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    "ocrText": "Ronald Reagan Presidential Library\nDigital Library Collections\nThis is a PDF of a folder from our textual\ncollections.\nCollection: Tate, Sheila: Files\nFolder Title: Presidential Shooting 3/30/1981 [1 of 2]\nBox: CFOA 6222\nTo see more digitized collections visit:\nhttps://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library\nTo see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library\ninventories visit:\nhttps://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection\nContact a reference archivist at:\[email protected]\nCitation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing\nAPRIL 15, 1981\n$1.50\nTime First Lady's Press\nSheila Patton E.W.\nMadness\nWhat Happened-and Why\nCan It Never Be Stopped?\n15\n0 10090\n724404\nSTORIES\nTIME. APRIL 13/1981\nTHE\nOh, My God,\nIt's\nbullets, in two seconds of terror, fell the President and three others and raise\nHappening'\nresh fears that assassination is an American disease\nJust before the shooting begins, Ronald Reagan is surrounded by (from left) Agent Jerry Parr (in raincoat), Press Secretary James Brady, a\nmilitary aide, Assistant Michael Deaver, an unidentified policeman, Officer Thomas Delahanty and Agent Timothy McCarthy. Seconds later\n(below) an agent leaps over Delahanty and Brady to grab for the gunman, Parr has pushed Reagan into the limousine, and the car is ready to move\nNation\nA Sense of Where We Are\nReflections on a week of anxiety, sadness and outrage\nt took a week to get the picture. First came the gasps and\nto penetrate. So after a while even he becomes real. At week's\n\"not agains\"; then the nation assumed its old too familiar po-\nend one understands not everything, but a lot more than seemed\nsition before the tube, reluctant pros in this business by now,\npossible on frantic Monday. The people were in control here.\nready to take in the slow-motion replays, the testimony of ex-\nThe interesting thing is that people can actually do this; can\nperts, the edgy reporters, a bloody head, a shot-up limousine, an-\ntake a terrifying, chaotic act and eventually make some sense of\nother blank-faced gunman. There was a jumble to sort out. The\nit. What occurred outside the Washington Hilton was irrational\nPresident was O.K. But then he wasn't. They took him to the\nand destructive. Yet the reactions it generated were both sane\nWhite House. No, to a hospital. Was it serious? Not very. Yes,\nand helpful; and they were connected to one's best feelings about\nvery. Maybe\nAnd so on through the long Monday after-\nthe country and the Government. When the President was shot,\nnoon, the emotions buffeted by every bulletin-sinking at the re-\nAmericans prayed very hard, not for the life of an abstraction.\nport of White House Press Secretary James Brady's death; ris-\nbut for a man, one who as leader of the democracy carries some-\ning warily when the report is denied; a freeze at news that the\nthing of everyone in that mortal chest. If people were ashamed\nPresident is undergoing surgery; a thaw when someone repeats\nand dismayed that such horrors could continue to happen in a\na Reagan joke. Who was that fool who asked if the operation\ncivilized place, they were also proud and relieved that the Gov-\nwas going to be filmed? More questions still-the public's ten-\nernment of that civilized place could not be rattled.\nsions not at all alleviated by the figure of Alexander Haig claim-\nBut there were even more basic feelings brought out by Mon-\ning \"I am in control here,\" in a voice full of jelly.\nday's events. Trust, for one thing: the belief that in spite of all the\nThe press was hard on Haig after the recent who's-in-charge\ninitial misinformation, the facts would eventually be known. Pa-\ntempest. Suddenly the Secretary of State is playing air raid war-\ntience, for another; and a general absence of panic. Faith in sci-\nden again and rearranging the order of succession to the pres-\nence, as the doctors were relied on to tell the country what its\nidency to suit his pride. Yet he was only trying to do what\nfuture looked like. Faith in God, for those who have it. Faith too\neveryone wanted: to establish order and clear things up. By 7\nin the press, remarkably; the same press that is excoriated as a\np.m. there was at least the start of a clearing up. To stage cen-\nmatter of daily habit, still counted on in a real emergency to get\nter stepped Dr. Dennis O'Leary of George Washington Uni-\nthe truth as best it can, as fast as it can-and to tell it. A sense of\nversity Hospital, a gentle, cool customer, another instant media\nnational unity, in sadness and anxiety. A sense of outrage at vi-\nstar. Secret Service Agent Timothy J. McCarthy was hit in the\nolence. If the U.S. really were as fundamentally violent as it is\nstomach, but doing well. D.C. Policeman Thomas K. Delahan-\nmade out, there would never be such uniform despair and disgust\nty was hit in the shoulder and neck; his condition was stable. A\nwhen violence occurred.\n22-cal. bullet passed through Jim Brady's brain. And the Pres-\nThen too there was kinship with the suffering, with Jim Bra-\nident? He became his chest for the moment: the bullet entered\ndy, especially; old Brady \"the Bear,\" Brady the joker, the poker-\nhere, bounced off this, settled in that. There was \"oxygenation\"\nfaced inventor of Goat Gap Texas Chili and Captain Brady's\nand a \"thoracotomy\" and some \"peritoneal lavage\" to boot.\nNightie Night, who wasn't kidding when he described his new\nBut was he O.K.? Yes, he was fine, chipper. By nightfall the coun-\nposition as \"the toughest p.r. job in the world.\" And kinship with\ntry was beginning to do some oxygenating of its own.\nlife, with Sarah Brady holding her husband's hand, waiting for\nWithin a day or two pieces were beginning to fit, even the\nthe squeeze to be returned.\nweirdest. To the bare fact of the suspect's name, John W. Hinck-\nSuch feelings make it possible to survive a week like the\nley Jr., were added the details of a strangely American life, or\nlast one. They attest to the normalities of our lives, and suggest\nhalf life. The son of oil-rich respectability quits school, takes to\nthat in the long run there is a gentleness and decency that pre-\nthe road, joins the American Nazi party, but can't make it there.\nvails over the berserk flashes and the threats of sudden death.\nHe has a guitar, of course; drives a tan Plymouth with Texas\nYet these shootings leave scars, and they ought to. Why are all\nplates; watches TV in cheap motels where he stops briefly. He is\nthese handguns still around? Why can't creatures like Hinckley\na traveling man. Soft-spoken and polite. He dines on Whoppers\nbe reached before they reach others? When the President en-\nand writes love notes to a teen-age movie star at Yale-while go-\ntered the hospital, he told his friend, Nevada Senator Paul Lax-\ning madder by the minute, buying guns and hitting the dream cit-\nalt: \"Don't worry about me. I'll make it.\" By the weekend the\nies of Denver, Nashville, Dallas and L.A., until he arrives by\ncountry was thinking the same thing, with the same uncertain\nGreyhound at the city of the country's heart, which he is driven\nbravery.\n-By Roger Rosenblatt\nMichael Evans-The White House\n21\nNation\nBusiness as Usual-Almost\nA powerful troika takes charge, while Haig overdoes it-once more\nThe first reactions\nEuropean allies. Altogether, the week's\nbetter at the higher levels in such mo-\nwere shock, horror,\nofficial activity appeared to justify the\nments. Heightened tension acts as a mag-\nsickness at the thought\nphrase that Reagan's aides were using\nnifier, every word, and sentence, becomes\nthat the nation had to\nwhile the President was still in the recov-\nan act of international significance and\ngo through it all once\nery room: \"Business as usual.\"\nis rocketed around the globe where it is ex-\nmore. Then almost instantly came anxiety\nWell, almost. The day-to-day opera-\namined and weighed.\"\n-not only for the wounded President but\ntions of the Government will continue\nEven long-run policy formulation will\nfor the country itself. As citizens all over\nabout the way they would if the Presi-\nnot suffer badly during the next month\nthe U.S. and indeed around the world\ndent were in the White House-as in fact\nor so while Reagan is convalescing. Rea-\nwaited for the medical bulletins, questions\nhe might be this week, if his recovery pro-\nson: the Administration decided from the\nformed: Did, and would, the U.S. still have\nceeds on course.\nstart to make the economic program of\na functioning Government? Could deci-\nTIME Contributing Editor Hugh Si-\nspending and tax cuts its top priority, and\nsions still be made, necessary actions be\ndey, who has been reporting on Wash-\nthat program is well advanced. Says one\ntaken. while a President in office little\nington for 24 years, notes that calm pre-\nWhite House aide: \"There are peaks and\nmore than two months, barely enough\nvailed during Dwight Eisenhower's\nvalleys in decision making. If this had\ntime to get his hands on the levers of pow-\nseveral hospitalizations, Richard Nixon's\nhappened on Feb. 10, we would have been\ner, recovered from the attempt on his life?\nphlebitis, and even in the far graver cri-\nin a totally different situation. Now, for\nFortunately, the answer came before\nsis of the Kennedy assassination. Says\nthe time being, the economic decisions are\nthe worries had time to blossom. It was a\nSidey: \"We have sometimes overplayed\nalready made.\"\nresounding yes.\nthe difficulty of running the Government.\nIn the worst hours of uncertainty and\nNational trauma we have had. But the\ntill, no nation as heavily dependent\nconfusion, while Ronald Reagan was un-\npostal clerk still comes to work, the sol-\nconscious in surgery, the nuclear button\ndiers still drill. If anything, they are a lit-\nS\non presidential leadership as the U.S.\ncan shrug off the wounding of its\nwas right where it should be, in the hands\ntle more diligent in their duties, realizing\nChief Executive as if nothing had hap-\nof Vice President George Bush. On his\nthat the country needs a special effort.\npened. Already last week, some decisions\nflight back from Texas to Washington,\nMen and women also tend to cooperate\nwere slipping: the Administration put off\nBush was accompanied by a mil-\nannouncement of a package of mea-\nitary aide carrying the Vice Pres-\nsures designed to help the U.S. auto\nident's version of the \"football\"-an\nindustry meet foreign competition.\nunremarkable black leather case\nThough aides publicly asserted that\ncontaining top-secret signal codes\nReagan would confer late this\nand military target information.\nmonth with Mexican President José\nReagan, once he shook off the ef-\nLópez Portillo as scheduled, they\nfects of anesthesia, resumed some\nconceded in private that the session\nof his duties. The morning after the\nmight be called off.\nshooting, with a tube still in his nose\nMeanwhile, there are sure to be\nand a needle dripping intravenous\nshifts in the balance of forces with-\nsolution into his arm, the President\nin the Administration, some with\nsigned a bill canceling an increase\nlasting consequences. Even in an\nin dairy price supports that other-\nAdministration officially dedicated\nwise would have gone into effect the\nto Cabinet Government, the White\nnext day. The only sign of stress:\nHouse staff had been increasing its\nhis signature was a trifle shakier\ninfluence before the shots rang out.\nthan usual.\nThe so-called troika at the top con-\nWith Reagan's approval, Bush\nsists of Presidential Counsellor\npresided over two Cabinet meet-\nEdwin Meese, Chief of Staff James\nings, carefully taking his accus-\nBaker and Deputy Chief Michael\ntomed seat and leaving the Pres-\nDeaver, Reagan's closest personal\nident's chair empty to symbolize the\naide. Within half an hour of the\ntemporary nature of his enhanced\nshooting, the troika set up a kind\nauthority. The Vice President also\nof command post at the hospital,\nconferred with Netherlands Pre-\nand once the President was recu-\nmier Andreas van Agt and Polish\nperating funneled briefing papers to\nDeputy Premier Mieczyslaw Jagiel-\nhim (greatly condensed to avoid\nski, who had come to Washington\ntaxing his strength).\nto see Reagan.\nFor at least the rest of\nThe Senate passed, 88 to 10, a\nReagan's hospitalization and the\nbudget resolution cutting spending\nearly period of his convalescence,\nfor fiscal 1982 by $36.9 billion; that\nthe troika's power will be greater\nwas roughly $2.8 billion more than\nthan ever. They will decide who\nReagan had requested. At week's\nsees the President, which decisions\nend Secretary of State Alexander\nare referred to him and which are\nHaig took off, on schedule, for a trip\npostponed or settled at lower lev-\nto the Middle East, and Secretary of\nels. They will also be the primary\nDefense Caspar Weinberger left for\nBush at White House reception for Netherlands Premier\ncommunicators of Reagan's words\ndefense consultations with Western\nIn a moment of shock, he carried the \"football.\"\nand wishes to the rest of the\n22\nTIME. APRIL 13, 1981\nGovernment and the outside world.\nwas continuing to operate. Said one White\nbe hampered in making an aggressive\nThe three, who breakfast together at\nHouse staffer: \"Al Haig is too strong a\ncase against those cuts that they contend\n7:30 each morning, have worked out a\nplayer to let go.\" Reagan himself sum-\nhurt the poor. Says one liberal: \"You could\nsmooth division of duties and interests\nmoned Haig to his hospital bed and gave\nnever get anyone to go after him person-\nthat should enable them to maintain their\nthe Secretary letters to hand carry to the\nally, because he's a nice guy. But now it\ninfluence when matters settle down.\nleaders of Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia and\nwill be difficult even to voice anything\nMeese. who likes to lug home a bulging\nJordan. Nonetheless, Haig left on his\nagainst the program. That would be vis-\nbriefcase, concentrates on developing pol-\nMiddle East trip an uncertain figure, wor-\ncerally resented by a lot of people.\"\nicy positions; Baker, who scorns paper-\nried about having unnamed enemies in\nNonetheless, the Democrats will try.\nwork, keeps a sharp eye on political af-\nthe White House who were out to get him.\nHouse Budget Committee Chairman\nfairs; Deaver is the devoted guardian and\nWhether he can recover authority over\nJames Jones will unveil this week a bud-\nshaper of Reagan's schedule. Says one\nforeign policy is yet to be seen.\nget proposal that would slash spending\naide who has watched them closely: \"No\nOn the domestic front, the most ob-\n$4 billion more than the Administration's\none can put himself in the President's\nvious immediate effect of the assassina-\nplan, but with a very different set of pri-\nshoes, when it comes to personal and\ntion attempt, and the courage with which\norities. Jones and the Democratic lead-\nmany political considerations, the way\nthe President withstood it, was a power-\nership would cut $4 billion out of planned\nDeaver can. No one can put himself in\nful surge in Reagan's popularity. A quick\ndefense spending and $1.5 billion out of\nthe President's mind, when it comes to dif-\nWashington Post/ABC News poll the day\nenergy outlays, for example, while restor-\nficult policy questions, the way Meese can.\nafter the shooting found 73% approving\ning $7 billion of cuts that Reagan wants\nAnd no one can understand the intersec-\nthe way the President is handling his job,\nin such programs as Medicaid, food\ntion of the White House and the bureau-\nup eleven percentage points from just the\nstamps and child nutrition. On the tax\ncracy, the bridge between intention and\nweek before.\nside, the Democrats reject Reagan's three-\naction, better than Baker.\"\nyear, across-the-board slash in income tax\nVice President Bush, too, seems sure\nhether that tide of public sym-\nrates in favor of a much narrower one-\nto gain in clout because of the calm man-\nW\npathy and admiration will win ad-\nyear reduction. The Administration's\nner in which he filled in for the President\nditional votes for Reagan's spend-\nability to counter this effort may be ham-\nat Cabinet meetings and ceremonial func-\ning and tax cuts, especially in the\npered by the enforced scrapping of Rea-\ntions. His demeanor, neither pushy nor re-\nDemocratic-controlled House where the\ngan's personal selling campaign for his\ntiring, impressed even some Reaganites\nreal battle will be fought, is in some dis-\nprogram. The President had been sched-\nwho had considered him a mushy mod-\npute. Most of Reagan's senior advisers\nuled to speak almost weekly to state leg-\nerate. Said one: \"He has been impressive.\nagree with Office of Management and\nislatures to plug his economic package.\nHe has a good sensitivity to the situation.\"\nBudget Director David Stockman, who\n\"Nobody can sell the program like he\nIn contrast, Secretary of State Haig\nsays, \"I don't think it will have any sig-\ncan,\" says one senior adviser. Another is\ndamaged his already shaky standing in\nnificant effect on the Hill.\" On the other\nconcerned that \"with Reagan in bed, we\nthe Government. The echoes of his los-\nhand, some Democrats are afraid they will\nwill lose a crucial month.\" White House\ning effort two weeks ago to\naides, however, are exploring\nhave himself rather than Bush\nother methods of using the\nnamed as foreign policy crisis\nPresident's persuasive talents.\nmanager had not died down\nThey say he will resume his\nwhen he took the podium in\nhighly effective personal lob-\nthe White House press room\nbying on congressional leaders\nto proclaim, in a shaky voice,\nonce he leaves the hospital,\n\"I am in control here.\" Said\nthough he will receive them in\none State Department official\nthe White House residence\nwho is friendly with Haig: \"I\nquarters rather than the Oval\nthought it was Seven Days in\nOffice. They talk of putting\nMay. Al didn't do it right, and\nhim on television for a speech\nit's going to hurt him.\" At\nin which his natural mastery of\nweek's end a new controversy\nthe medium might be en-\nthreatened to erupt when it\nhanced by the emotional im-\nwas learned that Haig, without\npact of a recuperating Presi-\nproperly consulting other Cab-\ndent once again addressing the\ninet members, had given the\ncitizenry.\nFrench tacit approval to sell\nMeanwhile, the Govern-\n600,000 tons of wheat to the So-\nment is carrying on sufficiently\nviets. The White House at-\nwell that by week's end\ntempted to play down the in-\nsome Reagan aides were voic-\ncident in the hope that it would\ning an ironic worry: perhaps\nblow over, but talk continued\nthey have convinced the public\nto float around Washington\ntoo thoroughly that everything\nthat Haig might resign, and\nis business as usual. Says one:\nthat the White House was al-\n\"We spent two months trying\nready looking for a successor.\nto erase an impression that the\nThose rumors were vehe-\nU.S. had elected Ed Meese\nmently denied by the White\nPresident, instead of Ronald\nHouse staff. Late in the week\nReagan. Now we are almost\nit made a concerted attempt to\ngoing back to the point of say-\nsalvage Haig's credibility so\ning that this Administration\nthat he could deal effective-\ndoes not need him.\" Compared\nly with foreign governments.\nwith the potential dangers of a\nWhite House aides insisted\nleaderless Government, how-\nthat Haig had only meant,\never, that is a minor worry\nquite properly, to reassure the\nindeed. -By George J. Church.\nworld-and warn the Soviets\nThe President and Nancy strolling through hospital corridor Friday\nReported by Laurence L Barrett\n-that the U.S. Government\nThe signature, shakier than usual, was the only sign of stress.\nand Neil MacNeil/Washington\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\n23\nParr pushes Reagan while McCarthy, center, shields them\nBrady lying seriously wounded on pavement outside the hotel\nSix Shots at a Nation's Heart\nAgain, a moment of madness threatens a President and tarnishes the U.S.\nThe final Sunday of\nminiature western saddles given to them\n$42 a night, moderate by Washington stan-\nMarch began with a\nby their California friend Walter Annen-\ndards. Hinckley sat for hours in Room 312.\nslight haze and soft\nberg. They carried a dozen of the min-\nHe made two local telephone calls, using\nbreezes; unseasonable\niatures to the Oval Office and arranged\nthe hotel's direct-dial system.\ntemperatures in the\nthem for display on a table at the left of\nThe sky turned a lead gray on Mon-\nmid-70s welcomed the blossoming dog-\nthe President's desk. Then they dined to-\nday, Ronald Reagan's 70th day in office.\nwoods. The day was so balmy that Ron-\ngether in their residence. It had been a\nA monotonous drizzle formed puddles on\nald and Nancy Reagan, after attending\ncomfortable day.\nthe city's streets. But the weather was still\nservices at St. John's Church, took a short\nHinckley checked into the Park Cen-\nwarm and the rain did not dampen Rea-\nnoontime stroll back to the White House,\ntral Hotel on 18th Street. It is just two\ngan's spirits. At an early morning break-\npassing the pink magnolias in Lafayette\nblocks west of the White House and di-\nfast with 140 sub-Cabinet-level officials\nPark.\nrectly across the street from Secret Service\nof his Administration in the East Room,\nShortly after 12:15 p.m., a pudgy young\nheadquarters. It often houses visiting Se-\nReagan gave a pep talk. He quoted Thom-\nman with unkempt blond hair stepped off\ncret Service agents. The cheapest room is\nas Paine, declaring, \"We have it in our\na Greyhound bus after a three-day ride\npower to begin the world over again.\"\nfrom Los Angeles. He leaned against a pole\nin Washington's seedy terminal, then sat\nrestlessly in a blue plastic seat. He seemed\nHALSTEAD DIRCK\nThen followed short meetings with his se-\nnior staff in the Oval Office and a na-\ntional security briefing. All were in the\nin no hurry to go anywhere.\nnormal workday pattern.\nEnjoying a rare day without guests or\nHinckley got up early. He stopped in\nmeetings, the Reagans lunched together\nthe Lunchbox Carryout Shop, just a few\nin the White House. They stayed indoors,\ndoors from his hotel, for coffee at 7:30 a.m.\ncatching up on some unstrenuous house-\nAn hour later, he ordered breakfast in\nhold chores. One of them was to hang pic-\nKay's Sandwich Shoppe, adjacent to the\ntures in the President's study in the fam-\nhotel. He sat alone at the counter.\nily quarters.\nThe visitor to Washington was John\neagan greeted two dozen Hispanic\nW. Hinckley Jr., 25, of Evergreen, Colo.\nHe was in a surly mood. He snapped at a\nR\nleaders in the Cabinet Room and\nconferred with them in private af-\nwaitress who served him a cheeseburger in\nter photographers were allowed to take a\nthe terminal restaurant. He ate alone at\nfew pictures. Aides Lyn Nofziger and\nthe rear of the room, then walked back\nElizabeth Dole sat in on the meeting.\ninto the station's lobby, stalking about im-\nOne topic of the discussion: Reagan's\npatiently for an hour. He seemed to be wait-\nefforts to place Hispanics in Government\ning for someone.\npositions.\nThe Reagans admired a collection of\nLyn Nofziger briefing reporters at hospital\nHinckley was out of his room at 10 a.m.\n24\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\nROGER SANDLER\nBush reading statement in White House after Reagan's operation\nHALSTEAD DIRCK\nROBERT BURGESS\nMaureen Reagan watching the news in Los Angeles\nDr. Dennis O'Leary showing how bullet was removed from Reagan\nwhen a maid checked it. A two-suiter suit-\nUnrue was driving, and Jerry Parr, chief\nhalf-hour walk. If he went by cab or bus,\ncase filled with clothes was spread open. A\nof the presidential protection detail, sat\nhe was unnoticed.\ncopy of TV Guide was near the bed. Also in\nin the right front seat. Following them in\nThe President received a standing\nthe room was a newspaper clipping about\nthe motorcade was Presidential Press Sec-\novation as he entered the Hilton's Inter-\nthe President's schedule, which disclosed\nretary Jim Brady. Half an hour earlier,\nnational Ballroom to address 3,500 union\nthat Reagan would leave the White House\nhis deputy, Larry Speakes, had asked,\nrepresentatives. It was the largest audi-\nat 1:45 p.m. to address a session of the\n\"You going with the President to the ho-\nence he had faced in person since his In-\nAFL-CIO's building and construction trades\ntel?\" Brady's casual reply: \"Yeah, I think\nauguration. As he made his pitch for the\ndepartment at the Washington Hilton.\nI will.\" With other agents following in the\nunion members to support his economic\nThe President had lunch at the White\n\"battlewagon\" protective car, the caravan\nprogram, Reagan's delivery was unchar-\nHouse in the family quarters. He ate an\nmoved swiftly through the rain-slick\nacteristically flat. He drew only tepid ap-\navocado and chicken salad, sliced red\nstreets to the hotel. Everything was going\nplause, even meeting silence at a few\nbeets and an apple tart. Then he worked\nsmoothly; the trip seemed quite routine.\npunch lines. Only one sentence in the 18-\non his Hilton speech and stretched out\nRechecking rooms at 1:15 p.m. to re-\nminute speech would later be remem-\nfor a brief rest.\nplace some used towels, the maid found\nbered. Noted the President: \"Violent\nWhen he returned to the hotel about\nHinckley in the room, wearing a light-\ncrime has surged 10%, making neighbor-\nnoon, Hinckley asked the desk clerk wheth-\ncolored jacket, sport shirt and casual pants.\nhood streets unsafe and families fearful\ner he had received any telephone calls.\nHe stood by the bathroom door and\nin their homes.\"\nThere were no telephone messages in his\nwatched without expression as she hung the\nOutside the Hilton, on an adjacent\nkey box. Then at 12:45 p.m. he sat in his\ntowels. Shortly afterward he left for the Hil-\nsidewalk, Hinckley was pacing nervously.\nroom and began to write a five-paragraph\nton. It was almost a mile away, less than a\nJohn M. Dodson, a Pinkerton's detective\nletter on lined note paper. It started:\nagency computer specialist, was\n\"Dear Jodie, There is a definite pos-\nwatching the Hilton's lower-level VIP\nsibility that I will be killed in my at-\nentrance from the seventh floor of a\ntempt to get Reagan.\" It ended: \"This\nnearby office building. Dodson noticed\nletter is being written an hour before\nthe young man wearing a tan rain-\nI leave for the Hilton Hotel. Jodie, I'm\ncoat. \"He looked fidgety, agitated, a\nasking you to please look into your\nlittle strange,\" Dodson recalled later.\nheart and at least give me the chance\nA group of TV and still photog-\nwith this historical deed to gain your\nraphers also awaited Reagan's exit\nrespect and love. I love you forever.\"\nin what they call \"the bodywatch\"\nIt was signed: \"John Hinckley.'\n-the need to record any presidential\nHinckley sealed the letter to Actress\ncalamity, or what Reagan has termed\nJodie Foster, 18, a freshman at Yale\n\"the awful-awful.\" Other reporters\nUniversity whom he had never met, but\nwere there, some with microphones\ndid not mail it.\nand tape recorders, to ask the Pres-\nThe President climbed into his\nident for his reaction to the latest\narmor-plated black Lincoln limou-\nshowdown between the government\nsine at 1:45 p.m. for the seven-min-\nand Lech Walesa's independent la-\nute drive to the Hilton. With him was\nbor movement in Poland. As always,\nMichael Deaver, his closest personal\ncurious onlookers pressed in for a\naide, Labor Secretary Ray Donovan\nglimpse of the President. They in-\nand two Secret Service agents: Drew Hinckley, flanked by officers, after arraignment\ncluded some union members who had\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\n25\nNation\nMcCARTHY\nCDEAVER\nBRADY\nREAGAN\nPARR\nVIP exit\nREAGAN\nReagan\nParr\nSMOCARTHY\nMcCarthy\nDELAHANTY\nDelahanty\nHinckley\nHINCKLEY\nReagan leaves VIP exit of Hil-\nDeaver\nBrady\n1\nton Hotel. The door of his lim-\nOverhead view at the\nousine is open. He waves as he\nmoment of the\nreaches the curb.\nREAGAN\nshooting\nPARR\nBRADY\nDELAHANTY\nTIME Diagram\nby Nigel Holmes\nPresident, President\nCKLEY\n2\nAt a shout from the press,\n3\nThe shooting starts. Six shots are fired in two seconds. One hits a window\nDeaver moves to the left, giv-\nacross the street, and one the window of Reagan's limousine. Other bullets\ning Brady room to talk to AP Re-\nhit\nBrady, Delahanty and McCarthy. Another bullet hits the rear panel of the lim-\nporter Michael Putzel, who wants ousine, ricochets through the gap between the open door and the body of the car,\nto ask a question.\nand hits Reagan as he is bending over and being pushed into the car by Parr.\neither arrived late for the lunch or left it\nrue was in the driver's seat; the engine\ntransmission hump\nearly to get a closer view of Reagan. There\nwas running. Reagan raised his right hand\nahead of the rear seat,\nwere women with Kodaks, children, and\nhigh, waving to people standing across the\nParr on top of the President. \"Take off!\"\neven a mayor, Charles Wright of Dav-\ndrivetway.\nshouted Parr to the driver. \"Just take off!\"\nenport, Iowa.\nAgent Parr was at Reagan's right side.\nThe limo lurched out of the driveway.\nThe unmarked entrance, consisting of\nAide Deaver was at his left, between the\nDeaver, who had crouched beside\nsteel double doors under a concrete can-\nPresident and the press group. Brady\nthe President's car until he saw Reagan\nopy, was designed precisely to provide se-\nwalked a few steps behind Deaver and\nwas in it, ran for the Secret Service\ncurity for Presidents and other celebrities\ncloser to the wall. Agent Timothy Mc-\ncontrol vehicle. \"Oh, my God, it's\nwho attend affairs at the Hilton. The\nCarthy waited at the limousine, standing\nhappening!\" he thought. The shots had\ndoors open onto a 13-ft.-wide sidewalk\nbehind the open rear door. Washington\nbeen so close to him that he could\nthat runs along a curving driveway at the\nPatrolman Thomas Delahanty, drawn\n\"feel the concussion and smell the pow-\nbase of a 15-ft.-high stone retaining wall.\naway from his normal duties with the po-\nder.\" In the car, he shouted, \"Let's get\nOn this day the Secret Service had roped\nlice canine squad to help guard the Pres-\nout of here!\" He grabbed Presidential\noff an area along this curving wall about\nident, stood near the press rope. Reagan,\nAssistant David Fischer and, referring\n25 ft. from the doors. The press and oth-\nnow just a few feet away from his car,\nto Reagan, asked, \"My God, Dave, is\ner onlookers jostled for position behind\nturned to his left and waved toward the\nhe all right?\"\nthe rope.\nreporters.\nBrady lay on the sidewalk, blood seep-\nAmong them was John Hinckley.\ning from a wound in his head and trick-\nStanding close to the wall, he complained\nr. President, Mr. President,\"\nling into an iron grating. He tried to rise.\nabout the press, which had been griping\n\"M\ncame a familiar shout from be-\nRick Ahearn, a White House advance-\nabout onlookers getting in the way. ABC\nhind the rope. A.P. Reporter\nman, cradled Brady's face and shouted:\nCameraman Henry Brown had protested\nMichael Putzel was trying to ask Reagan\n\"A handkerchief, a handkerchief!\"\nthat the press area had been \"penetrated\"\na question. Brady stepped ahead of Dea-\nDropped in the turmoil, a police pistol\nby people who were \"interfering with our\nver to help field any press queries. Still\nlay incongruously beside Brady's head.\nwork. Replied a man whom Brown as-\nsmiling, Reagan looked past McCarthy,\nMcCarthy had been trained to try to block\nsumed was a Secret Service agent: \"We Il\nDeaver, Brady and Delahanty and at the\nany shots at the President with his own\ntry to do something.' A.P. Radio Reporter\nmilling group behind the rope.\nbody; when the firing began, he turned\nWalter Rodgers pushed his way along the\nThe man in the tan raincoat reached\naway from the limousine toward the as-\nwall, extending his fishpole mike, when he\nout to point a .22-cal. \"Saturday night spe-\nsailant. Hit in the abdomen by a bullet\nheard the young man complain about the\ncial\" at the President. The chambers of\nthat might well have struck the President,\nreporters: \"They ought to get here on time.\nthe revolver contained six Devastator bul-\nMcCarthy whirled away from the gun-\nThey think they can do anything they want.\nlets, designed to explode on impact. He shot\nman and fell prone. Patrolman Delahan-\nDon t let them do that.\"\ntwice, paused, then fired off four more\nty, a bullet lodged in his neck, lay scream-\nReagan left the ballroom stage and\nrounds-all in a scant two seconds.\ning in pain near the rope.\nwalked down a 100-yard carpeted corri-\nAt the first sound of firing, Deaver\nAlong the wall, agents, police officers\ndor that leads to the VIP exit. When he\nducked. The President's grin vanished. He\nand a union member leaped on Hinckley.\nstepped out onto the sidewalk, the drizzle\nlooked startled, bewildered. Instinctively,\nHe struggled furiously for at least 20 sec-\nhad stopped. The President flashed one\nAgent Parr pushed Reagan's head down,\nonds before the gun was wrestled away from\nof his usual jovial smiles as he headed to-\nshoved him hard through the open car\nhim. One agent brandished his Uzi sub-\nward his car, parked 15 ft. from the exit\ndoor. Reagan's head struck the roof of\nmachine gun to emphasize orders to his col-\nand 10 ft. from the press rope. Agent Un-\nthe doorway. Both men landed on the\nleagues as well as to fend off any threat\n26\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\nNation\nfrom the aghast and screaming crowd;\nBrady lost consciousness as he was lift-\nor. Then he started to cough up some\nfor all he knew, it might hold other as-\ned onto a stretcher and placed into the\nblood. My first impression was that some-\nsailants. Another agent, jammed against\nambulance with an oxygen mask clamped\nhow a rib had broken and punctured a\nthe wall in the melee, waved his pistol to-\nto his face. Two more ambulances, their\nlung.\" Reagan had the same mistaken\nward the menacing street. \"Get a police\nsirens wailing, arrived to take Agent Mc-\nidea. He later said: \"It hurt, but I thought\ncar! Get a car!\" cried the men holding\nCarthy and Patrolman Delahanty to sep-\nit was a broken rib.\"\nHinckley. Handcuffing Hinckley and\narate hospitals.\nParr ordered the driver to turn right\nthrowing a jacket over his head, the of-\nand rush toward George Washington\nficers shoved him toward one police car,\nn the President's Lincoln, Reagan pro-\nUniversity Hospital, 1½ miles from the\nbut found the rear door locked. They\ntested: \"Jerry, get off me. You're hurt-\nHilton. By radio Parr advised the Secret\npushed him into a second and sped off to\ning my ribs. You really came down\nService command post at the White\nWashington police headquarters, some 30\nhard on top of me.\" The agent apol-\nHouse: \"Rawhide is heading for George\nblocks away.\nogized and helped Reagan sit upright\nWashington.\" Rawhide is Reagan's apt\nThe three wounded men still lay on\non the rear seat. The car was speeding\nSecret Service code name. His limousine\nthe ground. After five agonizing minutes,\ndown Connecticut Avenue toward the\nis called Stagecoach.\nan orange and white Washington am-\nWhite House. Said Parr later: \"I ran my\nAs Reagan's car pulled up to the hos-\nbulance, parked at the Connecticut Av-\nhands over his body, under his arms, his\npital's emergency entrance, Parr opened\nenue entrance to the hotel, pulled around\nback.\" He detected no wound. The lim-\nthe right rear door and called for help.\ninto the T Street driveway. Paramedic\nousine was less than 15 seconds away\nTwo more agents, following in the bat-\nBobby Montgillion jumped out, ran to\nfrom the Hilton when Reagan said again\ntlewagon, helped the President walk to-\nBrady and grabbed his hand. \"I asked if\nthat his ribs hurt. \"He complained of hav-\nward the entrance. Reagan had gone\nhe knew what was going on,\" recalled\ning some problems with his breathing,\"\nabout 45 ft., said Parr, when he sagged.\nMontgillion. \"He squeezed my hand.\"\nsaid Parr. \"He was getting an ashen col-\n\"He was perhaps going into shock, but I\nCheap Gun, Will Travel\nyears ago, has a sticker on the door that reads GUNS DON'T\nCAUSE CRIME ANY MORE THAN FLIES CAUSE GARBAGE. In\nthe window a red, green, blue and black sign advertises\nT\nhe origins of the 22-cal. revolv-\n22-cal. revolvers for $47.