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Assassination Attempt - 03/30/1981 (1)
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Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
Digital Library Collections
This is a PDF of a folder from our textual
collections.
Collection: Williamson, Richard S.: Files
Folder Title: Assassination Attempt
3/30/1981 [1 of 3]
Box: CFOA 46
To see more digitized collections visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/archives/digital-library
To see all Ronald Reagan Presidential Library
inventories visit:
https://reaganlibrary.gov/document-collection
Contact a reference archivist at:
[email protected]
Citation Guidelines: https://reaganlibrary.gov/citing
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 22, 1981
INTERVIEW WITH THE PRESIDENT
BY HELEN THOMAS, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL,
AND JIM GERSTENZANG, ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Map Room,
The Residence
12:00 NOON EST
MS. THOMAS: All the reports seem to be true, rosy
cheeks and --
THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) Oh, I'm feeling fine.
MS. THOMAS: Can you tell us a little bit about how
you felt at the time of the shooting? Did you ever feel you were
in mortal danger? I know you didn't even know you were hit, but --
THE PRESIDENT: No, that's right, and as a matter of
fact, it still seems unreal. I knew there had to be shots and my
first instinct was to take a look and see what was going on from
where they were but the Secret Service man behind me had a
different idea and the next thing I knew I found myself pushed into
the car (gesturing). But it still seems kind of unreal.
MS. THOMAS: It's unreal to us too because we've come
out of that hotel so many times and --
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
MS. THOMAS: -- nothing --
MR. GERSTENZANG: What were your first thoughts when
you realized you had been hit?
THE PRESIDENT: Actually, I can't recall too clearly.
I knew I'd been hurt but I thought that I'd been hurt by the
Secret Service man landing on me in the car and it was, I must
say, it was the most paralyzing pain. I've described it as if
someone had hit you with a hammer.
But that sensation, it seemed to me, came after I
was in the car and so I thought that maybe his gun or something,
when he had come down on me, had broken a rib. But when I sat up
on the seat and the pain wouldn't go away, and suddenly I found
that I was coughing up blood, we both decided that maybe I'd broken
a rib and punctured a lung. So that's when we headed for the
hospital and I walked in and gave them my own diagnosis and the
next thing I knew I was on a cart and it was then, I guess, that
they found the wound and that I'd -- actually had been shot.
MS. THOMAS: Then you were awake and everything, I
mean
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yes.
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MS. THOMAS: -- but you had lost a lot of blood and --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. And my main concern, even as I
was getting to the hospital, was that -- and I voiced this several
times to them -- that the more I tried to breath and the deeper
I tried to breath, it kept seeming as if I was getting less air
and, you know that panic that you can get if you're strangling on
something. I almost had the feeling that it was going to diminish
to the place where I wouldn't be getting any and then they shut me
up by sticking a pipe down my throat and oxygen on and that's when
I had to start writing notes. (Laughter.) Because I couldn't
talk with that pipe in there.
MS. THOMAS: But you always felt that you were alert
enough to know what was going on?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yes. Yeah, I knew they'd -- I knew
that in the manner in which I was unclothed that I probably wouldn't
wear that suit again.
MS. THOMAS: Do you have any feelings about going out
again? I mean, are there any -- is there trauma or instants where
you say, "Oh, God, do I have to face this again?" or do you feel
that, you know --
THE PRESIDENT: I have a hunch I'll be more alert in
going again.
MS. THOMAS: We will too.
THE PRESIDENT: I -- that's the other thing. I look
back now in some of these reviews that they've shown of the first
few months and so forth. I see some of the milling in crowds and
so forth that we've done and I find myself wondering, "Well, why
didn't this happen 27 times before?"
MS. THOMAS: Uh-huh.
THE PRESIDENT: But, no, there's not going to be any
change in the way we do things.
(Coffee is brought in.)
MR. GERSTENZANG: Do you have any recurrent thoughts
about it? Does it become a nightmare or a dream?
THE PRESIDENT: No, huh-uh. That's what I say, the
whole unreality of it.
MS. THOMAS: How do you actually feel? I mean, do you
hurt at times and you feel good at times?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, as the doctors will tell you, I
have never had a chest injury before. They will tell you that it is
one of the longest enduring discomforts and that it doesn't go away.
There is just that kind of pain or discomfort there constantly
that you hope day by day is getting less, and I think is getting less
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and less. But it -- other than that, I've resumed at a little slower
pace my regimen of exercises that I've always done for keeping fit and
I don't think I'm going to hurdle any tables in the room here for a
while but, really, the recovery is astonishing to me as I think it is,
in the reaction, to the doctors, because the only comparison I have
to go by is I once had pneumonia and that was 36 years ago when I was
making a picture, and I lost 17 pounds at the time and was months in
regaining strength or anything and I'm so far ahead in this than I was
then that I have to --
MS. THOMAS: You are. I know we keep pushing because we
keep forgetting what a short time it's actually been.
MR. DEAVER: Thank you, Helen.
THE PRESIDENT: Three weeks and two days.
MS. THOMAS: And two days? You haven't counted lately.
Who's counting. I mean -- (laughs.)
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MS. THOMAS: When do you think you'll be feeling well
enough to go back to the Oval Office, or do you like working in the
family quarters or --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, actually, I don't think I'd be
doing anything different and I'm just going to -- you know, I'm going
to do it my way. It's convenient this way because there still are
calls by the doctors, who want to come and check. There is the
convenience of being able to get up and, for example, the telephone
calling that I've been doing, which I'd be doing from the office,
but I can get up in the morning without bothering to get dressed yet,
put on a robe and sit and do the calls.
