difficulty breathing, his knees were limp, and he knelt down; Parr and the others help her to the emergency department. The doctor to the President, Daniel Ruge, arrived with Reagan; believes that the president may have had a heart attack, he insisted that the hospital trauma team, and not himself or the specialist from elsewhere, operated it because it would treat other patients. When a hospital employee asked Reagan Michael Deaver for the name and address of the patient, only when Deaver declared "1600 Pennsylvania" did the worker realize that the President of the United States was in the emergency department.
The team, led by Joseph Giordano, cut off Reagan's "thousand-dollar" artificial clothing to inspect him, much to Reagan's anger. Military officers, including those carrying nuclear football, failed to try to prevent FBI agents from seizing lawsuits, Reagan's wallets, and other items as evidence; the Gold Code card is in the wallet, and the FBI does not return it until two days later. Medical personnel found that Reagan's systolic blood pressure was 60 to 140, indicating that he was in a state of shock, and knew that most 70-year-olds in the president's condition would not survive. Reagan was in excellent physical health, however, and was also shot by a.22 caliber instead of a.38 as the first was feared. They treated him with intravenous fluids, oxygen, tetanus toxoid, and chest tubes, and surprised Parr - who still believed that he had broken the presidential ribs - by finding a gunshot wound at the entrance. Brady and McCarthy's wounded agents operated near the president; when his wife arrived at the emergency department, Reagan told him, "Honey, I forgot to duck", borrowing boxer Jack Dempsey to his wife on the night he was beaten by Gene Tunney. When intubated, he wrote to the nurse, "Overall, I prefer to be in Philadelphia," borrowing the W. C. Fields line. Although Reagan was dying, the team's quick action - and Parr's decision to go to the hospital rather than the White House - presumably saved the president's life, and within 30 minutes Reagan left the emergency department for surgery with normal blood pressure.
Chief surgeon Benjamin L. Aaron decided to do a thoracotomy that lasted for 105 minutes because the bleeding was still going on. Eventually, Reagan lost more than half his blood volume in the emergency department and during the operation, which eliminated bullets. In the operating room, Reagan releases his oxygen mask to joke, "I hope you're all Republicans." The doctors and nurses laughed, and Giordano, a liberal Democrat, replied, "Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans." The Reagan post-operative course is complicated by fever, which is treated with some antibiotics. The operation was fairly routine so they expected Reagan to be able to leave the hospital within two weeks and return to work in the Oval Office within a month.
Immediate response
A few days before the shootings, Vice President George H. W. Bush accepted the assignment of running crisis management in emergency situations despite objections from Secretary of State Alexander Haig. When the White House knew of the assassination attempt, however, Bush was above Texas over Air Force Two, which had no secure voice communications, and his discussions with the White House were intercepted and given to the press. The vice president was told in Fort Worth, Texas about the shooting within eight minutes, but relied on initial reports that Reagan had not injured his plane flying to Austin to make a speech. After learning that the president was injured, Air Force Two refueled in Austin before returning to Washington on what the pilot described as the fastest pace in plane history.
White House lawyer Fred Fielding immediately prepared for the transfer of presidential power under the 25th Amendment, and Chief of Staff James A. Baker and Presidential Advisor Edwin Meese went to the Reagan hospital still believing that the president was not hurt. Within five minutes of the shooting, Cabinet members began to gather in the White House Situation Room. Haig, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and National Security Advisor Richard Allen discussed various issues, including the location of nuclear football, a clear presence over ordinary Soviet submarine caps closing the Atlantic coast, possibly a Soviet invasion of Poland. the Solidarity movement, and the president's succession line. Although usually no tape recorders were allowed in the Situation Room, these meetings were recorded with the participants' knowledge by Allen, and the records have since been published.
