Crimes That Changed Our World by Paul H. Robinson & Sarah M. Robinson

Author:Paul H. Robinson & Sarah M. Robinson [Robinson, Paul H. & Robinson, Sarah M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2018-03-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

1981 Reagan Assassination Attempt

Insanity Defense

The Tragedy

At 2:25 p.m. on March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan has just finished speaking to a group of labor leaders at the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. After shaking hands with everyone one last time, the president and his entourage walk out of the hotel to his motorcade. He takes a moment to greet the crowd of reporters and supporters gathered outside. As he is about to enter the presidential limousine, he turns to give the crowd one last wave. Six shots ring out.

White House press secretary James Brady is shot in the head, local policeman Thomas Delahanty in the back, secret service agent Tim McCarthy in the abdomen, and President Reagan seems to have been grazed by a bullet that ricochets off the car. Alfred Antenucci, a labor official, is near the shooter and hits him in the head, dragging him down to the ground. Agent Dennis McCarthy dives on top, and within seconds the shooter is swarmed and taken into custody. On his person are several books, including a copy of The Catcher in the Rye.

Secret Service agent Jerry Parr directs the motorcade back to the White House instead of an unsecured hospital, but soon Reagan begins to cough up bright red blood, so the motorcade heads to George Washington University Hospital. It turns out that the president has a bullet lodged in his lung. Nonetheless, he is able to exit the limo on his own, smiling at onlookers. Once inside the hospital, however, his knees buckle and he collapses on the floor. Surgeons rush him into the operating room to remove the bullet, which is less than an inch from his heart. The surgery is successful, and after two weeks of recovery Reagan is able to leave the hospital. The others injured are not so lucky. Press Secretary Brady survives, but the bullet to his neck has left his speech impaired and caused partial paralysis that will put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. The bullet that strikes Officer Delahanty hits his neck and ricochets off his spinal cord. As a result, he suffers from permanent nerve damage to his left arm. McCarthy’s bulletproof gear protected him from what would have otherwise been catastrophic injuries.

While President Reagan regains his strength, the shocked nation tries to piece together why someone would attempt to assassinate the president.

The shooter turns out to be twenty-six-year-old John Hinckley Jr. He was born into a well-to-do family in Ardmore, Oklahoma, in 1955.1 Hinckley has a stable childhood until he is in junior high, when the family moves to Texas and Hinckley becomes quiet and withdrawn. In 1973, he enrolls at Texas Tech in Lubbock, where he completes his first year. The next year he gets his own place and attends school less and less frequently, and dreams of making it big as a politician or a musician. As his dreams grow larger, John’s thoughts become increasingly detached from reality. He spends most of his day sitting alone in his apartment.

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