So this, you know, with the Congress on recess, I don't
think there'd be anything different or I'd be doing anything different
than I've done other than possibly some appearances that have been
scheduled and which had to be cancelled or which George Bush
substituted for me.
But other than that I've been doing what I'd be doing.
Remember, the schedule actually called for me to be in California
for a few days.
MS. THOMAS: Going to a wedding and --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MS. THOMAS: -- making a speech and meeting the
Mexican --
THE PRESIDENT: Uh-huh --
MS. THOMAS: When do you think you'll be able to --
THE PRESIDENT: -- and going to the ranch.
MS. THOMAS: Going to the ranch, right. But going to
the ranch won't be so much fun unless you can ride a horse and --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that'll come along pretty
soon.
MS. THOMAS: Do you think your first travel will be
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Notre Dame?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't know whether that's the first
trip on the schedule or not that --
MS. THOMAS: How about your program itself? Do you
think that everything's been sort of on hold or slowed down because
of
THE PRESIDENT: No, I really don't. As I say, the
Congress is on recess. I'd be doing the same thing, telephoning
them while they're back there with things that I think might be
helpful in meeting their constituents. There isn't anything more
that we could do in pushing up on the Hill. So, no, I think
everything's going along all right.
MR. GERSTENZANG: Could you, maybe in describing how
you are working up there each day, sort of show how your day goes?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, they vary from day to day.
Usually we start with a staff meeting and we do that, which
was normal before. Yesterday I had a series of meetings, finishing
up with almost an hour's meeting with those governors who came to
see me.
We have security briefings. So that some days, now
today, for example, has been well, there's been some sizeable
amount of paper signing and so forth that went on and then mainly
after the staff meeting, the telephone calling, which I've been
doing, and that will continue, because you don't get them on the
first call.
MS. THOMAS: You might find them at a radio station.
THE PRESIDENT: And believe me, that was a total
accident. They didn't make it sound exactly that way. Usually
I say to them, "Where did we find you?" And I'll tell you why I
say that. Because early in the calls I called a congressman and
we found him in New Zealand at 4:00 a.m.
(Laughter.)
MS. THOMAS: You mean recently?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
MS. THOMAS: Oh, my God.
THE PRESIDENT: I wanted to tell him that I was somebody
else. It was too late. He knew who it was.
(Laughter.)
MS. THOMAS: Was he awake?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I must say he was most pleasant
about the whole thing. So I usually ask that and yesterday I asked
that question, "Where'd I find you?" And he told me, in Beaver Falls
at this radio station. He said, "I'm on a talk show here." And I
say, "You mean, we're on the talk show now?" And he said, "Well, no,
they've put me on another phone for this call." But he said, "I think
they'd appreciate it very much if you'd say hello to their -- well,
his forum. They know you're on the phone." And I said, "Well, okay."
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So they put him on the other phone, the one that is
audible to the radio audience, and we carried on our conversation
there on the talk show.
MS. THOMAS: Do you go to bed earlier now? Do you take
naps? Do you sort of try to ease into it?
THE PRESIDENT: The only routine that I'm continuing
is an afternoon nap. And that was never, in spite of some
stories to the contrary, that was never a habit of mine. As a
matter of fact, I've never been one who naps very well in the daytime.
Everybody else sacks out on the plane and everything else and I don't.
But I have found that I do go to sleep and sleep for a
brief period. So I guess that is part of the recovery.
MS. THOMAS: Do you think your life has changed?
THE PRESIDENT: Only temporarily, such as not getting
on a horse for a while yet.
MS. THOMAS: It's not like in the movies.
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I thought you meant just changed
in
MS. THOMAS: I mean the impact itself of everything
that's happened in terms of the presidency, yourself --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, of course, you know, I had eight
years of a job that was similar enough that there hasn't been any
great surprises to me in this, but I'm enjoying it, to be able to
deal directly with the things I've heretofore talked about. I enjoy
doing that.
MS. THOMAS: You don't want to hang up your cleats or
anything because of this incident?
THE PRESIDENT: No, no.
MS. THOMAS: Does it give you any kind of new sense of --
I mean, I think the country's kind of worried about your security and --
THE PRESIDENT: Well, again, you get maybe this is
part of it that you get a little used to it. In all those eight
years and those hectic times when I was Governor I was aware that
there were constant threats and I could usually tell when there was
a slight difference in the security precautions and the normal --
something new must have been suggested. And in the two campaigns,
having had national-type security, Secret Service, no, I've been --
you're aware of that.
And you sometimes wonder in your mind
when and how it's going to happen or any attempt or what it would be
like. You remember '76 there was that fellow with the toy gun.
Well, I never saw that. I was busy saying hello to someone and I
didn't see this.
MS. THOMAS: Do you have any feelings" about your
assailant? Of course, there's nothing you can really feel, I guess.
It's something that's senseless.
THE PRESIDENT: Well -- yes, I -- the feeling is I hope,
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indeed I pray, that he can find an answer to his problem. He seems
to be a very disturbed young man. He comes from a fine family.
They must be devastated by this. And I hope he'll get well too.
MS. THOMAS: That's very kind of you. You don't have
any feelings of real anger, then, or --
THE PRESIDENT: I don't know how I could ask for help
for myself and feel that way about someone else.
MR. GERSTENZANG: If you were to speak to his parents
what would you tell them?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think I'd tell them that I
understand and -- (pause) -- hope for a good outcome there, to
end their problem.
MS. THOMAS: Do you think that you will get your
budget and taxes through now?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I still continue to be optimistic.
After all, the argument from whether we should have a plan or not
has become an argument of --
MS. THOMAS: How much.
THE PRESIDENT: -- how much and where. So I think we've
gained some ground.
MR. GERSTENZANG: Has this in any way changed your
thinking on gun control at all?