\ner that was used to shoot Pres-\n\"Hinckley did everything required to buy a gun,\" says\nident Reagan are in Sontheim, West\nIsaac \"Rocky\" Goldstein, 70, a cigar-chomping, gray-haired\nGermany. A picturesque town built\nman who has run the shop for 51 years. \"People are going\nalong a tributary of the Danube,\nto blame us for selling the gun that shot the President, but\nSontheim is the home of Röhm\nwe have no way of knowing. We don't even remember him.\"\nGmbH, a 74-year-old firm that\nGoldstein, who also sold the small handguns that were used\nmakes drilling equipment and\nin a series of gang shootings in New York City's China-\ncheap handgun parts. West Ger-\ntown in 1978, has been shaken by events, however, and\nmans have little use for Röhm\nnow says he is considering getting out of the gun business.\nweapons. The country's gun own-\nHinckley purchased the ammunition that was used at an-\nership laws are strict, and the rel-\nother pawn shop, this one in Lubbock, Texas. The type of\natively few people who do qualify\nbullet he chose was interesting-and frightening. The car-\nto possess handguns tend to choose\nGun Seller Goldstein\ntridges were Devastators, made by Bingham Ltd. of Nor-\nbetter-made and more expensive\ncross, Ga. These projectiles, akin to dumdum bullets, con-\nmodels. Thus, most Röhm gun parts-perhaps $1 million\ntain a small aluminum canister filled with an explosive\nworth a year, although company officials refuse to be exact\ncompound. They cost at least twelve times as much as or-\n--are shipped through Bremen and Hamburg to the U.S.,\ndinary 22-cal. slugs.\nwhere there is one pistol for every four citizens, and where\nUpon impact the unstable compound is supposed to ex-\nthere is a flourishing market for cheap \"Saturday night spe-\nplode and fragment the bullet, although most of the ones\ncials.\" Last year the U.S. imported 298,689 foreign hand-\nthat Hinckley shot, including the one that hit Reagan, failed\nguns, most of them from Italy and West Germany, and 3.1\nto do so. Bingham spokesmen say that the Devastator was de-\nmillion gun parts.\nveloped for use by sky marshals in hijacking cases. By frag-\nAmerican law closely regulates the importing of entire\nmenting, the bullet would quickly incapacitate a person but\nguns. But there are far fewer restrictions on bringing in gun\nwould be less likely than an ordinary bullet to pass through\nparts that are then inserted into American-made frames.\nhim or to puncture the outer skin of an airplane. Because of\nRG Industries, Inc., which is partly controlled by Heinrich\nmanufacturing difficulties, the company stopped producing\nand Günter Röhm of the German firm, employs about 200\nthe Devastator last May.\npeople to do that kind of assembly work at a shabby white\nconcrete building in the garment district of northwest Mi-\nTHE DEVASTATOR BULLET\nami. The cheap alloy frame is smoothed with a file and\nthen placed on an assembly line where the barrel and Ger-\nman parts are inserted. Then the metal is tinted a dark\n1\n2\n3\nblue. RG Industries last year sold 190,000 such weapons,\nmaking it the nation's fifth largest handgun producer.\nBecause of its short (13/4-in.) barrel the model RG 14 re-\nAn aluminum canister\nThe \"shock\nvolver that Hinckley used cannot be sold legally in the Miami\ncontaining lead azide,\nsensitive\"\narea. The one that Hinckley bought, serial number L731332,\nan explosive compound,\nlead azide\nwas shipped by Southern Gun distributors of nearby Opa-\nand lacquer sealer is\ncan explode\nLocka, Fla., directly to Rocky's Pawn Shop on Elm Street\ninserted into a small\non impact\nfragmenting\nhole at the top\nthe bullet inside\nin Dallas. This cluttered emporium, only a quarter of a mile\nof the bullet.\nthe body.\nfrom the site where President John Kennedy was shot 17\nTIME. APRIL 13, 1981\n29\nNation\nnever sensed it was life threatening. He\nwife and Reagan's children. Meese sug-\nwas just pale, shook up.\" Only after the\ngested that he and Baker go to the hos-\nagents had lifted Reagan onto the table\nin the trauma unit and scissored off his\nSeriously, Folks\npital. It was a questionable move, since it\nseparated the dominant troika (Meese,\ncoat and shirt did anyone realize that the\nBaker and Deaver) from the Situation\nPresident had been shot.\nThe first reports all said that the Pres-\nW\nhen Nancy Reagan first arrived\nRoom in the White House. Recalled one\nat George Washington University\nparticipant: \"Meese was like a rock. Bak-\nident had escaped harm. Nancy Reagan\nHospital, her husband deadpanned:\ner was shaken.\"\nlearned of the shooting minutes after she\n\"Honey, I forgot to duck.\" The Pres-\nWhile the troika set up a mini-com-\nreturned to the White House from a lun-\nident, a onetime radio sportscaster,\nmand post at the hospital, Haig, Regan,\ncheon meeting. Her own Secret Service es-\nborrowed that line from Prizefighter\nSecretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger\ncorts told her that her husband was at the\nJack Dempsey, who said it to his\nand National Security Adviser Richard\nhospital, but they too were unaware that\nwife in 1926 after losing the world\nAllen moved to the Situation Room in\nhe had been wounded. She reached the\nheavyweight championship to Gene\nthe White House basement. It has elab-\nhospital only minutes after his limousine.\nTunney.\norate communications links to U.S.\nThe White House staff first learned\nThe crack was the first in a bar-\nmilitary commanders and embassies\nof the shooting when David Prosperi, one\nrage of good-humored quips that Rea-\nthroughout the world. CIA Director Wil-\nof Brady's assistants, ran to a Hilton tele-\ngan tossed off after the shooting. The\nliam Casey and Attorney General Wil-\nphone. He reached the White House and\nremarks, made before he had learned\nliam French Smith soon joined the group.\ndemanded to talk to Assistant Press Sec-\nthat other victims had been critically\nOnly Haig had been through a crisis\nretary Larry Speakes, shouting: \"This is\ninjured, did much to reassure his fam-\nin Government before. One of his first\nan emergency!\" To Speakes, Prosperi\nily, his staff and the American public\nacts was to reach Bush. Since the tele-\ncried: \"The President has been shot at!\nthat he was still healthy enough to\nphone link was poor, Haig said that he\nAnd Brady's been shot!\" Speakes quickly\nlaugh. They were also the envy of at\nwould send a wire by a secure radiophone\ntold Staff Director David Gergen. James\nleast one other comedian. Said John-\ntelecopier that Bush should read imme-\nBaker, the White House Chief of Staff,\nny Carson to his audience at Holly-\ndiately. The message: \"Mr. Vice Presi-\nwas sitting in his office when Gergen\nwood's Academy Awards ceremony: \"I\ndent, the President has been struck.\"\nrushed in at 2:30 p.m. to shout: \"Brady's\nwas tempted to call him and ask if he\nAboard the plane, Bush gave the order:\nbeen hit!\"\nhad any more of those one-liners I\n\"We're going to refuel in Austin and go\nPeter Teeley, press secretary to Vice\ncould use.\"\nback.\" Then he wondered aloud: \"How\nPresident George Bush, immediately\nExamples of the President's jests:\ncould anybody want to kill such a kind-\nplaced a radiotelephone call to his boss,\nTo surgeons, as he entered the op-\nhearted man?\"\nwho had just left Fort Worth-Dallas air-\nerating room: \"Please tell me you're\nWhen Bush's plane landed in Austin,\nport aboard Air Force Two after speak-\nRepublicans.\"\nSecret Service agents insisted he stay on\ning to the Texas and Southwestern Cat-\nIn a written note, upon coming out\nboard. Recalled one of his aides there:\ntle Raisers Association. He was on his way\nof anesthesia in the recovery room\n\"The first thing on our minds was secu-\nto Austin to address the Texas legisla-\n(paraphrasing Comedian W.C. Fields):\nrity. If they got the President in Wash-\nture. Teeley told Bush that the President\n\"All in all, I'd rather be in\nington, were they waiting for the Vice\nwas not hurt.\nPhiladelphia.\"\nPresident in Austin?\" Texas Governor\nIn another note, recalling a Winston\nWilliam Clements and his wife visited\naker rushed to tell Presidential\nChurchill observation: \"There's no\nBush as the plane was refueled. Then it\nB\nCounsellor Ed Meese the news;\nmore exhilarating feeling than being\nheaded from Texas back to Washington.\nMeese too had heard it. He had\nshot at without result.\"\nAt 3:10 p.m., some 35 minutes after\npunched a button on 2 Secret Service com-\nIn a third note: \"Send me to\nthe Secret Service had learned that Rea-\nputer that tracks the President; it showed\nL.A., where I can see the air I'm\ngan had been shot, the White House final-\nthat Reagan was at the hospital. Both\nbreathing.\"\nly informed the press of the injury. That\nhurried to the White House residence to\nIn yet another note written while\ndelay, and others that followed, contrib-\ninform Nancy but discovered that she was\nsurrounded by medical staff: \"If I had\nuted to a sense of confusion as television\nalready on her way to the hospital. Back\nthis much attention in Hollywood, I'd\nnetworks, breaking off regular program-\nin his office, Baker took a telephone call\nhave stayed there.\"\nming, struggled to sift fact from rumor.\nfrom Deaver at the hospital. The Pres-\nComplimented by a doctor for be-\nident was not wounded, said Deaver, but\ning a good patient: \"I have to be. My\naig contributed to the tension when,\nBrady was badly hurt. \"Oh, Jesus!\" ex-\nfather-in-law is a doctor.\"\nH\nwith the best of intentions, he sought\nclaimed Meese, listening on an extension.\nTo an attentive nurse: \"Does Nan-\nto clear up any potential confusion\nPresidential Aide David Fischer took over\ncy know about us?\"\nabout whether the U.S. Government was\nthe telephone at the hospital to keep the\nTo a nurse who told him to \"keep\nfunctioning, particularly among Ameri-\nline open. Secretary of State Alexander\nup the good work\" of his recovery:\nca's allies-and enemies-abroad. He\nHaig called Baker on another phone to\n\"You mean this may happen several\nwas in the Situation Room about 4 p.m.\nask about the shooting. \"I will keep you\nmore times?\"\nwhen Speakes gave reporters in the White\nadvised,\" said Baker. Two minutes later,\nTo Daughter Maureen: The at-\nHouse a brief explanation of Reagan's\nDeaver was on the hospital phone, speak-\ntempted assassination \"ruined one of\npresurgery treatment at the hospital.\ning in somber tones. Then Reagan's per-\nmy best suits.\"\nWhile TV cameras caught the scene,\nsonal physician, Dr. Daniel Ruge, came\nGreeting White House aides the\nSpeakes was asked, \"If the President goes\non to deliver the bad news: the President\nmorning after surgery: \"Hi, fellas.\ninto surgery and goes under anesthesia,\nhad been hit after all.\nI knew it would be too much to\nwould Vice President Bush become the\nIn rapid succession, Treasury Secre-\nhope that we could skip a staff\nacting President at the moment or under\ntary Donald Regan-whose department\nmeeting.\"\nwhat circumstances does he?\" Replied\nincludes the Secret Service-Haig and\nWhen told by Aide Lyn Nofziger\nSpeakes, who was not prepared for the\nothers joined the group of White House\nthat the Government was running nor-\nquestion: \"I cannot answer that question\nstaffers in Baker's office. Initially, there\nmally: \"What makes you think I'd be\nat this time.\" Watching, Haig sent a note\nwas little talk of military alerts or pro-\nhappy about that?\"\nto Speakes. It said, in effect: \"Get off the\nviding for a transfer of power; they dis-\nair.\" The delivery of the note alarmed\ncussed such matters as notifying Brady's\nreporters present, particularly when\n30\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\nNation\nSpeakes understandably refused to dis-\nReagan had gone horseback riding at\nclose its contents and left the rostrum.\nQuantico.\nHaig felt that any uncertainty over\nwho was in charge could be dangerous.\n\"Part of the Job\"\nEarly Tuesday morning, Reagan asked\nabout the man who had shot him, phras-\nHe rushed upstairs to the briefing room\ning the question in his usual casual man-\nand tried to convey a sense of calm. In-\nstead. he was perspiring, his voice shook,\nS\nhould Ronald Reagan, once he re-\nner: \"Does anybody know what that guy's\ncovers, change his style and min-\nbeef was?\" Later in the day, Dr. Ruge told\nand his hands trembled. He assured re-\ngle less with the public to minimize\nReagan for the first.time that three others\nporters that there was no command va-\nthe risk of possible future attempts\nhad been wounded. Said Reagan: \"That\ncancy, that communications were open\non his life? Certainly not, says a man\nmeans four bullets hit, good Lord.\" He\nwith the Vice President, and that no spe-\nwho should know: former President\nwondered if the gunman had fired delib-\ncial military-alert measures were neces-\nGerald Ford. Within a span of only\nerately at the others or whether they had\nsary. But then he blundered. Asked,\n17 days in 1975, two women, Lynette\nbeen struck by shots aimed at him. \"I didn it\n\"Who's making the decisions?\" he replied:\n(\"Squeaky\") Fromme and Sara Jane\nwant a supporting cast,\" he said. His eyes\n\"Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have\nMoore, tried to shoot Ford in Cal-\nfilled with tears as he talked about the oth-\nthe President, the Vice President and the\nifornia. Last week he shared his\ners. \"I guess it goes with the territory,' he\nSecretary of State in that order and should\nthoughts on the dangers of the pres-\nsaid sadly.\nthe President decide he wants to transfer\nidency with TIME West Coast Bu-\nAs news of the shooting flashed\nthe helm to the Vice President, he will\nreau Chief Ben Cate. After the two\naround the world, many nations ex-\ndo so. He has not done that. As of now, I\nincidents in 1975, said Ford, \"I didn't\npressed sympathy for the President but\nam in control here, in the White House,\nchange my style, and I don't think\npredictably criticized the American ten-\npending return of the Vice President.\"\nany President should.\" To do so, he\ndency toward mayhem. \"I pray your in-\nThat, of course, is not the constitu-\nsaid, would be to \"capitulate to the\njuries are not serious,\" cabled Britain's\ntional order of succession; both the Speak-\nwrong forces in the country.\"\nPrime Minister Margaret Thatcher. West\ner of the House and the President pro tem\nThe ever-present threat of assas-\nGerman Chancellor Helmut Schmidt re-\nof the Senate, as elected officials, rank\nsination is \"part of the job-the peril\nlayed his \"deep houror,\" and Egyptian\nahead of the Secretary of State. Perhaps\nof the profession, if you will,\" said\nPresident Anwar Sadat his \"extreme\nrealizing his mistake, Haig was annoyed\nFord. \"There's no way you can get\nshock and sorrow.\" Japan's largest daily,\nminutes later when Weinberger interrupt-\n100% security unless you sit in the\nYomiuri Shimbun, said the attack \"proves\ned Haig's discussion in the Situation\nWhite House immunized. But you\nthat violence is deep-rooted in U.S. soil.\"\nRoom about the succession provisions of\ncan't isolate yourself. The job entails\nWest Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine\nthe 25th Amendment. With a slight edge\ncertain responsibilities. One of those\nZeitung charged that America is \"a coun-\nin his voice, Weinberger said jokingly,\nresponsibilities is moving around see-\ntry of pistols on hips.\" Soviet President\n\"Al, we already heard you explain your\ning people and appearing in public.\nLeonid Brezhnev expressed his \"indigna-\nview of the Constitution.\" Haig stopped\nIf you're in the job, you have to ac-\ntion\" at \"this criminal act\" and wished\nand glared at the Defense Secretary. \"You\ncept that gamble.\"\nReagan \"a full and speedy recovery.\"\nshould check the Constitution,\" Haig re-\nMeanwhile the Communist Party youth\nplied. Everyone in the room sensed the\nnewspaper, Komsomolskaya Pravda, de-\ntension. Then the moment passed.\npicted the U.S. as a society \"where terror\nwhisked into a U.S. district courtroom to\nis a phenomenon of daily life.\" And Iran's\nar more soothing to a wondering na-\nbe charged formally with the attempted as-\nAyatullah Ruhollah Khomeini said about\nF\ntion was the surprisingly agile and\nsassination of the President, a crime car-\nReagan, even before he knew the Pres-\narticulate medical briefing at George\nrying a maximum life sentence upon con-\nident was not seriously hurt: \"We are not\nWashington University Hospital. It was\nviction, and assaulting a federal officer.\ngoing to mourn for him.\"\ngiven by Dr. Dennis O'Leary, a former\nBefore dawn, he was moved into a small\nAbroad, as in the U.S., there was a\nMarine major who has taught medicine\nprison cell at the Marine Correctional Fa-\nsense of déjà vu. \"Oh no, not again!\" said\nat George Washington since 1973 and is\ncility in Quantico, Va. Just two weeks ago\na man in Helsinki as he picked up a news-\nnow dean for clinical\npaper at a kiosk. A news-\naffairs. Handling repet-\npaper in Athens charged\nitive and sometimes\nthat-what else?-the\ninane questions with\nCIA was responsible.\nprecision and amiability,\nAt home, former\nO'Leary insisted that the\nPresidential Candidate\nPresident \"was at no\nJohn Anderson declared\ntime in any serious dan-\nthat \"we are all dimin-\nger. He has a clear head\nished, we are all de-\nand should be able\nmeaned, by an act of vi-\nto make decisions by\nolence of that kind. The\ntomorrow.\"\nWall Street Journal ob-\nAt Washington po-\nserved in an editorial\nlice headquarters, Hinck-\nthat \"the forces that\nley, sweating but mostly\nmove men to violence\nsilent, was held in a third-\nseem to be on the up-\nfloor homicide squad\nsurge\" and \"we are dis-\nroom while federal and\nmayed at our impotence\nlocal officials decided\nbefore them.\" Noted the\nwho had jurisdiction in\nLos Angeles Times:\nhis case. The feds won,\n\"Doctors said\nthat he\nand Hinckley was photo-\nwas in stable condition.\ngraphed and fingerprint-\nThe country is not.\" Ad-\ned by the FBI. At\nmiration for the Presi-\n11:52 p.m. the heavily\nSarah Brady, at left of Bush (with notebook), outside her husband's hospital room\ndent's courage and calm\nguarded Hinckley was Said a shocked and tearful President: \"I didn t want a supporting cast.\"\nunder fire, as well as for\nTIME. APRIL 13. 1981\n37\nNation\nthe vitality of his 70-year-old physique,\nber, and that someone was expecting him\nhis own life. Agent Parr too was com-\nwas widespread but not universal. At the\nin the city just before the shooting. In\nplimented for his fast reaction. Contended\nAcademy Central School in Tulsa, a few\nHinckley's hotel room, police and FBI\none veteran agent: \"Everyone did exact-\nstudents clapped and cheered when they\nagents found clippings from a Dec. 10 ar-\nly what he was supposed to do. It was\nheard news of the assassination attempt.\nticle in the Washington Post. The next\nlike watching a training film.\"\nFormer President Carter praised the\nday Reagan visited the Hilton to address\nStill, how did the gunman get so close?\nSecret Service and said the assault showed\na meeting convened by the American En-\nHe carried no press credentials, which ac-\nagain the need for gun control. A sur-\nterprise Institute, a conservative think\ncredited reporters and cameramen wear\nprising possible convert to that cause was\ntank. Reagan left the hotel through the\nabout their necks and are supposed to\nSouth Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond,\nsame exit he used when Hinckley tried\nkeep visible at all times. The Secret Ser-\nwho said he is at least willing to consider\nto kill him. Agents so far have been un-\nvice insists there was no intention to cre-\nbanning the importation of parts for Sat-\nable to trace the two calls Hinckley made\nate a closed press area at the Hilton site.\nurday night specials. Senator Edward\nafter checking into the Park Central. Ho-\nThe spectators were not considered in-\nKennedy said he would again propose leg-\ntel employees said two calls were made\ntruders. Why was not the presidential car\nislation to outlaw totally the manufacture\nto his room. One was a wrong number\nparked directly in front of the exit, in-\nand sale of that type of gun. But Carter\n-a woman trying to reach a relative who\nstead of 15 ft. away? The Service claimed\nnoted that members of Congress \"didn't\nwas registered elsewhere in the hotel. The\nthat the positioning permitted a faster exit\nmove after 1963. They didn't move\nand was normal. \"They are wrong,\"\nwhen George Wallace was attacked.\ninsists TIME Photographer Dirck\nAnd they didn't move after Bobby\nHalstead. \"I've covered that exit\nKennedy was killed. These guns that\nmany times, and the President's car\nare only used to kill someone, not for\nwas always right in front of it.\"\nhunting, ought to be regulated, but I\nSecret Service Chief H. Stuart\npredict they won't be.\"\nKnight indirectly criticized the FBI\nWithin moments of Hinckley's\nfor failing to inform the Service that\narrest the FBI dispatched its agents\nHinckley had been arrested at the\nto weave a net of evidence that would\nNashville airport for carrying three\nform the legal case against him. They\nhandguns in his briefcase on Oct. 9.\nfound the unmailed letter to Jodie\nOn that day Jimmy Carter had been\nFoster in his Washington hotel room\nin the city to make a campaign\n-a note that amounted to a highly\nspeech at the Grand Ole Opry house.\nexplicit confession. The investigators\nYet there was no evidence that\nalso found a tape recording of tele-\nTHERE AINT NO REPUBLICANS OR\nHinckley had been tracking Carter.\nphone conversations between Hinck-\nDEMOCRATS NOW WE ARE ALL FAMILY\nSpirited into a helicopter at the\nley and a woman who might have\nGET WELL QUICK RON\nQuantico base by FBI agents, who\nbeen Foster; it is possible that Hinck-\nmade him bend over and run, Hinck-\nWE\nNEED\nYOU!\nley made the calls anonymously.\nAmerica\nley late last week was flown to an\nThrust innocently into a national\nArmy post near Washington. There\nspotlight she had not sought, the ac-\nhe was transferred to a limousine\ntress held a news conference at Yale\nand brought in handcuffs to a fed-\nto confirm that she had received\neral courtroom under security so tight\nmany \"unsolicited\" love notes from\nthat even the clerk of court had to\nHinckley. None had mentioned the\nshow identification. A paramedic with\nPresident, she said, and none had\nan oxygen tank sat behind Hinckley\ncontained any hints of violence.\nin the courtroom. A court-appointed\nBut the letters became so persistent\npsychiatrist, Dr. James L. Evans, tes-\nthat last month she gave the ones\ntified that his three-hour examination\nshe had not earlier destroyed to her\nof Hinckley showed he was \"mentally\ncollege dean. He turned them over\ncompetent to stand trial.\" District\nto campus police, who found noth-\nA message to Reagan on the wall of a Washington factory\nCourt Chief Judge William B. Bry-\ning in them that would warrant\n\"Guns that are only used to kill ought to be registered.'\nant ordered that the suspect be ex-\nwarning anyone else about Hinckley.\namined further to establish his men-\nThe FBI now has these letters.\nother was from an unidentified woman\ntal condition. Hinckley's family had hired\nDemonstrating the importance of reg-\nwho asked for Hinckley by name.\nthe firm headed by Defense Attorney Ed-\nistering handgun sales, the Treasury De-\nward Bennett Williams to represent their\npartment's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco\nhe rapidity of the shots fired at the\nson; the lawyers argued that any such ex-\nand Firearms within minutes discovered\nT\nHilton made it difficult for the FBI\namination should be done first by defense-\nwhere Hinckley had purchased the weap-\nto pinpoint the sequence of the mul-\nchosen experts. Bryant denied the request\non: at Rocky's Pawn Shop in Dallas. If\ntiple wounding. Studying the video tapes\nbut assured defense attorneys that their\nHinckley had somehow eluded capture,\nand the ballistics evidence, the FBI ten-\npsychiatrists would have \"equal access\"\ntracing this sale would have given the FBI\ntatively concluded that Reagan was hit\nto Hinckley.\nthe gunman's identity.\nafter he had been doubled over by Agent\nFinally John W. Hinckley Jr. was\nFBI agents are convinced that there\nParr and was being pushed into his car.\nflown by helicopter to the Federal Correc-\nwas no plot, no conspiracy and that\nIn a freak bit of chance, the bullet ap-\ntional Institution in Butner, N.C., where\nHinckley had acted on his own. None-\nparently bounced off the car's window\npsychiatric examinations could take up to\ntheless, they were busy tracing his past\nframe and through the narrow gap be-\nthree months. The legal question may turn\nconnections with the Chicago-based Na-\ntween the open door and the car body.\nout to be whether he was sane at the time of\ntional Socialist Party of America. A neo-\nBut had the Secret Service done all it\nthe crime. The larger question for the U.S.\nNazi group, it claims to have expelled him\ncould to protect the President? As con-\nwas whether the course of its history must\nin 1979 for being \"too militant.\" Agents\ngressional committees began a series of\ncontinue to be influenced by the mental\nwere also puzzling over evidence suggest-\npost-assault probes, there was lavish\nmisfits in its midst.\n-By Magnuson.\ning that the suspect may have been stalk-\npraise for Agent McCarthy, who had\nReported by Douglas Brew and Johanna\ning Reagan in Washington last Decem-\nstepped into the line of fire at the risk of\nMcGeary/Washington\n38\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\nAn Interview with Nancy Reagan\nWhat had to be done at that moment\nwas an exploration for abdominal bleed-\ning. Nancy's recollections now rush out.\n\"All you 're thinking is you 've got to hold yourself together\n\"They put me in a tiny, tiny little room,\nreally tiny, no window, and it was hot.\nControl. Along with\nWhen she arrived outside the emer-\nThere were so many people running back\ncool charm, good looks\ngency room she was at first informed, by\nand forth in the halls, police and doctors\nand an obsessive desire\nMike Deaver, that Reagan had been\nand a lot of noise, a lot of people shout-\nto walk in her hus-\nwounded, but only slightly. Her worry es-\ning, 'Get back, get out of the way.' Then\nband's shadow, control\ncalated slowly. Moments later, doctors\nshe went to the hospital chapel to say a\nis a buttress of Nancy Reagan's persona.\ntold them that it was more serious than\nprayer and weep a little.\nThat willed restraint is visible in hurly-\nDeaver had thought, and she saw her pale,\nNancy and the man she still insists\nburly crowd scenes, in interviews that usu-\nprostrate husband.\non calling Ronnie have been as close as\nally leave reporters unsatisfied and on the\nWhat did she feel? Fear? Anger?\nany couple can be in politics. She travels\nrare occasions when she speaks from a\n\"There's an unreal kind of feeling It's\nwith him constantly, she fusses over small\nplatform. And the control is there just four\nhard to describe. There's an unrealness\ndetails of his care and feeding, she casts\ndays after the attempt on her husband's\nto it Nancy Reagan gropes for words,\nlooks of adoration or amusement, as the\nlife as she greets a correspondent in\nNAMEE\nscene demands. Now, in the worst mo-\nthe East Wing sitting room on the sec-\nments of their 29-year marriage, she\nond floor of the White House. The\nwas demoted to spectator. That passed\nchamber has been Reaganized. There\nin a few hours. The day after, she was\nare two jars of jelly beans and a dish\nbringing him jelly beans and his slip-\nof bonbons. A pair of massive tradi-\npers. She also accompanied the White\ntional sofas has come cross country\nHouse physician, Daniel Ruge, when\nfrom their former home in Pacific\nhe told Reagan that Jim Brady had\nPalisades.\nbeen seriously wounded. Reagan\nThe First Lady's friends say that\nturned teary-eyed at the news.\nshe feels \"guilty\" about being else-\nwhere* when the slug tore into Rea-\nA\nIl week two schools of thought were\ngan's left side. She has spent the week\nin conflict: a concession that at-\nvisiting hospital rooms-the Presi-\ntacks on the President are inevitable\ndent's and those of the three men shot\nvs. outraged demands that something\nwith him. She has been consoling Sar-\n--anything-be done. Reagan's eldest\nah Brady, knowing that a slight change\nchild, Maureen, went on television to\nin the angle of the gun barrel could\npronounce her angry demand that vi-\nhave laid Reagan as low as Jim Bra-\nolence be quelled by public indigna-\ndy, or worse.\ntion. Where does Nancy stand? \"I\nBut her smile is as warm as the sun-\nguess I'm somewhere in between\nshine that engulfs the room. In a beige\nthere.\" Her composure is back and for\ntweed skirt and tasteful silk blouse,\nonce she ventures into what she usu-\nwith every dark blond hair in place\nally pretends is terra incognita for her,\nand her huge hazel eyes clear, Nan-\npublic policy. The excursion is signaled\ncy Reagan looks as much like spring\nwith an apologetic little laugh. \"You\nas the tulips and hyacinths that fes-\nknow, I'd be happier if they didn't\ntoon the room. And when she starts\nmake the violent movies that they\ntalking, the control is there. No, she\nmake and maybe titillate people who\nhad not worried much about physical\nare not mentally stable. I'd be hap-\nassault, not any more. Reagan had\npier if sentences\nif people were\nbeen threatened frequently while Gov-\nbrought to trial more quickly and if\nernor in Sacramento; in 1968 a se-\nthe whole thing [criminal justice] were\ncurity man shot at someone trying to\ntightened up. I think that would cer-\nfire-bomb the Governor's residence.\ntainly be an improvement.\"\n\"It was the tenor of the times,\" she\nWhat about the ubiquity of psy-\nsays of that period. \"But during the\nchopaths and firearms? The answer is\npast campaign, and certainly since\nThe First Lady bringing jelly beans to the hospital\nrapid: \"You know Ronnie's position.\nthe election, the only thing we felt\nIn between the concessions and the demands.\nHe just doesn't believe that's where the\nwas such warmth and affection that\nproblem is.\" In fact, she notes, Rea-\n[fear of attack] wasn't up front.\"\nsomething rare for her. Usually she dis-\ngan mentioned his continued opposition\nmisses an unwelcome question politely, as\nto gun control to several visitors in his hos-\nH\ner restraint begins to dissolve as she\nif it were a boring suitor. This time she\npital room.\ngoes over the events of Bloody Mon-\nseems as interested in finding the answer\nHer husband's convalescence will\nday. She was on the third floor of the man-\nas the reporter is.\ndominate Nancy Reagan's next several\nsion, in guest quarters that are still being\n\"You're frightened, sure,\" she says\nweeks. Eventually there will be trips and\nrenovated, when a Secret Service agent\nfinally. \"Of course you're frightened, es-\npublic appearances. Maybe she will nag\ntold her: \"There has been a shooting. The\npecially because he was having trouble\nReagan about wearing a bulletproof vest,\nPresident has not been hit, but he is at\nbreathing. But it just seemed so unreal.\nas he occasionally did during the pres-\nthe hospital.\" She decided to leave im-\nAnd I guess you\nmust\ngo\ninto\na\nsort\nidential campaign. But will they be able\nmediately, even though, as she recalls it,\nof a\nto go into crowds comfortably again?\nshe was told, \"It is such bedlam there, so\nThe thought trails off. She sighs.\n\"Well, I don't know how it's going to feel\nmuch confusion, maybe it would be\nShe hugs herself with both arms as\nthe first time. I don't know. It really comes\nbetter if you stayed here a while.\"\nif to feel the image before she speaks\ndown to this: you have a job to do and\nit. \"Then all you're thinking is\nyou do it the best you can. Time will tell\n*Mrs. Reagan had attended a luncheon at the\nyou've got to hold yourself together\nif it's going to be harder.\" Certainly Nan-\nGeorgetown home of Michael Ainsley, president of\nthe National Trust for Historic Preservation. She re-\nand not be a bother to anybody so that\ncy Reagan will need all the control she\nturned to the White House minutes before the attack.\nthey can do whatever has to be done.\"\nhas.\n-By Laurence 1. Barrett\nTIME. APRIL 13. 1981\n39\nThe stalker at his quarry's home: an undated photograph of John W. Hinckley Jr. sitting outside the White House grounds\nA Drifter Who Stalked Success\nand a swimming pool out back.\nHe was not a troublesome teen-ager\nor even a loner. Indeed, in the seventh\n\"Something happened to that boy in the last six years\"\nand ninth grades he was elected presi-\ndent of his home room, and as an eighth-\nIt cannot be said fairly\nHinckley Sr. took a job in Dallas, 100\ngrader managed the basketball team.\nthat John Warnock\nmiles south. The growing family was\nJohn Hinckley was no aloof oddball then.\nHinckley Jr., 25, was\ngood-looking and healthy and Protestant,\nSays his junior-high friend Kirk Dooley:\ndestined for infamy.\nand all five settled down to life in Uni-\n\"No one rooted louder than Hinckley for\nHe is accused of a\nversity Park, a moneyed Dallas suburb of\nthe Highland Park Red Raiders.\"\nshooting that, perhaps even to him, is a\nbroad lawns and handsome houses. The\nBy 1970 John's father had amassed\nsurprise; the first openly extraordinary act\nHinckleys are \"a fine Christian family,\"\ncapital of $120,000 and set up his own oil\nof his life. This son of Sunbelt affluence\naccording to one friend, and regular\nexploration business. Hinckley Oil, now\n-blond, blue-eyed, with the fleshy good\nchurchgoers; it was fitting that their first\nknown as Vanderbilt Energy Corp., af-\nlooks of a country club lay-about-had\nhome in Dallas was a former parsonage.\nfirmed the man's entrepreneurial mettle.\nnever been outwardly quirky or unpleas-\nScott, now 32, ever the good eldest child,\nAnd Son Scott, an engineering major at\nant. His unremarkability. confounds the\nsought and won parental approbation;\nVanderbilt University, would soon join his\ndesire for tidy, comforting explanations.\nDiane, now 28, was exceptionally blond\ndad's wildcat enterprise.\nSays a family friend: \"There but for the\nand pretty in a neighborhood of blond,\nIn the fall of 1970, John Jr. began\ngrace of God goes anyone's kid.\" Beverly\npretty little girls; and John, never a prob-\nclasses at Highland Park High School,\nMcBeath was no friend at Highland Park\nlem, joined the Y.M.C.A.'s Indian Guides\nwhere his sister was a senior. That year\n(Texas) High School, but she speaks for\nand distinguished himself in grammar-\nDiane Hinckley apparently burst forth as\nall her schoolmates when she recalls that\nschool sports. Recalls Jim Francis, John's\na campus star; she performed in a school\nJohn Hinckley was \"so normal he ap-\nbasketball coach for three\noperetta, she was head\npeared to fade into the woodwork.\" None-\nyears during elementary\ncheerleader, homecoming\ntheless, some time in the barren years\nschool: \"He was a beau-\nqueen candidate, vice\nsince his 1973 graduation from high\ntiful-looking little boy, a\npresident of the choir,\nschool, Hinckley went beyond mere or-\nwonderful athlete, really a\nmember of both the stu-\ndinariness. His solitude and fecklessness\nleader. He was the best\ndent council and the A-\nbecame chronic, and he started drifting:\nbasketball player on the\nstudents' National Honor\nto seedy neighborhoods in Los Angeles\nteam.\" No wonder the fa-\nSociety. There are at least\nand Denver, toward fascism, and then to\nther of such a child, told\nten pictures of her in the\nhis climactic infatuations with handguns\nyears later that his son was\nyearbook, which cited her\nand a teen-age movie star. Says his fa-\nbeing held as an assassin,\nas one of the class's eight\nther's business associate Clarence Neth-\nwould scowl in disbelief:\n\"favorites.\" She was a for-\nerland: \"Something happened to that boy\n\"It had to be a stolen ID.\"\nmidable sibling presence\nin the last six to eight years to break him\nIn 1966 the Hinckleys\nfor Sophomore John.\nfrom the family tradition and the family\ntraded up: they moved to\nDuring his junior year\nlife-style.\" In fact, John Hinckley's past\nHighland Park, the neigh-\nJohn was a member of the\nyears seem not to constitute a break so\nborhood-of-choice for\ncivic affairs club, and as a\nmuch as Hollywood's slow fade to black.