This day in history 3/30/06 Corner Cafe Message Board

AmyW · 03-30-06, 07:51 PM

PRESIDENT REAGAN SHOT:
March 30, 1981

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.