The group gets duplicates of nuclear football cards and the Golden Code, and stores them in the Situation Room. (Reagan's football is still with the officers at the hospital, and Bush also has cards and football.) Participants discuss whether to raise the military alert status, and the importance of doing so without changing the DEFCON level, even though the number of Soviet submarines is normal. After learning that Reagan was in operation, Haig stated, "The helmet is here, and that means right in this chair for now, constitutionally, until the vice president arrives here." However, Haig made an inaccurate statement. As Foreign Minister, he came in fourth behind Vice President Bush, Council Chairman Tip O'Neill, and St temporary President of Stur Thurmond's Senate on the line of succession and, under 3 USC Ã, à , § 19, O'Neill and Thurmond have to resign from their position to become acting president. Although others in the room knew that Haig's statement was constitutionally incorrect, they did not mind at that point to avoid confrontation.
At the same time, press conferences are taking place at the White House. CBS reporter Lesley Stahl asked deputy press secretary Larry Speakes to run the government, in which Speakes replied, "I can not answer that question at this time." After hearing Speakes, Haig wrote a note given to Speakes, ordering him to leave the stage immediately. Moments later Haig entered the briefing room, where he made the following controversial remark:
Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have the president, the vice president and the secretary of state, in that order, and if the president decides he wants to transfer the top to the vice president he will do it. Until now, I'm in control here, at the White House, waiting for the vice president to return and get in touch with him. If there is something, I will check it, of course.
Those in the Situation Room reportedly laughed when they heard him say, "I'm in control here". He then said,
I'm not talking about transitions. I'm talking about the executive branch, which runs the government. That's the question asked. Not "Who should the President die?"
Although Haig stated in the briefing room that "There is absolutely no warning steps required today or contemplated", while he speaks Weinberger raises the level of military alert. After Haig returned to the Situation Room, he objected to Weinberger doing that because it made him a liar. Weinberger and others accused Haig of exceeding his authority with the statement of "I in control", while Haig defended himself by advising others to "read the Constitution", saying his comments did not involve "succession" and that he knew "pecking orders".
"Despite the short turmoil and disruption," Allen recalls, "the crisis management team in the Situation Room works just as well.The congressional leadership is informed, and governments around the world are told and reassured." Reagan's operation ended at 6-20, though he was not aware until 7:30, so could not ask Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to make Bush act as president. The vice president arrives at the White House at 7:00, and does not ask Section 4 of the 25th Amendment. He stated on national television at 8:20 pm.
I can convince this nation and the world to witness that the American government is fully functional and effective. We have full and complete communications throughout the day.
Public reaction
The assassination attempt was recorded on video by several cameras, including those belonging to the Big Three television network; ABC began broadcasting footage at 2:42. All three networks mistakenly reported that Brady had died. When ABC News reader Frank Reynolds, a Brady friend, was then forced to withdraw the report, he angrily told his staff, "Come on, let's prune!", As a result of the miscommunication. While Cable News Network (CNN) does not have its own camera at the time of shooting, it can use NBC's pool bait, and by staying in the story for 48 hours, the network, less than a year, builds a reputation for thoroughness. Shocked Americans gather around television sets at home and shopping centers. Some people quote allegations of the Tippecanoe Curse, and others remember the killing of Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Newspapers publish additional editions and use giant headlines; The US Senate delayed, interrupted the debate over Reagan's economic proposal; and churches have prayer services.
Hinckley asked the officer who caught whether the Academy Awards ceremony that night would be delayed because of the shooting, and it happened; The ceremony - which the former actor Reagan had recorded a message - happened the following night. The president survived the operation with a good prognosis, and the NCAA championship basketball game that day was not postponed, although 18,000 spectators in Philadelphia held a brief pause before the game. Immediately after the shooting, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined before the New York Stock Exchange closed early, but the index rose the following day when Reagan recovered. In addition to delaying his Academy Awards broadcast, ABC temporarily changed the name of the main character The Greatest American Hero (which had debuted less than two weeks earlier) from "Ralph Hinkley" to "Hanley", and NBC was postponed upcoming episode of Walking Tall titled "Hit Man".