\nhaute Dallas. The house\nsenior he was in the Ro-\nJohn Jr. was Jack and JoAnn Hinck-\non Beverly Drive where\ndeo Club, which organized\nley's last child. He was born on May 29,\nJohn Jr. spent the years\nbarbecues; square dances\n1955. in the southern Oklahoma town of\nof his adolescence is\nand junkets to rodeos. In\nArdmore, where his father worked as a\nlarge, with a sweeping\nhis yearbook John's roster\npetroleum engineer. Two years later\ncircular driveway in front Hinckley in a recent ID photo\nof activities was scanty but\n40\nTIME. APRIL 13, 1981\nunembarrassing. just as his senior-picture\nmember of the sect for more than a year.\nhair length seemed perfectly median, nei-\nand in March 1978 marched in a Nazi pa-\nther long nor short. Bill Lierman. the\nrade in St. Louis. Allen claims they kicked\nRodeo Club's sponsor, recalled nothing\nHinckley out in 1979. Allen's explanation:\nuntoward. Says Lierman: \"He wasn't a\n\"When somebody comes to us and starts\nrowdy. He got along fine with all the\nadvocating shooting people, it's a natural\nkids.\" And a sampling of schoolmates'\nreaction: the guy's either a nut or a federal\nreminiscences shows a consensus. David\nagent.\" Hinckley was a voracious reader\nWildman. the basketball captain, calls\nof newspapers, so it is logical that his af-\nhim \"a middle-of-the-roader.\"\nfiliation with the Nazis began in early\nOnly Sally Bentley, 26, disputes the\n1978: it was then that a spate of national\nhazy image of genial blandness. \"He was\nnews stories appeared about the National\nwell known because his sister was well\nSocialists, mostly involving their planned\nknown,\" says the woman. \"John was\nmarches through the heavily Jewish com-\nmousy. His sister was friendly and cute\nmunity of Skokie, III.\nand alive. I thought he was sour about\nthat. John never did anything outstanding\nA\nfter more than a year's hiatus from\nor memorable.\"\nTexas Tech-a period of deepening\nLubbock, dry and bleak, is 318 miles\ndisturbance for Hinckley-he registered\nfrom Dallas on the flat cap rock of west\nfor classes in September 1979. He also be-\nTexas. The population is 180,000, and\ngan his acquisition of firearms with a .38-\n22.000 are Texas Tech students. John\ncal. pistol, purchased in Lubbock, where\nHinckley Jr. was one of them, a business\na year later he bought two new .22 pis-\nmajor, as of September 1973. He never fin-\ntols at a pawnshop. When the 1980 sum-\nished. but over the next seven years\nmer session ended, Hinckley left Texas\nHinckley attended classes more than half\nTech for good to begin his last addled\nthe time. By 1977 he had dropped business\nramble around the country. His path\nin favor of liberal arts and earned at least\nseems one of accelerating aimlessness and\na B average-good enough to be on the\nJodie Foster as prostitute in TaxiDriver\nfragmentation.\ndean's list. But once away from home, he\nA desperate, deluded infatuation.\nHinckley found himself in New Ha-\nmade not even a token effort to fashion a\nven, Conn., in September-within days\nsocial life. Says a Texas Tech spokesman:\njust before Hinckley left for Los Angeles.\nafter Foster's matriculation at Yale-and\n\"We can't find a single university-recog-\nThe film, according to a synopsis, con-\nboasted to strangers that they were lovers.\nnized activity he participated in.\"\ncerns \"a loner incapable of communicat-\nIn October he returned to New Haven\ning,\" who \"usually spends his off hours\nand left several notes for Foster at her\nn 1975, John's parents moved to Ever-\neating junk food or sitting alone in a dingy\ndormitory.\ngreen. Colo., a Ponderosa town some\nroom.\" When the protagonist is scorned\nA few days later, Hinckley was ar-\n25 miles outside Denver. It is that city's\nby Foster's character, he mails her a letter\nrested-and promptly released on $50\nchoicest mountain suburb: a place of\nand sets out to kill a presidential candi-\nbond-at Nashville Airport as he at-\nsteep. piney cul-de-sacs and well-to-do\ndate. The coincidences are powerful and\ntempted to board a flight for New York\nplacidity. On some of his periodic sabbat-\ngiven credence by a letter that Scriptwrit-\nCity: in his carry-on luggage were three\nicals from Texas Tech, John Jr. alighted\ner Paul Schrader got last fall-from J.W.\nhandguns and 50 rounds of ammunition.\nat the new family home, and while there\nHinckley. Schrader told TIME he thought\nAlthough President Carter was making a\nhe often loitered at the local high school,\nthe letter was from a smitten groupie who\ncampaign appearance in Nashville the\npresumably seeking companionship.\nwanted to meet Foster, and he had his sec-\nsame day, the Secret Service was never\nNot a single pal or girlfriend has\nretary throw it away.\ntold of Hinckley's airport arrest. This may\nturned up from those seven sketchy years\nHinckley returned to Texas Tech dur-\nbe the first clear, though unheeded, sig-\nat Texas Tech. His few acquaintances re-\ning 1977, but his enrollment lapsed again\nnal of Hinckley as stalker.\ncall Hinckley as an expressionless blank.\nduring 1978. It was then that he began his\nFour days later in Dallas he bought a\nStill he caused no alarm. Says German\nflirtation with Nazism. According to Mi-\npair of .22-cal. revolvers at a pawnshop.\nHistory Professor Otto Nelson: \"I never\nchael Allen, president of the National So-\nWithin a week Hinckley had surfaced in\npicked up anything unusual or bizarre\ncialist Party of America, Hinckley was a\nDenver, where he applied for jobs at two\nabout him. He never asked a thing in\nclass.\" (Hinckley did, however, choose to\nspecialize: one paper focused on Hitler's\nMein Kampf. his other on Auschwitz.)\nSays Mark Swafford, one of his Lubbock\nlandlords: \"I only saw him with another\nhuman being one time.\" Hinckley's stu-\ndent life was a sad, remote vigil. \"Every-\nwhere there were empty bags from ham-\nburger joints and cartons of ice cream,\"\nsays Swafford. \"He just sat there the whole\ntime. staring at the TV.\"\nIn late 1976 Hinckley went to Califor-\nnia. He intended, John Sr. told a friend, to\n\"crash Hollywood.\" He ended up at How-\nard's Weekly Apartments, in the seamy\nSelma Avenue district of Los Angeles-a\nstreet market for whores, drugs and every\nkind of sleaze. Perhaps during this period\nHinckley developed his obsession with\nActress Jodie Foster. Consider the plot\nparallels of the movie Taxi Driver, star-\nring Foster as a prostitute and released\nCedar and moss-rock Hinckley home in Evergreen, Colo., a Denver suburb\nTIME. APRIL 13. 1981\n41\nNation\nnewspapers, claiming to one that he had\njust finished a month of classes at Yale. A\nThose Dangerous Loners\nfew weeks later, in a Denver suburb, he at-\ntended two meetings of the right-wing\nNational Association for Constitutional\n\"I\nmust have fame, fame!\" cried John Wilkes Booth, and then established him-\nGovernment. In December, the FBI sus-\nself as the first of the modern American assassins. Though full of fustian\npects, Hinckley visited Washington, but\nabout his love for the Confederacy (he managed to avoid fighting for it, or even\nin January he was back in the Denver\nliving in it, during the Civil War), Booth was clear-headed and precise about\narea, where, on Reagan's first full day in\nthe psychic rewards and second-hand renown that come with dispatching a fa-\noffice, Hinckley bought a .38-cal. revolv-\nmous man. \"What a glorious opportunity for a man to immortalize himself by kill-\ner. In February he returned to New\ning Abraham Lincoln!\" he remarked two years before his crime.\nHaven a third time, and then perhaps to\nLike Booth and unlike most assassins elsewhere in the\nWashington.\nworld, Americans who try to kill the famous are engaged pri-\nBy the first of March, Hinckley was\nmarily in psychodrama rather than political drama. They do\nagain in New Haven; he delivered more\nnot seem to care much whether their victim belongs to the\nmissives to Foster. Back in Denver a week\nleft or the right. Arthur Bremer, who crippled George Wal-\nlater, he checked into a shabby motel.\nlace, thought first of killing George McGovern. Lee Harvey\nSays one of the motel's maids: \"He didn't\nOswald apparently shot at General Edwin Walker, a right-\nsay much, but he was nice to everyone\nwing fanatic, before killing President Kennedy. Giuseppe\n--just a clean-cut, good-living kid.\" In his\nZangara, who took aim at President-elect Franklin D. Roo-\nfirst days in Denver he applied for a job\nsevelt in 1933 (accidentally killing the mayor of Chicago),\nat a record shop and pawned his type-\nsaid that he would just as soon have killed Herbert Hoover.\nwriter and electric guitar.\nMost, but not all, American assassins fit this group por-\nOn March 25, Hinckley flew to Los\nOswald\ntrait: a young white male, a failure and a drifter, unloved and\nAngeles via Salt Lake City, and the next\nunloving; sexually dissatisfied, he has little or no contact with\nday boarded a bus headed back to Salt\nwomen. Ordinary murderers often come from violent homes or were violent as\nLake City-and on to Washington, D.C.\nyoungsters. But the assassins are deceptively calm, even passive. The pattern is\nthat of shy, well-behaved, often mousy loners, whose efforts to control themselves\nF\nor perhaps the past six months, John\nsucceed, until pressures explode in an assassination attempt.\nHinckley was under sporadic treat-\nMost assassins seem to have been the equivalent of \"model prisoners\" in their\nment by Evergreen Psychiatrist John\nown families, diminished by a powerful parent, unable to express themselves or\nHopper. No one but Dr. Hopper may be\nlet out their normal aggressive and sexual feelings. When the demons inside final-\nequipped to sketch a psychiatric profile\nly burst through, an ordinary victim would not do. The target had to be as far\nof Reagan's attacker. But particularly af-\nabove the average citizen as the parent was above the assassin-son.\nter the release of the final letter that\nMany have zigzagged from city to city, partly to stalk their targets in an eery\nHinckley wrote to Foster, many psychi-\ndance of death-drawing close, then pulling away-and partly to express in fran-\natrists have been willing to conjecture. Dr.\ntic motion a personality threatened with disintegration. Os-\nThomas Gutheil, of the Massachusetts\nwald traveled to the Soviet Union, New Orleans and Mex-\nMental Health Center, says that Hinck-\nico; John Lennon's accused killer, Mark Chapman, moved\nley may be a victim of erotomania in one\nfrom Tennessee to Atlanta to Honolulu and New York.\nof its forms: obsession with a celebrity.\nLacking in self-esteem, many have donned and doffed\nHarvard Psychiatry Professor Donald\ndifferent identities like costumes. Some have tried to weave\nRussell believes that Reagan, not Foster,\nidentities out of fictional strands. Bremer imagined himself\nwas central to Hinckley's psychology, and\nas the son of Actress Donna Reed. Sara Jane Moore, who\nseveral colleagues also doubt the impor-\ntried to shoot President Ford, thought of herself as a Halo\ntance of the movie-star crush. Says Rus-\nshampoo girl. The movie Taxi Driver wove together many\nsell: \"He was obviously out to get these\nthemes found in the lives of American assassins. A taxi driv-\nfather figures.\" Hinckley's eclipse by an\ner (played by Robert De Niro), obsessed with shooting a pres-\nelder sibling was critical, says Chicago\nidential candidate and protecting a young prostitute (Jodie Bremer\nPsychiatrist Irving Harris. \"The young\nFoster), beset by aggressive urges as well as sexual ones\nbrother tends to be overshadowed. If the\n(coded in the film as a pure-hearted defense of a prostitute), finds an acceptable\nman can't find a socially accepted chan-\nresolution: he spares the candidate and instead shoots the girl's pimp and one of\nnel, he can become an assassin.\" Dr.\nher johns, thus symbolically killing his lust and emerging in his own eyes as some-\nJames Gilligan, another Harvard profes-\nthing of a hero.\nsor, finds Hinckley's insanity improbable.\nAssassins have rarely shown remorse after their killings. They have, how-\nSays he: \"Most violence is not done by\never, been generally interested in explaining their acts and claiming to have\ntruly psychotic people. They are not com-\nplayed a historic role. Zangara went quietly to the electric chair and lost his com-\npletely normal, but that doesn't mean they\nposure only at the last minute when he learned no pho-\nare crazy.\" Dr. Gutheil cautions that no\ntographers were there to record the scene. Some psychi-\naccurate explanation is apt to be simple:\natrists say the assassin homes in on his target, not just to\nmore likely in Hinckley's mind was a dis-\nseize some of the victim's fame but to achieve, at long last,\nsonant snarl of emotions and delusions,\na permanent identity. \"They can gas me, but I am famous,\"\nwhich in concert led him to Washington.\nsaid Sirhan Sirhan. \"I have achieved in one day what it\nIndeed, any explanation at all can\ntook Robert Kennedy all his life to do.\"\nsmack of the pat. The consequence of\nSeveral assassins have conveniently left behind incrim-\nlives like John Hinckley Jr.'s may be to\ninating diaries and letters. Some have also left behind books\namend a patriotic platitude. Perhaps not\nand clippings of previous assassinations, a reminder that\nevery little boy can grow up to be Pres-\nthese murders, like hijackings, can break out in mini-\nident, but he can, for the price of a\nepidemics. Who knows? Another awkward loner may to-\npistol, grow up to be a presidential\nChapman\nday be cutting out articles about John W. Hinckley Jr.\nassassin.\n-By Kurt Andersen. Reported\nby Richard C. Woodbury/Evergreen and\nRobert C. Wurmstedt/Lubbock\n42\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\nProtecting the President\nment garage. The Secret Service argues\nthat the President risks being trapped in\na basement garage, and so prefers ush-\nNew questions about whether the Secret Service can do better\nering him through an exit that leads to\nan open driveway-and the waiting lim-\n\"If anyone wants to\nagents required for a presidential trip; for\nousine. Others recommend that the Se-\ndo it, no amount of pro-\na routine speech like the one that Rea-\ncret Service start closing off streets around\ntection is enough. All a\ngan gave last week at the Washington Hil-\nthe exit to all spectators; some even sug-\nman needs is a willing-\nton Hotel, perhaps two dozen agents will\ngest that the President entirely stop min-\nness to trade his life for\nbe used. Every presidential motorcade has\ngling and shaking hands with onlook-\nmine.\" So observed President John F.\nat least two cars filled with agents, in-\ners. Says Chicago Police Superintendent\nKennedy less than a month before his\ncluding a station wagon, code-named War\nRichard Brzeczek: \"It's time to consider\nwords came tragically true. After last\nWagon, that is crammed with weapons\nkeeping some distance between crowds\nweek's attempt on the life of Ronald Rea-\n(ranging from Israeli-made Uzi subma-\nand the President, offering them a fleet-\ngan, the question is again being asked with\nchine guns to shotguns), first-aid supplies\ning glimpse instead of a slower wave.\"\ngreat urgency: What can be done, if any-\nand even tools for prying the President\nBut there are great drawbacks to iso-\nthing. to better protect an American Pres-\nout of his car in case of a crash.\nlating a President from the people he must\nident from the risk of assassination?\nThe Secret Service keeps a list of some\nserve. Presidents, like most U.S. politi-\nIn an attempt to find answers, two\n25,000 people believed to pose potential\ncians, relish contact with crowds; indeed,\ncongressional committees began hearings\nthreats to the President, and 300 to 400\nthey may come to rely on that kind of in-\nlast week to investigate the role of the Se-\nconsidered especially dangerous. Yet\nteraction to keep them going in so gru-\ncret Service in providing such protection.\nnone of the persons involved in well-\neling a job. Ronald Reagan has already\nAt the same time, Treasury Secretary\nDonald Regan has ordered his own re-\nview of the agency, which is part of his de-\npartment. More than likely the inquiries\nwill not solve a basic dilemma: How to\nguard a President as fully as possible in\nan open society? Says a longtime Secret\nService official: \"It may be unsolvable:\nCan you stop a free individual in a free so-\nciety, who is willing to take that ultimate\nrisk, and still avoid a police state?\"\nFounded in 1865 to combat the ris-\ning tide of counterfeit \"greenbacks\" then\nflooding the country, the agency now\nnumbers some 1,500 special agents, up\nfrom 389 at the time of Kennedy's as-\nsassination. Once selected, a recruit is dis-\npatched to offices around the country to\nhelp track down counterfeiters and pur-\nsue stolen or forged Government checks\nand bonds. Only superior agents are even-\ntually picked to serve in the protection ser-\nvice, which is responsible for guarding not\nonly the President, the Vice President and\ntheir families, but also presidential can-\ndidates and former Presidents.\nThe agents then undergo extensive in-\nstruction at the Secret Service Training\nCampaigning in Miami in 1975, Reagan is confronted by a man with a toy green\nCenter in Beltsville, Md. They practice\n\"It's time to consider keeping some distance between crowds and the President.\"\nmoving a make-believe \"president\"\nthrough crowds (composed of other\nknown assassination attempts since 1963\ndemonstrated his fondness for pausing\nagents) to a waiting car, sometimes un-\n-Sirhan Sirhan, Arthur Bremer, Lynette\nand responding to shouted cries of \"Mr.\nder fire, as well as through specially built\n(\"Squeaky\") Fromme, Sara Jane Moore\nPresident! Mr. President!\" as he moves\nauditoriums, hotel foyers and offices. In\nand John Hinckley-ever appeared on\nabout Washington-a practice his agents\na weapons course, computer-controlled\nthe Secret Service list.\nwould dearly like to stop. Yet the ease\ncutouts of possible assassins and harm-\nwith which an attack can take place was\nless citizens pop up from the ground and\nf the Service cannot always recognize\ndramatically demonstrated to Reagan be-\ntwirl past windows on a Hollywood-like\n-or stop-a potential assassin, can\nfore last week's shooting. As then Can-\nback-lot street of mock buildings. The\nanything more be done to lessen the dan-\ndidate Reagan campaigned in Miami in\nagents must fire and hit a threatening tar-\ngers? Many law enforcement officials rec-\nNovember 1975, a college dropout named\nget but refrain from shooting at an un-\nommend that Reagan wear a bulletproof\nMichael Lance Carvin, 20, managed to\narmed figure-or at the image of a woman\nvest when making public appearances.\nbreak through the crowd and point a toy\nwheeling a baby carriage, who may quick-\nModern vests, made of fiber glass, are both\ngun directly at him.\nly slide in front of an armed figure.\nlightweight and flexible.*\nWhen an attack by a deranged lon-\nSecret Service preparations for a pres-\nTed Gunderson, former head of the\ner occurs, there is not much that even\nidential trip are equally thorough: teams\nFBI's Los Angeles office, suggests that\nthe Secret Service can do. Sums up one\nof agents. aided by local police, carefully\nwhenever possible, the President should\nsenior agent: \"We try to get our bodies\ntravel presidential itineraries in advance,\nexit a hotel or auditorium through a base-\nbetween him and the bullets, and then\ncheck the backgrounds of hotel employees\nget the hell out of there\"-which is just\nand others who may meet the President,\n*If Reagan had been wearing only a \"front-and-\nwhat they did last Monday, efficiently\nand make certain that local hospitals have\nback\" vest last week, his sides would have remained\nand even heroically. -By James Kelly.\na supply of blood in the President's type.\nexposed and he probably would still have been\nwounded. Only the full, wrap-around model would\nReported by Jonathan Beaty and Johanna\nThere are no set rules for the number of\nhave protected him.\nMcGeary/Washington\nTIME. APRIL 13. 1981\n43\nNation\ngan had not bled so heavily, surgery might\nEmergency in Room 5A\nnot have been done immediately. But an\noperation would probably have been nec-\nessary eventually. Though bullets are fre-\nAs the world watched, calm doctors performed their ritual\nquently left inside the body when they do\nnot threaten further damage, a bullet in\nIt is the kind of emer-\ncate the bullet; blood samples were an-\nthe lung can travel to the heart and ob-\ngency familiar to trau-\nalyzed for gases to help determine how\nstruct the flow of blood.\nma teams across the\nmuch oxygen was getting into the blood.\nReagan was rolled next door into an\nnation, particularly at\nTo see whether there was bleeding in the\noperating suite. Under the watchful eyes\nplaces like New York\nabdominal cavity as well, the team per-\nof two scrubbed and gowned Secret Ser-\nCity's Bellevue Hospital Center and Chi-\nformed a procedure known as peritoneal\nvice agents and the President's personal\ncago's Cook County Hospital. The dif-\nlavage. Surgeons Benjamin Aaron and Jo-\nphysician, Dr. Daniel Ruge, doctors be-\nference this time was the victim: not\nseph Giordano, who headed up the trau-\ngan anesthetizing the President. They in-\nsome dope dealer or faithless lover, but\nma team, made a small incision just below\nserted a tube into his mouth and down\nthe President of the U.S. But even with\nthe President's navel, inserted a tube and\nhis windpipe and put him on a mechan-\nthe world watching, the medical ritual\ninfused several liters of fluid, filling the ab-\nical respirator. Then he was gently turned\nwas the same.\ndominal cavity. Then the fluid was with-\nonto his right side and placed at a 45°\nAs soon as Ronald Reagan was car-\ndrawn and examined for blood. It was\nangle. In the operation, called a thora-\nried into Room 5A of George\ncotomy, surgeons made a 6-in. in-\nWashington University Hospital's\ncision extending from just below\nemergency unit, a hastily assem-\nTREATING\nthe left nipple, along the ribs to\nbled team of more than a dozen\njust below the left armpit. Spread-\ndoctors plus paramedics, nurses\nREAGAN'S\ning the ribs and the overlying mus-\nand aides swung into action.\ncles apart, they first noticed a\nSeemingly in disorganized fash-\nWOUND\nmassive blood clot and removed\nion, but actually with speed and\nit. Then they checked the heart\nprecision, they moved toward one\nand major blood vessels for dam-\ngoal: stabilizing the patient as\nage but found none. They tried to\nquickly as possible. Oxygen was\nfollow the path of the bullet to lo-\nadministered to aid the President\ncate the slug. This proved diffi-\nin breathing, and fluids were giv-\ncult so another X ray was taken.\nen intravenously to raise his blood\nThe doctors finally retrieved the\npressure. A reading indicated that\nbullet from the lower lobe of the\nthe systolic pressure (when the\nleft lung. Said Aaron: \"It was flat-\nBullet\nheart contracts) had dropped be-\nenters\ntened almost as thin as a dime,\nlow 100, alarmingly low. Simul-\nchest under\nand about the size of a dime too.\"\ntaneously, his clothing was cut\nleft arm, strikes\naway; as soon as the jacket and\ntop of 7th rib\nshirt were off, an oozing, slitlike\nF\nrom their examination, doc-\ntors concluded that the bullet\nand\nis\nbullet hole was discovered just un-\ndeflected into\nplowed through the chest wall at\nder the left armpit.\nlower left lung\nan angle, struck the seventh rib\nBecause Reagan was cough-\nand ricocheted down 3 in. into the\ning up bright red blood and com-\nlung. Its oblique path kept it a\nIncision to remove bullet\nplaining of chest pain on his left\ngood 3 in. away from the heart.\nside and difficulty in breathing,\ndoctors immediately suspected\nTIME Diagram Barbara Martin\nReagan was fortunate that his as-\nTubes inserted\nto reinflate\nsailant used a small-caliber, low-\nthat his lung had been injured and\nHeart\nlung and drain fluids\nvelocity gun. A 45-cal. bullet,\nprobably collapsed, a common re-\ntwice as wide and five times as\nTube inserted\nsult of gunshot wounds to the\nto check for\nheavy as a 22, would have torn\nchest. Normally, the pressure in\nabdominal bleeding\nup the President's flank and prob-\nthe space between the lung and\nably killed him quickly, if not in-\nthe chest wall is less than atmo-\nstantly. But he could have been\nspheric pressure, and this keeps the lung\nclear, indicating that Reagan had suffered\nluckier: if his arm had been hit, the bul-\nexpanded; when the chest wall is pierced,\nno injury to abdominal organs.\nlet might not have reached his torso; if\nair enters and forces the lung to collapse.\nBut during the 45 minutes of perito-\nthe bullet had not glanced off the rib, it\nTo reinflate it, doctors made two small in-\nneal lavage, blood continued draining out\nmight have just passed on through the\ncisions, one just below the collarbone and\nof the chest tube, an unusual occurrence.\nchest wall and out of the body without hit-\nthe other between the seventh and eighth\nIn the majority of bullet wounds to the\nting any internal organ.\nribs, and inserted tubes to suction off air\nchest, bleeding stops soon after the lung\nAfter the three-hour operation, which\nand any blood that might have accumu-\nis reinflated. By now Reagan had required\nthe President \"sailed through with vital\nlated from damage to the heart, lungs or\na transfusion of five units of blood; that\nsigns absolutely rock stable,\" according\nmajor blood vessels in the chest. About\nmeant he had lost about 2½ quarts of\nto O'Leary, Reagan was taken to the hos-\ntwo pints of blood spilled out. Immedi-\nblood, almost half the total amount cir-\npital's fourth-floor intensive-care unit,\nately doctors started transfusing blood,\nculating in his body. Continued bleeding\nwhere he spent a restless night. So does al-\nusing o negative, a blood type any per-\ncan be a sign that a bullet has caused\nmost everyone in such a unit: the lights\nson can accept. (Later they began using\nmajor damage to organs and blood ves-\nare kept on; nurses and doctors move\nReagan's own type, o positive.) All this\nsels in the chest cavity. To assess the ex-\nabout constantly, checking vital signs and\nwas accomplished within five minutes of\ntent of the injury and to locate the source\ntaking blood samples; monitors hooked up\nhis arrival.\nof bleeding, doctors decided to operate.\nto patients beep incessantly. Reagan was\nThat done, the trauma team could\n\"It was a major bleed,\" said Hospital\ngiven antibiotics to combat possible in-\nproceed more deliberately. X rays of the\nSpokesman Dr. Dennis O'Leary. \"That\nfections and pain medication to ease his\nchest and abdomen were taken to try to lo-\nwas why surgery was required.\" If Rea-\nmoderate discomfort, more the result of\n44\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\nNation\nthe operation than the bullet injury. Dur-\ning the night. doctors removed the wind-\nThe Presidency/Hugh Sidey\npipe tube that had been left in place after\nsurgery to facilitate breathing.\nThe next morning, Reagan was\nmoved to a quiet, eight-room suite on the\nThe Doctor and the Ideal Patient\nthird floor. He had a pulse rate of 70 and\nblood pressure of 130/80, numbers that\nB\nuried beneath our prejudices and the actuarial tables is a fact: Ronald Rea-\nwould please a healthy man. He was en-\ngan, at 70, may have been the healthiest man to assume the presidency\ncouraged to cough to help get secretions\nsince Harry Truman.\nout of his lungs. Though breathing hurt,\nEisenhower had his ileitis symptoms, and Kennedy went into power with a\nhe required little pain medication. He\nform of Addison's disease. Johnson had suffered his first heart attack, and Nixon\ncontinued to receive oxygen through a\nwas shadowed by phlebitis. Ford's otherwise robust physique was flawed by old\nnose catheter. White House aides visit-\nfootball injuries. Carter came to the White House with his record showing a pe-\ning that morning found Reagan sitting up\nriod of depression after a race for Governor of Georgia in 1966.\nand brushing his teeth. He spent the day\nBut Reagan, the old man of the bunch, had somehow stayed together. The\nsleeping and reading newspapers; meals\nWhite House physician, Dr. Daniel Ruge, put it this way three days before the\nwere soup and gelatin. The next day he\nshooting: \"What can I tell a man who is 70 and in better shape than I am?\"\nswitched to solid foods and walked a few\nRuge is 63 and a farm boy from Nebraska, where they claim that if you make it\nsteps. Toward the end of the week he was\nthrough your first year you live almost forever.\nwalking down the hospital corridor, and\nRuge, stately and cautious, had been chatting on a Friday evening in his\ndoctors were predicting that barring com-\nsmall White House office about how to sustain Reagan's good health-and to pre-\nplications he might return to the White\npare for emergencies, the kind that would occur in just 70 hours.\nHouse this week and be able to resume\nRuge had been chosen White House physician because of his association\nall physical activities, including riding,\nwith Loyal Davis, Nancy\nwithin three months. One complication\nReagan's father. A neuro-\nsurfaced at week's end: Reagan ran a fe-\nsurgeon, Ruge had met the\nver of 102°. Said Aaron: \"It's a little bit of\nPresident in earlier years\na setback.\"\nbut had not known him as\na patient. Bit by bit, he was\nT\nhough Reagan seems to be progress-\naccumulating medical data\ning nicely, controversy continues over\nand his impressions of Rea-\nthe seriousness of his condition when he\ngan's life-style, these obser-\nentered George Washington University\nvations perhaps more re-\nHospital. Some witnesses paint a grim pic-\nvealing than any statistics.\nture: the President was stumbling, gasp-\nRuge had watched\ning for air, blood stained his teeth and\nReagan around the White\nlips, and most serious, his blood pressure\nHouse, seen him at state\nwas very low, a sign of impending shock.\ndinners, traveled with him\nCoupled with this was the considerable\naboard Air Force One.\narhount of blood lost in the first few hours.\nWhen Reagan went horse-\nSome doctors are convinced that the Pres-\nback riding at Quantico,\nident was in \"a life-threatening situation.\"\nVa., Ruge, who spent some\nSays a Washington, D.C., surgeon, an ex-\nRuge, left, with Hospital Spokesman Dennis O'Leary\nof his boyhood on the backs\npert in bullet injuries: \"A gunshot wound\nof his father's Percherons,\nto the chest is always serious, especially\nwatched with a certain nostalgia from the fences. \"The President is a mar-\nin a 70-year-old. I am sure that Reagan's\nvelous physical specimen,\" he said. \"His very demeanor shows that he is healthy.\"\ndoctors were a lot more concerned at the\nFrom that conclusion, Ruge's approach to White House health was plotted. He\ntime than they acknowledged.\"\nwould not stalk the President, believing that an overzealous doctor can create a\nBut O'Leary and others who attend-\ndependent patient.\ned Reagan insist that he was never in dan-\nReagan was his own best doctor in many ways, Ruge noted. The President\nger. The President, they point out, was\ncould pace himself, discipline his appetites, his activity. \"He simply knows how\nconscious and coherent and was stabilized\nto take care of himself,\" declared Ruge. That is in marked contrast to the ex-\nquickly. He was never in shock. Says\ncesses of work and indulgence seen in other Presidents, notably L.B.J. Ruge has\nO'Leary: \"With blood, a little goes a long\nstudied carefully the White House environment, Reagan's state of mind, any\nway. I'm sure he looked bad, but at no\nsymptoms of stress. What he found was reassuring. He noted that those who trav-\npoint was he anywhere close to being\neled with the President, whether staff or Secret Service agents, genuinely liked\nin extremis.\"\nhim. That aura, created in large part by Reagan's humor and courtesy, was a great\nAs to the blood loss, O'Leary agrees it\nhealth benefit. Ruge was also convinced that Nancy Reagan's dedication to her\nwas large (almost four quarts) but says the\nhusband was another element in his excellent state of mind and body.\nrate of loss is more important than the vol-\nThe greatest concern of the President's physician was somehow devising out-\nume. Reagan's blood loss was steady, not\nlets from the White House cloister for the President. Reagan is not a golfer, a jog-\ngushing, and doctors had no trouble in\nger or a tennis player. He likes to ride, but that is not enough. Reagan's therapy,\ncompensating with transfusions. The ma-\nRuge noted, came from messing around outdoors. It takes a small-town boy to un-\njority of gunshot victims come into a hos-\nderstand that. Woodchopping, planting, pruning, fixing up and just moving\npital much worse off, O'Leary says. In\naround, doing something useful, can keep the eyes clear, the heart vibrant, the\nfact. he contends that the President would\nmuscles taut. That poses a challenge in the White House, where all the chores are\nprobably have been all right even if treat-\ndone and the President's exertion is walking from meeting to meeting.\nment had been delayed by as much as 20\nDan Ruge has been diverted for the moment. But he will soon be back, gent-\nminutes. Fortunately, Ronald Reagan\nly urging the President to keep chopping wood on his California ranch and can-\nand the nation did not have to test that\nter off over the Virginia hills whenever he can. Doctor and patient are in-har-\njudgment.\n-By Anastasia Toufexis.\nmony about what keeps a President going.\nReported by Peter Stoler/Washington\nTIME. APRIL 13, 1981\n47\nNation\nand friends at the White House placed a\nCaught in the Line of Fire\nsmall stuffed Teddy bear with a Cubs'\nbaseball cap on his chair.\nMcCarthy, who had been trained to\nThree victims who served the President well\ninterpose his body between the President\nand any gunfire-and who defied all in-\nBecause all of them\nThis joie de vivre, friends like to think,\nnate human instincts by doing just that\nin their chosen fields\nwas more than a match for the gunman's\n-was hit in the right side of his chest.\nhad proved themselves\nbullet.\nThe bullet passed through the chest mus-\namong the best at what\nBrady's humor ranges from jolly quips\ncles, lung, diaphragm and part of the liver\nthey do, they had\nto droll deadpan. Shortly before the shoot-\nbefore lodging against a rib. An hour-long\nearned the right to be with the President\ning, he was the guest at one of Wash-\noperation was successful in removing the\nas he left the Washington Hilton Hotel\nington's institutionalized breakfasts with\nbullet and draining the blood that had col-\nlast week. James Brady, 40, through an\nreporters. Instead of the light banter and\nlected in his abdominal cavity.\nadmixture of diligence, drive and affabil-\ngentle questions that tend to open such\nElizabeth McCarthy, his mother, was\nity, had parlayed 19 years of handling\ndiscussions, he was immediately slung a\nwatching television with her daughter\npublic relations work-including stints\nsharp query on conflicts within the Ad-\nshortly after the shooting when a tape of\nwith the Defense Department, Senator\nministration. After a pause he responded\nthe tragedy came on. Says Daughter Ka-\nWilliam Roth and Candidate John Con-\nwith perfect poker face: \"Where has fore-\nren: \"Suddenly, as we watched, we saw\nnally-into the plum of his profession,\nplay gone?\" At last month's Gridiron\nwhere he was hit and fell. We both knew\npresidential press secretary. Timothy Mc-\nClub dinner, an event that features jour-\nat once that it was Tim. Mom gasped.\nCarthy, 31, the son of a Chicago police-\nnalists performing parodies of politicians,\nWe both cried and hugged each other and\nman, joined the Secret Service in 1972 and\na Brady impersonator lampooned the re-\nprayed.\" As McCarthy recovered from\ntwo years ago won assignment to the\nport that Nancy Reagan had opposed his\nsurgery, his superiors praised him for ex-\nprestigious presidential protection detail.\nappointment because he was not \"good-\necuting his mission perfectly. Said Jerry\nThomas Delahanty, 45, had received\nlooking\" enough to project the Reagan\nParr, head of the presidential protection\nmore than 30 letters of commendation in\nAdministration image. Sang he: \"She's\ndetail: \"I think what Agent McCarthy did\nhis 17 years on the Washington, D.C., po-\ngrown accustomed to my face.\" Brady\nwas most heroic.\" His eldest sister Lau-\nlice force. When his canine patrol partner,\nlaughed as loudly as any of the press and\nrie joked that \"thousands of relatives\"\na German shepherd named Kirk, became\npoliticians in the audience. With the first\nwould soon be flying to Washington to\nill last week, Delahanty was a natural\nsigns that Brady might survive, colleagues\nsee their \"hero.