THE PRESIDENT: No, and let me explain why. I'm not
just being closed minded or stubborn. We have the laws now.
Granted that all states aren't uniform. But I don't know of anyplace --
there may be some -- but I don't know of anyplace in the country
where it is now not against the law to carry a concealed weapon.
Now, we've found that that can't prevent someone. The District of
Columbia here has such a law. But a man was carrying a concealed
weapon. So I don't see where we believe that adding another law
that probably will be just as unenforceable as this one is going to
make a difference. In fact, if anything, I'm a little disturbed that
focusing on gun control as an answer to the crime problem today could
very well be diverting us from really paying attention to what needs
to be done if we're to solve the crime problem.
MS. THOMAS: Which is?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I do think we're showing the results
of several decades of growing permissiveness, unwillingness to hold
individuals responsible for their misdeeds, blaming society instead.
In other words, quicker, more effective justice.
MS. THOMAS: One more. We've got to make this one good.
In terms of Brady, will he continue on? Are you going to keep the
slot open for him?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, you bet. And I think all of us --
as I say, when I was when I finally did learn that three others
had been hit, including the agent who deliberately placed himself
between me and the gunman, but Jim, of course, was the most serious,
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and I am so gratified by the optimism about his recovery that
that's a daily prayer.
MS. THOMAS: A miracle.
THE PRESIDENT: Yes. For him.
MS. THOMAS AND MR. GERSTENZANG: Thank you very much.
END
12:27 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 13, 1981
INFORMAL QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
WITH THE VICE PRESIDENT
The Vice President's Office,
The West Wing
1:10 P.M. EST
THE VICE PRESIDENT: That was great.
I
Could you hear it pretty good?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Q
Mr. Vice President, why didn't the President
make the call?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: It was scheduled where there
were only certain things he's -- you know, we're trying to watch
his schedule a little bit. This was a time when he had other
things.
Q
How's he feeling?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: He feels pretty good. I was over
there for -- we had a meeting with Secretary Haig and a meeting with
Secretary Weinberger and he looked well. Like everything else, he
needs rest and I think Mrs. Reagan is determined to see that he gets
it and well she should.
Q
How much does that limit the functions of this
administration, not having a president who's fully recovered?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: None. Everything's functioning
very normally, as I think most observers would readily concede and
even -- now, with him in the White House as opposed to over, a few
blocks away, it'll function even more normally I think. It's never
total until the President's back in his office, but it's working
pretty smoothly. If I needed to get him and if he weren't asleep
I could -- you know, taking a rest which he needs -- why, I could
pick this thing up and it'd be like that. So there's no problem.
Q
Doesn't it help to have him be able to make those
phone calls to the Hill? Wouldn't that smooth out some of those
bumps in the road?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: The Hill's not convening for the
next two weeks, as you know. We might make a call to a
Congressman and you have to find him halfway across the country.
Congress is out for two weeks and so that is gratuitous, in a sense.
l
What is some of the business that he thinks is a
priority that he will be conducting?
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THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, let me give you an example of
this morning. He met with the Secretary of State, received a detailed
report on the Secretary's trip abroad, met with the Secretary of
Defense, an in-depth discussion, many questions, and Qs and As of
his Cabinet officers on, in this instance, of the Secretary's trip
to Bonn, a particular emphasis on the Bonn part of the trip, and
I think he's obviously keenly interested in the economic program,
but as I said, the Congress is not meeting now so it's less a
day to day vote that'll be concerning him than the overall planning
to be sure that we get enacted what it is that he is determined to
see enacted and what he was elected to see enacted.
Q
What has the President's reaction been to the
trips of the two secretaries?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I think it was pretty good.
I think he felt that both trips were important, given the course of
events. It was proper that both those trips did go forward and they
did, and I think the President's feeling, without trying to put
words in his mouth, is that he felt they were both very useful
trips.
MR. TEELEY: Thank you very much, gentlemen.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: All right. Did you hear that
long distance phone call? It's amazing.
I
How'd the astronauts sound to you?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: They sounded fine. There's a
little delay.
Q
Well, there ought to be.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Yes. It's a little more than
the normal on a call. You wait for a while. But they could
hear loud and clear. I'd been down with them in Cape Kennedy,
Cape Canaveral, a couple of weeks ago. This is a prop. This was
stuck in here, which incidentally, is a pretty good model of it.
But we had a great visit with them down there so they were kidding
a little bit about that.
Q
Do you expect the President to do a radio
broadcast in the next couple weeks?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I don't know what he's going to do.
All we want him to do is get some rest, a good period to do that,
stay on top of things, which he's doing, as was clear again to me
today, and I think he's coming along fine.
END
1:20 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
Internal Transcript
April 1, 1981
INTERVIEW WITH JIM BAKER AND ED MEESE
BY TED KOPPEL, ABC NEWS
The Roosevelt Room
(7:45 P.M. EST)
MR. KOPPEL: Good evening. They are not elected nor
do they require Senate confirmation, but in each administration
there are men so close to the President that their influence, and
sometimes their power, transcends that of all but the President
himself.
In James Baker's case, his title speaks for itself.
He is the Chief of President Reagan's White House Staff. Ed
Meese's title is somewhat less impressive. He is Counselor to
the President, but no one in Washington underestimates Mr. Meese's
influence. He is probably the President's closest adviser. So it
was, that when on Monday the resident was shot, these two men,
Ed Meese and Jim Baker, exercised the behind the scenes power
that was never envisioned by the framers of the Constitution.
They, Meese and Baker, as much as anyone else, held things together
during those first, uncertain hours.