Aftermath
His staff members were eager for the president to recover quickly, and the morning after the operation he saw the visitors and signed the law. Reagan left the hospital on day 13. Initially, he worked two hours a day at the White House residence, with meetings being held there instead of the Oval Office. Reagan did not lead Cabinet meetings until the 26th day, did not leave Washington until day 49, and did not hold press conferences until day 79. Ruge, Doctor to President, thinks the recovery is incomplete until October. Reagan's plan for the month after the shooting was canceled, including a visit to 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 called astronauts orbiting during their mission. Reagan will visit Mission Control during STS-2 in November.
The effort greatly affected Reagan's popularity; polls show approval ratings of about 73%. Reagan believed that God had saved his life so that he could continue to fulfill a greater purpose and, although not a Catholic encounter, with Mother Teresa, Cardinal Terence Cooke, and a surviving shooter, Pope John Paul II reinforced her belief. Agent Parr believed that God had directed his life to save Reagan, and became a pastor.
Reagan returned to the Oval Office on April 25 and received a standing ovation from staff and Cabinet members. He pointed to their teamwork in his absence and insisted, "I must clap your hands." He made his first public appearance in an April 28 speech in front of the Congressional joint houses. In his speech, he introduced planned spending cuts, which had been a campaign promise. He received "two rousing applause", which The New York Times regarded as "a tribute to his good health" and his program, which the president introduced with the theme of medical recovery. Reagan put up a gym in the White House and started exercising regularly there, gaining so much muscle that he had to buy new clothes. The shooting caused Nancy Reagan to fear her husband's safety, however. He asked him not to run again in 1984, and because of his worries, he began consulting with astrologer Joan Quigley.
Officer Thomas Delahanty recovered but suffered from nerve damage, ending his career in the police force. Officer Delahanty moved from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. to Pennsylvania after the death of his wife, Jean Delahanty. Timothy McCarthy fully recovered and received the NCAA Award of Valor in 1982 for his protection of President Reagan. Since 1994, he has served as Orland Park police chief, Illinois. James Brady was the most severely injured victim, having suffered a serious head injury and became permanently disabled. Brady remained as press secretary for the rest of the Reagan administration, but this was primarily a titular role. Later, Brady and his wife Sarah became major supporters of gun control and other measures to reduce the number of gun violence in the United States. They also became active in the lobbying organization Handgun Control, Inc. - which will eventually be renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Pistol Violence - and set up a non-profit Brady Center to Prevent Pistol Violence. The Brady Pollution Prevention Act was passed in 1993 as a result of their work. Brady died on August 4, 2014, in Alexandria, Virginia, at the age of 73. His death was ruled by murder, a consequence of this shooting.
After the death of James Brady on August 4, 2014, the District of Columbia Medical Examiner decides death as a murder derived from injuries caused by the attempted murder of Hinckley. This ruling raises the possibility that Hinckley could face additional murder charges in the future. However, the prosecutor refused to do so for two reasons. First, a jury has declared Hinckley mad at the time of the shootings and a constitutional ban against double dangers will hinder this decision because of Brady's death. Second, in 1981 Washington, D.C. still has the general "year and day" rule applicable. Although the year and day rules have been abolished in the districts before 2014, a constitutional ban on ex post facto law will preclude increased costs for deaths generated today from actions taken while the rule applies (and, in this case, will also prohibit the government challenging defense the successful madness of Hinckley under current federal law).