\"\nchoice for the Hilton assignment. The\ntrio's diverse paths led them, for two trag-\nP\nolice Officer Delahanty's wife also\nic seconds last week, into the line of fire\nsaw her husband's shooting on televi-\nbetween John Hinckley's revolver and the\nsion. \"I didn't even know he was with the\nman he allegedly intended to assassinate.\nPresident,\" she said. The bullet struck De-\nBrady was by far the most seriously in-\nlahanty's left shoulder and lodged in his\njured. A bullet entered his forehead just\nneck, damaging no blood vessels but\nover his left eye and crossed through to\nbruising a nerve. The result of his wound\nthe right side of his brain. Word quickly\nseemed minor: a temporary loss of sensa-\nspread that he had died, causing gasps\ntion on the inside of his left forearm, ex-\nand sobs in the White House West Wing\ncessive sweating of the palm and erection\namong aides and members of the seasoned\nof the hairs on his arm. In fact, doctors\npress corps, for whom Brady, through his\nsaw no reason even to remove the bullet\nwit and warmth, t.ad become more of a\nAgent McCarthy\nOfficer Delahanty\nfrom his neck-until it was discovered\njoyous friend than a mere professional col-\nthat Hinckley had used explosive bullets.\nleague. For five hours, surgeons working\nThey then decided to carefully remove it\nwith the aid of a microscope performed a\nthrough an incision in his back. After re-\ndelicate craniotomy, lifting off the top of\nceiving praise from official visitors, in-\nhis skull to remove a significant portion\ncluding Vice President George Bush and\nof his right frontal brain lobe, which,\nMayor Marion Barry, Delahanty was due\namong other functions, controls motor ac-\nto leave the hospital within days.\ntivity on the body's left side. When the op-\nFor Brady, the prognosis was not as\neration was over, Brady was still alive and\ngood, though he surprised doctors by his\nslowly regaining consciousness. Said his\nsurvival. At week's end, although the\nrelieved surgeon, Dr. Arthur Kobrine:\ndanger of infection or swelling still lurked,\n\"Eight out of ten people die from this kind\nhe was taken off the critical list. Brain\nof injury.\"\ntissue recovers so slowly that it may be\nThat so many questions from report-\nas much as a year before the full extent\ners during the early hours of last week's\nof any permanent damage is known. Un-\ncrisis concerned Brady's health may have\ntil then, each sign of improvement is\nseemed somewhat baffling to those out-\nbeing watched closely and reported hope-\nside the press corps. In twelve short weeks\nfully. He has been able to move his\non the job, he had succeeded, despite the\nright arm and leg on command. There\ndifficulties inherent in his work, in win-\nhas even been some movement of his\nning both the respect and the affection of\nleft side. He has also been able to\nthe press. Brady, called \"the Bear\" be-\ncount to three and toss a gauze ball. Per-\ncause, well, he looks a bit like one, has a\nhaps the most hopeful sign that Jim Brady\nbroad relish for life beyond politics. That\nis not only alive but still Jim Brady\nenthusiasm embraces the hapless Chicago\ncame when he recognized his wife and\nCubs, gourmet cooking and, of course, his\ngave her hand a squeeze. Said he, care-\nwife Sarah, whom he calls \"Raccoon\" be-\nPresidential Press Secretary James Brady\nfully: \"Raccoon.\"\n-By Walter Isaacson.\ncause, well, he thinks she looks like one.\n\"Raccoon,\" he said, squeezing her hand.\nReported by Peter Stoler/Washington\n48\nTIME, APRIL 13, 1981\nFriday, April 10, 1981 Part V\n5\nMore Relaxed Now\nThe Worst Is Over for the First Lady\nWASHINGTON (UPI)-Nancy Reagan is more re-\nMrs. Johnson's letter was the latest in a series of con-\nlaxed now that she feels that she can devote her atten-\ntacts from former First Ladies and other well-wishers\ntion to the President's recovery without feeling the\nconcerned about the affect on Mrs. Reagan of last\npressure of other White House demands, her friends\nweek's assassination attempt.\nsaid Wednesday.\nMuch to his delight, she also has been bringing to her\nThe First Lady canceled two long-standing engage-\nhusband stacks of get-well cards and drawings scrawl-\nments Tuesday because she was not ready to face sym-\ned by schoolchildren from all over the country.\nLOS ANGELES TIMES\npathetic crowds without getting emotional, they said.\nAt the behest of comedian Bob Hope, she also person-\nOne of the events was the traditional Senate Wives\nally delivered a photograph of Hope and actress Jill St.\nluncheon on Capitol Hill in honor of the First Lady.\nJohn in bunny costumes. The picture was accompanied\nby a note from Hope, saying: \"Dear Prez-if you need us\n4/10/81\nThe other was a Republican fund-raising dinner at\nthe Washington Hilton Hotel where her husband was\nfor the White House lawn at Easter, call Central Cast-\nshot in the chest last week.\ning.\nThere were no indications that Mrs. Reagan's securi-\nPeter McCoy, her chief of staff, had said Mrs. Reagan\nty has been increased. \"We're just more aware of the\nwas \"down\" earlier in the week, apparently because of\nagents,\" said Mrs. Patton.\nobligations that loomed before her.\nBut she is more at ease now that \"she has decided to\ndo what she wants to do,\" friends said. That is to be with\nthe President while he is in the hospital.\nShe has not yet decided whether to clear her calendar\nS\nof public events next week, said Sheila Patton, her press\nsecretary.\nf\nThe First Lady has been going to George Washington\nUniversity Medical.Center before noon each day. She\nalways comes bearing gifts. Among them Wednesday\nel\nwas a 10-pound box of chocolates from King Hassan II\nA\nof Morocco.\nMrs. Reagan arrived in time to have a luncheon snack\na\nwith her husband-chicken noodle soup, cheese toast,\nd\nfresh pineapple and decaffeinated coffee.\nF\nShe told reporters Lady Bird Johnson sent her a\n\"lovely letter\" reminiscing about the \"hard time\" she\nti\nhad keeping her husband, Lyndon, \"down on the ranch\"\nli;\nafter his 1966 gall bladder operation.\nb\nAsked if she had the same problem, Mrs. Reagan said,\n\"Oh, yes, he'd be out yesterday if he could be.\"\np\nCAROL BERNSON\nShe also was asked when Reagan will leave the hos-\nNancy Reagan can devote her attention to her\npital and replied, \"Soon, I hope. He gets better every\nhusband's recovery, not White House demands.\nday.\"\nU.S.NeWS\n& WORLD PROPORT\nTaking Up\nThe Slack\nThe Chief Executive's departure from\nthe hospital is only step No. 1. The\nadministration's \"top salesman\"\nTIMOTHY\nhas a way to go to regain his energies,\nReagan aides Deaver, Baker and Meese-shown at early breakfast at\nand aides must fill the void.\nhospital-are carefully rationing matters submitted to the President.\nAs he recovers slowly from an at-\nfend Reagan's economic program.\nWhile the 25th Amendment to the\ntacker's bullet, Ronald Reagan is being\nTreasury Secretary Donald Regan and\nConstitution directs the Vice President\nforced to take a temporary back-seat\nDavid Stockman, director of the Office\nto take over from the President in the\nrole at a crucial point in his Presidency.\nof Management and Budget-along\nevent of death or long-term disability,\nDoctors ordered Reagan to limit his\nwith Bush-spoke out when the Presi-\nthere is no statute explaining how the\nworkload in mid-April at a time when\ndent's proposed budget cuts were at-\nnation's business should be handled un-\nhis budget cuts and tax reductions are\ntacked by Democrats.\nder the present circumstances. But be-\nunder fire from Democrats in Con-\nAlthough the President is not ex-\ncause Reagan often delegates wide au-\ngress, when Western Europe is looking\npected to suffer any permanent injury\nthority, his subordinates were uniquely\nfor U.S. leadership against a muscle-\nfrom the shooting, his recovery fell be-\nprepared to fill in for him.\nflexing Soviet Union and when Ameri-\nhind schedule with the onset of a fever\nReagan's workload is being strictly\ncan diplomats are fumbling for the key\non April 3, just four days after surgeons\nlimited by his three top aides, who\nto peace in a turbulent Middle East.\nremoved a .22-caliber bullet from his\nmeet over breakfast each morning to\nNo one knew for sure how long the\nlung. The fever left him weak and de-\ndecide what papers they will give to\nPresident would be sidelined by his in-\nlayed his release from the hospital.\nthe President. \"He is being briefed on\njury. Before his release from George\nIn addition, doctors pointed out that\nnational-security matters,\" said Chief\nWashington University Hospital, doc-\nthe 70-year-old Chief Executive cannot\nof Staff Baker. \"He is signing legislation\ntors warned that it could be four to six\nbe expected to bounce back as quickly\nBILL HOUSE\nmonths before Reagan recovers fully\nas a younger man. As the President's\nfrom the wound he received March 30.\nphysician, Daniel Ruge, explained:\nBut they expected him to resume most\n\"Defense mechanisms in older patients\nof his duties in a few weeks. In the\nare not as good as they are in younger\nmeantime:\npatients.\"\nThe ailing President is deciding\nTwo-hour day. Reagan intends to\nonly the most pressing matters. Trips,\nspend most of his convalescence in the\nspeeches and nonessential business are\nfamily quarters on the upper two floors\nbeing deferred. \"We are delaying any-\nof the White House. He is under doc-\nthing that can be postponed,' said\ntors' orders to work no more than 2\nChief of Staff James A. Baker.\nhours a day at first. During that time,\nVice President George Bush is act-\nhe is expected to meet with his top\ning as a \"full substitute for the Presi-\nlieutenants, catch up on a huge backlog\ndent,\" as one official put it. He is chair-\nof briefing material that piled up while\ning top-level White House meetings,\nhe was in the hospital and conduct\ngreeting foreign dignitaries, delivering\nsome business by telephone. Later, he\nsome of Reagan's speeches and butter-\nwill begin making brief visits to the\ning up key members of Congress.\nOval Office.\nThe so-called triumvirate of Rea-\n\"He'll get better faster in the White\ngan's closest White House advisers—\nHouse,\" said Deputy Chief of Staff\nPresidential Counselor Edwin Meese,\nDeaver, adding that in the hospital the\nChief of Staff Baker and Deputy Chief\nPresident slept 18 hours a day and was\nof Staff Michael Deaver-are shoulder-\nimpatient with \"people sticking things\ning all the day-to-day demands of run-\ndown his throat.\" But Deaver, Rea-\nning the government.\ngan's closest aide, does not expect him\nCabinet members also are taking\nto spend much time at his California\nup some of the slack, particularly when\nranch until he can ride horses and chop\nthe administration is called upon to de-\nwood-perhaps by summer.\n22\nU.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT, April 20, 1981\ntial decisions,\" said Baker. \"We can't\nreclassify those things.\"\nNor is the President shirking his re-\nsponsibility. In the first two weeks after\nthe shooting, he sent a letter to Soviet\nPresident Leonid Brezhnev, signed a\nbill passed by Congress, approved a\ndozen nominations, signed a classified\nbudget request and approved a num-\nber of new initiatives, including regula-\ntory relief for the auto industry and\nappointment of a new task force on\nfederalism. Ironically, he also signed a\nproclamation declaring the week of\nTIMOTHY\nApril 19 \"Victims Rights Week.\"\nReagan's advisers are making a con-\ncerted effort to short-circuit the dis-\nputes that are bound to arise in a time\nof stress. Meese and Baker privately\ndiscussed ways to avoid conflict be-\nThe Vice President chats with lawmakers in White House meeting. Bush is serving as a\ntween them. Well-publicized differ-\nReagan stand-in as much as possible while the President recuperates.\nences between the White House and\nSecretary of State Haig also were set\nthat has to be signed. He is signing\nscratched were trips to Springfield, Ill.,\naside, at least temporarily.\nnominations that have to be signed.\non April 1 and to Cincinnati on April 8.\nGlobal jitters. White House officials\nBut that's about it.\"\nAnother trip to Tuskegee, Ala., on\nwere especially grateful that they did\nOn April 7, for example, aides decid-\nApril 12 was assigned to the Vice Presi-\nnot have to deal with a major interna-\ned that the President was too feverish\ndent. Later, doctors decided that Rea-\ntional crisis in the first days after the\nto tackle a complicated one-page \"de-\ngan would not be able to attend the\nshooting. Soviet troop movements\ncision memo\" on leasing of the outer\nwedding of his daughter Maureen in\naround Poland caused some jitters,\ncontinental shelf for oil and gas explo-\nCalifornia on April 24 or meet with\nhowever, prompting Reagan himself to\nration. Likewise, the letters that Secre-\nMexican President José López Portillo\nread the text of a speech Brezhnev\ntary of State Alexander Haig carried to\nin Tijuana on April 27.\nmade on April 7 to Warsaw Pact leaders.\nheads of state in the Middle East in\nReagan's assistants are being scrupu-\nReagan's hospitalization came at a\nmid-April were not reviewed by the\nlously careful to avoid the impression\ncrucial time in his drive to persuade\nPresident as they usually would be.\nthat they are usurping his powers. The\nCongress to enact his economic plan.\nReagan's trips and speeches are be-\nVice President emphasized this point\nBoth House and Senate budget com-\ning canceled gradually, only as aides\nby declining to use the Oval Office in\nmittees rejected Reagan proposals on\ndetermine how long he will be laid up.\nReagan's absence. \"The things that are\nApril 9. House Democrats meanwhile\nAmong the first major items to be\npresidential decisions remain presiden-\nput forth a rival tax plan.\nAlthough OMB Director Stockman\nand Treasury Secretary Regan held\nRx for President\nume. He also lost about 10 pounds\nnews conferences to defend the Rea-\nin the hospital, and he must now get\ngan plan, they received little attention.\nWho's on the Mend\nhis appetite back. His only medica-\n\"For the time being,\" says Deputy\ntion will be penicillin tablets for a\nPress Secretary Larry Speakes, \"we're\nIn coming weeks, Ronald Reagan\nshort period to ward off infection.\nwithout our best salesman.\" According\nwill receive a rarity in these times:\nKeeping an even closer\nWIDE WORLD\nto Speakes, the President\nHouse calls from a doctor.\nwatch on Reagan is Dan-\nhopes to resume this role\nMedical specialists from George\niel Ruge, White House\nby making a television\nWashington University Hospital will\nphysician, who will check\nspeech in late April\nkeep close tabs on the Chief Execu-\nhis vital signs twice a day.\nSpeakes is a temporary\ntive as he convalesces in the family\nChest X-rays will be done\nstand-in for Press Secre-\nquarters of the White House.\nevery other day. Ruge has\ntary James Brady-one of\nReagan will no longer be given\na small examining room\nthree men wounded with\nthe physiotherapy for his lungs that\nin the White House and\nthe President. All three\nhe received in the hospital. But doc-\nseveral more rooms in the\nwere improving. Brady\ntors want him to take walks to help\nOld Executive Office\nand Patrolman Thomas\nrebuild his strength gradually over\nBuilding. He and a half-\nDelahanty remained hos-\nthe next four to six weeks. They will\ndozen assistants look after\nWhite House physician,\npitalized, but Secret Ser-\ninsist, too, that he at first strictly\nthe health of not only the\nDaniel Ruge\nvice Agent Timothy Mc-\nlimit the time he devotes to presi-\nFirst Family but also the\nCarthy was released on\ndential business, which he will con-\nWhite House staff.\nApril 8.\nduct for now in the family study and\nSays Ruge of the First Patient:\nAs for the President, doctors summa-\nthe solarium living room.\n\"He's not going to need much care.\nrized his prognosis this way: \"It will\nOne of Reagan's major problems\nHe's like the rest of us. When we go\ntake four to six months before he is\nis fatigue-a common response for\nhome, we don't expect to need\nchipper.\"\nsomeone who lost half his blood vol-\nmuch medical care.\"\nBy SARA FRITZ\nU.S.NEWS & WORLD REPORT, April 20, 1981\n23\nSunday, April 5, 1981\nTHE WASHINGTON POST\nBy Lou Cannon\nIt began as an ordinary spring day in\nThe Day of the Jackal in Washington\nthe presidential detail. never saw the gun-\nWashington Post Staff Writer\nman, either The gunman was shielded by\nthe crowd.\nWashington: light showers, the usual lines of\ntourists at the White House, a routine speech\nSecret Service agents had looked over this\nby the president.\nback in the White House working on the\nknew he was there, On the sidewalk outside\nmoved [James S.] Brady up because he was\ncrowd, as they always do. It is not easy to\nThen, gunfire. For six hours the nation\npresident's schedule. But it was a busy day\nthe lower entrance to the Washington Hilton,\nthe press secretary. I took three steps, then\nspot a concealed gunman in a friendly crowd.\nwatched and wondered. Would the president\nat the office for chief of staff James A. Baker\na Secret Service agent gave the routine radio\nthe first shot went over my right shoulder. I\nThirty seconds before the president arrived\nlive? Would he survive and be disabled?\nIII, and Deaver, his deputy, had volunteered\nsignal that all was clear.\nknew what it was. I ducked down, with the\nat the hotel, Parr had received a favorable\nWould the nation be plunged into constitu-\nto go in his place with President Reagan\nIt was 2:25 p.m. Deaver will never forget\nhelp of a shove from a Washington police.\nsituation report.\ntional crisis?\nwhen he addressed the Building Trades\nwhat happened next.\nman, who also was dropping to the ground. I\n\"Rawhide follow to Rawhide advance,\" he\nIt was 2:24 p.m. Monday, March 31. Mi-\nCouncil.\n\"The president and I were walking out\nsmelled the powder. I never saw the gun-\nsaid, using the code word for the president.\nchael K. Deaver wasn't supposed to be at the\nNo one noticed the gunman before the\ntogether,\" he recalls. \"The press started ask\nman.\"\n\"Situation report?\"\nWashington Hilton. He was supposed to be\nfiring began. No one particularly saw him, or\ning their usual questions. I turned and\nSecret Service agent Jerry Parr, head of\nSee REPRISE, A12, Col.\nSIA12\nSunday, April 5, 1981\nTHE WASHINGTON POST\nChronicle of How an Ordinary Spring\nAfternoon in Washington\nAt the Hospital\nAt the White House\nREPRISE, From A1\nAt the shooting scene, agents had\nAt the White House they already\nto Situation negative,\" the advance\noverwhelmed a young blond man later\nknew about the shooting. But they\nagent replied.\nidentified as John Warnock Hinckley\ndid not know much about what had\nof is The quiet ended in the rapid fire of\nJr. They piled him into a police car\nhappened or that the president had\nms handgun and screams from the\nand took him away.\nbeen shot.\n\"crowd. Within nine seconds six shots\nBefore the limousine reached the\nBaker had been working in his of-\nhad been fired in rapid succession at\nhospital, nurses had cleared space in\nthe presidential party.\nfice through the morning. At 1 p.m.\nodt One shot hit Secret Service agent!\nthe resuscitation bay for the shooting\nhe went to the White House mess to\nvictims. A first radio message has told\nTimothy J. McCarthy, who thrust!\neat his usual lunch: a tunafish salad\nthem there has been a shooting and\nhumself between President Reagan\nsandwich and buttermilk. Brady and\nthat \"some men\" have been hurt. A\nand the gunman, in the stomach.\nhis deputy, Larry Speakes, were fin-\nst One shot hit District police officer\nsecond message informed them that\nishing their lunch as Baker and Tut-\none was the president of the United\nThomas K. Delahanty in the neck.\nwiler arrived. They exchanged pleas-\nStates.\nsend One shot, although no one knew it\nnommediately, bounced off the armored\nAt 2:35 p.m. the limousine arrived\nat George Washington. Reagan was\nantries, and Brady said he was going\nlimousine and hit Reagan in the chest,\nfeeling pain in his chest and was hav-\nto the Hilton for Reagan's speech.\npenetrating his left lung. Yet another\nni bit a. window in a building across the\ning difficulty breathing. As he got out\nThe first word at the White House\nod street and fragmented.\nof the car, D.C. paramedic Roberto\nthat something had gone wrong came\nHernandez recognized the limousine.\nin a telephone call from David Pros-\n20\nAnd one shot, the shot that did the\nOn inaugural day he had been as-\nperi, an assistant press secretary. He\nmost damage, struck White House\nsigned to the ambulance that followed\nwas at the scene where the shots were\npress secretary Brady over the left\nthe new president around Washing-\nfired, and he saw Brady go down.\neye, penetrating his brain. Brady fell,\nton.\nProsperi rushed into the hotel and\nwith blood gushing from his head. An\n\"I literally froze,\" Hernandez said\ngrabbed the first telephone he found.\nadvance man, Rick Ahearn, put a\nafterward. \"I didn't believe what I was\nIt was a charge phone, so he gave the\nwhite handkerchief under Brady's\nactually seeing. I noticed he looked\noperator the White House press office\nhead. It quickly turned red with\nvery pale and he had an apprehensive\nnumber and billed the call to his\nblood.\nlook about him The stare in his\nhome telephone.\nIn a matter of seconds Parr had\neyes was like he was in a slight daze.\"\n\"Get me Larry. It's an emergency,\"\nshoved Reagan into the limousine and\nReagan got out of the car. He\nhe said into the telephone.\nwalked to the emergency room, his\nSpeakes was just coming out of a\npulled the door shut. He commanded\nface drawn, Parr's arm around him.\nmeeting with other White House aides\nthe driver, Drew Unrue, to pull away,\nand the presidential limousine sped\nIncredibly, no one, had thought to\nin the Roosevelt Room on the auto-\norder a stretcher to be ready for him.\nmobile regulation package that is to\nfrom the scene. A staff control car,\nwith Deaver inside, followed.\nWhen the president entered the emer-\nbe announced this week. Betsy\ngency room, he fell to one knee.\nStrong, a press aide, ran up and told\n\"You son-of-a-bitch, you broke my\n\"I can't breathe,\" he said.\nhim Prosperi was calling. He picked\nrib,\" Reagan said to Parr inside the\nFor a moment the workers in the\nup the phone of Kathy Ahern,\nlimousine. He was joking, but he was\nresuscitation bay were stunned. \"Is\nBrady's secretary.\nthat who I think it is?\" a nurse asked.\n\"The president has been shot at\nhurting from the blow.\nLater in the week the president\nThen they sprang into action. Her-\nsaid. and Brady has been hit,\" Prosperi\nwould tell Deaver that be hadn't real-\nnandez removed Reagan's shoes, socks\nized he had been hit by a bullet but\nand pants while his partner Eric Sim-\n\"Thanks,\" Speakes replied, and\nthat he certainly knew he had been,\nmons cut off his shirt.\nhung up. From the look on his face\nhit.\n\"All I could think of was Parkland,\"\nthe others in the ròom knew it was a\n\"It was a blow like I never felt,\"\nDeaver said, referring to the Dallas\ncrisis.\nReagan said. \"It was like someone\nhospital where John F. Kennedy was\n\"I don't know what it looked like,\nhitting me with a hammer as hard as\ntaken.\nbut it hit pretty hard,\" Speakes said.\nBut Deaver, a short, quiet, patient\nAhern began to weep.\nthey could.\"\nParr, not knowing that the presi-\nman who knows Reagan better than\nWhite House staff director David\ndent had been shot, originally ordered\nanyone on the White House staff and\nR. Gergen was coming out of the\nthe limousine to return to the White\nwas treated like a son by him, was\nisame meeting Speakes had attended.\nHouse. But when he saw Reagan\nbusy with other matters. Cool and\nThe first instinct of both was to walk\ncoughing blood, the bright-red oxygen-\ncollected, Deaver found a telephone\nout on the colonade and watch the\nated blood that comes from the lung,\nbay outside the emergency ward and\nmotorcade return, which they ex-\nhe and the president thought a rib\ncalled the White House. He reached\npected momentarily. Instead, Speakes\nhad been broken by the protective\nMargaret Tutwiler, the secretary to.\ntelephoned Jack Warner of the Secret\nshove. Parr told Unrue to drive to\nchief of staff Baker.\nService. Warner knew something had\nGeorge Washington University Hospi-\nhappened, but did not have the de-\nKeep this line open, Margaret,\" he\ntails.\ntal instead of the White House. He\nsaid. \"There's been a shooting, and\nradioed the control car and told\nGergen ran down the corridor to\nthe president's hurt. We don't think\nDeaver where he was going.\nBaker's office with the news. He burst\nbe was hit, but he may have broken a\ninto the office, almost knocking down\nrib.\"\nTutwiler, who had her back against\nthe door.\nGergen went to find White House\ncounselor Edwin Meese III, the presi-\ndent's top aide, who was with his dep-\nuty, Craig Fuller. They already knew.\nBaker ran down to the Secret Service\ncommand post in the basement to\nfind out what had happened. It was\nabout 2:35 p.m., the time of Reagan's\narrival at the hospital.\nAt the Hotel\nBack at the Hilton, the ambulances\nhad borne away the wounded men,\nleaving behind the remnants of the\nshooting: an umbrella, a dropped\nbriefcase, the bloody sidewalk grate\nwhere Brady fell.\nProsperi, knowing that the presi-\nReagan was hurt. Bush would be back\ndential limousine had started out for\nby the time they knew, everyone\nthe White House, mistakenly believed\nagreed.\nthe president had arrived there, and\nMeese told Tutwiler to get them a\nSO informed the press. One eyewitness,\ncar. \"I'll handle it,\" Regan said. He\nRamon Flores, attempted to convince\ndirected an agent to get them a siren-\nwith a line that may become a classic:\nequipped Secret Service car so they\n\"Honey, I forgot to duck.\"\nskeptical reporters that Reagan had\ncould speed through traffic to the hos-\nbeen hit. He shrugged his shoulders\nAt the White House\npital. Speakes and Lyn Nofziger were\nwith Meese and Baker.\nwhen they did not believe him.\nAt the White House, events moved\nNofziger is a longtime Reagan aide\nAt the Hospital\nswiftly. Tutwiler had left the first\nwho proved a composed man in the\nWhite House line open for Deaver,\nday's crisis. He offered to help be-\nWithin minutes at George Washing-\nthen she rounded up Baker, Meese,\ncause \"Brady is out of commission,\"\nton the resucitation area was crowded\nGergen, Speakes and communications\nand everyone was happy to have him.\nwith members of the trauma team\ndirector Frank Ursomarso, who were\nHe and Speakes are old adversaries,\nand Secret Service agents. As Dr.\nin a hall beyond the Oval Office. She\nbut they buried their differences on\nDennis O'Leary related later, a nurse\ntold them Deaver was on the tele-\nthat bloody day.\ntrying to take Reagan's blood pressure\nphone.\nHaig, Regan, Gergen and intergov-\ncould not hear through the stetho-\nBaker went into his office and took\nernmental relations aide Rich Wil-\nscope because of the din and had to\none phone. Meese picked up the other\nliamson went down to the Situation\ntake it by feeling the pulse in\nphone on the same line. Baker was at\nRoom in the White House basement.\nReagan's arm. It was only about 75 -\nhis desk. Deaver told them that the\nAt the hospital Deaver alternated\nlow enough to signal that the presi-\npresident had been shot.\nhis time between Nancy Reagan and\ndent was in danger of shock.\n\"Shit,\" said Meese.\nthe telephones. The grim mood was\nQuickly, trauma team members in-\n\"Oh, Jesus,\" said Baker.\nlightened on one occasion when a hos-\nserted an intravenous tube and began\nBoth men moved swiftly to do what\npital clerk with a green form in his\nrunning fluid into the president's\nwas necessary. They agreed that the\nhand ran around trying to get some\nveins. They took blood samples to\nvice president had to be called, and\ninformation on the patient. \"Who is\nmeasure the blood oxygen content and\nthat the Cabinet should assemble in\nhe?\" the clerk wanted to know.\nto match Reagan's blood for a trans-\nthe White House Situation Room.\n\"R-e-a-g-a-n,\" Deaver spelled out.\nfusion. Meanwhile, they called for 0-\nSecretary of State Alexander M.\n\"You are kidding,\" the clerk said.\nnegative blood, the type that can be\nHaig Jr. had called, and Baker called\n\"I'm not kidding,\" said Deaver.\ngiven to anyone. Reagan's blood type\nhim back.\nMeanwhile, Dr. Neofytos T. Tsan-\nis O-positive.\n\"It's very important how we handle\ngaris, the hospital's acting chief of\nthis world-wide,\" Haig told Baker,\nstaff, had been summoned from a\nDr. Joseph M. Giardano, the sur-\nwho agreed.\nmeeting by a brief announcement:\ngeon who heads the trauma team, was\nTreasury Secretary Donald T.\n\"The president of the United States is\namong the first to respond to the\nRegan was the first Cabinet officer to\nin the emergency. room.\" Tsangaris\npage, and he saw Reagan within five\nreach Baker's office. Treasury is the\nsaid he quickly realized that three\nminutes of his arrival. By then, the\nboss of the Secret Service, and Regan\nseparate operating rooms, one for each\npresident's blood pressure had risen to\nhad been told of the incident within\nshooting victim, must be readied at\n100, but he was coughing up blood,\ntwo minutes of its occurrence. Regan\nonce with nurses, technicians and\nhis breathing was fast and labored,\nwas on a long distance call from Les\nequipment.\nand the surgeons had discovered the\nAngeles when the call came, and he\nIt was now 3:20 p.m. and Reagan\nslit-like wound under his left arm.\nhung up and went immediately by car\nwas being prepared for surgery. He\nGiardano said that the likelihood of\nacross the street to the White House.\nhad an oxygen mask over his face\na collapsed lung and the danger that,\nAt the hospital, Deaver put White\nwhen Baker saw him, but winked at\nReagan might be bleeding from his\nHouse physician Daniel Ruge on the\nhis chief of staff.\nheart or a major blood vessel made it\nopen line, and Baker took notes on\nAt 3:30 p.m., approximately 45\nnecessary to insert a chest tube at\nwhat Ruge told him: \"He [the presi-\nminutes after he was been brought to\nonce.\ndent] has received a chest wound in\nthe hospital, he was wheeled to the\nOutside the resuscitation bay,\nthe left chest. He is in stable condi-\noperating room. His bleeding had\nDeaver and aide David Fisher kept\ntion. The blood pressure and pulse is\nslowed somewhat, and he had received\nthe telephone lines open to the White\nokay. He is alert and fighting. Next\na transfusion of five units of blood.\nHouse. Deaver had Nancy Reagan\nstop could be the operating room. You\n\"Please tell me you're Republicans,\"\ncalled immediately. He also asked\nought to get right over here.\"\nhe joked to the masked surgical team\nTutwiler to tell his secretary to call.\nHaig arrived. Later, at the State\nsurrounding him.\nhis wife, Carolyn, and tell her that he\nDepartment, a spokesman announced\nAfter that, according to operating\nwas unharmed, but Deaver's secretary,\nthat Baker and Meese had left the\nroom technician Michael Borowski,\nShirley Moore, had already done SO.\nWhite House by the time Haig got\nwho helped with instruments during\nMeanwhile, Brady and McCarthy\nthere. was an incorrect announce-\nthe operation, the president was quiet.\nhad arrived at the hospital, and Dela-\nment. Regan, Baker and Tutwiler all\n\"I saw Reagan looking around at ev-\nhanty had been taken to Washington\nremember that Haig arrived just be-\nerybody busy doing their thing\nHospital Center. Brady looked bad\nfore Baker and Meese left the office.\nhe recalled later. \"I just kind of took\nand his blood pressure was dangerous-\nThey talked briefly, and Meese and\nhis hand. He had sort of tears in his\nly high. To the paramedics, McCarthy\nBaker agreed that Haig would be the\neyes\nHe really had this look of\nlooked best of all.\ncontact point\" at the White House\nappreciation on his face. That's what\n\"Are you still with us?\" a fellow\nwhile they were at the hospital. No\nreally touched me.\"\nagent asked him. \"Oh, yes,\" McCarthy\non said anything about anyone being\nThe first part of the operation re-\nquickly replied.\n\"in control.\" But there was a brief\nquired a tiny incision below the navel.\nAt 2:36 p.m. Mrs. Reagan arrived\ndiscussion of the 25th Amendment,\nInto the incision Giordano inserted\nat the hospital. She wanted to see her\nproviding for presidential succession,\nabout a quart of salt solution to deter-\nhusband immediately, but was told by\nbecause no one knew how badly\nmine whether any bullets had pene-\nDeaver that she could, not. When she\ndid get to see him, he greeted. her\nAt 3:37 p.in. Gergen appeared in\ntrated the abdominal cavity and\nthe crowded briefing room.\ncaused bleeding there. When sucked\n\"Good afternoon,\" he said. \"This is\nout again, the fluid was clear, indicat-\nto confirm the statements made at\nREPRISE, From A12\ning no abdominal injuries.\nGeorge Washington hospital that the\nA report was given to Baker and\nphone line to Air Force Two, and\npresident was shot once in the left\nHaig was guarded in his communica-\nDeaver outside the operating room.\nside this afternoon as he left the hotel.\nNancy Reagan was told the good\ntion. He also had a very poor connec-\nHis condition is stable.\ntion.\nnews, and tears came to her eyes.\n\"A decision is now being made\n\"I think you should come directly\nBorowski said Reagan was then\nwhether or not to operate to remove\nback to Washington,\" Haig said.\nturned on his right side and redraped\nthe bullet. The White House and the\n\"There's been an incident.\" He also\nfor the more major operation, the to-\nvice president are in communication.\nracotomy. Assisted by Dr. Kathleen\ntold Bush that he would be sending\nAnd the vice president is now en\nCheyney, Dr. Benjamin L. Aaron cut\nhim a message over the coded Telex\nroute to Washington.\"\nmachine that is the only secure chan-\na six-inch incision through the skin\nparallel with the ribs, extending hori-\nOn Air Force Two\nnel of communications between Air\nForce Two and the ground.\nzontally from below the left arm to-\nward the center of the chest. Then he\nGoing to Washington had not been\nBush hung up and turned to his\nGeorge Bush's plan. On a day of rou-\naides. \"We are going directly back to\nused retractors to spread the ribs\ntine politicking, he had slipped into\nWashington,\" he said. \"I just spoke to\napart.\nhis blue, Eisenhower-style official\nHaig.\" It was a quarter of an hour\nAaron said he could feel splintering\nof the seventh rib where the bullet\nflight jacket, buckled his seatbelt and\nlater before he learned what had hap-\nhad nicked it and ricocheted into the\nsettled back for a moment of relax-\npened.\nation as his plane took off from Fort\n\"Mr. Vice President, in the incident\nchest. Outside the left lung, he found\na large blood clot, and, after he re-\nWorth at 2:41 p.m. EST for a short\nyou will have heard about by now, the\nmoved it, he could see where the bul-\nhop to Austin.\npresident was struck in the back,\" the\nlet had entered the lung. Quickly, he\nBehind him was a speech to cattle-\nTelex from Haig said. \"Medical au-\nexamined the heart and the major\nmen and the dedication of the former\nthorities are deciding now whether or\nvessels nearby. They were untouched.\nHotel Texas as a national monument\nnot to operate. Recommend you re-\nAll the bleeding was coming from the\nit was the hotel where John F.\n'turn to D.C. at earliest possible mo-\nKennedy had spent his last night be-\nment.\"\nsmaller vessels within the torn lung.\n\"We began to feel around for the\nfore that fatal trip to Dallas. Ahead,\nQuickly, the word was passed\nbullet and to our chagrin we could\nin Austin, awaited an address to the\nthrough the plane. House Majority\nnot find that bullet within the lung,\"\nTexas Legislature and a news confer-\nLeader Jim Wright (D-Tex.) walked\nhe said later. Aaron ordered an X-ray\nence.\ninto the front cabin, and Bush turned\ntaken on the operating table. The bul-\nAir Force Two was still climbing, a\nto him and said, \"Why in the world\nlet was visible, embedded in a portion\ncouple of minutes later, when Edward\nwould anybody shoot a man like Ron-\nPollard, head of the vice president's\nald Reagan?\"\nof the left lung just behind the heart\nand \"flattened almost as thin as a\nSecret Service detail, took an urgent\nAir Force Two did not have enough\ndime,\" he said.\nmessage from the Fort Worth office.