It is their perspective on those events and what has
happened since that we will be examining tonight. Standing by now
in the Roosevelt Room in the White House are James Baker and
Edwin Meese. Gentlemen, and whichever one of you would like to
answer first, I wonder if you would take us into the White House
on Monday afternoon and tell us how the news first reached the
White House Staff.
MR. MEESE: Well, actually, I think Jim probably heard
before I did. Someone came into my office and advised me that
there had been a shooting. We didn't have many more of the details
and Jim and I got together and I think about that time he had
heard from the hospital.
MR. KOPPEL: Now, how did the news reach you? Did
someone get it off the radio or the television or did the Secret
Service contact the White House?
MR. BAKER: I was told, Ted, by our Staff Director,
Dave Gergen, who burst into my office and said, "Have you heard?"
and I said, "No, what are you talking about?" And he said,
"There's a report that there's been a shooting over at the hotel.'
I think the news came into the White House and I'm not sure that
I've run this down with Dave, but my suspicion is that he heard it
through Secret Service reports from the scene back to to the Secret
Service office here in the White House.
MR. KOPPEL: And what were those first reports? What
did they say?
MR. BAKER: Well, I think probably that there had been
a shooting at the hotel, that several people had been hit, but the
President had not been hit and the motorcade was on its way back
to the White House.
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MR. KOPPEL: And when did you learn first and how did
you learn that the President had been shot?
MR. BAKER: Well, we learned, again, through the Secret
Service that the motorcade had decided to proceed directly to
George Washington Hospital rather than coming back to the White
House because the President was experiencing some pain in his
chest and shortness of breath.
Let me add this, Ted, even at that time, I think it
was thought by most of us here that and perhaps some on the
scene -- that the President had injured himself when the Secret
Service pushed him back into the limousine and perhaps he'd
broken a rib or something like that.
MR. KOPPEL: There was an understandable desire, I
think, on your part and on the part of the White House Staff, to
reassure the nation as quickly as possible that the President was
as well as could be expected. But we're hearing today now of
reports that the President, in fact, was in kind of rocky shape
when he got to the emergency room. Did you know what kind of
condition he was in?
MR. MEESE: Well, we got a report directly from Mike
Deaver, who was with the President, who was in a car behind the
President and arrived at the hospital almost at the same time.
And his initial report was just what Jim had said, that the President
appeared to have hurt himself. When the President got there
actually, it was quite a while, really, several minutes before they
discovered that he did have a bullet wound.
MR. KOPPEL: But now, you ve seen those same reports
and I'm sure you got them before we did, the reports that the
President, I'm not sure if he fainted or all but passed out,
and have have lost quite a lot of blood.
MR. BAKER: He collapsed, Ted, just as he walked into
the emergency room. But he did, with some assistance, walk in
from the car to the emergency room.
MR. KOPPEL: Apart from the obvious concern over the
welfare of the President, himself, and then the somewhat secondary
concern of the welfare of those who were with him, what is the
greatest worry at a time like that? Do you think in terms of,
"Oh, my God, some adversary might take advantage of the weakness
or the apparent lack of control?"
MR. BAKER: Well, I think you want to present,
certainly, a picture to our allies and adversaries for that matter,
Ted, that there is continuity of government here and that the
government is functioning and that things are in order. We were
very anxious to establish instant and continuous communication
between the command post that we set up at the hospital where the
President, of course, was, the Situation Room here in the White
House and the Vice President's airplane. And I think we probably
had White House communications between those three spots within
30 to 45 minutes after we first received word here in the White
House that the President had indeed been shot.
MR. KOPPEL: Now, Secretary of State Haig said at
one point that no special heightened alert was ordered. But there
were units around the country who, on their own, moved to a heightered
state of alert. Is there some standard procedure here?
MR. MEESE: Well, actually what happened, there is
always a regular defense alert among some units that are
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constantly on one stage or another of an alert basis, and we had
immediately the Secretary of Defense arrived at the Situation Room.
He was in contact with the national command center at the Pentagon
and they, in turn, were in contact with certain units, which is the
normal procedure. Anytime there's any unusual incident. You have
to remember, at this particular point in time we didn't know what
the ramifications of this particular incident might be, whether
there were other people involved. We were concerned that no nation
would try to take advantage of this situation, an emergency situation
in this country. We didn't think anyone will, or would. But
nevertheless, you want to prepare for every possible contingency,
and so we did several things in the Situation Room. The Secretary
of State appeared and he, of course, was concerned, as the senior
Cabinet member present, about a number of things, including being
prepared to send a cable to our embassies in foreign lands as
quickly as possible to let them know what the situation was.
Jim and others were concerned, obviously, with making
sure we had press relations to keep the country calm and to let
them know what was happening. The Secretary of Defense, as I
mentioned, had the military establishment in contact with him.
The Attorney General arrived and he kept in touch on the law
enforcement aspects of the situation. So I would say you had a
lot of people with specific responsibilities doing their job well,
keeping in contact with each other in the Situation Room and, again,
in contact with us at the hospital.
MR. KOPPEL:
All right, Mr. Meese, we
have a copy here of the cable that was ultimately sent out in the
Secretary of State's name, and I don't think we're giving away any
state secrets by reading it. It's very brief. It says, one, "The
President has undergone surgery for the gunshot wound received in
the attempted assassination this afternoon in Washington. The
bullet has been removed. The President has been removed to
post-operative care. He is in good condition with prognosis
excellent and please inform your government --" again, this is
a message that went out to all of our embassies around the world,
please inform your government of this latest development and
continue to reassure your hosts the continuity of our government
is assured. We will keep you closely informed as events warrant.
Signed, Haig.
How long before those cables went out?
MR. BAKER: That cable actually did not go out, Ted,
until I had returned to the Situation Room from the hospital and
I think that was probably around, if memory serves me accurately,
around 5:45.