The Reagan shootings exacerbated the debate over gun control in the US which began with the December 1980 handgun killing of John Lennon. Reagan expressed opposition to increased arms control after Lennon's death and repeated his resistance after his own shooting. However, in a speech at an event marking the 10th anniversary of the assassination attempt, Reagan supported the Brady Act:
"Anniversary" is the word we usually associate with the happy events we want to remember: birthdays, marriages, first jobs. March 30, however, marks the anniversary I will soon forget, but can not... four lives changed forever, and all by Saturday-night specials -.22 caliber. Cheap gun - bought in Dallas pawnshops by young men with a history of mental disorders. This nightmare would probably never happen if the current law in Congress now - Brady bill - had been reinstated in 1981... If Brady bill expenditures would result in a reduction of only 10 or 15 percent of that amount (and that could be become much larger), it would be worth making it a state law. And there will be fewer families facing anniversary like Bradys, Delahantys, McCarthys, and Reagan facing every March 30.
Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21, 1982. The defense psychiatric report has found him going crazy while prosecutors report proclaiming him sane. Following the advice of his lawyer, he refused to defend himself. Hinckley locked up in St. Hospital Elizabeths in Washington, D.C. until 2006, at which point he started the program to spend more time at his mother's home. On September 10, 2016, Hinckley was allowed to leave the hospital permanently to live with his mother on a full-time basis, under court supervision and with compulsory psychiatric care. After the trial, he wrote that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in world history", and then showed no remorse.
The innocent verdict caused widespread disappointment, and as a result, the US Congress and a number of countries rewrote the law of defense of madness. The old Test Penal Code test was replaced by a test that shifted the burden of proof on the defendant's sanity from prosecution to the accused. Three countries have completely abolished defense.
The assassination attempt was very difficult for Jodie Foster, who was hunted endlessly by the media during 1981 because she was the target of Hinckley's obsession. Since then, Foster has only commented on Hinckley on three occasions: a press conference a few days after the attack, an Esquire magazine article he wrote in 1982, and during an interview with Charlie Rose in 60 Second Minutes in 1999; he has terminated or canceled several interviews after the event was mentioned or if the interviewer will bring up Hinckley.
The "Presidency Road", an unoccupied outer door where Reagan left the hotel shortly before being shot, was altered after the assassination attempt. The open canopy above the door has been removed and the enclosed brick cage is made to allow the president to move directly from his car door to the hotel without public access.
At George Washington University, the Ronald Reagan Institute of Emergency Medicine was founded in 1991.
During the 2010-2011 renovations undertaken in preparation for the 100th anniversary of his birth, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, install sound dioramas and photos depicting assassination attempts, and visitors are warned of surprise. firing effect.
Jerry Parr, who was inspired to become a Secret Service agent in childhood after seeing the 1939 movie Secret Service Code starring Ronald Reagan, received Congressional praise for his actions, and was named one of four "Top Police" in the US by Parade Magazine. He then wrote about the attempted murder in his autobiography, calling it the best and worst day of his life. Parr died in 2015 due to heart failure. [92]
Imagery in popular literature and culture
Books
- Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan (2011) by Del Quentin Wilber
- the book Killing Reagan: The Violent Attack That Changed the Presidency (2015) by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
Television
The following is a list of films that relate to attempted murder or describe some of them:
- The 1991 film made for Television Without Warning: The James Brady Story , dramatized James Brady's recovery.
- The 2001 Showtime TV film The Day Reagan Was Shot , based on the events surrounding the assassination attempt, illustrates the crazy media madness, the Cabinet and White House staff are divided with little control, and the fictitious threat of the crisis international.
- The 2003 Reagan Television film, which focuses on Reagan and his family, depicts murder attempts.
- In the episode of the 2013 TV series The American , an in-depth cover of KGB agents tried to determine whether a coup was underway, while FBI agents feared the Soviet Union might be involved.
- Television 2016 Killing Reagan , based on a 2015 book of the same name by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard.
- In the 2018 episode of the Timeless TV series, alternative history began to occur when Hinckley was able to escape from the assassination scene, and went to the Hospital where Reagan was treated to complete the work. When travelers are aware of this, they go to stop it.
References
External links
- Attempted Assassination of President Ronald Reagan (full video)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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