\nfuel on board to make it to Washing-\nAt last Aaron felt the bullet and\nHe was told of the assassination at-\nton nonstop, SO the plane landed in\npulled it out. Then he removed some\ntempt, and was told that the presi-\nAustin as scheduled, but only for refu-\nof the dead lung tissue, inserted a\ndent had not been hit. And he also\neling. Bush stayed on board, sipping\ndrain into the bullet's track, and\nwas informed, incorrectly, that two\non a diet cola and saying very little.\nclosed the incisions. The president\nSecret Service agents were down. Pol-\nAt the White House\nhad been in the operating room for\nlard immediately relayed this message\n3½ hours, and apparently was out of\nto Bush.\nAt the White House, Cabinet mem-\ndanger. With a breathing tube in his\nBush nodded quietly and began\nbers and other high White House offi-\nthroat, and still on a respirator, the\ntalking of the possibility of shortening\ncials assembled in the Situation\npresident was taken to the recovery\nhis Austin stopover. The telephone\nRoom: Attorney General William\nroom.\nline flashed again. This time it was\nFrench Smith, Defense Secretary\nThere had been anxious moments\nBush's press secretary, Peter Teeley,\nCaspar W. Weinberger, Transporta-\nfor Nancy Reagan during this opera-\nwith a message identical to the one\ntion Secretary Drew Lewis, National\ntion, moments she spent in a small\nPollard had given.\nSecurity Council staff director Richard\nprivate office the hospital made avail-\nThe vice president's chief legislation\nV. Allen, domestic adviser Martin An-\nable to her and in the chapel, where\naide, Robert V. Thompson, rushed\nderson, CIA Director William J.\nshe met Sarah Brady, whose husband\nback to the VIP section in mid-plane\nCasey, counsel Fred Fielding. Hours\nhad been erroneously declared dead in\nand announced to the assembled\nlater, Commerce Secretary Malcolm\nmid-afternoon reports on all three\nBush aides and three Texas congress-\nBaldrige would arrive.\ntelevision networks.\nmen that an attempt had been made\nThere were so many people rushing\nFor 53 minutes after the shooting\non the president's life.\nback and forth that Allen tried to\nnot much was known at the White\nUp front, at 3:04 p.m., Haig tele-\nclose the door to the Situation Room\nHouse press office. It wasn't until 3:18\nphoned Bush. There is no secure tele-\nto keep some of the staff members\np.m. that communications director\nSee REPRISE, A13, Col. 1\nout. Allen put a tape recorder on the\nUrsomarso stood on veteran press aide\ntable in the center of the room along\nConnie Gerrard's chair in the upper\nwith another that was already there.\npress office to tell a packed crowed of\nSome knew they were talking for\nreporters that Reagan had been shot.\nposterity, but others didn't even no-\nEvery television set was turned on\ntice the recorders. What the men in\nas staff and reporters watched replay\nthe Situation Room wanted to know\nafter replay: The room was full of\nwere three things: how badly was the\npeople who work with Brady every\npresident hit? Was the shooting a\nday, and the replays, particularly\nconspiracy or an individual act?\nthose in slow motion, made all who\nWould Brady survive?\nwere present think that his chances\nWhile first reports from the hospi-\nfor survival were slight.\ntal seemed to be positive, everyone in\nSome aides wept for their fallen\nthe Situation Room was aware that\npress secretary. It was pouring rain\nthe president was 70 years old and\noutside now, and correspondents who\nfaced major surgery. They were trying\nusually would have broadcast from\nto prepare for every contingency.\nthe White House lawn stood on chairs\nSmith and Fielding briefed the\nin the briefing room to get above the\nCabinet members on constitutional\nheads of their milling colleagues and\nsuccession and on the 25th Amend-\ntalked to fill air time.\nment, which spells out the procedures\nfor the vice president's assuming office\nin case of presidential disability. The\nreview was brief, because the Cabinet\nmembers spent much of the time on\nthe telephone and, like millions of\nother Americans, before the television\nset.\ntelevision set, which showed Speakes\nin the press room fending off ques-\n\"That's just what I said we weren't\ntions. He hadn't been told much, and\ndoing,\" Haig said.\nsome of the questions concerned pos-\n\"I didn't know you were going up\nsible emergency actions the nation\nthere,\" Weinberger replied, adding\nwas taking in the crisis. He was asked\nthat he didn't think it \"was appropri-\nthe key question of whether the U.S.\nate\" for Haig to be going before the\nmilitary had been placed on higher\ntelevision cameras in the manner he\nreadiness.\nhad done. For good measure, he also\n\"Not that I'm aware of,\" Speakes\nsaid that Haig had misstated the\nreplied.\norder of presidential succession,\nHis response drew criticism from\nprompting Haig to respond: \"You\nOf those in the Situation Room,\nboth Weinberger and Haig, but the\nshould read the Constitution.\"\nSmith knew Reagan best. He is\nsecretary of state was especially agi-\nAfterward, both Haig and Weinber-\nReagan's long-time attorney, a charter\ntated. He said that \"the next time\nger would try to minimize the ex-\nmember of the \"kitchen cabinet\" and\nsomeone opens their yap\" they had\nchange, which lasted only a few\na close friend. He also has jurisdiction\nbetter make sure that what they are\nminutes. Haig responded to criticisms\nover the FBI, and was on the tele-\nsaying is true. Weinberger then left\nof his appearance by saying that he\nphone immediately, checking on\nthe room to make a telephone call.\nwas winded from running up the\nHinckley.\n\"We've got a problem, and it's\nstairs.\nThe readout from the FBI showed\nnow,\" Haig said, turning to Allen. \"We\n\"I may have been quivery, but I've\nthat the suspect carried psychiatrists'\nhad better go upstairs and get this\nbeen through 50 times worse than\ncards in his pocket, which convinced\nstraightened out.\"\nthat,\" he said.\nthem that he probably was acting on\nHaig and Allen double-timed up-\nhis own.\nstairs to the press room, which the\nAt the Hospital\nSmith was outwardly calm, but his\nsecretary of state, who had undergone\nthoughts, like Deaver's, went back to\nopen-heart surgery, later thought\nAt the hospital, Haig's impromptu\nthe day John F. Kennedy was shot\nmight have accounted for his subse-\nbriefing was one of the bad moments\nand the pall it cast over the nation.\nquent shaky appearance on television.\nfor the watching White House aides.\nHe was relieved to hear that Reagan\nHe reached the briefing podium at\nAn even worse one came in the press\nwas trying out one-liners on the doc-\n4:14 p.m.\nroom when the television networks\ntors, knowing, as he would say later,\nIn a voice cracking with emotion, he\nincorrectly announced Brady's death.\n\"that this was a sign of normalcy.\"\ntold the nation and the world: \"I just\nSome aides were furious. Others wept\nWeinberger had been told by his\nwanted to touch upon a few matters\nsilently as they continued to work.\nsecretary that he was wanted at the\nassociated with today's tragedy. First,\nBaker, however, knew better than\nSituation Room. At first, he couldn't\nas you know, we are in close touch\nthe networks. He had just had a re-\nfind a car, and thought of taking a\nwith the vice president, who is return-\nport that Brady was holding his own,\ntaxi, but CIA Deputy Director Bobby\ning to Washington\nWe have in-\nand he called the Situation Room and\nInman was visiting him, and he of-\nformed our friends abroad of the situ-\ntold them to disregard the report.\nfered to take the defense secretary to\nation, the president's condition, as we\nHospital interns who heard the re-\nthe White House.\nknow it [is] stable, now undergoing\nports asked the surgeon operating on\nWhen Weinberger arrived, Haig was\nsurgery. And there are absolutely no\nBrady if he hadn't heard that his pa-\nmaking telephone calls on the only\nalert measures at this time that we're\ntient was dead.\nsecure phone in the Situation Room.\ncontemplating.\"\nAt about 4:30 p.m. former president\nWeinberger stepped outside to call\nHaig was then asked who was mak-\nRichard M. Nixon called the hospital,\nGen. David Jones, chairman of the\ning decisions for the government at\nasking for Nancy Reagan. She was\nJoint Chiefs of Staff. They discussed\nthe time, and responded, \"Constitu-\nunable to come to the telephone, but\nthe combat-readiness of American\ntionally, gentlemen, you have the\nBaker did.\nforces, and Weinberger, after receiving\npresident, the vice president and the\n\"Please convey my concern that I\nunspecified classified information on a\nsecretary of state, in that order, and\nknow is shared by all Americans,\"\nlittle white slip of paper, directed\nshould the president decide he wants\nNixon said.\nJones to order \"a little higher state of\nto transfer the helm to the vice presi-\nAt 5:20 p.m. the bullet was re-\nreadiness,\" but one that was short of a\ndent, he will do so. He has not done\nmoved from the president and the\nfull alert.\nthat. of now, I am in control here,\nOther Cabinet members were mak-\nin the White House, pending return of\nmedical reports were positive. Baker\ning similar determinations in their\nthe vice president and in close touch\ncalled the Situation Room and told\nareas of responsibility.\nwith him. If something came up, I\nthem they didn't have to worry them-\nRegan told Treasury Undersecre-\nwould check with him, of course.\"\nselves any more with the 25th\ntary for Monetary Affairs Beryl\nHaig's appearance astounded Baker\nAmendment.\nSprinkel to tell the Federal Reserve\nand Meese, who were watching at the\nMeese called the vice president,\nthat the dollar should be supported\nhospital: And it flabbergasted Haig's\nwhose plane was still an hour out of\non foreign exchange markets. After-\ncolleagues in the Situation Room,\nWashington.\nward, Regan described his action as \"a\nnone of whom had been consulted\nCradling the phone in his cabin\nnormal procedure that has been done\nbefore he left on his self-appointed\nafter he received the news, Bush\nbefore\" when some crisis threatens the\nmission.\nturned to his aides and said, \"The\ndollar's value.\n\"What's Al doing up there?\" asked\nbullet's been removed. The operation\nThe order meant that the Federal\nLewis.\nwas a success. The president is fine.\"\nReserve bought dollars with other cur-\nWeinberger, returning from his tele-\nIt was now agreed at the hospital\nrencies, though not in massive\nphone call to Jones, looked up and\nthat the president's top aides should\namounts.\nsaw Haig on the screen and asked,\nsplit up. And it was also agreed that\nThe attention of the officials in the\n\"Why are they running that old tape\nany further briefings on the presi-\nSituation Room then turned to the\nof Al Haig?\"\ndent's condition should be by the doc-\nIt's not a tape, he was told. Haig's\ntors, even though this meant keeping\nup there,\nthe press waiting for another hour.\n\"He can't be, he was right here,\"\nDeaver and Nofziger, whose experi\nsaid Weinberger, still disbelieving. As\nence was an asset in White Hous\nhe watched, Haig told reporters in the\npress relations, remained at the hr\nbriefing room that no change in mili-\ntal, where Nofziger related the fu of\ntary alert procedures was contem-\nthe Reagan jokes in surgery. Aeese\nplated.\nWeinberger knew that this was un-\ntrue because he had just ordered the\nincreased state of readiness, but had\ndone so without telling Haig.\nWhen Haig returned to the briefing\nroom, Weinberger was waiting. In a\ndramatic moment of angry but con-\ntrolled confrontation, Weinberger de-\nmanded that Haig explain why he\nhad said what he had in the briefing\nroom. The two men kept their voices\ndown. but their differences were clear\nand sharp. Despite Haig's announce-\nment, Weinberger told him, he had\nincreased the readiness of American\nwent to the vice president's residence\nwhether it was appropriate for Bush\n\"Hi, Nancy,\" said Mrs. Brady, in a\nto brief Bush upon his arrival.\nto visit Reagan at the hospital, infor-\nmanner that was strikingly composed,\nMeese met Bush at the residence,\nmation about Mrs. Reagan and the\n\"We are just praying for both of\nand together they rode in an armored\nfamily, the cancellation of Bush's\nthem.\"\nlimousine back to the White House.\nplanned trip to Geneva and an update\nNofziger remained at the hospital to\nMeese had sent a helicopter for the\non the next day's schedule, which\nbrief reporters on Brady. At 9:30 p.m.\nvice president to Andrews Air Force\nBush would fulfill.\nhe gave the first relatively optimistic\nBase, and a Bush aide had suggested\nAt 7:30 p.m., with Brady still\nreport on Brady's condition.\nthat the chopper fly directly to the\nfighting for his life, Dr. Dennis\nWhite House.\nO'Leary, clinical dean of George\nAt 8:50 p.m. the president, with the\n\"No, I don't want to do that,\" Bush\nWashington, briefed the press.\nanesthesia worn off, scribbled a note\nsaid. \"Only the president flies onto the\nAt 8:45 p.m., Meese, Baker and\nto his doctors in the recovery room.\nSouth Lawn.\"\nWeinberger met in Baker's office for a\n\"All in all, I'd rather be in Philadel-\nIt was 7 p.m. when Bush arrived in\ndrink and a discussion of the next\nphia,\" it said, in the words of a fa-\nthe Situation Room. In rapid-fire\nday.\nmous movie line by W.C. Fields. -\norder Allen ticked off an agenda that\nAt about this time, Nancy Reagan\nEveryone laughed. When the mes-\nhad been discussed previously: the\nleft the hospital with their son, Ron,\nsage was relayed to the Situation\npresident's health, an update on the\nand his wife, Doria. In a corridor, she\nRoom, Smith said, \"I know he's going\nworld intelligence situation,. the status\nencountered the parents of the\nto be all right.\"\nof U.S. military forces, the status of\nwounded Secret Service agent, and\nAt 3 a.m. Tuesday, the tubes in\nwhat the press and public had been\nsaid gratefully that their son had\nReagan's mouth were removed: The\ntold, the status of information given\nsaved her husband's life. McCarthy's\npresident's first words were about his\nprivately to members of Congress, the\nfather sobbed. Then, on the ground\nassailant.\noutlines of the statement which had\nfloor, she met Brady's mother, Doro-\n\"Boy, what's his beef? Reagan\nbeen drafted for Bush, the question of\nthy.\nasked.\nTurned Into a Day of the Jackal\nfor the President and His Country\nUnited 1\nPresident Bush, folder behind him, peers into James S. Brady's hospital room Friday with his press secretary, Peter Teeley, right, and Mrs. Brady, pa\nStaff writers Martin Schram, Lee Lescoze, Jim Dickinson,\nSusan Okie, Don Oberdorfer, John M. Berry, T.R. Reid and\nThomas O'Tbole contributed to this report.\nApril 13, 1981 / $1.25\nShella She TE Pa Patton tton ex Press s TN s\nRea\nV st\nClose Call\nThe Shooting\nAnd the Surgery\nCase History of\nA Gunman\nWho's in Control\nCan the Risk\nBe Cut?\nNewsweek\nThe Shooting of\nPhotos by Ron Edmonds-AP\n25\nSPECIAL REPORT\nthe President\nSheldon Fielman (cameraman)-NBC TV News\n1,\n/\nKE\nAmerican Nightmare\nAnd yet it goes on, and on, and on\nWhy?\nmany more Americans received the news and switched channels\n-Robert F. Kennedy on the murder of\nto something else, once the initial vertigo wore off and the medical\nMartin Luther King, 1968\nbulletins turned favorable. \"Nobody was shocked,\" said Frank\nMankiewicz, the old Kennedy hand who now heads National\nSuddenly, like a nightmare in instant replay, it was going on\nPublic Radio. \"Suddenly, it goes with the territory. Everybody\nagain: the faceless, rootless loner with a pistol and a lunatic mission\nknows what presidents do: they run for office, they push bills\nwashed up within shooting distance of the American Presidency\nthrough Congress, they make speeches-and they get shot at.\"\nand the American dream. Yet again, television screens burned\nThe swift return to what Reagan might call normalcy was\nwith the sickening imagery ofassassination-Ronald Reagan walk-\ndue at least as much to his own iron-horse example, shaking\ning and waving through a misty Washington rain, a Saturday-\noff his wounds and his post-op pain as if he were 50 instead\nnight special pop-popping bullets out of a crowd, the bodies of\nof 70 and chafing for his return to the White House as early\nWhite House press secretary James Brady and two lawmen blown\nas this week. \"We could all say, 'Boy, that was a close one',\"\nhurt and bleeding to the sidewalk, the Secret Service slamming\nsaid Jack Casey, a Detroit political consultant. \"The President\na stunned and wounded President into his limousine and racing\nsignaled to us that life goes on.\" For a day likely to live as\nagainst death to a hospital. The news this time was good for\nlong as his Presidency, he was the Duke defending the Alamo,\nReagan and the others, and the omens for their recovery were\nTeddy Roosevelt taking a slug in the chest en route to a speech\nfavorable. The most grievous wound of all was struck to the\nand waving away help until he had finished. His approval rating\nsoul of a nation-the discovery that its public life is not yet\nin an ABC News/Washington Post poll bounced 11 points, over-\nsafe from the fantasies of madmen or the shadow of the gun.\nnight, to 73 per cent. \"General Patton or George Gipp couldn't\nT Forgot to Duck': Whatever saving grace could be found\nhave done it better,\" a Pittsburgh political scientist said. \"He'll\nin the carnage on TStreet owed mainly to Reagan himself, grinning\nhave an image of an almost mythic hero about him now.\"\nlike the Sundance Kid into the face of death, and to the ex-\nHe will need those resources and more in the weeks ahead,\ntraordinary resilience of the government he had inherited only\nrunning the government from a sickbed through a particu-\n70 days before. The President walked into\nlarly difficult passage. An Administration\nGeorge Washington University Hospitalon\naccustomed to running on delegated au-\nhis own with his blood oozing away, an\nOnce again, a loner with\nthority seemed to tick on nicely enough\nundetonated explosive bullet in his chest\nwithout him. But the crisis in Poland was\nand his fighting spirit very much intact.\na pistol fires on a\nheating dangerously near to what Rea-\n\"I forgot to duck,\" he kidded going into\ntwo hours of surgery. \"All in all, I'd rath-\nPresident-and once\ngan's men considered the flash point (page\n62), with the President still in the hospi-\ner be in Philadelphia,\" he kidded again\nagain a nation stands\ntal and his Secretary of State, Alexander\ncoming out. His sang-froid spread to his\nHaig, freshly bruised by his rattled be-\ncolleagues, gathered in the White House\nin the shadow of the gun.\nhavior in the first hours after the shooting.\nSituation Room to install Vice President\nThe Reagan economic package, moreover,\nGeorge Bush as acting President had the\nwas at a delicate moment of gestation. The\nneed arisen. It did not. Reagan resumed some semblance of com-\nSenate voted during the week to cut the budget deeper, by $2.8\nmand. within eighteen hours-and the government, in the insistent\nbillion, than Reagan had asked, and the Urban League's Jordan\nword of the White House, \"did not skip a beat.\"\n-himself scarred by sniper fire-pronounced it \"no time to\nYet the mere fact of the attentat by an overprivileged under-\nargue with a President.\" \"Maybe the congressmen will feel sor-\nachiever named John W. Hinckley Jr. was evidence enough that\nry for me and pass my tax bill,\" Reagan told a visitor; still,\nthe eighteen-year death trip begun with the assassination of John\nhe was champing to get back to work lest his program falter\nF. Kennedy cannot yet be counted over. Hinckley, like most\nwithout him.\nof his forebears in the American past, was the agent of no discernible\nThe Wrong Track: The less tangible danger was that John\ncause larger than his own dementia-a Valium-dulled stew of\nHinckley had shot up more than a President and his retinue-\nrock songs, Nazi scriptures and an unrequited passion for the\nthat his .22-caliber Röhm RG-14 had wounded the American\nteen-age movie star Jodie Foster. But he is as well the child\nspirit as well at a moment when it had seemed so promisingly\nof the bloodiest generation in the history of America's public\non the mend. In surveys by Reagan's polltaker Richard Wirthlin,\nlife and popular culture. JFK fell into the bull's-eye when Hinckley\npublic support for the view that the nation has somehow \"gotten\nwas 8, Malcolm X when he was 9, King when he was 12, Bobby\noff on the wrong track\" had dwindled sharply, from 77 per cent\nwhen he was 13, George Wallace when he was 16, Gerald Ford\nlast June to 47 per cent only a fortnight ago. But the attempt\nwhen he was 20, Vernon Jordan and John Lennon when he was\non Reagan's life brought home how fragile that spirit is and\n25. He saved cuttings on some of them, and on their assailants,\nhow resigned Americans have become to periodic armed assaults\nand read them to mean that murdering Reagan would be re-\non it. It has become a given that the open society cannot surely\ngarded-even honored-as a \"historical deed.\"\nidentify the dangerous men and women in its midst, or keep\nHe was wrong, of course; the disturbing lesson of the attempt\nthem from moving about at will, or even prevent them from\non Reagan was not that Americans condone or encourage public\nbuying weapons meant only for murder. With Reagan's wounding,\nviolence but that they have grown numb to it. Hinckley did have\nCongress rang with impassioned cries for tightened gun control-\nhis admirers in isolated pockets-the seventh-graders in Tulsa\nand defeated whispers that, however popular, it will not pass.\nwho cheered this TV shooting as they had J. R.'s on \"Dallas\"\nTo do nothing at all is to surrender to the possibility that\na year ago and the occasional callers to radio phone-in shows\nthe attempt on Reagan was not the last-that the shadow of\nasserting that Reagan got what he deserved. What was more\nthe gun has become a deadly fact of American life. \"Does anybody\ndisquieting was the widespread that's-life acquiescence with which\nknow what the guy's beef was?\" Reagan mused, puzzling with\nthe rest of the nation over the scrambled shards of John Hinckley's\nInstant replay: A pistol spat bullets, a stunned and wounded Presi-\nlife. The real nightmare for America was that it didn't matter-\ndent was slammed into his car-and, beyond a line of fallen\nthat any crowd anywhere may conceal a tuned-out loser with\nbodies, lawmen pinned Hinckley to the wall\na pistol in his pocket and a grievance to avenge in blood.\n© Sebastiso Salgado Jr.-Magnum\nPETER GOLDMAN\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n29\n30\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nMichael Evans-The White House\nSPECIAL REPORT\nReagan's Close Call\nThe cylinder spun, the\ncounselor Edwin Meese. Richard Allen, the\nto the Washington Hilton Hotel for a speech\nhammer clicked and the\nnational-security adviser, went over the\nto 3,500 AFL-CIO union delegates. The\nlittle, snub-nosed revolver sprayed its chaos.\nmorning cables. Then his top Congressional\ntwo politicians, self-made men of Irish roots\nMichael Deaver, deputy White House chief\nlobbyist, Max Friedersdorf, gave him the\nand humor, spent the five-minute drive\nof staff, cringed like a man who had just\nmorning line on Congress. The rest of the\nreminiscing about the 1980 New Jersey pri-\nfelt death whistle past his neck. Press sec-\nday looked to contain nothing more ex-\nmary, in which Donovan had played a cru-\nretary James Brady pitched face down on\nciting than a meeting with David Rocke-\ncial role for Reagan. Donovan told the\nthe sidewalk, blood trickling through a\nfeller of Chase Manhattan Bank and dinner\nPresident an old New Jersey joke about\ngrating. Policeman Thomas Delahanty\nwith a few Cabinet officers.\na local pol demoted to superintendent of\nspun around and then collapsed, a bullet\nTwo blocks away, Hinckley got up,\nMunicipal Weights and Measures. After\nin his neck, his hat flying through the air.\ndressed and left the hotel. Outside, it was\nhis first day, reporters asked him, \"Sir, how\nOne slug caught Secret Service agent Timo-\nraining. Hinckley went to Kay's Sandwich\nmany ounces in a pound?\" \"Hey,\" he pro-\nthy McCarthy in the chest, lifting and drop-\nShoppe down the street from the Old Ex-\ntested. \"Give a guy a chance to learn his\nping him in a limp bundle on the pavement.\necutive Office Building, sat on a stool and\nduties.\" The President's limousine parked\nAnother punched a tiny hole in the left\nbegan to eat his breakfast. Back at room\noutside the hotel's VIP entrance and Rea-\nside of the President of the United States,\n312, the maid came in. She found Hinck-\ngan strode in. He worked a reception line,\nwho was pushed into his car by agent\nhuddled with Donovan, Deaver and\nJerry Parr and sped away so fast that\nBrady in a VIP \"holding room.\" Then\nat first even Ronald Reagan didn't know\nhe walked into the ballroom and gave\nhe had been shot.\na conventional little speech that ranged\nfrom his budget cuts to the work ethic\nThe day before the shooting, 25-year-\nto violent crime.\nold John Warnock Hinckley Jr., a child\nFidgets: Hinckley got ready to make\nof the right gone wrong, arrived at the\nhis move. Sometime after 1:15, when\nGreyhound Bus Terminal in Washing-\na room maid knocked and found him\nton-just five long blocks from the\nstill in his room, he set off for the Wash-\nWhite House. For a few: moments\nington Hilton. When he arrived, he\nHinckley leaned on a pole in the ter-\ntook up a position in front of the curv-\nminal; then he sat down in a blue plastic\ning stone wall that runs from the VIP\nchair. At about 12:15 p.m. he got into\nentrance. \"He was very fidgety, agitat-\nline at the terminal's Burger King. \"A\ned,\" recalled Mike Dodson, a Pinkerton\nWhopper, cheese, no onions, and an or-\nman working in the Agency for Inter-\nder of onion rings,\" he snapped at wait-\nnational Development across the street\nress Linda Ross, slamming a $5 bill\nwho noticed Hinckley as he waited for\ndown on the counter. When the waitress\nthe President to emerge from the hotel.\nasked if the order was to go, he snarled,\nReporters and cameramen, also waiting\n\"I said it was for here.' He grabbed\nfor Reagan, took up stations behind a\nhis change and tray, retreated to a far\nred-velvet rope. The Secret Service did\ncorner and wolfed down the food. At\nnot screen the press crowd despite the\n1 p.m. he made his way to the Park\nfact that bystanders had made their way\nCentral Hotel on Eighteenth Street, two\ninto it. A police lieutenant reportedly\nblocks from the White House and less\nJohn Ficara-NEwswEEK\nstudied Hinckley for a while-but then\nthan one block from Secret Service head-\nHinckley under arrest: A 'historical deed' for love\nlooked away.\nquarters. He paid $42 for one night's\nThe leaky security upset Reagan's\nrent on room 312, which had twin beds,\nley's clothes packed neatly in a suitcase,\nWhite House advance men. Rocky Kuonen\nivory wallpaper, a brown carpet and a color\na little travel alarm clock and a TV guide-\npulled out a piece of paper and scribbled\nTV. He went out again, then hunkered\nlittle more. Not long afterward, Hinckley\na diagram, reminding himself to sanitize\ndown for the night-and his grim appoint-\nreturned. He sat down to compose a love\nthe press cordon of bystanders before Rea-\nment the next day with Ronald Reagan.\nletter to someone he had never met: Jodie\ngan's next public stop. The precaution came\nWhile Hinckley cruised the porn district\nFoster, an 18-year-old movie starlet who\ntoo late. At 2:25 the President emerged\nfour blocks from the White House, the\nplayed a teen-age prostitute in the 1976\nfrom the VIP entrance into a misty rain.\nPresident was spending a quiet evening in\nfilm \"Taxi Driver\" (box, page 35). \"There\nFor convenience, his limousine was not\nthe family quarters at the White House.\nis a definite possibility that I will be killed\nparked directly in front of the entrance but\nNext morning he got up, showered, put\nin my attempt to get Reagan,\" he wrote.\n25 feet away so the motorcade could avoid\non a blue suit and tucked a white hand-\n\"Jodie, I'm asking you to please look into\nthe hotel's curving driveway and a circu-\nkerchief neatly in his pocket. At 8:45 he\nyour heart and at least give me the chance\nitous exit as it pulled away.\nentered the Oval Office for the day's first\nwith this historical deed to gain your re-\nAs the Presidential party came out,\nbriefing with his top aides-White House\nspect and love.\" The signature was equal-\nBrady and Deaver swung left, headed for\nchief of staff James Baker, deputy chief\nly inflamed: \"I love you forever-John\nthe staff car. Then Reagan stepped forward.\nof staff Michael Deaver and White House\nHinckley.\"\nHoping to get in one quick question, Mi-\nThe letter was dated 12:45 p.m. At 1:30,\nchael Putzel, an AP reporter, shouted, \"Mr.\nNancy and a convalescing President: 'Hon-\nSecretary of Labor Raymond Donovan ar-\nPresident, Mr. President.\" The President\ney, I forgot to duck'\nrived at the White House to escort Reagan\nsmiled and raised his left arm in a cheery\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n31\nMAIN ENTRANCE\nMcCarthy\nDela\nWASHINGTON\nHILTON'HOTEL\nThe President and\nhis aides emerge from\nhotei and walk toward\nwaiting cars.\nVIP\nDOOR\n3\nSecret Service agent Parr\nrushes toward Reagan, pushing\nhim into the car.\nMichael Evans-The White House\nMoments before the shooting: The gunman is blocked from view by Officer Delahanty\nwave. At that moment, Hinckley whipped\nfollow-up limousine. \"Rawhide\" return-\neight or nine people leaping on this one\nout his gun, dropped to a crouch, took\ning to \"Crown',\" he added, signaling that\nguy,\" said Dan Coffey, a mortgage agent.\nup a cop's professional, double-hand grip\nReagan was on his way back to the White\n\"It seemed like forever before they got him\nand opened fire. Reagan froze and went\nHouse. \"Rawhide not hurt, repeat, not\nunder control.\" After several minutes of\npale. \"It was like looking at a person who\nhurt,\" Parr said a few seconds later. In\nstruggling, the officers clapped handcuffs\nhas seen death reflected in his eyes,\" said\nthe President's car, Reagan felt his side\non Hinckley, pulled his coat up over his\nMickey Crowe, 24, a trembling demonstra-\ngingerly. He was having trouble breathing.\nhead as a makeshift straitjacket and hustled\ntor who had come to protest Reagan's pro-\n\"It felt like a hammer hit me,\" Reagan\nhim off to metropolitan police headquar-\nnuclear-energy stance. \"All) can remember\nlater described the sensation. He began\nters. Three ambulances arrived and hauled\nis his expression. It was like a guy saying:\nto cough up red blood and agent Parr\naway Brady, Delahanty and McCarthy.\n'I'm in a moment of helplessness'.'\nrecognized it as oxygenated blood from\nLooking at the bloody bandages left on\nShield: Within two seconds, Hinckley\nthe lungs. He directed the driver to change\nthe sidewalk, Garnet Chapin, 32, a Reagan\nemptied his gun, firing six shots in all. The\ncourse. Grabbing the car radio, Parr said\nadvance man during the 1980 campaign\nlittle revolver made a deceptively innocent\n\"Horsepower.' Parr. Going to George\nwho was in town to apply for a job at the\npopping sound. \"Firecrackers,\" thought\nWashington University Hospital. Notify\nInterior Department, said with a groan,\nKuonen, who had seen heavier fire in Viet-\nhospital Rawhide en route.\"\n\"I know it's impossible to completely pro-\nnam. At the first pop, Parr, 50, head of\nFrom a window in a building across the\ntect\nhim\nI was with him from Philly\nthe White House Secret Service detail,\nstreet from the Washington Hilton, Wilma\nto Flint. Now I'm in Washington and I\nreached forward and grabbed the startled\nCriviski watched as the President's motor-\nsee this.\" Tears welled in his eyes. \"Damn,\nPresident. Doubling Reagan over to reduce\ncade screeched away, leaving the bodies\ndamn,\" he cursed softly.\nhis target profile, Parr then hunched over\nof three men on the ground. Rushing to\n'Code Room': Within a few minutes the\nhim as a human shield and slammed him\na front office, she grabbed a phone, dialed\nPresident's motorcade screamed into the\nto the floor of the limousine. Even so, one\n911 and cried to the emergency dispatcher:\nemergency entrance of George Washington\nof Hinckley's shots, caroming off the car's\n\"We need an ambulance at the Washington\nUniversity Hospital, twelve blocks from the\narmor, tore a hole in Reagan's suit, pierced\nHilton Hotel; people have been shot in the\nWashington Hilton Hotel. As two Secret\nhis body, traveled several inches down his\nstreet.\" Brady was face down, bleeding into\nService agents hovered close by, Reagan\nside, bounced off a rib, punctured his left\na steel grating and tended to by a Secret\ngot out, walked about 15 yards to the emer-\nlung and came to rest just 3 inches from\nService agent who laid his gun to rest next\ngency room, then staggered and was\nhis heart. He felt nothing at first. \"The\nto Brady's wounded head. Delahanty, a\ngrabbed by the agents. \"His eyes rolled\ncar pulled out with the President looking\npoliceman who normally works a different\nupward and his knees started to buckle,\"\nback,\" said William Middleton, an archi-\nbeat but was assigned to Reagan because\nsaid Roberto Hernandez, 26, a paramedic.\ntect who was standing nearby. \"I think\nhis guard dog Kirk was sick that day, also\n\"I thought he was having a heart attack.\nit was just the people standing in front of\nlay on the ground groaning in agony. Agent\nI thought we were losing him.\" Hernandez\nhim that saved him.\"\nMcCarthy lay silent.\ntook the President by the feet, and the\nAs the President's motorcade roared\nThe smell of burnt powder filled the air.\nagents hoisted him gently under the arms\ndown Connecticut Avenue, the radio\nAlfred Antonucci, 68, a burly, 5-foot 2-\nand carried him-faint but still conscious-\n(\"Horsepower\") in room W-16, the Secret\ninch union representative from Cleveland,\nto the \"code room,\" a 10-by 20-foot space\nService command post at the White House,\ntackled Hinckley. Police, hotel security\nwhere the worst emergency cases are treat-\ncrackled to life. \"Shots fired,\" reported\nguards and Secret Service men brandishing\ned. \"Let's get some oxygen on him,\" yelled\nan agent in \"Halfback,\" the President's\ntheir weapons also piled on. \"There were\na doctor as the hospital's trauma team\n32\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nTHE CARNAGE ON T STREET\nSPECIAL REPORT\n2\nGunman, waiting\nwith reporters, fires\nat the President.\nMcCarthy\nBrady\nSTAFF CAR\nDelahanty\nSECRET\nSERVICE\nReagan\nCAR\nDeaver\n4\nBrady, Delahanty and\nMcCarthy are hit directly.\nReagan is struck by a bullet\nricocheting off the limousine.\nPRESIDENTIAL\nLIMOUSINE\nlb Ohisson-NEwSWEEK\ncal-care tower\" of the Washington Hospital\nCenter.) McCarthy was lying on his side,\nswung into action (page 45). Hernandez\nclutching his abdomen. \"Are you still with\nleaned over Reagan and whispered \"They'll\nus?\" asked a colleague. \"Oh yeah, I'm still\ntake care of you, Mr. President.\"\nwith you,\" McCarthy said with a grimace.\nAnother ambulance wailed up to the\nIn Chicago, McCarthy's mother and sister\nemergency room and Brady was wheeled\nflicked on their TV, saw the first tapes of\ninto the room next to Reagan. A curtain\nthe shooting, and wept. When Hinckley\nwas drawn between them. A few seconds\nbegan shooting, McCarthy had stepped into\nlater a third ambulance pulled up with Mc-\nthe line of fire, perhaps saving Reagan's\nCarthy. (Delahanty was taken to the \"criti-\nlife. \"He knew- the job had risks,\" said his\nSix shots: Parr shoves Reagan into limo, McCarthy is hit and Deaver (below) ducks\nDirck Halstead\nPhotos by Sheldon Fielman (cameraman)-NBC TV News\nDirck Halstead\n© Sebastiao Salgado Jr.-Magnum\nAfter the President's escape: Uzi-toting agent guards Hinckley as others attend Brady\nEvidence: An agent holds the attacker's gun\nfather, Norman, a Chicago cop. \"He knew\ngunned-down; Brady's wound was to the\n\"He's all right, he's all right,\" she cried\nthe dangers.\"\nbrain. Suddenly, Deaver gasped. \"Oh, gosh,\nas she jumped from her car and sprinted\nMeanwhile, from the Washington Hilton\nhere they come,\" he said, as Brady was\nto the emergency room. A Secret Service\nlobby, David Prosperi, 27, a White House\nwheeled by on a stretcher. \"It doesn't look\nagent told her otherwise. \"He's taken a\npress aide left behind by the retreating\ngood for Jim,\" Deaver said quietly.\nbullet-but he's all right,\" the agent said.