MR. MEESE: I think so, but that was the second cable.
MR. BAKER: That's right.
MR. MEESE: There had been an earlier cable that went
out as soon as the doctors gave us the first report, which must have
been somewhere between 3:00 and 4:00 o'clock, I would guess, that
the President was in no critical danger and as soon as that medical
information was available, we sent that -- we transmitted that
information to the Situation Room and the Secretary of State
then ordered that information sent to foreign governments.
MR. BAKER: The cable you just read, as a matter of
fact, went out just about the same time that Dr. O'Leary was
briefing the press with respect to the successful results of the
President's operation.
- 4 -
MR. KOPPEL: So that would have been about 7:00 p.m.
Eastern Time?
MR. BAKER: That's about right.
MR. MEESE: That's correct.
MR. KOPPEL: Okay, Mr. Meese and Mr. Baker, we'd like
to rejoin you in just a moment. We will be back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT)
MR. KOPPEL: As we've indicated, it was one of those
issues that came up in the first hectic hours after the
assassination attempt, the question of who was in charge. No one
seemed to be quite sure of the President's condition. Vice
President Bush was in Texas. The television networks were on live
showing a harassed Assistant White House Press Secretary trying
to deal with an increasingly frustrated and demanding press corps. Whateve:
the realityit did not seem that anyone was firmly in control. It
was in that context that Alexander Haig, himself visibly nervous,
stepped into the White House Briefing Room.
VIDEOTAPE OF HAIG IN BRIEFING ROOM
SECRETARY HAIG: As you know, we are in close touch
with the Vice President, who is returning to Washington. We
have in the Situation Room all of the officials of the Cabinet
who should be here and ready at this time. We have informed
our friends abroad of the situation, the President's condition,
as we know it, stable. He's now undergoing surgery and there
are absolutely no alert measures that are necessary at this
time or contemplated.
Now, if you have some questions I'd be happy to take
them.
Q The Crisis Management, is that going to be put
into effect when Bush arrives?
SECRETARY HAIG: Crisis management is in effect.
&
Who is making the decisions for the government
right now? Who's making the decisions?
SECRETARY HAIG: Constitutionally, gentlemen, you have
the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of State,
in that order, and should the President decide he wants to
transfer the helm to the Vice President, he will do SO.
As of now I am in control here, in the White House, pending
return of the Vice President, and in close touch with him. If
something came up I would check with him, of course.
END VIDEOTAPE EXCERPT
MR. KOPPEL: Later, it would be noted that Haig had
misstated the Constitutional line of authority. Constitutionally,
the Secretary of State is not third in line but fifth. Later, too,
there would be reports of disagreement between Haig and Defense
Secretary Weinberger and there were and continue to be reports that
our two guests, Edwin Meese and James Baker, were somewhat distressed over
Haig's announcement in the press room.
It seems only fair, Mr. Meese, to raise that question
with you. If you were distressed, why so?
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- 5 -
MR. MEESE: Well, actually, Ted neither of us were
distressed and also I want to make it clear that there was not
one second, one moment, when there was a situation where there
was a lack of anybody being in charge. Obviously, the President
was in charge himself and his derivative authority flowed to
all of the people who were in the Situation Room, his Cabinet
officers, to those of us on the. staff. We had the ability, the
authority, and the responsibility to carry out our duties.
Also, had there been a need, for example, while the
President was under the anesthetic, for something to have. been
done, there were people who had the authority then to take care
of any contingency that might arise. So we really didn't have
that situation at all. And I must say that at no time were any
of us displeased with Mr. Haig or what he did or with any of the
other people there. I think they did a fine job. Al felt it was
important to reassure our allies and other people who were concerned
that there was a continuity of government. He took that action
before the television cameras and I think you find that there's a
feeling that both he and the others did a fine job.
MR. KOPPEL: Why did he come up stairs at that point
and make that announcement? Who's decision was that?
MR. BAKER: That was his decision, Ted, and as
Ed has indicated, it's a decision with which we agree. He felt
that at that time it was important to reassure our allies and
I might add to what Ed, has said on this subject, that we had
discussions with Secre tary Haig prior to leaving for the
hospital. I personally had discussions with him in which we
agreed that he would be our point of contact here in the
Situation Room at the White House, as he quite properly should
have been as the senior Cabinet officer here in the White House,
and he functioned in that capacity and functioned extremely well.
MR. KOPPEL: Now, Mr. Baker, as Henry Kissinger used to observe
the perception of reality is frequently more important than objective
reality itself. The perception in this town is that you folks at the
White House were not one bit happy with Al Haig. Now, you told me that's
not so. I certainly can't disagree with you, but how did that perception
get abroad?
MR. BAKER: Well, I think the perception is something
that carried over from the situation a week or so ago, Ted, where
there was a lot written about and there was, in fact, some disagreement
with respect to the crisis management arrangement that the President
implemented was what he should have done or whether it was right or
wrong, and I believe, really, that the stories that you refer to
are a carry over from those stories of a week or so ago.
MR. KOPPEL: There were a number of reports, Mr. Meese. There
was one as recently as in this morning's Washington Post which suggested
there are still a lot of people over there at the White House doing a real
tap dance on Al Haig.
- 6 -
MR. MEESE: Well, I think, Ted, you can be absolutely
sure that that is not correct, certainly as far as those of us who
have the responsibility and authority over here and if there are those
people they're certainly unauthorized and, frankly, I don't know who
they are. I haven't heard from them and I really think that this has
been blown way out of proportion. Frankly, I think both Jim and I are
pleased to have this opportunity to be on your program and bring the per-
ceptions back into contact with reality tonight.
