Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency by Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard

Author:Bill O'Reilly & Martin Dugard [O'Reilly, Bill & Dugard, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: United States, Biography & Autobiography, 20th Century, History, Presidents & Heads of State
ISBN: 9781627792424
Google: LGADBwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Published: 2015-09-22T20:41:19+00:00

John Hinckley Jr. being tackled by Secret Service agents and other onlookers after his attempt to assassinate Ronald Reagan, March 30, 1981

As Hinckley is subdued, three men are fighting for their lives.

One of them is Ronald Wilson Reagan.

* * *

At the sound of the first bullet, agent Jerry Parr grabs Reagan by the waist, shoving him hard into the back of the limo. The two men land in a heap, with Parr on top. As Reagan’s face hits the armrest dividing the backseat, an intense wave of pain shoots through his body.

“Jerry,” he cries. “Get off. I think you broke one of my ribs.” The president is angry, believing Parr was unnecessarily rough.

Parr is not interested in delicacy. He needs to get the president to safety immediately. Long ago, as a boy, it was the 1939 Ronald Reagan movie Code of the Secret Service that inspired Parr to become an agent. Now, through a brutal coincidence, Jerry Parr has become the most important person in Reagan’s life. “White House,” he barks at Agent Drew Unrue, who sits at the wheel. “Let’s get out of here! Haul ass!”

Parr climbs off the president. Neither man knows that Ronald Reagan has been shot. But as Reagan tries to sit up, he is “almost paralyzed by pain.” He coughs hard, sending a stream of bright red blood onto his hand.

“You not only broke a rib,” he tells Parr as the presidential limousine races to the safety of the White House, “I think the rib punctured my lung.”

“Were you hit?” asks a concerned Parr.

“No, I don’t think so.”

Parr runs his hands over the president’s shoulders, chest, and head. He sees no sign of blood. Reagan can barely sit up, his face ashen. He begins pressing his left arm against his chest as if having a heart attack. Reagan tastes blood and tells Parr that he might have also cut his mouth. The agent looks closely, seeing that the bright red blood on Reagan’s lips contains numerous air bubbles, which is the sign of a lung injury.

“I think we should go to the hospital,” Parr tells Reagan.

“Okay,” Reagan answers, still believing that Parr broke his rib.

* * *

At the same time, in the third-floor White House solarium, Secret Service agent Opfer calmly enters the room and interrupts Nancy Reagan’s conversation with the White House’s chief usher. “There was a shooting,” Opfer informs the First Lady. “The president is going to the hospital.”

Immediately distraught, Nancy Reagan is led out of the White House. Her Secret Service code name is Rainbow, in reference to the many colors of her fiery personality. But there is no evidence of that on display right now. She is quiet and terrified. A car is brought around, and Nancy’s frustration intensifies as the two-limousine motorcade gets caught in Washington gridlock on its ten-block journey. “I’m going to get out and walk,” she yells. “I need to walk. I have to get there.”

Traffic begins to flow, and fifteen minutes after leaving the White House, Nancy Reagan’s limousine pulls up to the George Washington University Hospital.

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