\nPresidential motorcade, flashed the word\nBaker's immediate problem was to de-\n\"Honey, I forgot to duck,\" Reagan told\nof the shooting to the White House. Mis-\ntermine whether Reagan had been inca-\nher. She leaned over and kissed him. As\ntakenly, he told deputy press secretary\npacitated-and whether to transfer Presi-\nthe President's bed was wheeled into the\nLarry Speakes that Reagan had not been\ndential power to Vice President George\noperating room, the doctors gently\nhit. Speakes bolted into the hallway outside\nBush under the terms of the 25th Amend-\nstopped the First Lady from entering.\nthe press office, collared Presidential as-\nment. Baker asked Deaver to put Dr. Daniel\nLooking up, Reagan caught a glimpse of\nsistant David Gergen and delivered the\nRuge, Reagan's personal physician, on the\nMeese, Deaver and Baker. \"Who's mind-\nnews of the shooting. \"Oh my God,\" Ger-\nphone. Ruge reported that the President\ning the store?\" he said with a wink as\ngen thought. \"Not again.\" The two men\nhad a small bullet puncture in his chest\nthe orderlies wheeled him into surgery.\nraced along the colonnade by the Rose Gar-\nand had lost 3 or 4 pints of blood; he called\nLooking up at the surgeons, Reagan\nden to the South Lawn. Seeing that Rea-\nhis condition \"stable.\" Just then, one of\nquipped, \"I hope you're all Republicans.\"\ngan's motorcade had failed to return, they\nBaker's other phones rang. Secretary of\n\"Today, everyone's a Republican,\" one\nran into Baker's West Wing office. \"Do\nState Alexander Haig was on the line. Baker\ndoctor rejoined.\nyou know what's happened?\" Gergen blurt-\ntold him Reagan had been hit. \"You know\nRumors: Reassured by the preliminary\ned out. \"Somebody's tried to shoot the\nit's important how we handle this as far\nguess of the doctors that Reagan's prog-\nPresident-and Brady's been hit.\"\nas the world is concerned,\" Haig said. \"I\nnosis was good, Baker, Deaver and Meese\n'Oh, Gosh': Baker made a dash for the\nquiteagree with you,\" Baker replied. Before\nsaw no immediate need to invoke the 25th\nSecret Service command post. When Meese\ntaking any action, however, Baker and\nAmendment. But for a time it looked like\nwas alerted, he \"went totally white,\" said\nMeese wanted to go to the hospital. At\nno one was minding the store very coher-\nan aide. A few minutes later Deaver called\nDeaver's suggestion, the two worried aides\nently. Back at the White House, the\nfrom the hospital with a garbled report:\nwent first to the White House family quar-\nstripped-down staff wallowed in rumors.\nBrady and a Secret Service agent had been\nters to persuade Nancy Reagan not to go\nIt took nearly an hour before White House\nshot, but the President had only a bruised\nto the hospital. \"A lot of people had been\ncommunications director Frank Ursomar\nrib. Scribbling a \"Do not hang up\" sign\nshot: there was a lot of blood,\" said an\nso announced that Reagan had been shot.\non a sheet of paper, White House aides\naide. \"It was his view that it wasn't the\nThere was weeping when all three networks\nattached it to the phone and kept the line\nbest place for her to be.\"\nbroadcast a false report that Brady had\nopen to the hospital. (It took 40 minutes\nThey were too late. Returning from a\ndied. Speakes finally emerged and crushed\nto install secure White House communi-\nlunch in Georgetown, the First Lady had\nthe rumor. \"There was a lack of precise\ncations to the hospital.) Five minutes later\nlearned of the shooting from her chief of\ninformation to say the least,\" says Treasury\nDeaver was back with a grimmer report:\nstaff and a Secret Service agent. She im-\nSecretary Donald Regan, the first Cabinet\n\"It looks like the President has been\nmediately rushed to the hospital. She did\nofficer to arrive on scene.\nnicked,\" he said; a D.C. cop had been\nnot know that her husband had been shot.\nThe Administration began to pull itself\n34\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nSPECIAL REPORT\ntogether. Haig, Defense Secretary Caspar\nWeinberger, Attorney General William\nFrench Smith and CIA chief William Casey\nall rushed to the White House. The Presi-\ndent's men gathered in the basement Sit-\nuation Room (code name: Cement Mixer).\nMeese and Baker left word before they went\nto the hospital that Haig, as the senior Cabi-\nnet officer, should run the Situation Room,\noverseeing such duties as assembling the\nentire Cabinet should it be necessary to\ninvoke the 25th Amendment later. Says\nBaker, \"We did everything we had to do\nto take action if action was required.\"\nAlert: Even so, Haig managed to stum-\nble into one stinging set of nettles. As he\nwas sitting in the Situation Room, he\nglanced up at the television and heard a\nreporter ask deputy press secretary\nSpeakes whether U.S. military forces had\nbeen put on alert. \"Not that I'm aware,\"\nSpeakes replied. Haig feared that the\npress might misinterpret the vague report.\n\"Come on, come with me,\" he told na-\ntional-security adviser Allen. Without\ntelling anyone where he was going, Haig\nDirck Haistead\ntook Allen in tow, raced up a flight of\nAn ambulance for Brady: Miraculous progress after the networks pronounced him dead\nstairs and stalked into the White House\npress room.\nberger looked up absently at the television\nState in that order, and should the President\nFor a take-charge leader, Haig made a\nset and asked, \"What's that old tape of\ndecide he wants to transfer the helm to\nrather clumsy entrance. Unannounced,\nAl running for?\" He had no idea that Haig\nthe Vice President, he will do so. I am\nsweating heavily from the run upstairs, his\nwas upstairs on live TV.\nin control here in the White House pending\nvoice quavering, he announced that the ap-\nBut Haig got his facts wrong-and over-\nthe return of the Vice President. If some-\npropriate Cabinet officials were in the Sit-\nstepped his authority. When a reporter\nthing came up, I would check with him,\nuation Room, that Vice President Bush was\nasked who was making the decisions for\nof course.\"\naware of the crisis, that U.S. allies had been\nthe White House he replied: \"Constitution-\nIn fact, the Speaker of the House and\nnotified as well and that no military alert\nally, gentlemen, you have the President,\nthe President Pro Tempore of the Senate\nwason. Down in the Situation Room, Wein-\nthe Vice President and the Secretary of\nfollow the President and Vice President\nHinckley's Last Love Letter\nDear Jodie:\nsation, however full of ridicule it may\nThere is a definite possibility that I\nbe. At least you know that I'll always\nwill be killed in my attempt to get Reagan.\nlove you.\nIt is for this very reason that I am writing\nJodie, I would abandon this idea of\nyou this letter now.\ngetting Reagan in a second if I could\nAs you well know by now, I love you\nonly win your heart and live out the rest\nvery much. The past seven months I have\nof my life with you, whether it be in\nleft you dozens of poems, letters and mes-\ntotal obscurity or whatever. I will admit\nsages in the faint hope you would develop\nto you that the reason I'm going ahead\nan interest in me.\nwith this attempt now is because I just\nAlthough we talked on the phone a\ncannot wait any longer to impress you.\ncouple of times, I never had the nerve\nI've got to do something now to make\nto simply approach you and introduce\nyou understand in no uncertain terms\nmyself. Besides my shyness, I honestly\nthat I am doing all of this for your sake.\ndid not wish to bother you\nI know\nBy sacrificing my freedom and possibly\nthe many messages left at your door and\nmy life I hope to change your mind about\nin your mailbox were a nuisance, but I\nme. This letter is being written an hour\nfelt it was the most painless way for me\nbefore I leave for the Hilton Hotel.\nto express my love to you.\nJodie, I'm asking you to please look\nI feel very good about the fact you\ninto your heart and at least give me the\nat least know my name and how I feel\nchance with this historical deed to gain\nabout you. And by hanging around your\nyour respect and love.\ndormitory I've come to realize that I'm\nI love you forever.\nSteve Schapiro-Transworld\nthe topic of more than a little conver-\n(signed) John Hinckley\nFoster as a prostitute in Taxi Driver'\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n35\nSPECIAL REPORT\nLarry Downing-Newsweex\nJames Knowles-Sipa-Black Star\nBaker, Meese and Deaver watch Bush on the air: 'The President has emerged with flying colors'\nin the legal order of succession. And it\nislature. As Bush's plane took off, special\nWright to the forward compartment to talk.\nis Weinberger, not-Haig, who is in charge\nagent Ed Pollard told a Bush aide, \"There\n\"He conducted himself in an atmosphere\nof the emergency military commands in\nhas been an attempt on the President and\nof total calm,\" Wright said later. He told\nthe absence of Reagan and Bush. To make\ntwo agents are down.\" At that moment,\nBush a story about Vice President Harry\nmatters worse, Weinberger had just called\nthe plane started to climb, and Bush didn't\nTruman on the day that Franklin D. Roo-\nGen. David Jones, chairman of the Joint\nget the word until the pilot leveled off. \"Two\nsevelt died. Truman was with House Speak-\nChiefs of Staff, to order a low-level increase\nSecret Service men are down,\" Bush said.\ner Sam Rayburn when he was summoned\nin military readiness on the ground that\n\"Don't you know how awful he [Pollard]\nto the White House. \"Harry, you must be\nno one knew whether the attack on the\nmust feel?\"\nPresident now,\" Rayburn said. \"Sam, I\nPresident had been an isolated incident or\nA few minutes later Haig phoned, telling\ncan't do it,\" Truman replied. \"Mr. Presi-\na conspiracy. When Haig returned and\nBush to return to Washington and that\ndent,\" Rayburn said evenly, \"You've got\nasked everyone to make sure that their ac-\na coded teletype message was on its way\nto do it.\" The plane landed and taxied into\ntions squared with his statement, Wein-\nto Bush's plane. The television in the plane\na hangar for security. Before Bush boarded\nberger refused to rescind his order, making\nwas tuned to ABC, and at 3:11 p.m. the\nthe chopper, a Secret Service agent handed\nit clear that he thought Haig was over-\nVice President of the United States, like\nhim a bullet-resistant raincoat.\nstepping his authority. \"You better read\nmillions of other shocked Americans, first\nAllies: Landing on the grounds of the\nyour Constitution,\" Haig snapped. There\nlearned that Reagan, too, had been shot.\nNaval Observatory, the Vice President's of-\nwas a sharp exchange-Weinberger's office\nAt 3:19, the coded message arrived con-\nficial quarters, Bush found Meese waiting\nlater denied leaked details-and finally the\nfirming the news.\nto escort him to the White House. Bush\nflap blew over. A few hours later the readi-\nThe Vice President's plane (code name:\nwent directly to the Situation Room. Ev-\nness order was lifted.\nTreasureship) landed in Austin at 3:25 to\neryone there stood up as he walked in, and\nReassurance: During that time the\nrefuel for the flight to Washington. House\nhe sat down at the head of the conference\nWhite House press corps grumbled angri-\nMajority Leader James Wright flew back\ntable. \"All right, bring me up to date,\"\nly over the chaos around them. Final-\nwith the Vice President. Bush invited\nhe said. \"How is the President?\" He was\nly, a senior Administration hand took\nbriefed on Reagan's condition and the\naside a reporter friend and asked wan-\nHaig briefing the press: 'Read your Constitution'\nmessages Haig had sent to U.S. allies.\nCourtesy NBC TV News\nly, \"What should we be doing that\nWeinberger reviewed the military sit-\nwe aren't doing?\" \"Continuity of gov-\nuation, reporting that there had been\nernment,\" the reporter snapped. \"Get\nno unusual military movements war-\nsomeone out here to reassure every-\nranting a U.S. response.\none.\" That role fell first to Dr. Dennis\nThe meeting was low key, calm.\nS. O'Leary, the articulate and unflap-\nOnce or twice Bush propped his feet\npable dean of Clinical Affairs and pub-\non the table as he talked. The briefing\nlic spokesman for the hospital, who\nover, he left to address the networks.\nreported that Reagan had \"sailed\nThe President \"has emerged from this\nthrough\" surgery.\nexperience with flying colors and with\nBush also emerged as a calming\nmost optimistic prospects for a com-\nforce. At the time of the shooting, he\nplete recovery,\" he said. \"I can re-\nwas in Ft. Worth, Texas, where he\ninsure this nation and the watching\nhad spoken to a convention of cattle-\nworld that the American Government\nmen. He was bound for Austin to ad-\nis functioning fully and effectively.\"\ndress a joint session of the state leg-\nThe Vice President then left to pay\n36\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nSPECIAL REPORT\nhe was dancing with the Joffrey II\nBallet. An Air Force jet brought\na call on Nancy Reagan. She had spent\nMaureen, 39, Michael, 35, and Patti,\nthe hours during Reagan's operation with\n28, in from California. Billy Graham\nJim Brady's wife, Sarah, and Timothy\narrived; so did Frank Sinatra, who\nMcCarthy's wife, Carolyn, in an office on\npaid a quiet call on the First Lady\nthe second floor of George Washington\nat the White House to avoid pub-\nUniversity Hospital. She also prayed in\nlicity. Queen Elizabeth and the Pope\nthe chapel. Four hours after the shoot-\nsent comforting words-as did Leo-\ning, Reagan was wheeled into the recov-\nnid Brezhnev and Fidel Castro.\nery room, draped in a bright orange blan-\nEarly the next morning, Reagan\nket. He stayed there until 6:15 the next\nredeemed the faith of his men, who\nmorning.\nhad decided against invoking the\nProgress Notes': Reagan's performance\n25th Amendment. Around 6:45 a.m.,\nin the recovery room may have been his\nMeese, Deaver and Baker found the\nfinest starring role. He had a tube in his\nPresident propped up in bed, brush-\nthroat and couldn't talk easily. He called\ning his teeth. \"I should have known\nfor a clipboard, and on a pad of pink paper\nI wasn't going to avoid a staff meet-\nhe began to dash off \"progress notes.\" \"I'd\ning,\" he said, adding to Deaver, the\nlike to do this scene again-starting at\nkeeper of his time, \"I've really\nthe hotel,\" he wrote, convulsing the nurses\nscrewed up the schedule.\" When the\nand staff. For a time, he fell into a fitful\nthree counselors assured him soberly\nsleep. Waking, he grabbed the pad and\nthat the business of government was\nwrote, \"I'm still alive aren't I?\" Around\ngoing on as usual, Reagan fixed them\nmidnight he once again reached for his\nwith a Western eye and said, \"What\nwriting gear and scribbled, \"Winston\nmakes you think I'd be happy about\nChurchill said there is no more exhilarating\nthat?\"\nfeeling than being shot without result.\"\nSignature: The President still had\nAt 1:30, in a sardonic reference to his res-\nan intravenous needle in his right\npirator, he wrote, \"Send me to L.A. where\narm and tubes in his nose; but he\nI can see the air I'm breathing.\" At 2:20,\nseemed eager to get back to work.\nhe passed a note to his round-the-clock\nThe aides had brought along a bill\nnurses that said, \"If I knew I had such\nrestricting Federal price supports for\ntalent for this, I'd have tried it sooner.\"\ndairy products. It represented Rea-\nAt 3 a.m., the doctors took the tube\ngan's first real legislative victory.\nAP\nout of the President's throat, and he could\nWhen they asked gingerly if he want-\nDr. O'Leary: Reassuring an anxious nation\nfinally talk.\ned to sign it, he said, \"Would I ever.\"\n\"How long will it take to heal?\" he asked\nUsing his breakfast tray for a table, he\ndition. As gently as he could, Ruge finally\none of the nurses.\nscrawled a wobbly signature and sent the\nfilled him in. \"Oh, damn. Oh, damn,\" Rea-\n\"Ten days to two weeks,\" she replied.\nbill on its way. Later that morning, when\ngan blurted, his eyes filling with tears. \"Did\n\"I always heal fast,\" he said.\nMaureen dropped by, Reagan promised\nit go into the brain?\" Told that the bullet\n\"Keep up the good work,\" she told him.\nher that he would fly to California in three\nhad indeed pierced Brady's brain, Reagan\n\"You mean this may happen several\nweeks for her wedding, then visit President\nsaid, \"Oh, dear, what's the prognosis?\" The\nmore times?\" he asked in mock dismay.\nJosé López Portillo of Mexico. Maybe, said\ndoctor told him that Brady might be par-\nThen the President turned serious. \"I\nthe doctor, adding that the President\ntially paralyzed. \"We've got to pray,\" Rea-\nheard three or four rounds,\" he said. \"Did\nwouldn't be anywhere near a horse for\ngan said. When told about McCarthy and\nanybody else get hit?\" There was an awk-\ntwo months. Vetoing the sawbones, Reagan\nDelahanty, he said quietly, \"That means\nward silence. David Fischer, the President's\ngrinned at his daughter and held up a finger\nfour bullets hit. Good Lord.\"\npersonal aide, had instructed them not to\nfor one month.\nTelegrams: As Reagan settled down to\nlet on about the seriousness of Brady's\nThe good vibrations were broken shortly\nhis convalescence, the First Lady bravely\nwound or the suffering of McCarthy and\nafter noon when Dr. Ruge came in to the\nkept up her outward composure, but she\nDelahanty, explaining that Reagan had\nPresident's comfortable, $234-a-day room.\nwas suffering deeply. While she had worried\nvery intense feelings about the people\nThe First Lady and aides had refused to\nconstantly about Reagan's safety when he\naround him and would be deeply upset-\ngive Reagan a newspaper because they\nwas governor of California, she had hoped\nand perhaps set back in his recovery-\ndidn't want him to read about Brady's con-\nthat his massive electoral popularity last\nby the bad news. Through the\nNovember would somehow\nnight the doctors respected the\nMcCarthy, Delahanty: A bullet called the Devastator\nhelp protect him. For the first\nadvice-and evaded the Presi-\nAP\nUPI photos\nthree days she slept little. Be-\ndent's questions.\ntween catnaps she would wake,\nThrough the day of the shoot-\nwrite in her diary and nibble\ning and all through the night,\nfruit; but she lost several\nthe President's family and\npounds. She brought her hus-\nfriends murmured prayers and\nband a picture of them kissing\nrallied round him. \"I was al-\nat the Inauguration so he\nmost sure that something like\nwouldn't \"forget what I looked\nthis would happen; it's about\nlike.\" During the day she set\ntime the courts decide the fun\nup shop in a room next to the\nis over,\" said the President's\nPresident's. She was surround-\nbrother, Neil Reagan, 72. The\ned by boxes containing thou-\nPresident's son Ron, 22, flew\nsands of telegrams. She com-\nin from Lincoln, Neb., where\nforted other friends who\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n37\nSPECIAL REPORT\nfor Haig to carry to Israel, Egypt, Jordan\nthe penalty for attempted murder is life\nand Saudi Arabia. Weinberger briefed Rea-\nimprisonment. Hinckley was also charged\nphoned, and winnowed through get-well\ngan on his trip this week to a NATO meet-\nfor shooting agent McCarthy, another Fed-\ngifts for items to cheer the President. Per-\ning in Europe on nuclear policy. It was\neral crime, and he could still be indicted\nhaps the most successful was a giant horse\nbusiness-almost-as-usual-under very try-\nfor assaulting Brady and Delahanty.\nhead made of chrysanthemums-with a\ning circumstances (page 39).\nAround 10:30 on the day of the shoot-\nmane of jelly beans.\nThe suffering of Brady, Delahanty and\ning, the Feds brought Hinckley to a Fed-\nReagan improved steadily: progressing\nMcCarthy cast a pall over what might have\neral court for a bail hearing. Security was\nfrom Jell-O to chicken soup, carrot sticks\nbeen a happy ending to the crisis. But the\ntight. Court stenographers, lawyers, em-\nand homemade coconut ice cream, his fa-\nothers also began to improve. By the end\nployees and even the cleaning women all\nvorite. But even as the atmosphere started\nof the week, when a doctor asked Brady\nhad to pass through a metal detector. FBI\nto brighten, the FBI placed an urgent call\nwhat he did for a living, he said, \"I answer\ndirector William Webster sat in the court-\nto the doctors treating Delahanty. The FBI\nquestions.\" And when the doctor asked for\nroom (\"It was on my watch,\" he said).\nlab had determined that Hinckley had been\nwhom, the fallen press secretary replied\nFederal magistrate Arthur L. Burnett ex-\nfiring particularly vicious exploding bullets\nquickly, \"For anyone who asks them.\" In-\nplained Hinckley's rights to him and asked\ncalled Devastators that fragmented on im-\nformed of the progress of the others, Reagan\nif he understood the charges against him.\npact. FBI technicians warned that the slug\nsaid, \"Oh that's great news, just great news,\n\"Yes, sir,\" Hinckley said softly, showing\nlodged in Delahanty's neck near his spinal\nespecially about Jim,\" then broke up callers\nno emotion. Did he have a job? \"No, sir.\"\ncord might still contain a live charge and\nby quipping, \"We'll have to get four bed-\nAny dependents? \"No, sir.\" Could he pay\nexplode. Delahanty's physicians had in-\npans and have a reunion.\" Later he was\n$1,000 as a down payment or retainer to\ntended to leave it in place, avoiding an op-\nvisited by McCarthy. \"When your children\na lawyer? \"No, sir. So the judge appoint-\neration that might injure his spinal nerves\ncome, tell them that their father put himself\ned two court lawyers to represent him.\nand paralyze him. They explained the new\nbetween me and that guy,\" Reagan told\nRocky's Pawn Shop: Ruff argued that\ndanger to Delahanty and he agreed to an\nthe wounded agent. \"I'm proud that there\nHinckley was a drifter who should be held\noperation. A volunteer team of neurosur-\nare guys around here to take those kinds\nwithout bail. \"This is not a man with a\ngeons, avoiding the hot cauterizing instru-\nof jobs.\"\nclean record,\" he said. The previous Oc-\nments normally used-for fear of setting\nWhile the victims were mending, the FBI\ntober, Ruff said, Hinckley had been arrested\noff the Devastator-succeeded in extract-\nwas attending to Hinckley. The day of the\nat the airport in Nashville, Tenn., for pack-\ning the slug, and the crisis passed.\nshooting, a ten-car police motorcade hus-\ning two 22-caliber handguns and a .38 re-\nLetters: As the days wore on, the Presi-\ntled him from D.C. police headquarters\nvolver. Jimmy Carter was in town that day\ndent made a remarkably swift recovery,\nto the FBI's Washington field office on\nat Opryland, but no one had drawn any\nset back only by a temporary fever. The\nthe Anacostia River called Buzzards Point.\nconnections; he was fined $50 and his guns\nFirst Lady brought him his slippers and\nWhile the G-men interrogated him, lawyers\nwere confiscated. Just four days later in\nrobe and he did some walking: 50 yards\nat the office of Charles F. C. Ruff, U.S.\nDallas he had bought two more 22-caliber\nor so at first. The last hospital tubes were\nattorney for the District of Columbia, began\nSaturday-night specials at Rocky's Pawn\nremoved, and the White House allowed\nto draw up the charges against him. The\nShop on East Elm Street-not far from\na first, postoperative photograph. After his\ngoal of the prosecutors was to present\nwhere John F. Kennedy was shot. Later\nfirst full eight hours of sleep, Reagan got\nevidence showing that Hinckley had at-\nin Denver, Hinckley had purchased a new\nback to matters of state. He received a Na-\ntempted to kill Reagan, not just wound\n.38. Not long afterward he had set off on\ntional Security Council briefing. Haig gave\nhim. The distinction was important. The\na three-day cross-country bus trip that had\nhim a preflight rundown on his trip to the\nmaximum penalty for simply assaulting the\nbrought him to Washington-and his dead-\nMiddle East, and Reagan dictated letters\nPresident is $10,000 and ten years in jail;\nly appointment with the President.\nThe outline of Hinckley's odyssey was\nTears and anger: The President's brother, Neil, daughter Maureen\nenough for the judge. He agreed to hold\nAP\nUPI\nhim temporarily without bail (to do so\npermanently might have violated the sus-\npect's constitutional rights). Hinckley\nwas led away and taken to the brig at\nthe U.S. Marine Corps base in Quantico,\nVa., where he was clapped into a 6- by\n10-foot cell under round-the-clock guard.\nLater, his father hired the respected Wash-\nington law firm of Williams & Connolly\nto represent him.\nThe immediate question was whether\nHinckley was mentally competent to stand\ntrial. A psychiatrist from Washington's\nDepartment of Human Resources exam-\nined him and tentatively found him fit to\nstand trial. A magistrate ordered a more\nthorough examination. Then Hinckley,\nwearing a bulletproof vest, was flown by\nhelicopter to the Federal Correctional In-\nstitution near Durham, N.C., where he\nwas put in isolation for his own protection\nwhile he undergoes psychiatric evaluation.\nIt was likely to be a long time before he\nstands trial. But Hinckley, the glum wan-\nderer who had never amounted to much,\nhad already found his niche.\nTOM MATHEWS and the Washington bureau\n38\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nSPECIAL REPORT\nKarl Schumacher-The White House\nBush runs a Cabinet meeting from the Vice President's chair: A carefully concerted campaign to demonstrate 'business as usual'\nWho's Minding the Store\nAmid the gaiety of his\nvisit a day from Meese, Baker and Deaver\nprice supports. He also approved a number\n70th birthday party at\n(usually together) last week and got a writ-\nof Presidential appointments during the\nthe White House in Feb-\nten briefing every morning as well from\nweek and an Executive order slashing duty-\nruary, Ronald Reagan suddenly leaned over\nnational-security adviser Richard V. Allen.\nfree imports. \"Anything of consequence is\nto Barbara Bush to ask \"a very personal\nHe also received a series of \"summary de-\ngoing to him,\" says a senior staffer.\nquestion\" about the Vice President. \"Is\ncision memos\"-short reports on policy\nMilkshake Crisis: Bush picked up the\nGeorge happy with his job?\" Reagan asked.\nmeetings he was not able to attend-and\nPresident's public duties tactfully and\n\"I just want to be sure he's doing enough.\na daily log of Congressional activities. At\nsmoothly, combining much of Reagan's\nIf the awful-awful should happen, George\ndaily schedule with his own and canceling\nshould know everything.\" Reagan's con-\nall out-of-town trips (although he did plan\ncern seemed particularly prophetic last\nBush pinch-hits for\nto fill in for the President at Tuskegee\nweek as George Bush moved confidently\nInstitute in Alabama this week). Bush re-\nto assume many of the wounded President's\nthe President, but\nceived a daily national-security briefing at\nofficial obligations-presiding over Cabinet\nReagan's three top\nthe White House from the NSC's Allen,\nmeetings, promoting the Reagan budget,\npresided over several Cabinet meetings\nposing with foreign dignitaries. But in a\naides remain firmly\nand did not hesitate to order additional\nconcerted campaign of gestures and inter-\nstaff work. He met with Congressional\nviews, Bush and White House aides insisted\nin control of things.\nleaders and made a personal trip to Capitol\nthat Reagan himself remains in control and\nHill to talk up the Reagan budget (page\nthat throughout the Administration it is\n72)-a subject he pressed as well with 40\nvery much \"business as usual.\"\nthe George Washington University Hos-\nvisiting labor leaders. Bush also met with\nAlthough controversy still swirled\npital, Reagan's suite became the heart of\nPolish Deputy Prime Minister Mieczyslaw\naround Secretary of State Alexander Haig\na ten-room White House annex. Special\nJagielski and announced the Administra-\n(page 40), the Administration was running\ncommunications gear was installed, and\ntion's decision to provide new aid to crisis-\nfairly smoothly, largely because of Reagan's\nReagan's longtime personal secretary, He-\ntorn Poland (page 62). His new schedule\nlongstanding style of leadership-more 9-\nlene von Damm, set up a desk for the du-\ncaused only one minor problem-a diges-\nto-5 board chairman than chief operating\nration of his stay. Less than fourteen hours\ntive crise after Bush bolted down some\nofficer. Daily business is directed by Rea-\nafter his surgery, Reagan signed in wobbly\npepperoni pizza and a milkshake for din-\ngan's three top aides-White House coun-\nscript a bill to block an increase in dairy-\nner late one night. \"I didn't sleep too well,\"\nselor Edwin Meese III, chief of staff James\nhe laughed the next day.\nA. Baker III and deputy chief of staff Mi-\nConvalescent bill-signing: No auto-pen\nBush is careful to clear things with Meese\nchael K. Deaver. \"All the critical aspects\nand Baker. \"I want to do what I can and\nof government remain the same,\" says one\nI want to do it through you,\" the Vice\nsenior staffer. Says another: \"If we have\nPresident told Reagan's senior aides on the\nto have a decision, that's when we go over\nmorning after the shooting, and he main-\n[to see Reagan]. But a President is not called\ntained his deferential posture throughout\non to make a decision every day.\"\nthe week. \"On anything major,\" reports\nReagan is kept informed on the most\none Reagan man, \"the Vice President al-\nserious matters. He received at least one\nways says, 'We'd better discuss that with\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n39\nSPECIAL REPORT\n\"auto-pen\" that automatically signs routine\nlarly because of the trouble with Haig.\nletters, notes and photographs in Reagan's\nWhite House sources insist there has been\nthe President.\" Bush tried to avoid any\nhand. The White House also delayed the\nno friction among the Big Three-Meese,\ninadvertent self-aggrandizement; he ran\nscheduled announcement by Reagan of a\nBaker and Deaver. \"If any one of them\nCabinet meetings from the Vice President's\nregulatory relief package for the nation's\nhas a strong view on anything, the other\nseat, conducted business in the Vice Presi-\nailing auto industry-and of a \"briefing\ntwo go along,\" said one insider. \"Their de-\ndent's offices and even posed with Poland's\nmission\" to Tokyo, headed by U.S. Trade\nsire to cooperate is so extreme that the\nJagielski so as to avoid having the White\nRepresentative William E. Brock, aimed at\nonly question they ever ask is, 'What's best\nHouse loom up symbolically behind him.\ncutting Japanese auto imports.\nfor the President?\" During his convales-\nFor all the deft coping, Reagan's con-\nFriction? At the weekend there was a\ncence, more than ever, Ronald Reagan\ndition did cause some delays in the affairs\nreport of \"discord\" between the two top\nmust rely on that kind of dedication to\nof state. A number of military appointments\nWhite House staffers. At first they\nkeep his Administration running smoothly.\nwere postponed, as were several previously\nlaughed-\"You'll be surprised to learn we\nscheduled briefing sessions for Reagan. The\nhave friction,\" Baker told Meese-but they\nDAVID M. ALPERN with THOMAS M. DeFRANK,\nELEANOR CLIFT and JAMES DOYLE\nPresident's men even suspended use of the\nwere also disturbed by the report, particu-\nin Washington\n'I Am In Control Here'\nphones were,\" says a source who was present. \"He was the\nonly guy who knew how to talk to the Vice President's plane.\"\nAnother top aide speculated that Haig had rushed on camera\nWith the President undergoing surgery and the Vice Presi-\nbefore pausing to collect himself. \"The unsteadiness of his\ndent rushing back from Texas, Ronald Reagan's Cabinet as-\ntelevision performance didn't match the steadiness of his per-\nsembled in the situation room of the White House. Suddenly,\nformance downstairs,\" he insisted. One reason for Haig's I'm-\nAlexander Haig bolted from the room. \"What's he doing?\"\nin-charge bluster, according to partisans, was to send a pointed\nasked startled aides. \"Where's he going?\" A few minutes later\nmessage to the Soviet Union, which was massing troops on\nHaig was on nationwide television, his voice quavering, his\nthe Polish border. \"He wanted it known our guard was still\nface ashen. \"I am in control here\nhe proclaimed. But\nup,\" says a sympathetic official.\nhe clearly wasn't-and once again he had plunged himself\nCredibility: Still, the we-love-Al chorus seemed rather\ninto conflict with his own Administration colleagues. This\nstrained. Some officials conceded that the campaign was not\ntime Haig's embarrassing performance threatened to undercut\nso much an endorsement of Haig's behavior as an gent attempt\nhis authority abroad as he embarked on his first foreign mission\nto boost his credibility. \"It was important to send a message\nto the Middle East. The gaffe also raised a new round of\nto the Hill,\" says a White House topsider. \"There's been a\ndoubts about Haig's coolness under fire and heightened spec-\ncertain amount of chatter up there. This man has been gouged\nulation that he could not long survive as Secretary of State.\nin public.\" As Haig departed for the Middle East, the White\nEven Haig's friends were taken aback by the televised dis-\nHouse felt it necessary to take the extraordinary step of publicly\ncomfiture of the four-star general who had steered Richard\nendorsing its chief architect of foreign policy. \"The Secretary\nNixon through his last crisis. \"I've never seen him like that\nof State leaves today in the full colors as Secretary of State,\"\nbefore,\" said a State Department colleague who has known\nemphasized a spokesman-\"and with the full confidence of\nHaig for years. \"He was crack-\nthe President.\"\ning emotionally.\" In Congressional\n'Everything's fine, Chief-in fact, we've just been\nBut this may not be enough to\ncloakrooms even his Republican al-\ndoing some papering in the Cabinet Room'\nassuage the doubts of Haig's foreign\nlies complained about Haig's four-\n© 1981 Herblock in The Washington Post\nhosts. An official of the United\nminute torrent of what one called\nArab Emirates told the Associated\n\"dingbat\" misstatements on the\nPress that Haig \"should not expect\nPresidential succession and the\nmuch from us until we are sure the\nstate of military readiness. \"I can\nWashington leadership is no longer\nunderstand his perception of the\ndisunited.\" In Washington, Haig's\nneed to reassure,\" said Democratic\nfuture in the Reagan Administra-\nSen. Joseph Biden, a persistent Haig\ntion seems uncertain. \"I just hope\ncritic. \"But the Secretary's action\nhe now understands how we work,\"\nhad an entirely opposite effect.\"\nsighs one senior official. \"It's a gen-\n'Contact Point: As the devas-\ntlemanly give-and-take, not con-\ntating reviews poured in, the Ad-\nfrontational.\" State Department of-\nministration moved to limit the\nficials worry that, if the pragmatic\ndamage to its senior Cabinet offi-\nHaig steps down, American foreign\ncer. Reports of White House dis-\nPROBLEM\npolicy will be dominated by White\nmay over Haig's performance were\nHouse political coordinator Lyn\n\"honest-to-God baloney,\" chief of\nNofziger, Sen. Jesse Helms and oth-\nstaff James Baker told NEWSWEEK\ner theologians of the right. Even\nflatly. Other White House aides\nHaig's close aides rate his chances\nwho earlier had sniped at Haig went\nfor keeping his job at less than even.\nout of their way to praise him as\nHaig's first venture abroad had thus\nan effective \"contact point\" during\nbecome a mission not only to shore\nthe first hour of the crisis. As a\nup America's standing in the Mid-\nNixon White House veteran, Haig\ndle East, but also to salvage his own\nwas the Cabinet officer most famil-\neroding position at home.\niar with situation-room procedures.\nSTEVEN STRASSER with ELEANOR\n\"He was the only guy who knew\nCLIFT, THOMAS M. DeFRANK,\nHOWARD FINEMAN and JOHN\nwhat to do, who knew where the\nWALCOTT in Washington\n40\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nIn a picture taken by an unidentified photographer, Hinckley poses outside the White House sometime last year\nProfile of a Gunman\nIn a life empty of\nHe remained a nonentity even in crime;\nmy son.\" His attitude was said to be one\nachievement, John War-\nwhen he was picked up at the Nashville\nof \"tremendous anxiety about the problem\nnock Hinckley Jr. finally\nairport trying to board a plane while car-\nhis son was having.\" The family retained\nsucceeded at something last week. He made\nrying three guns, the offense was considered\nEdward Bennett Williams's law firm to rep-\nan impression on Jodie Foster that will last\ntoo trivial for him to be fingerprinted.\nresent Hinckley after his arrest-but it was\na lifetime. Apparently alone, he conceived\nHinckley is largely self-made as a failure.