MR. KOPPEL: Well, in fact, you both must have been terribly
worried about this because -- I hope I'm not. -- obviously, it's not
telling tales out of school. You have been on public broadcasting, you've
been on CBS, you've been on NBC, you were on ABC this morning, one or
both of you. You must feel that it is very dangerous for this kind of
perception to spread.
MR. MEESE: I don't think it's as much. that feeling as it
is that we think in all fairness that an outstanding job was done by
Al Haig and by all the others. This is probably one of the -- from what
others tell us, people who've been in Washington longer than we have --
that the reaction to this situation was smooth, it was calm, that people
did their job without a lot of flurry, and as a result, we think those
people ought to get credit for it.
MR. KOPPEL: All right. Let me just go back to one thing
that you said before. You were talking about if a decision needed to be
made and it's one of those ominous, ambiguous decisions. Who would have
been the person to make that decision?
MR. MEESE: We have a system of authority that if it had,
for example, to do with a major confrontation with a foreign power, if
that ultimate type of decision had to be made, the authority was vested
in the Vice President by pre-existing regulations and if he, by any means,
had been out of contact, being in the airplane, we had back-up authority
in the Secretary of Defense. So there was someone able to do that.
If it was a law enforcement situation, the Attorney General,
who was right there, had the authority to take an appropriate action.
If it had to do with foreign policy or dealing with a foreign government,
the Secretary of State had the authority and the responsibility and was
present. So, in virtually every situation that you could think of there
was someone there with the authority to make the decision and to do what
was necessary.
MR. KOPPEL: With us, once again now, from the Roosevelt Room
at the White House, the President's Chief of Staff, James Baker, and
Presidential Counselor, Edwin Meese. Mr. Baker, everyone has been at
great *pains to indicate that normalcy is going to come back as soon as
possible, so let me ask you a political question. The other day, in fact
on Monday, Barbara Walters spoke with former President Ford and President
Ford suggested that he thought the shooting incident, in a curious way,
was going. to help the President get some of his domestic programs through.
Do you share that perception?
MR. BAKER: Well, I've heard that, Ted, and I, at this time,
I share that perception. I don't know how long. that will last, partic-
ularly up on the Hill, but I do think that there's a very strong feeling
of support out there for the President, anyway, and that perhaps that has
been enhanced some by this tragic incident.
MR. KOPPEL: Well, Mr. Meese we have a new ABC News Washington
Post poll that was taken immediately after the shooting with the President's
approval rating on the 20th of February -- 68 percent down on the 29th of
March to 63 percent and immediately after the shooting incident way up
to 73 percent. Is that the kind of thing that holds-- I mean, that sort
of approval?.
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- 7 -
The President, obviously, acted in an extraordinarily fine
manner and very courageously and with great humor. Is that the kind of
thing that will hold for him, do you think?
MR. MEESE: Well, I think there will be a residual effect.
I think the way in which he reacted to this situation involving himself,
in terms of his mental and emotional attitude, did show the signs and
confirmed in a lot of peoples' minds the fact that he did have those
qualities of leadership and also the qualities as a person. And I think
that will not only help obviouly, whenever you have a major incident
there's a sudden peaking of reaction and so it won't hold at that level,
I'm sure, but I think there will be some beneficial, residual effect.
But, this really is so because it confirms what people have
generally thought about the President.
MR. KOPPEL: Mr. Meese, there are a lot of people who favor
gun control, who are wondering whether the President may now be changing
his views on that. You know him.
MR. MEESE: Well, I know him well and I know that his views
have not and will not change. I think the experts have already indicated
pretty widely that all the gun control laws in the world would not have
prevented what unfortunately happened on Monday and that the President's
past views on gun control, that taking the guns away from honest people,
from law-abiding people is not the solution, but rather to make sure
that criminals or people who commit crimes, either in anticipation of
the crime get a gun or use the gun in the commission of the crime, that
those are the people we have to take care of and those are the ones who
ought to be punished.
MR. KOPPEL: Mr. Meese, that same ABC News Washington Post
poll that I referred to a moment ago indicates that 65 percent of the
American people disagree. They favor gun control.
MR. MEESE: Well, I think a lot depends on how the question
is phrased, but over the years I think the majority of the public does
not favor the kind of gun control that would take weapons away from those
people, law-abiding people who feel they need them.
I think what many of the people feel when they hear the
word "gun control" is that criminals shouldn't use guns and that we
should have gun control laws which punish those who commit crimes with
weapons by mandatory prison sentences and I think most of us would agree
with that.
MR. KOPPEL: All right. It is a sign, I suppose, of how
far we've come. It's now only Wednesday, how far have we come since
Monday -- that it's been possible to wait this long to talk about the
President's condition, but we can't let this broadcast end without talking
about it. You've both been to see him, I assume, how is he?
MR. BAKER: He's fine. He's in very, very good shape, Ted.
Today and probably tomorrow will be, though, perhaps his days of most
discomfort-- the post-operative discomfort that anybody would experience
having been through the kind of operation he's been through.
He's, as you probably know, he's been up walking. He walked
down to the new room that he was assigned this morning. He's been
cracking jokes. He's been performing business by way of signing various
documents which we have to get signed. He has met with us every morning
so far. We'll meet with him again tomorrow morning. Today he slept a lot
and I think that's probably quite natural.
MR. KOPPEL: Mr. Meese, maybe you've done too good a job.
You've so thoroughly convinced us that the President is fine, that everyon-
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- 8 -
beginning to wonder why you don't let the television cameras in to give
the rest of the American public a look at him.
MR. MEESE: Well, I think it's only fair to preserve his
privacy while he's in the hospital, but let me tell you, Ted, I think
a sure sign that he's in good shape is the fact that he has not, at any
time, lost his sense of humor. And I think that's very reassuring to
us and I hope reassuring to the people.