\nfour days before they visited him in his\nand carried out his grotesque declaration\nHe is the third and youngest child of a\ncell in the Federal Correctional Institution\nof love, a \"historical deed\" intended to\nwealthy Denver oilman active in religious\nin Butner, N.C.\nbridge the gap between his lonely world\ngroups and respected in business. Hinck-\nFatal Attraction: Somewhere in his wan-\nof bus stations and seedy motels and her\nley's sister, Diane, 28, was an unusually\nderings Hinckley apparently crossed the in-\nbustling life full of promise; a horrible act\npopular and attractive girl who married\nvisible line into the same world inhabited\ndistantly rooted in an idea of chivalry, like\na Dallas insurance executive; his brother,\nby Mark David Chapman, the loner who\na scrawled obscenity that started out as\ncame out of the night to kill John Lennon:\na love poem. It was the act of a loser—\na seductive world in which the lyrics of rock\na 25-year-old drifter who thought that\nA surly drifter with\nsongs take on a personal meaning, and the\nshooting the President would make an im-\nfaces in the movies seem to wink at you\npressive introduction to the teen-age actress\na gift for failure,\nwith a shared secret. From under a broad-\nhe had never met.\nHinckley is driven\nbrimmed hat, her blond hair falling in curls\nHe led a life of almost willful failure\nto her shoulders, Jodie Foster pouted fetch-\nand obscurity. Although at least average\nas a student, he spent seven years off and\nto violence by\ningly at Hinckley and won his heart. The\ntough-but-vulnerable, wise-but-innocent\non at Texas Tech University and fell one\na bizarre obsession.\n12-year-old prostitute she portrayed in the\nsemester short of earning a degree. He\n1976 film \"Taxi Driver\" had a fatal attrac-\njoined the National Socialist Party of Amer-\ntion for the lonely young man dreaming\nica, and struck these jackbooted admirers\nScott, 30, is established in his father's busi-\nhis life away over cheeseburgers and dough-\nof Hitler as dangerously unstable and po-\nness. Living in their shadow may have been\nnuts in the low-rent district of Lubbock,\ntentially violent. Applying for work at a\npart of John Hinckley's problem; a business\nTexas-for whom real-life girlfriends were\nColorado newspaper, he invented a job his-\nacquaintance of his father recalled that he\njust one of the many kinds of friends he\ntory for himself-as a bartender. He left\nnever spoke of his troubled younger son.\nnever made. Presumably, it did not escape\nbehind few vivid impressions, and almost\n\"I never knew he had another son,\" said\nhis notice-and it certainly did not go un-\nno favorable ones; some of the few words\nthe colleague, Robert Kadane. \"I thought\nnoticed by the FBI last week-that the lead-\nspoken in his behalf last week came from\nhe had only one boy.\" Yet just two weeks\ning character of \"Taxi Driver,\" played by\na maid at the rundown Denver-area motel\nbefore the assassination attempt, Hinckley\nRobert DeNiro, plots the assassination of\nwhere he lived for two weeks shortly before\nSr. met with officers of one of his favorite\na United States senator, and eventually be-\nthe assassination attempt. \"He kept the\ncharities-World Vision International, a\ncomes famous when he kills the young girl's\nroom real neat,\" she recalled. \"I never saw\nChristian evangelical and humanitarian re-\npimp. And, NEWSWEEK has learned, the\na liquor bottle or a beer can or any roaches.\"\nlief agency-and asked them to \"pray for\ngovernment has evidence indicating firmly\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n41\nthe nerve to simply approach you\nand introduce myself.\" But Foster\ninsists that she has \"never met,\nspoken to, or in any way asso-\nciated with\" Hinckley.\nPropriety: He apparently re-\nturned to New Haven at least once,\nin early March, when three notes\nwere apparently slipped under her\ndoor. Among them was a com-\nmercial greeting card, in the con-\ntemporary-humorous vein, which\nbegan \"I'm a person of few\nwords,\" and then repeated \"I love\nyou\" dozens of times. It wassigned\n\"John.\" Foster turned these over\nto her dean, and they are now in\nthe possession of the FBI. But\nHinckley never overstepped the\nboundaries of propriety; his im-\npassioned final testament to his ab-\nsurd love was as polite as it was\ncrazy. \"Besides my shyness,\" he\nwrote, \"I honestly did not wish\nWally McNamee-NEwswEEk\nto bother you with my constant\nHustling Hinckley to a chopper bound for Quantico: Cues from 'Mein Kampf and 'Taxi Driver'\npresence\"-so he would kill the\nPresident as a less intrusive way\nthat Hinckley owned a copy of the book\nHaven last fall only a few weeks after she\nto get her attention, \"respect and love.\"\non which the movie was based.\ndid-and, ominously, just after he pur-\nIt's possible that he was not always so\nHinckley may have been touched by Iris,\nchased two .22 handguns at a Texas pawn-\nconsiderate of her. FBI agents have re-\nthe young hooker, but unfortunately he fell\nshop. Having come 2,000 miles from Lub-\nopened their investigation of a stenciled\nin love with Foster, the real person. His\nbock, he spent much of his time a few blocks\nletter they received last fall warning that\nproblem may have worsened after Foster,\nfrom her room, bragging at the Sheraton\nan attempt would be made to kidnap Foster,\nwith considerable fanfare, enrolled as a\nPark Plaza Hotel that he was Foster's boy-\nfor what were said to be romantic reasons\nfreshman at Yale last year. Hinckley had\nfriend. Unkempt in his ratty Army jacket,\nrather than ransom. It was mailed from\napparently spent some months in Holly-\nhe didn't look the part to bartender Mike\nDenver, where Hinckley was living at the\nwood back in 1976, but if he attempted\nTargove, and the newspaper and magazine\ntime. The whole experience has been a use-\nto contact Foster then, there are no records\npictures of Foster he pulled from his wallet\nful-if alarming-lesson for the young ac-\nof it. Any letters from him were buried\nweren't very convincing either. \"The guy\ntress in \"the power of films to direct people's\namong the thousands she receives each\nwas ticking,\" Targove recalls.\nlives.\" But a frightened and bewildered Fos-\nmonth, most thrown away unread. But sud-\nHow much closer he may have come\nter wants only to return to the unglamorous\ndenly her address was no longer in care\nto her is not known. In a letter recov-\nlife of a freshman. \"It's not myself that's\nof an agent or a studio, but a room in Welch\nered by the FBI from Hinckley's room in\ninvolved,\" she insists plaintively. \"I'm not\nHall at Yale, more or less open to anyone\nWashington, addressed to Foster but never\ninvolved in any of this.\"\nwho can pass as a college student. Driven\nmailed, he wrote, \"Although we talked on\nIf there is a lesson in Hinckley's troubled\nby his obsession, Hinckley arrived in New\nthe phone a couple of times, I never had\nlife, it is an exceedingly elusive one. His\nHinckley's father appears at the door of his elegant multilevel home in Evergreen, Colo.: 'Pray for my son'\nBrian Payne-Black Star\nSusan D. Biddle-Sipa-Black Star\n42\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nSPECIAL REPORT\nHinckley's slide into darkness seemed\nwho make their college careers last most\nto pick up speed once he entered Texas\nof their 20s, taking and dropping courses,\ndownfall cannot be blamed on the wrong\nTech University in Lubbock, in the fall\nreluctant to venture into the world-al-\nsorts of friends; he had none. Nor on a\nof 1973. \"He wanted to go to Yale,\" says\nthough what could have kept the friendless\nbroken home; his parents' marriage was\nBecky Nugent, spokeswoman for the High-\nHinckley in Lubbock is a mystery. During\nstable. As his father's oil- and gas-drilling\nland Park schools. \"But he apparently\none of the interruptions in his education,\nbusiness prospered, he moved the family\ndidn't have the grades to get in. So he had\nhe lived for a while in Hollywood, and\nfrom Oklahoma to the attractive Dallas\nto go to Texas Tech instead.\" Academi-\nsought work in a camera store, although\nenclave of University Park, and then to\ncally, Texas Tech's reputation is modest,\nhe knew nothing of photography. In Lub-\nthe even more fashionable Highland Park,\nbut its 23,000 students take pride in their\nbock, he is remembered as a glum, seedy\nto a house with a pool and a curved drive\nparties. Hinckley was above average as a\nfigure in beltless blue jeans and a T shirt.\non a street that may well be the second\nstudent, but his drinking and hell-raising\n\"He was in a continual trudge,\" recalls\nmost prestigious address for hundreds of\nwere not up to Texas Tech standards. He\none campus merchant. He survived on\nmiles around. The 1980 report of the Van-\nsat out the beer-keg parties, and those who\ndoughnuts and fast-food hamburgers,\nderbilt Energy Corp.-named in honor of\nknew or suspected that he was the son of\nwhich he ate in his room, sometimes neg-\nHinckley's older brother's alma mater,\nVanderbilt University-was for\ntwo lines: a substantial increase in net profit\nto $805,000, and the advice of Hinckley's\nfather in his letter to shareholders: \"Com-\nmit to the Lord whatever you do, and your\nplans will succeed\" (Proverbs 16:3).\nConformity: In comfortable Highland\nPark, where the Hinckleys lived from 1966\nuntil 1974, young John thrived at first. He\nwas tall for his age, a good athlete and\npossessed of what classmate David Wild-\nman called \"good, natural looks-a big\nsmile, a big set of teeth, blond hair, blue\nPARM\neyes.\" He was popular enough to be elected\nSTATES\nSteve Clevenger-Sipa-Black Star\nUPI\npresident of his homeroom class in seventh\nSlide into darkness:\nand eighth grades. Those are ages, of course,\nHinckley in 1965 as a\nwhere conformity is valued, and he was\nprh DALLAS\nfifth-grade football play-\nwell-endowed with that trait. Another for-\ner, in 1969, in 1973 and\nmer classmate recalls him fondly as \"a pret-\ndriver's license photo last\nty mellow guy, bland even.\"\nJanuary. Below, boyhood\nThose were qualities that should have\nhome in Highland Park.\nstood him in good stead in Highland Park\nNorman Rogers\nHigh School, a bastion of oil-money privi-\nlege where the students are as uniform in\ntheir blond good looks as the blades of\nAstroturf in the school's football field. But\nhe lacked the edge to compete in what is\nalso one of the best public high schools\nin the nation; increasingly, he seemed to\nfade into the background. Academically,\nabout in the middle. Athletically, nothing\nmuch. Socially, a nonentity. \"It's tough\nnot being wonderful in Highland Park,\"\nsays former schoolmate Paul Gleiser. \"He\nwas a non-guy in high school.\" Most of\nhis former classmates had to dig out their\nyearbooks last week to try and place Hinck-\nley, and even with his bland, smiling picture\nat hand they could recall little about him.\nAP\n\"He was just average,\" shrugs Kim Farrell.\n\"An average sophomore, an average junior,\na wealthy Dallas family fretted that he was\nlecting to throw out the wrappers. A su-\nan average senior. Average, average.\"\nletting down his class. \"You would have\nperintendent who saw one of Hinckley's\nProbably to Hinckley's detriment, he was\nthought he'd be in a fraternity,\" said\napartments remembers it as filled with emp-\nalso the brother of a very much above-\nCharles Shanklin, manager of a campus\nty McDonald's sacks and not much else:\naverage Highland Park student: his sister,\nhaberdashery. \"He had money, plenty of\n\"It didn't look like anybody lived there.\"\nDiane, three years older, an A student,\nmoney. You'd've thought maybe he'd be\nIt was in this period that Hinckley had\nhomecoming queen nominee, a leader in\nan ATO (Alpha Tau Omega).\"\nhis brief and bizarre flirtation with the Na-\nthe mixed choir and as vivacious and out-\nHinckley enrolled first in the College of\ntional Socialist Party of America. FBI\ngoing as her brother was reclusive. Even\nBusiness Administration, then transferred\nagents have their doubts, but two high Nazi\nafter she graduated, Hinckley was still\nto a liberal-arts program in 1975. He took\nofficials confirm that Hinckley joined the\nthought of as \"Diane's brother.\" That, of\na wide variety of courses, finally settling\nparty in March 1978 when it was promi-\ncourse, will no longer be true; as one sym-\non English as a major by 1978. But by\nnently in the news for plans to march\npathetic family friend observed last week,\nthen his attendance had grown more and\nthrough the largely Jewish community of\n\"For the rest of Diane's life, she'll be known\nmore sporadic. He was turning into one\nSkokie, Ill. Hinckley's major contribution\nas John Hinckley's sister.\"\nof those familiar, pathetic campus figures\nto American Nazism was made from a flat-\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n43\nSPECIAL REPORT\nboard a flight to New York carrying three\nstitutional Government, a self-proclaimed\nhandguns-two .22s and a .38. For the first\nrefuge for malcontents. \"I'd like to say we\nbed truck in St. Louis that same month,\ntime, Hinckley came to the attention of\nattract normal people,\" says the group's\nhurling racial invectives alongside Frank\nthe law, but just barely-he paid a $50\npresident, Henry Berriner, \"but if we were\nCollin, then the party leader. But it had\ncash bond that same afternoon, forfeited\nnormal, we'd be the majority.\" And on\na profound effect on him, according to the\nhis guns and was on his way.\nJan. 21, he bought another gun, a .38.\ncurrent party chief, Michael Allen. \"Before\nFour days later he was in Dallas, visiting\nA few Evergreen neighbors remember\nthe [St. Louis] rally, he seemed like a pretty\na seedy downtown stretch of East Elm\nseeing Hinckley with girls, usually high-\nnormal person,\" Allen says. \"Outside of\nStreet, where Rocky Goldstein sells weap-\nschool students. But mostly they remember\nbeing a Nazi, he was a pretty ordinary fel-\nons beneath a sign that advises \"Guns don't\nhim alone, wrapped in an oversize shabby\nlow. But after the rally he was like a dif-\ncause crime any more than flies cause gar-\ncoat and watching the placid life of down-\nferent person. He was very agitated. He\nbage.\" He replenished his arsenal with two\ntown Evergreen through sleepy, half-closed\nsaid we needed something more dramatic\ninexpensive blue-steel 22-caliber Röhm re-\neyes. In March he made another pilgrimage\n[than rallies]. I took that to mean things\nvolvers with checkered stocks, assembled\nto New Haven, and when he returned to\nlike shooting people.\"\nin Miami of West German parts. It was\nColorado he put up at the Golden Hours\nLetters: Hinckley confided some of\none of these guns that was recovered outside\nMotel, a run-down, $10.60-a-night hide-\nthese same ideas in about a dozen letters\nthe Washington Hilton last week.\naway on the highway west of Denver. He\nto Harold Covington, who was then a Nazi\nHinckley spent little time in Lubbock\ntraded a guitar and a portable typewriter\nleader in North Carolina. Covington says\nlast fall, although he was there long enough\nfor $50 at G.I. Joe's Pawnshop, where the\nthat Hinckley was unhappy in Lub-\nclerk, Brett Morris, remembers him\nbock, and that he talked about moving\nlooking \"like any bum off the street,\"\nto North Carolina. The Nazi leader\nbut also \"weird\" and \"scary.\" A local\nis quick to note that \"all of our dis-\npoliceman had the same reaction when\ncussion [about violence] was conduct-\nhe spotted Hinckley standing in the\ned on a purely theoretical plane. He\nmotel parking lot and staring at the\ndidn't say let's go kill the President\nofficer's patrol car; he questioned\nor anybody else.\" Nevertheless,\nHinckley but found no reason to hold\nHinckley's attitude alarmed some of\nhim. What he remembered later were\nhis Nazi superiors, and in November\nHinckley's rose-tinted sunglasses-pe-\n1979, when Hinckley's membership\nculiar equipment after dark-and his\nwas due to be renewed, the party ap-\neyes. \"I never contacted a person so\nparently dropped him.\nnervous who didn't have something\nFor an advocate of violence, Hinck-\ndirty on him,\" says the cop, Chris Wor-\nley seems never to have gotten into\nsham. \"He stands out as the most nerv-\na fist fight, or even raised his voice;\nous person I've ever contacted.\"\nas a would-be rabble-rouser he kept\nBoyish: In those last few weeks be-\nhis opinions pretty much to himself.\nfore Hinckley left for Washington with\nIn a summer-session course in modern\nhis guns, he finally made a friend in\nGerman history, he surprised his pro-\nGinger Aucourt, the motel maid. Al-\nfessor, Otto Nelson, by choosing to\nmost the only subject they had in com-\nreport on Hitler's long and turgid\nmon was the weather, but Aucourt and\n\"Mein Kampf.\" But his three-page re-\nher teen-age daughter, Stacey, found\nport was sober and factual, and earned\nhis reticence endearing; he had, Gin-\nan A-minus; Hinckley gave no hint\nger says, \"a pleasant boyish face.\" Her\nthat he ever considered putting Hitler's\nopinion was unshakem even when\nideas into practice. If Hinckley was\nHinckley drove off on the morning of\ndisappointed at leaving the Nazis, he\nMarch 23, leaving a $64 bill unpaid.\nalso kept it to himself. But it was about\nAs investigators have retraced his jour-\nthat time that he began buying guns.\nAP\nney, he headed in his white Plymouth\nUp to this point, Hinckley seemed\nArsenal: Nashville cop with Hinckley's guns\nVolare to his parents' house, and then\nto strike most people as odd but not\nto the airport, where he flew to Los\nunhinged. But now things began to slip,\nto have a political discussion with his apart-\nAngeles by way of Salt Lake City. Then\nfaster. In February 1980, he sought help\nment-house handyman; he reportedly ex-\nhe doubled back east by bus, changing in\nfrom a Lubbock physician, Dr. Baruch D.\npressed the opinion that all political leaders\nCleveland and Pittsburgh on the long ride\nRosen, for what may have been emotional\n\"should be done away with.\" He seems\nto Washington.\nproblems. The doctor refused to say why\nto have returned to his parents, who by\nHe had given a pleasant little wave to\nHinckley had sought him out. \"Let's just\nthis time were living in Evergreen, Colo.,\nAucourt on his way out of the parking\nsay he had a problem,\" Rosen said. \"I'm\na wealthy suburb southwest of Denver. It\nlot, and-uncharacteristically-he struck\nsure it will come out at the trial.\" Rosen\nwas from here that FBI agents acting on\nup an acquaintanceship with a fellow pas-\ntreated him with the anti-depressant Sur-\na search warrant last week recovered three\nsenger on the three-day bus ride. The man\nmontil and with 20 milligrams daily of Va-\ngun boxes, and Hinckley's diary, which\nwho resisted friendships so Long was at last\nlium, a moderate dosage. Hinckley regis-\ncontained everyday details of his mundane\nallowing himself the luxury of human con-\ntered for a summer course at Texas Tech\nlife-and a sheaf of news clippings on ear-\ntact. His plans were still locked away in\n(\"Anarchism, Fascism, Communism and\nlier assassinations. Hinckley's father re-\nhis heart, but perhaps he allowed just a\nSocialism\"), but never showed up at class.\nportedly told investigators he cut off his\nglimmer of his happiness to show through.\nBy late September, he was on his way to\nson's funds; he may have been receiving\nHe was on his way at last; in just a few\nNew Haven, Conn., to launch his fantasy\nhelp from other family members. Hinckley\ndays, Jodie Foster would belong to him.\ncourtship of Jodie Foster. He apparently\napplied for a job at Denver's two news-\nJERRY ADLER with STRYKER McGUIRE and BETH\nstayed in New Haven only briefly; he turned\npapers, giving references for jobs he had\nNISSEN in Dallas, RONALD HENKOFF and TONY\nup next in the Nashville, Tenn., airport,\nnever held. He dabbled in the right-wing\nFULLER in Lubbock, JANET HUCK and RON\nLaBRECQUE in Denver, ELAINE SHANNON in\non the afternoon of Oct. 9, attempting to\npolitics of the National Association of Con-\nWashington and RICHARD MANNING in Chicago\n44\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nWhat the Doctors Did\n\"I can't breathe,\"\nthan a dozen units of blood and prepared\nanesthetic thiopental sodium and then\nwhispered Ronald Rea-\nfor transfusion. Although Reagan is type\npassed a tube down his throat so that a\ngan. He was sweating\nO-positive, at first they used O-negative,\nrespirator could aid his breathing. Then\nand gray-faced, sagging toward the floor\nwhich can be given to anyone regardless\nthey put him to sleep with nitrous oxide\nas he walked into the emergency room and\nof his blood type, and later used O-positive\nadministered through a mask. \"We will fol-\nwas lifted onto a wheeled table. Quick hands\nto replace the 2½ quarts lost from the time\nlow routine trauma protocol,\" Giordano\nbegan stripping off his clothes. \"We don't\nof injury. In many such gunshot wounds,\nannounced to his colleagues.\nthink he's hit,\" said a Secret Service man.\nthe lung reinflates and the bleeding stops\nThe first order of business was peritoneal\n\"We think he broke a rib when we pushed\nwhen the chest tube is inserted, and the\nlavage, a procedure to double-check for in-\nhim against the car.\" But a doctor had\nbullet can be left where it is without any\njuries in the abdominal cavity. Giordano\nalready spotted the bullet hole in the Presi-\nrisk. But Reagan continued to bleed.\nmade a small incision under the navel and\ndent's suit jacket-and the medical team\n\"What are we doing, Joe?\" asked Dr.\npumped a clear liquid into the abdomen.\nat George Washington University Hospital\nSol Edelstein, chief of the emergency room.\nThe liquid that drained back out seemed\nthat was to save the lives of the President\n\"Are we headed to ICU or are we headed\nfree of blood, showing that no organs had\nand his press secretary was already well\nto OR?\" Edelstein wanted to know whether\nbeen damaged. But to make sure, the fluid\ninto its practiced routine.\nintensive care would be enough, or if an\nwas sent to the lab for analysis. After 45\nThe President was exhibiting early symp-\nminutes Giordano turned his patient over\ntoms of shock. Though alert, Reagan was\nto the thoracic surgeons, Aaron and Dr.\ngasping for air and sweating, and his blood\nHow the surgeons\nKatherine Chaney.\npressure had dropped. Paged on the hos-\nIncision: The President was turned on\npital's speakers, Dr. Joseph M. Giordano,\ntreated Reagan's\nhis right side with his arms taped in front\nhead of the trauma team, hurried to the\nof him. The team removed the chest tube\nemergency room, where Reagan's blood\nwounded chest\nto get more room and then made a 6-inch\npressure quickly recovered after he lay\ndown. The doctor gave the President a local\nand James Brady's\nincision, from under the left nipple to\nthe left side. The President's ribs were\nanesthetic and then inserted a tube into\ninjured brain.\nspread apart by a metal retractor and, wear-\nthe lung cavity just beneath the bullet hole\ning a lamp on his forehead, Aaron peered\nunder his left arm. Other physicians and\ninto the chest. He first removed a large\ntechnicians drew blood samples, hooked\noperation was urgent. Surgeon Benjamin\nclot of blood and then began searching for\nup an oxygen mask and intravenous tubes\nAaron, 47, decided to operate. As the team\nthe bullet. The surgeon determined that\nto monitor blood gases and administer\nprepared for the 200-foot journey to the\nneither the heart nor the aorta, the body's\nblood, and inserted a catheter to measure\n\"heart room,\" fully equipped for major\nmain artery, had sustained any injury. But\nurine flow. On a chest X-ray, the bullet\nchest and heart surgery, Edelstein cau-\nfailing to find the bullet, he ordered another\nshowed up as a white spot in the lower\ntioned the technicians: \"We are going slow,\nX-ray-a side view of the chest. After half\nlobe of the left lung. It had torn a 3-inch\nslow, slow.\" The President was propped\nan hour Aaron found the \"Devastator\" ex-\nfurrow through the lung, deflating it as\nat a 30-degree angle on the wheeled cart,\nplosive slug, removed it with a probe and\nit went. But the physicians couldn't be sure\nor gurney, awake and talking to his wife\nhanded it to a Secret Service agent, who\nwhether they had spotted the entire bullet\nand aides as he passed; his vital signs were\ncarried it away in a metal cup. It had failed\nor whether fragments had broken off and\nstill \"rock stable,\" a doctor said later, and\nto explode on impact, but was flattened\nstruck organs in the abdominal cavity. Fur-\nthere was no need to risk anyone stumbling\nto the size and shape of a dime, suggesting\nther X-rays of the abdomen reassured them.\nover one of the tubes threaded into him.\nthat it had ricocheted off the Presidential\nMeanwhile, the President continued to\nIn the operating room, the team gave\nlimousine before striking Reagan.\nbleed steadily through the tube in his chest.\nthe President an intravenous dose of the\nAaron then sutured the tear in the lung,\nQuickly, the trauma team set up more\nChristoph Blumrich-NEWSWEEK\nremoved the retractor and closed the\nREAGAN'S CHEST WOUND\nAaron: Searching for the bullet\nGiordano: Routine trauma protocol\nPhotos by Leif Skoogfors-Woodfin Camp & Assoc.\nBullet\nenters\nhere.\nBullet lodges\nin lung.\nBullet ricochets\noff seventh rib.\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n45\nSPECIAL REPORT\nbrain tissue, along with the bullet and bone\nthe center at the base of the brain that\nfragments.\ncontrols respiration and consciousness and\nchest incision. During the operation, Rea-\nKobrine made a \"bicoronal\" incision\nBrady had gotten prompt treatment.\ngan was given another quart of blood. \"Skin\nacross the top of Brady's head from ear\nThe day after surgery, Brady showed\nto skin,\" the surgery had taken two hours.\nto ear. Next, he drilled a number of holes\nhopeful signs. He was conscious, his pupils\nBut before Reagan was taken to the re-\nin the skull and removed a \"large window\"\nresponded to light and he was able to move\ncovery room, the team spent another hour\nof bone. Then he took out bone splinters\nthe right side of his body in response to\nscrubbing off the orange povidone-iodine\nand bullet fragments from the left frontal\ncommands from doctors. Later, he could\ndisinfectant that covered the chest area,\nlobe, where he found the damage \"not too\neven toss a cotton ball to his wife, Sarah,\ndressing the wounds and waiting for the\nextensive.\" On the right side of Brady's\nwith his right hand. And when a doctor\nanesthesia to wear off.\nbrain, Kobrine suctioned out a large blood\nheld up three fingers, Brady said, \"Three.\"\nThe President's first hours in the recov-\nclot. He found \"brisk bleeding\" from the\nFollowing surgery, Brady was put on anti-\nery room were uncomfortable. \"He felt like\nanterior and middle cerebral arteries, which\nbiotics to prevent infection, and given ster-\nhe couldn't breathe,\" said one physician.\nhad been severed. When the bleeding was\noids and a drug called mannitol to reduce\nAnalysis of his blood showed that he wasn't\nbrought under control, Brady's blood pres-\nthe swelling of the brain.\nassimilating quite enough oxygen at first,\nsure dropped to a normal range. Finally,\n'Fine': Kobrine reported that he was mak-\nand he continued on the respirator for eight\nKobrine removed the damaged tissue, frag-\ning an \"extraordinary recovery.\" By the\nand a half hours. At the time, he was un-\nments and the main bullet fragment. The\nweekend, he was off the critical list, and\naware that press secretary James Brady was\nsurgeon estimated that Brady lost 20 per\nout of intensive care. The press secretary\nlying in critical condition just the oth-\nwas speaking short sentences. He told\ner side of a cloth screen.\nthe surgeon, \"I'm feeling fine,\" and\nBrady was by far the most seriously\nBRADY'S HEAD INJURY\nwhen a telephone started to ring he\ninjured in the assassination attempt.\nsaid, \"Somebody answer the phone.\"\nHe had arrived at the hospital in a\nSpeech, under-\nBrady was able to move his right arm\nfire-department ambulance three\nBreathing\nstanding, infor-\nand leg normally, but showed little\nminutes after Reagan and was\nmation processing\nmovement on the left. Though it is\nwheeled to the same trauma room.\nLargest\ntoo early to speculate, Kobrine pre-\n\"I saw the bullet wound in his fore-\nportion\ndicted that left motor function will\nhead. It was over the left eye,\" said\nof bullet\nimprove significantly if there are no\nlodges\nBullet and\nparamedic Roberto Hernandez. \"He\nhere.\nbone\nfurther complications. Moreover,\nwas moving his arms and legs, but\nfragments\nsince the \"dominant\" left side of the\nto no purpose. He was sort of like\nretrieved.\nbrain was harmed only slightly, the\nsquirming.\" In the emergency room,\nsurgeon said there was a good chance\nBrady was met by a neurosurgical\nNerves of\nthat Brady has suffered little or no\nresident and an anesthesiologist. His\nvision\nintellectual impairment. However,\nblood pressure was a very high 240\nand smell\nhe suspects that \"spatial orienta-\nover 160. He was moving his right\ntion,\" governed by the right side of\nlimbs restlessly and he seemed to be\nPersonality,\nthe brain, may have been affected,\nSensation\nmumbling. He was given an anes-\njudgment,\nleft side\nand since the olfactory tracts in the\nmood\nthetic and a tube was placed in his\nof body\nright hemisphere were destroyed, the\nwindpipe to assist breathing.\nBullet\ngourmet Brady has probably lost his\nFragments: The bullet entered\nMotion, left\nenters\nsense of taste and smell.\nBrady's head over the left eye and\nside of body\nAreas of potential\nand\nPresident Reagan, however, was\npassed through a small portion of\nbrain damage\nbreaks\nmaking a speedy recovery last week.\nthe left frontal lobe of the brain with-\nup.\nHe was receiving cough therapy to\nout causing much damage. But it did\nChristoph Blumrich-NEwsweek\nprevent fluid from accumulat-\nbreak up somewhere inside the skull;\nDrawing shows bullet's path through\ning in his lungs and occasional\nthe fragments passed mostly through\nthe brain\nadministrations of oxygen\nthe right frontal lobe, causing severe\nthrough a plastic tube under\nbleeding and tissue damage. The largest\ncent of the tissue in the right\nhis nose. He was also eating\npiece of the bullet came to rest in the parietal\nhemisphere. Kobrine replaced\nheartily and walking in his hos-\nlobe at the rear of the brain behind the\nthe flap of skull and inserted\npital corridor. The only cause\nright ear, with smaller fragments around\ntemporary drains between the\nfor concern came late in the\nit. At first, the outlook was bleak. A cross-\nbone and skin.\nweek when Reagan's tempera-\nsectional X-ray taken in the emergency\nIn two crucial respects,\nto 102. However, after\nroom looked, in the words of one physician,\nBrady can be considered\nsome fluctuations it dropped\nlike a \"disaster.\"\nlucky. He had been hit by a\nto normal. There was a brief\nBrady was immediately taken to the op-\nsmall-caliber bullet of low ve-\nscare that toxic amounts of\nerating room, where his head was shaved\nlocity, minimizing the damage\nlead azide-the explosive used\nin preparation for surgery that was to last\nusually caused by the shock\nAP\nin the bullet-might have\nmore than six hours. Neurosurgeon Dr.\nwaves and the sheer mass of\nKobrine: Optimistic\nleached into the President's\nArthur Kobrine tried to be optimistic.\na larger slug. And nearly all\nbody, but this was discounted\nWhen he heard that the media had reported\nthe left side of the brain had apparently\nby experts. Throughout the President's or-\nthat the press secretary was already dead,\nbeen spared. In most people, the left side\ndeal, doctors were impressed by his good\nKobrine replied, \"Somebody ought to tell\nis the brain's information-processing center\ncondition and youthful physiology. \"It's\nme and the patient.\" An ophthalmologist\nand controls the faculties of speech, writing\na good lesson,\" said the hospital's spokes-\nwas called in to deal with swelling and\nand comprehension. The motor areas of\nman, Dr. Dennis O'Leary, \"that age itself\na clot in the left eye, and he made several\nthe left side also control movement on the\nis not an ultimate measure of an individual's\nincisions to drain blood and relieve pres-\nright side of the body. Fortunately, the\nstamina, health and capability.\"\nsure. Then Kobrine moved in to explore\nshock of the bullet and the swelling from\nMATT CLARK with MARY HAGER and\nthe injury and remove all of the damaged\nthe injury had not affected the brain stem,\nDAVID C. MARTIN in Washington and bureau reports\n46\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nSPECIAL REPORT\nLarry Downing-NEWSWEEK\nRoger Sandler-Black Star\nWith Reagan on Inauguration Day, at home with the range: 'Sheer talent' took the Bear to the top of the heap\nJim Brady Is Alive\ngraduated from the University of Illinois\nin 1962 and gravitated quickly toward poli-\ntics. He first went to Washington as an\nHe is known as \"the\ntold reporters. A week later he got the job.\naide to the late Sen. Everett M. Dirksen\nBear,\" the front man, the\nBrady's first task was to bring a measure\nof Illinois and later served in the Ford\nplump and affable occu-\nof order to the White House press corps.\nAdministration, first as an aide to Budg-\npant of the post he once\nHe succeeded, up to a point. Despite some\net director James T. Lynn, then to Secre-\ndescribed, only partly tongue in cheek, as\ngrumbling, reporters at Reagan's first press\ntary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. In 1979\n\"the second most challenging job in the\nconference generally honored Brady's plea\nhe joined John B. Connally's Presidential\nfree world.\" As Ronald Reagan's spokes-\nthat they remain seated and seek Presi-\ncampaign (Connally called him \"Friar\nman-in-chief, White House press secretary\ndential recognition by politely raising their\nTuck\") until Connally's flameout in the\nJames S. Brady, 40, is a much-liked figure\nhands. Other reforms, like a dress code\nSouth Carolina primary.\nin official Washington: a witty companion\nfor network cameramen and the selection\nHot Cuisine: Brady lives in the Virginia\nfor the relentless Washington press, a\nof Presidential questioners by lottery, fared\nsuburbs with his 2-year-old son James Scott\nstoryteller and a gourmet cook who has\nless well. Veteran reporters complained at\nBrady Jr. and his second wife, Sarah-\ncharmed his frequent dinner guests. He is\nfirst that Brady lacked the access to Rea-\nwhom he calls \"Raccoon,\" an affectionate\nnot, however, a Reagan intimate and it was\ngan SO necessary for detailed briefings, later\ncounterpart for his nickname \"Bear.\" (He\nthus somewhat ironic that he was the aide\nthat he was frequently hard for reporters\nalso has another child by a former marriage,\nclosest to the President when the shots were\nto reach. The joke was that Reagan had\nMelissa, 18, now a college student in Colo-\nfired last week, even taking a bullet in the\naccess to Brady, instead of the other way\nrado.) Among his friends, Brady has a for-\nbrain that might otherwise have struck the\naround. \"I'm getting blistered for not re-\nmidable reputation for both haute cuisine\nPresident. He was erroneously reported\nturning phone calls,\" Brady grinned. \"This\nand culinary witticisms. He is the creator\ndead by all three networks, but his spirited\naccess is killing me.\"\nof \"Captain Bear's Nightie Night,\" a quick-\nfight for life against almost hopeless odds\nDash: His humor helped Brady smooth\nacting concoction of tea, sugar and Jack\nhas stirred his family, his friends-and the\nsome of the new Administration's bumpier\nDaniels, and his recipe for an explosive\nnation.\nmoments. Two weeks ago, during the flap\nvariant of chili-\"Bear's Goat Gap Texas\nBrady was almost passed over for the\nover a White House plan for \"crisis man-\nChili\"-has won first place three years run-\njob he desperately wanted. During his stint\nagement,\" he had just sat down at a press\nning in a Washington-area chili cookoff.\nas campaign press secretary, he sometimes\nbreakfast when he caught a tough question\nThe bullet that slammed into his skull\nstung with his irreverent wit. A few days\nabout Alexander M. Haig Jr. \"Whatever\nabruptly changed all that, perhaps perma-\nafter Reagan's gaffe that trees cause more\nhappened to foreplay?\" he cracked. At a\nnently, for Brady and his family. His daugh-\npollution than cars, Brady raced down the\nlunch with NEWSWEEK reporters, he con-\nter, Melissa, rushing to catch a plane to\naisle of the campaign jet shouting \"Killer\nvulsed the table with a description of work-\nWashington, was devastated to hear an an-\ntrees! Killer trees!\" and pointed to a forest\naholic budget director David Stockman:\nnouncer on her car radio report that her\nfire on the ground.\n\"He sleeps in the closet hanging upside\nfather was dead. \"She's a very well-com-\n'Blistered': After Reagan's victory, most\ndown with his wings folded over his eyes.\"\nposed girl, but this thing really tore her\nof the President-elect's high command\nIn Reagan's pinstriped White House, Brady\napart,\" said a relative. \"I don't know if\nwanted to recruit a well-known journalist\nprovided a dash of spontaneity-showing\nshe'll ever get over this.\" The agonizing\nfor the press secretaryship and Nancy Rea-\nup for the President's lunch with baseball\nquestion for his family and his friends, for\ngan reportedly claimed she wanted a\nHall of Famers wearing his beloved Chi-\nall his remarkable comeback so far, was\n\"young and handsome\" face in the job.\ncago Cubs cap.\nwhether Brady would either.\nAs usual, Brady replied with a quip. \"I\nHis easy wit masks a solid record in the\ncome before you today not as just another\nfine art of political image-polishing. Brady\nTOM MORGANTHAU with ELEANOR CLIFT and\nTHOMAS M. DeFRANK in Washington\npretty face, but out of sheer talent,\" he\nwas born and grew up in Centralia, Ill.,\nand bureau reports\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n49\n© Sebastiao Salgado Jr.-Magnum\nSecret Service agents subdue Hinckley (against wall) while others aid wounded: 'You cannot avoid mortal risk to a President'\nCan the Risk Be Cut?\nAs a Secret Service\na renewed call for gun control (page 57)\nchiefly because they were the only Federal\nagent you are constantly\nand pleas from Federal investigative agen-\npersonnel trained to do such a job. Soon\non the alert for the in-\ncies for a loosening of restrictions on do-\nafter the assassination of William McKin-\ndividual who somehow does not fit. You scan\nmestic surveillance. Some reforms, includ-\nley in 1901, presidents were assigned pro-\nthe crowd, the rooftops, the doorways, the\ning tougher security requirements for the\ntection on a permanent basis, and ever\nwindows, ready to take whatever action may\npress, are almost certain to emerge from\nsince, the duties of the Secret Service have\nbe necessary\nYou look into thousands\nthe inquiries. But the fundamental reality\nbeen expanding. Today 1,550 agents in 100\nof faces and you try to determine in each\nhas not changed since the time of Abraham\noffices across the nation are responsible\nif he or she may be the one who came to\nLincoln: short of sealing off a President\nfor protecting the First Family, the Vice\ndo more than look.\nin hermetic isolation-a measure no leader\nPresident, his wife and children under 16,\n-Rufus W. Youngblood, \"20 Years in\nmajor Presidential and Vice Presidential\nthe Secret Service\"\ncandidates and, sometimes, visiting heads\nShort of keeping the\nof state. In addition, they still carry on\nJohn W. Hinckley Jr. went to the Wash-\ntheir original war on counterfeiting. Their\nington Hilton last week to do more than\nPresident from the\nrecord is better than it may seem: though\nlook-and Ronald Reagan's bodyguards\nfailed to stop him. Once again, an assault\npublic, no security\nJohn Kennedy was killed while under Se-\ncret Service protection, dozens of assaults\non an American President has raised ques-\ntions about how well the Chief Executive\nforce can guarantee\nhave been foiled without ever coming to\npublic attention.\nis protected and what more should be done\nabsolute safety.\nBlintzes: Protecting the President is no\nto keep him safe. Why, for instance, did\neasy task. To do it, agents rely on a wide\nsecurity agents permit the crowd of news-\nrange of sophisticated equipment-from\nmen and onlookers to get so close to the\nsteeped in American press-the-flesh politics\nthe computer that stores 27,000 names of\nPresident-and why was his shield of\nwould accept-the most efficient security\npotentially dangerous persons to the bat-\nbodyguards so thin on the critical flank?\nsystem in the world can never provide fail-\nteries of electronic devices that monitor ev-\nShould the Secret Service have been on\nsafe protection. \"The political mission is\nery corner of the White House and grounds.\nthe alert for Hinckley, who was arrested\nalmost in direct conflict with the protective\nA touch of a knee-high panic button under\nin Nashville last year for carrying guns\nmission,\" says Youngblood, chief of the\nthe President's Oval Office desk summons\nduring a visit by Jimmy Carter? Why\nWhite House Secret Service detail under\na flying wedge of agents in seconds-a pro-\ndidn't its agents insist that Reagan wear\nLyndon Johnson. \"You cannot avoid mor-\ntective measure accidentally proven effec-\na bullet-proof vest or other state-of-the-\ntal risk to a President. Impossible.\"\ntive by several embarrassed newcomers to\nart protective clothing?\nThe primary responsibility for that mis-\noffice. Meanwhile, agents test the White\nIn a feverish search for answers, three\nsion impossible rests with the Secret Serv-\nHouse air for bacteria and noxious gases\nCongressional committees are examining\nice, an arm of the Treasury Department\nand mingle with the crowds that tour the\nthe circumstances of the shooting and the\nestablished in 1865 to combat counterfeit-\nbuilding each day, occasionally packing off\nSecret Service itself has launched an in-\ning. In the late nineteenth century, Secret\noddballs to nearby St. Elizabeths Hospital\nternal review of its policies and procedures.\nService agents provided Presidential pro-\nfor observation. They also inspect all pack-\nAlready last week's events have sparked\ntection on an irregular, informal basis,\nages that arrive at the White House—even\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n51\nSPECIAL REPORT\nchat with well-wishers. Candidate Jimmy\npress area\" outside the Hilton, where agents\nCarter wanted to do without protection.\nand White House press aides could bar\nReagan's jellybeans. Gifts of food sent to\nWhat finally persuaded him to accept a\nthose without credentials from the area\nthe First Family are regularly thrown away\nSecret Service guard was a piece of down-\nclosest to Reagan's exit route. Security ex-\nto guard against poisoning; once, an\nhome advice from confidant Charles Kirbo.\nperts predict that from now on, secure press\nenraged President Lyndon B. Johnson\n\"Guvnah,\" drawled Kirbo, \"if you don't\nareas will become far more common at\ntongue-lashed agents for overzealousness\ntake it, it means you ain't worth shootin'.\"\nPresidential visiting sites and that Reagan\nwhen they pitched out a package of cheese\nThe biggest problem Ronald Reagan has\nwill be ushered through hotel basements\nblintzes prepared for the boss by Defense\nposed for the Secret Service is his habit\nand other less public entrance and exit\nSecretary Robert S. McNamara's wife.\nof pausing to chat aimlessly with the press.\nroutes more frequently than in the past.\nOutside the White House, the agents who\nHis bodyguards urge him to \"wave and\nBulletproofing: It is also possible that\nguard the President constantly look for any\nmove, Mr. President.\" Last week he heeded\nReagan's guards will ask him to make more\nsign of trouble-erratic movements in the\nthat admonition-and was shot anyway.\nuse of bulletproof garments. According to\ncrowd, a man wearing a raincoat on a warm,\nDid security fail? Veteran agents concede\nSecret Service director H. Stuart Knight,\ndry day, familiar faces that show\nthe President \"will wear protec-\nup regularly when the President\ntive attire anytime we ask him to,\"\ngoes public. Before a President vis-\nbut agents did not feel that last\nits a site, agents inspect manholes\nweek's excursion demanded it.\nfor bombs and vantage points for\nOne retired agent warns that per-\nsnipers, and they closely coordi-\nsuading a President to take such\nnate security for the Presidential\nprotective action is not always\nroute with local police. And just\neasy. \"To tell a President he can't\nin case all the preventive medi-\ndo something because he might\ncine doesn't work, they are well\nget hurt assaults his ego,\" he says.\narmed. Agents carry .357 mag-\n\"He has to feel like a man, not\nnum snub-nosed revolvers in hid-\na puppet, and you've got to figure\nden holsters, and some also car-\nout a way he can save face.\"\nry Israeli-made Uzi submachine\nThe Secret Service envelope\nguns and tear-gas grenades. \"All\naround the President may also get\nthe hardware is for use in beat-\nnew attention. Tapes of last week's\ning back a genuine group terrorist\nassault show that Reagan was not\nattack,\" says one former agent.\nAP\nentirely surrounded by agents\n\"Otherwise, you're supposed to\nwhen he left the hotel: his press-\ngrab the assailant, not shoot him.\"\nward side was almost fully ex-\nUnder ordinary circumstances,\nposed. Many agents say they are\nadmits one high-ranking agent,\nunder heavy pressure from the\n\"we're mainly reactive-we have\nPresident's political advisers to\nto give away the first shot.\"\nstay out of the line of cameras\nNo Crouch: Perhaps most im-\nto avoid the impression that the\nportant, they provide the human\nChief Executive moves about in\nshield that envelops the President\nan armed camp. Bruce Whelihan,\nwhenever he is on the move. Early\nprincipal press advance man for\nin his Administration, Reagan\nRichard Nixon for six years, re-\ntold an anecdote that vividly-\nports that his staff struggled con-\nand prophetically-described the\nstantly to give cameras clear shots\nagents' role. He had watched Se-\nof the President against friendly\ncret Service agents target-shoot-\ncrowds. \"I'd sometimes go in with\ning during the 1976 campaign and\na hook and yank out agents who\nwas surprised to see them firing\nwere too close,\" he recalls. \"The\nfrom a standing position instead\nPresident needs to see and be seen,\nof the crouch he had been coached\nhear and be heard,\" says Sen. Ed-\nto assume for the movies.\nward Kennedy. \"The President\n\"Doesn't that make you too big\nElizabeth Sunflower-Contact\ncannot live in isolation.\"\na target?\" Reagan asked. \"That's\nAgents shield Kennedy limousine (1963), envelop Ford after\nHearings in the House and Sen-\njust the point,\" an agent respond-\n1975 attack: 'To protect your body with ours'\nate last week concentrated on why\ned. \"The reason we shoot standing\nHinckley's name never showed up\nup is to better protect your body with ours.\nthat Presidential trips within the capital\nin the Secret Service's computerized list\nThat's our prime function, sir.\"\nare taken somewhat for granted by security\nof potential threats to the President despite\nEvery President has crotchets and con-\nforces; Presidents have traveled to and from\nhis arrest for trying to carry guns onto\nceits that make the job of agents even more\nthe Hilton Hotel hundreds of times, and\nan airplane in Nashville. The answer was\ndifficult. During the Eisenhower Admin-\nagents know the surrounding area well.\nsimple: the Federal Bureau of Investigation,\nistration, for instance, Secret Service in-\nSome criticize the discipline of some Dis-\nwhich had been informed about the inci-\ngenuity was taxed to provide adequate se-\ntrict of Columbia police during last week's\ndent, had not perceived him as a potential\ncurity on golf courses, where Ike's route\nincident. \"They simply weren't on their\nassassin and had not bothered to forward\ncould not be varied to fool an assailant\ntoes,\" says one experienced advance man.\nthe information. Even if the FBI had acted,\nand where open fairways ringed by forests\n\"They were looking everywhere except at\nit is unlikely that Hinckley's name would\ncould conceal a sniper. Lyndon Johnson\nthe press and public on that strip of sidewalk\nhave been included among the 400 people\nhad a habit of making last-minute changes\nthey were assigned to.\" Perhaps because\ncategorized as \"serious threats,\" whose\nin his schedule that sent agents scrambling\nsimilar procedures had worked in the past,\nmovements are closely monitored by local\nto provide protection. Gerald Ford loved\nthe Secret Service and White House press\nand Federal agencies. Others, largely writ-\nto wade into crowds to shake hands and\noffice did not bother to establish a \"secure\ners of hate mail and other malcontents,\n52\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nSPECIAL REPORT\nper cent less information from FBI agents\nto work. \"The first couple of times he goes\nsimply because \"they don't have the in-\nout he's not only got to show he's healthy,\nare checked only if the President is\nformation they used to have for us.\"\nhe's got to show he's not afraid,\" worries\ntraveling.\nStill, it's doubtful that Congress could\none. \"That means he's probably going to\nNevertheless, Secret Service director\never order a truly effective surveillance sys-\ntake some risks.\" His human shields will\nKnight thinks intelligence could be im-\ntem without compromising the nation's\nbe scanning the crowds with renewed in-\nproved if Congress would loosen some of\ncherished civil liberties. And in any event,\ntensity, concentrating on finding someone\nthe restrictions on domestic surveillance\npresidents are sure to insist on going out\nwho's come to do more than look-and\nto permit Federal agents to keep tabs on\namong the people despite the risks. In fact,\nhoping to stop him before he acts.\npeople they suspect of being potential men-\nagents familiar with past attacks on Ameri-\naces. In recent years, Knight told a Senate\ncan leaders are already fretting about what\nMERRILL SHEILS with RICH THOMAS,\nTHOMAS M. DeFRANK and JOHN J. LINDSAY\nhearing, the service has been getting 40\nwill happen when Ronald Reagan gets back\nin Washington and bureau reports\nGuns Out of Control\nthe nation. \"They can crank out more letters than you can\nimagine,\" marvels House Democrat Thomas Downey of New\nYork. Even though the NRA maintains a $4 million war chest\nThe Midwestern congressman had just completed a speech\nfor national lobbying efforts, its power really sprouts at the\nfavoring stronger gun-control legislation-and almost imme-\ngrass roots. \"The NRA has developed supporters in each com-\ndiately, the computers at the National Rifle Association in\nmunity, those who can effectively lobby not only Federal of-\nWashington began to hum. In moments, the machines produced\nficials but local and state officials as well,\" says Sen. Christopher\nthe required information: names, addresses and phone numbers\nJ. Dodd of Connecticut.\nof key contributors to the congressman's last campaign who\nThe NRA has also received indirect recruiting help from\nalso happened to be ardent hunters and NRA members. Eight-\ngovernments. It didn't hurt membership drives, for instance,\neen hours later, the congressman got the first of what would\nthat a 1903 Federal law established a surplus-military-rifle-\nbe two dozen phone calls. \"I was at the athletic club and\nsales program, with participants limited to NRA members.\npeople kept asking me what you're doing,\" said a campaign\nA court ruled the law unconstitutional in 1979, but the NRA\nfinancier. \"They say you want to take our guns away.\"\nstill finds plenty of support at the state level. Some states\nSuch a scenario-a composite based on factual experiences-\nrequire hunters to take safety courses before they can receive\nillustrates the power of a special-interest group that friends\na hunting license-and more often than not, the courses are\nand foes alike consider the most effective lobby in Washington.\nrun by the state chapter of the NRA.\nAlmost singlehandedly, the NRA has stymied all attempts\nVictims: The anti-NRA lobby has relied mainly on emotion\nto strengthen the Gun Control Act of 1968, hastily passed\nto sell its gun-control arguments. \"I'm not ashamed of ad-\nafter the murders of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F.\nmitting that what brought me to this issue was the death\nKennedy. Now, after the shooting of Ronald Reagan by a\nof my son,\" says Pete Shields, chairman of Handgun Control\ngunman using a Saturday-night special, a new flurry of gun-\nInc. (Shields's son was a victim of San Francisco's \"Zebra\"\ncontrol activity has begun on the state and national levels.\nkiller in 1974.) Realizing the effectiveness of the NRA's efforts,\nIn Illinois last week a state Senate committee sent a bill to\nmany gun-control groups are starting to emulate its tactics.\nthe legislature that would provide a maximum prison sentence\nHandgun Control, for example, has mounted a 2 million-\nof three years for the sale or possession of a handgun. And\nletter direct-mail campaign to boost membership from 120,000\nin Washington, as many as 40 new bills may be introduced\nto 1 million, and it plans to increase its budget from $1\nthat would impose new restrictions on the sale of handguns.\nmillion to $3 million.\nDucks at dawn have a better chance: despite opinion polls\nBoth sides have their sights on Congress as it begins to\nshowing that nearly two-thirds of the public now favor gun\nconsider several firearms bills-including one allowing felons\ncontrol, the NRA still has the money, organization and clout\nwho have not been convicted of violent crimes to buy handguns.\nto shoot down national firearms bills.\nSen. Edward Kennedy will reintroduce a measure this week\nOutlaws: The NRA's own position begins with the con-\nthat closes at least one loophole in the 1968 law by ban-\nstitutional assurance that \"the right of the people to keep\nning imports of parts used to assemble cheap handguns such\nand bear arms shall not be infringed\"-words inscribed across\nas the .22-caliber Röhm RG-14 pistol-made in Miami from\nthe black marble façade of\nWest German parts-that was\nits Washington headquarters.\nHandgun foes: An old battle begins anew\nused to shoot Reagan. But the\nWhat they seek, NRA officials\nUPI\nconservative 97th Congress is\nsay, is \"legislation against\nmore likely to promote man-\ncrime rather than firearms.\"\nStopy\nADA\ndatory jail sentences-ranging\nAccording to the NRA, gun\nfrom two to five years-for\nregistration or strict licensing\nanyone convicted of using a\nrequirements would eventual-\nly mean confiscating the arms\nHANDGUN\ngun in a crime. That happens\nto be an NRA position-and\nof the law-abiding citizen\na favorite of Reagan himself.\nwithout hampering the crim-\nMight the President now back\ninal. As one NRA bumper-\nstrong handgun legislation?\nsticker says, \"If guns are\nThe answer came quickly from\noutlawed, only outlaws will\nSTOP\nAdministration officials last\nhave guns.\"\nHANDGUNS\nweek: even as a victim, Ronald\nThe NRA's slogans may be\nReagan is still a foe of gun\na trifle simple-minded, but its\nCRIME\ncontrol.\nLOWER\nlobbying tactics are not. Its\ncomputers can pinpoint 1.8\nMICHAEL REESE with DIANE\nCAMPER and GLORIA BORGER\nmillion members throughout\nin Washington and bureau reports\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n57\nThe Assassin Syndrome\nAs children, they are\nrowly missed Franklin Roosevelt in 1933,\nbefore their act. Lawrence, for example,\nlonely, friendless in-\nall lost their mothers as young children.\nquit his job as house painter, then became\ntroverts, often living in\nThe father of John Shrank, who wounded\nviolent and abusive. Booth lost his voice\nbroken homes. They grow up full of self-\nTeddy Roosevelt in 1921, died soon after\nand turned angry and irrational. The year\nloathing and have troubled relationships\nhis son's birth; Lee Harvey Oswald's father\nbefore he shot John Kennedy, Oswald lost\nwith the opposite sex. Drifting from job\ndied before he was born. Later assailants\nseveral jobs and separated from his wife.\nto job, they become chronic losers with\nalso fit the pattern. James Earl Ray's father\nSimilarly, Bremer was demoted from his\ngrandiose fantasies and goals. At some\ndeserted the family; so did Sirhan Sirhan's.\nbusboy job for erratic behavior, and police\npoint, something goes haywire. They grow\nBoth of Gerald Ford's assailants, Lynette\nfound him sitting in a car, with bullets and\nincreasingly violent and irascible. They\n(Squeaky) Fromme and Sara Jane Moore,\na pistol, one year before he shot Wallace.\nmay fixate on a single object of adoration\nquarreled bitterly with their parents.\nSpy: Many of the would-be assassins\nor hatred until, through some scrambled\nLike John Hinckley, many would-be at-\nsearched for causes to believe in and joined\nlogic of their own, they confront a public\ntackers grew up in the frustrating shadow\nextremist groups only to find they didn't\nfigure with a gun.\nof more successful older siblings. John\nbelong. Booth claimed to have killed Lin-\nThat rough psychological profile loosely\nWilkes Booth's brothers, for example, were\ncoin to avenge the Southern defeat, but\nfits each of the more than one dozen people\nprominent actors. \"This one-down family\nhe never fought for the Confederacy. Os-\nwho have tried-often successfully-to kill\nposition predisposes the boy to develop a\nwald's bid for Russian citizenship was re-\na U.S. President or other prominent nation-\nrebellious attitude toward authority and\njected, and he was the sole member of his\nal public figure. Unlike European countries,\ntradition,\" says psychiatrist Irving Harris,\n\"Fair Play for Cuba Committee.\" Moore,\nWTOP-TV\nAP photos\nLee\nHarvey\nOswald:\nShot\nSirhan\nSirhan:\nEligible\nArthur\nBremer:\nEligible\n'Squeaky' Fromme: Eligi-\nSara Jane Moore: Eligible\ntwo days after arrest\nfor parole in 1984\nfor parole in May 1982\nble for parole in 1985\nfor parole in 1986\nwhere assassinations tend to be political\nwho has studied Presidential assassins. \"He\na jangled matron, joined several radical\nacts by terrorist groups or military juntas,\ncan do it in a roguish way, like Billy Carter,\ngroups, but informed on them to the FBI.\nassassinations in the United States have al-\nor he can resort to assassination to ma-\nCzolgosz tried to join an anarchist group\nmost always been the work of loners, ful-\nnipulate the limelight.\"\nand was branded a police spy-much as\nfilling some twisted private desire.* Experts\nAs children, the assailants-to-be have\nHinckley was expelled from the National\nblame the phenomenon on everything from\ntrouble making friends. Arthur Bremer,\nSocialist Party of America when its leaders\nlax gun control and the \"American dream,\"\nwho shot George Wallace in 1972, was a\nsuspected he was an undercover agent.\nwith its unrealistic promise, to violence in\nwary loner who muttered under his breath.\nLike Hinckley's dreams of Jodie Foster,\nthe movies and even rock music. Whatever\nMost of them shared a physical resem-\nmany assailants developed bizarre fanta-\nthe causes, each new assassination or at-\nblance: as a rule, the men were short and\nsies. Lawrence claimed he was King Rich-\ntempt raises the same questions: how can\nslight or chubby, the women dumpy and\nard III and believed that the United States\nthe human time bombs be spotted and what,\nplain. Frequently, they had stormy rela-\nwas keeping him from his wealth. Guiteau\nif anything, can be done to defuse them.\ntionships-if any-with the opposite sex.\nimagined he had earned an ambassadorial\nDeath: The most comprehensive profile\nRichard Lawrence, who tried to kill An-\npost. Such delusions are often ways to \"take\nof Presidential assailants was compiled as\ndrew Jackson in 1835, never married, nor\nrevenge for an extreme sense of helpless-\npart of a 1969 study ordered by Lyndon\ndid Shrank, Zangara or Ray. Bremer doted\nness,\" says Abrahamsen-a means of com-\nJohnson after Robert Kennedy's assassina-\non a 15-year-old girl who spurned him,\npensating for feeling \"that they are\ntion. Although there are exceptions to the\nthen lamented his virginity in diaries found\nnobodies.\"\npattern, the similarities are remarkable.\nafter his arrest. \"The people who become\nUltimately, it is to become \"somebody\"\nThe study found that almost all had trou-\nassassins have poorly developed libidos and\nthat assassin-types turn to violence, psy-\nbled childhoods, and many lost one parent\ntrouble establishing sexual identities,\" says\nchiatrists believe. The assassin sees killing\nthrough death or divorce. Charles J. Gui-\npsychiatrist David Abrahamsen, who sug-\na public figure as a prominent achieve-\nteau, who shot James Garfield in 1881, Le-\ngests that attacking a President may be\nment-even though it may be a displaced\non Czolgosz, who killed William McKinley\nthe ultimate way to prove manhood.\ndeath wish. Such people \"politicize their\nin 1901 and Giuseppe Zangara, who nar-\nRootless and aimless as young adults,\ninner turmoil,\" often blaming society for\n*Two exceptions were Oscar Collazo and Griselio Tor-\nthey usually floundered. The 1969 study\ntheir failures, says psychiatrist Lawrence\nresola, Puerto Rican nationalists who stormed Blair House\nfound that almost all had undergone a dra-\nin 1950, intending to kill Harry Truman to dramatize\nFreedman, who helped compile the 1969\ntheir fight for Puerto Rican independence.\nmatic personality change one to three years\nstudy. Robbed of a parent figure in child-\n58\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\nhood, they may also be striking at the ul-\ntimate father figure. In attacking a Presi-\ndent, experts say, the assassin is attacking\nthe office, not the man. Indeed, several as-\nsailants have switched targets. Oswald orig-\ninally gunned for Gen. Edwin A. Walker;\nPEOPLE\nDON'T\nKILL\nPEOPLE_\n...GUNS\nDO.\nBremer stalked Nixon for weeks.\nGiven their tangled motives and oddly\nisolated lives, assassin types seem unlikely\nhired guns for shadowy conspiracies (box).\nYet conspiracy buffs have seen dark plots\nin every assassination and attempt. Gui-\nteau's sister maintained that a second gun-\nman, hiding in a doorway, actually killed\nGarfield. Because Zangara's bullet killed\nChicago Mayor Anton Cermak, some con-\nJFK\nKING\nspiracists think the assault actually was\nRFK\na plot by mobsters to kill Cermak, not\nRoosevelt. Lawrence's attack on Andrew\nJackson was thought to be a Whig Party\nBUCE\nplot. Conspiracy theories are still emerging\nabout John F. Kennedy's assassination-\nalleging everything from a second gunman\nto a coffin switch. None of the alleged\nOhman © 1981 Chicago Tribune\nplots has ever been proven, and some psy-\nSearching for causes: Which comes first, the gun or the gunman?\nchiatrists say that the theories suggest a\nnational need to see something sinister be-\nDaniel Freedman of the University of Chi-\npsychosis can be incarcerated temporarily.\nhind each assassination-rather than the\ncago. \"Among the mentally ill, few are vio-\nStill, the U.S. Constitution guards against\npossibly more alarming truth about de-\nlent.\" Although Hinckley had seen a thera-\nmost \"preventive detention\" psychi-\nmented individuals with guns.\npist, would-be assassins rarely come into\natrists and legal experts alike warn that\nPerhaps most disturbing of all is the fact\ncontact with psychiatrists before their\npeople cannot be institutionalized for hav-\nthat though they can sketch the profile of\nacts-and those who threaten violence are\ning potentially criminal backgrounds. The\nthe typical assassin, experts don't know\nseldom believed, mainly because the vast\nanswer-if there is one-would seem to\nwhat to do with the information. Hundreds\nmajority never carry out their threats.\nbe greater private supervision of possibly\nof thousands of citizens fit the basic mold—\nDetention: Law-enforcement officials\ndangerous people by their friends, doctors\nbut no one can predict when or if they\nand Secret Service agents don't know what\nand families so that they are not, as Hinck-\nmight become violent. Experts can accu-\nto do about assassin types either. It is a\nley's parents reportedly described their son,\nrately predict violent behavior in only about\nFederal crime to threaten the President of\n\"wandering aimless and irresponsible.\"\none of three cases. \"Among violent people,\nthe United States, and in some states a\nMELINDA BECK with DONNA FOOTE in Chicago,\nsome are mentally ill,\" says psychiatrist\nperson who does so and exhibits signs of\nEMILY NEWHALL in New York and bureau reports\non the tape, a suspended moment in which members of Reagan's\nFor Conspiracy Buffs Only\nsecurity force look the wrong way for the source of the shots\nand the scrambled first reports from an embarrassed Secret\nIn all the recent history of assassinations and assassination\nService misstating the make and caliber of the pistol involved—\nattempts in America, none seemed more clearly the work of\na perfect invitation to a two-gun scenario.\none man with one gun and no rational motive than last week's\nThe Maybe-Hinckley-Did-It-but-the-Government-Helped\naudio- and video-taped attack on Ronald Reagan. But this\nTheory. The first question a conspiratorialist might ask is\nshooting, like the others before it, churned up the usual wake\nhow an ex-Nazi once arrested on a gun charge in Nashville,\nof anomalies, discrepancies and coincidences that attend chaotic\nTenn., on a day when Jimmy Carter was in town could escape\nevents in the real world-and so provided the usual grist for\nbeing punch-carded into the Secret Service's computerized\nyet another generation of conspiracy theorists to chew over\nlist of potential assassins. There were real security lapses at\nfor years to come. The black comic and conspiratorialist Dick\nthe scene as well-the ease with which Hinckley slipped into\nGregory scooped the pack this time, assuring a Los Angeles\nthe press pack, for example, and the clay-pigeon distance\ntalk-show host that the CIA and the FBI did it-and ex-\nReagan had to walk to his car when it could have been\nperienced students of the literature of assassinations could al-\nparked closer to the hotel exit. The evidence in each instance\nmost see a hundred similar theories blooming out of what\npoints to carelessness, but there are no mistakes in conspiracy\nseemed so fallow a patch of ground.\ntheories-only calculated acts.\nAmong the possibilities:\nThe Cherchez-Le-Veep Theory With Mystery Woman and\nThe Hinckley-Didn't-Do-It-or-at-Least-Not-Alone Theory.\nTrilateral Corollary. For the farthest-out plot-spinners, it will\nThe very videotapes that make such a seemingly open-and-\nnot pass notice that (1) George Bush addressed the Trilateral\nshut case against John W. Hinckley Jr. never actually show\nCommission the Sunday night before the shooting, that (2)\nhis face until after his capture. As it happened, he was standing\nHinckley's brother, Scott, had a dinner date with Bush's son\nback in a cluster of newsmen, behind the cameras, until he\nNeil that Monday and that (3) there were several phone calls\nstarted shooting. But a dedicated conspiracy buff might argue\nfrom an unidentified woman to Hinckley's hotel room that\nthat he was (1) an innocent fall guy or (2) only one gun among\nday (the FBI said she was trying to call someone else). Any\ntwo or more. Argument (2) offers the more tempting fodder\nsignificance in these occurrences can be left to the imagination,\nfor the conspiratorialist: one or two anomalous flashes of light\nand probably will be.\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981\n59\nWhat Is Left to Say?\n\"Let us not be so weak-kneed that we\nshrink behind a plea of mental incapacity\nand reject capital punishment. Society de-\nFirst there was the stunned silence of a nation all too familiar with\nmands expiation of its collective suffering,\nviolence against its presidents. Then America-and the world-began\nand it cannot rid itself of the horror of\nto react. A sampling of voices:\nassassination without at least contemplat-\ning the ultimate punishment.\"\n\"Whether it's John Lennon or the Presi-\n\"The United States was born out of the\n-San Francisco Examiner editor Reg\ndent, if you've got your name up on a mar-\nviolence of conquest, rebellion and civil\nMurphy\nquee, someone tries to shoot out the lights.\"\nwar. Its myths are those of the frontier\n-Montana Gov. Ted Schwinden\nwhere the fastest gun was king and every\n\"We're keeping the government out of\nman had his fate in his own hands. The\nour lives on [gun control], and the result\n\"A President who can say, 'I'd rather\nU.S. has risen to become a major industrial\nis murderous anarchy. There are limits to\nbe in Philadelphia' after he's been shot tells\nand military power claiming universality\nthe limits-to-government argument, and\nyou more than a 10,000-word medical bul-\nfor its values while seeming unable to shake\nthey are reached and passed when society\nletin ever could.\"\noff the darker elements in its tradition.\"\nis made more vulnerable to the depreda-\n-Stanford University Law School lecturer\n-The Times of London\ntions of its dangerously deranged.\"\nand psychiatrist Donald Lunde\n-Hodding Carter III, former State Depart-\n\"We do not know whether the attack\nment spokesman\n\"Too bad he (the would-be assassin)\nhas been successful or not, but it makes\nmissed. That's the result of sending an ama-\nno difference to us.\"\n\"Thank God that the man accused in\nteur to do a professional job\nI hope\n-Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini\nthe assassination attempt wasn't black.\"\nReagan dies.\"\n-Columnist William Raspberry\n-Dominic Manno, a student columnist,\n\"Someone shot J. R. and they cheered.\nwriting in the daily newspaper of the\nSomeone shot Reagan and they cheered.\n\"I'm trembling for my fellow man.\"\nUniversity of Pennsylvania\nThat's scary.\"\n-Dr. Ralph D. Abernathy\n-John Zannini, a seventh-grade teacher\n\"We don't have terrorists in the United\nin Tulsa, Okla.\n\"I was utterly depressed. I felt a deep\nStates. We just have a lot of screwballs.\nlonely feeling in my stomach, like it was\nThey are mentally unsound. They are off\n\"Boy, if our foresight was as good as\na personal attack. I was in a bad mood\ntheir rockers.\"\nour\nhindsight\nHe looked like a decent\nall day. I couldn't work. I didn't eat dinner.\n-Former President Gerald R. Ford\nyoung man\nI'm satisfied some plausible\nMy children asked me why did it happen.\nexplanation was given for those weapons.\"\nThey expressed amazement and wonder,\n\"No, it is not mere chance that America\n-Judge William E. Higgins of Nashville,\nand I couldn't explain to them why.\"\nshoots its presidents. It is not mere chance\nTenn., who released Hinckley last fall after\n-Dallas ice-cream maker Daniel Brackeen\nthat it shoots singers, that it shoots priests,\nhe'd tried to board a plane while armed.\nchildren and candidates for the Presidency\n\"He's one of the youngest presidents\nCan one consider a society normal if\n\"If you had told me in 1963 that in the\nwe've had based on what he's gone\nit is penetrated fully with the idea of vio-\nnext twenty years I would see one President\nthrough.\"\nlence, a society where terror is a phenom-\nshot to death, one wounded and one twice\n-Former President Richard M. Nixon\nenon of daily life?\"\nthreatened by gun-wielding assailants, one\n-Komsomolskaya Pravda, a Soviet youth\nsenator killed and one wounded and one\n\"I would have taken that bullet.\"\nnewspaper\ngovernor wounded, I would have said,\n-Actor Jimmy Stewart, in a telegram to\n'You've got to be kidding! That's not the\nReagan\n\"If the leader of another country is shot,\nUnited States, it's a shooting gallery'.\"\nwe can expect tanks to be drawn up in\n-Eric Steel of Oakland, Calif., in a letter\n\"I found out it hurts to get shot.\"\nfront of the Presidential palace. We can\nto the editor\n-President Reagan\nexpect troops to imprison the political op-\nposition. We can expect the new leaders\nHail to the Chief: A king-size get-well message near Reagan's hospital room\nto tear up the country's constitution. But\nlast week America's rules prevailed\nEven as we are shocked at the attack on\nthe President, we must realize that the same\nfreedom that sends him into crowds at such\ngreat risk provides the laws and orderly\nstability that permits our government to\nfunction when the worst happens.\"\nDear.Mr.President,\n-Civil-rights leader Vernon E. Jordan Jr.\nTHERE AINT NO REPUBLICANS OR\n\"The Hinckleys are good people, but I\nwonder if this will affect our land values.\"\nDEMOCRATS NOW... WE ARE ALL FAMILY\n-A woman in Evergreen, Colo., whose\nhouse is up for sale\nGET WELL QUICK RON..\n\"What the hell is this-a banana\nrepublic?\"\nWE NEED YOU!\n-Anonymous\nAmerica\n\"I'm not surprised and that's what is\nP.S. WE CANT AFFORD TO LOSE A CUSTOMER\nsad about it.\"\n-Chicago student Dave Henson\n60\nNEWSWEEK/APRIL 13, 1981"
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