MR. KOPPEL: All right. Edwin Meese and James Baker, you've
both been very gracious to come by this evening and thank you very much
for being on Nightline.
We'll have the last word on today's views in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT)
END
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 10, 1981
PRESS BRIEFING
BY
DR. DENNIS O'LEARY
The Briefing Room
11:03 A.M. EST
MR. SPEAKES: Good morning. Our procedure here this
morning will be that I will have an announcement followed by
question and answer period with Dr. Dennis O'Leary and then we
will have a break to file on Dr. O'Leary's material. And then
we will have the usual White House briefing which should come
shortly before 12:00 under normal briefing rules.
I'm pleased to announce that President Reagan will
be dismissed from George Washington University Hospital this
weekend and return home to the White House. The release will take
place on Saturday or Sunday pending the usual hospital procedure
of a final check by the doctors on the morning of his release.
Now, the President's doctors have emphasized to the
senior staff that there should be a period of convalescence in
which the President's schedule should be limited and there will
be no Presidential travel for the next several weeks.
Consequently, I would like to make the following
announcements, an announcement which is being made at this hour
in Mexico City, the Bilateral Border Summit Meeting between
PresidentsRonald Reagan and Jose Lopez Portillo, originally
scheduled for April 27 and 28, has had to be postponed.
The governments of the United States and of Mexico
will seek to reschedule the meeting at the earliest mutually
convenient time. Now, I will let Dr. O'Leary, who you know very
well, answer your questions.
Q
Do you say that travel has been ruled out for
several weeks?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes.
Q
Is it possible that he could travel to his
daughter's wedding?
MR. SPEAKES: There are no plans to go to Maureen's
wedding at this time.
I
But is it possible? Is it possible?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, I just won't address that in those
terms. There are no plans now.
Q
Yes, but hold on a moment. Either travel has
been ruled out or it hasn't been ruled out. Travel to California
is travel unless somehow this syllogism is falling down of its
own weight. And then you say, "Well, we have no decision on that
or we can't make an announcement on that."
MR. SPEAKES: Sam, I'm trying to be clear that I've
just announced cancellation of the Mexico trip. There are no
plans for him to go to Maureen's wedding.
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- 2 -
Q
All right, no Presidential travel for the
following several weeks for several weeks.
MR. SPEAKES: That's correct.
Q What do you mean by several?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't want to set a time limit on
it pending the doctors' advice and the President's period
of convalescence.
Q
He can go as far as Camp David, couldn't he,
Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, I just don't want to get into
specifics right now.
Q
Is it inadvisable for somebody who's had a
lung injury to get into a pressurized cabin on an airplane?
(Laughter.)
Q
Larry, where will the rescheduled meeting be?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I --
Q
Will the meeting be here with Lopez Portillo
rescheduled?
MR. SPEAKES:
The details on that meeting have not been worked out.
I think there is some speculation in the press that Lopez Portillo
could come here but I just have no decision on that.
Q
Well, does that mean you're saying there's a
possibility that he could?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, don't read that into what I'm saying.
There just is no decision.
Q
Well, one minute you're cancelling a meeting
and the next minute you're saying that he could come in the time
span.
MR. SPEAKES: No, I'm not saying that.
I
Well, you're on, Doctor.
DR. O'LEARY: Okay, the question here about pressurized
cabins, that's not really a problem for him at all. I think the
whole issue about travel is the issue of the physical stresses
of that, if you will, and any of you who've traveled, and I'm
sure almost all of you have, that takes a little bit of physical
stamina the business of getting on an airplane, getting off,
moving into cars, traveling, requires that. And I think that it
is prudent to hedge a little bit as to when he can travel because
that will all depend on the progress that he's making. And I
would guess several weeks is probably a reasonable guess but several
weeks is several weeks. But the reality is, it's going to depend
on how he's doing at that time.
Q
Will he be able to leave the White House at all?
DR. O'LEARY: I would think SO. I would imagine
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- 3 -
he'll probably want to spend most of next week in the White House
and after that I would think it's probably not unreasonable
for him to consider going to Camp David. That would be within
the realm of reasonable expectations.
I
Can you give us a -- what would be called this
morning's medical report now on the President?
DR. O'LEARY: Okay, let me see if I can bring you
up. I may give you a little bit more detail than you want but
I think it probably would be useful to be as precise as we can,
too.
Q
We want it.
DR. O'LEARY: Oh, I know you do. (Laughter.) Okay,
he's doing extremely well. He had another excellent day. Yesterday
was still yet his best day. He has no temperature elevation, I
think, by any criterion. His white blood cell count is now within
the normal range and he looks excellent. I had a chance to chat
with him a couple of minutes this morning. I see a lot of patients
in hospitals and, on a relative basis, I think he looks really
outstanding. We were a little delayed in geting our chest x-ray
this morning. The
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space shuttle held a lot of people up. On the chest x-ray this morning,
in the area of the bullet track, which is an area that will eventually
scar down, there's a little Leucent or transparent area that's a little
bit less than a half inch in diameter and it's an area that we would
like to watch for another 24 hours or SO before we definitively commit
ourselves to a discharge time.
The greatest likelihood is that that's an area that had
a little bit of blood in it, that that blood became liquified and that
he coughed it up and now we're seeing just a little tiny pocket there.
Our overall plan is to take another chest X-ray in the morning. If that
looks stable, he will probably be discharged tomorrow. If there's any
reason to be concerned about that at all, we'll probably take a fe W more
sophisticated X-rays in the afternoon and evaluate those. If those are
all right, he'Il probably still leave the hospital tomorrow. If there's,
again, any significant concern at all, we'll probably keep him until
Sunday and get one more chest X-ray to evaluate it.
The chances of his hospital stay extending beyond
Sunday are really quite remote because by all measures he's doing extremely
well.
2 Would you be able to explain again what it is that
you're looking at in the chest that concerned you? I wasn't sure I
followed that --
DR. O'LEARY: Okay. Let me see if I can back up and be
at least go over it a little more slowly. Along the area of the bullet
track, on the chest x-ray, there was a little bit of whiteness and we
expect that that will shrink down as it becomes scar tissue, but it's
not quite there yet. And things like blood of damaged tissue may appear
a little whiter or patchier along that line. There's this little pocket
that looks like it is it looks clear against a sort of patchy whitish
background and we want the purpose, really, of following that along is
to make sure that it is draining out into the bronchial tubes. If we
look at that again on the chest X-ray in the morning and it's the same
size or smaller or gone, all of which are possibilities, then I think we
can feel reasonably assured that it is draining properly and, indeed,
is part of the normal resolution of this process. We've been expecting
to see something like this somewhere along the line.
a
If that does not dissipate, what would that suggest to
you?
DR. O'LEARY: Oh, it might not dissipate at all. I think
the only concern might be was if it was getting bigger and I personally
doubt that it will get bigger. Because if it were going to get bigger,
you might see a fluid level in it. There's no fluid in it at all. It's
just a little circle. If it was getting bigger at all, then we'd probably
want to keep him in a little bit longer to assure that it eventually
communicated into the bronchial tree and got out. But there is no
evidence of fluid in it and it looks like it's just part of the normal
resolution of the bullet track injury.
Q
So, you're talking about a potential blood clot situa-
tion?
DR. O'LEARY: No, no. Not a blood clot. When we talk about
blood clot problems and situations, we're talking about blood clotting in
the circulation, within the blood circulation. This is old blood in the
tissue of the lung itself, very different.
l
Was the word "leucent"?
DR. O'LEARY: Yes, radioleucent Transparent. It appears
darker on the X-ray against a whitish background.
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I
Dr. O'Leary, I met with Dr. McGurdy over at the
Washington Red Cross. We had a nice talk the day after the bullet shootings,
etc. and he talked about I was very much interested in the breathing
area because of the lung. And he talked about the fact that sometimes the
railroad cars cannot go around and can't take in the oxygen. Do you think
that the President coming out will allow him to go outside to get the
fresh air?
DR. O'LEARY: No, I think that's one of the really positive
aspects of getting him home. He's in a decent hospital room, but it's not
home and I think particularly his access to the outdoors and the fresh
air is very limited in that kind of setting. So, we're really looking
forward to him being able to sit outside and get a little bit of fresh air.
Q
That particular oxygen will be much better than somebody
being --
DR. O'LEARY: Oh, I think the oxygen is about average, but
the freshness of it -- if it's no more than just a psychological effect,
it's very important.
Q
When he gets back to the White House, what regular
medical attention will he receive for the first several days? How will it
go?
DR. O'LEARY: I can't give you precise information on that,
but he's not going to require a lot of medical attention. He's really not
requiring a lot of medical and nursing attention right now. The post-
operative recuperation from this is really a progression as he requires
less and less in the way of medication, less and less in the way of chest
therapy, oxygen, nursing care and what have you. So, by the time he
gets here, I would think he'll probably have his temperature checked a
couple times a day and maybe his pulse and blood pressure, which of course
have been totally normal all along. It might be reasonable to follow his
chest X-rays every other day or two or three times a week just to follow
the progression of the healing process. But this is he's not going to
require any intensive care. I'm sure that Dr. Ruge will probably examine
him, listen to his chest as would be reasonable and I think it's quite
possible that Dr. Aaron will be down to the White House to see him as well.
I
What about therapy?
I
Is he on any medication now and will he be when he
gets back?
DR. O'LEARY: The only medication that he's on at the
present time is the penicillin which was started just last Sunday. That
course of treatment should be completed as intravenous therapy around
mid-day on Sunday. That is not a constraint relative to his discharge
because that can be managed here. He has what we call a "Heparin lock".
It's a needle in a vein with a little tube coming off it and it has some
anti-coagulant blood thinner in it to keep it from clotting so you can
just inject a medication through it if you need to do that. That course
of therapy will end on Sunday and then he will probably be continued on
oral penicillin for perhaps another 10 days, which would be a normal course.
Q Could you give us some idea of the amount of weight
loss that he's had and how soon you expect him to gain it back?
DR. O'LEARY: I can't I don't know the precise amount
of weight loss, but most people who undergo chest surgery, just plain
chest surgery, you would expect to lose somewhere in the range of eight to
ten percent of their body weight. He is nowhere near that. My general
estimate would be that he has lost maybe half that much.
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I
How long does the President stand? How long does
it take for him to get tired? How much work does he have to do before
he gets tired?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, there's work and there's work. There's
physical work and there is mental work and interacting with people. He
probably puts in the equivalent of at least a couple of hours a day and
that's really kind of excluding his visitors. I always found visitors to
be work as well. And I think his stamina will progressively increase,
just as it would for anyone. I think we still have to review -- his progress
has really been highly satisfactory and probably better than most.
Q
What kind of work schedule should he follow at the
White House?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, of course, that determination will be
primarily made by Dr. Ruge, but I think you could probably look at a
progressive schedule over the next couple of weeks. He might put in a
couple of hours in the morning and the afternoon, not in the Oval Office,
for a few days or a week. Probably he'll be working in the Oval Office
by the week after next for maybe a half day, maybe a little bit more,
all depending upon how rapidly he comes along.
2
What kind of special medical facilities will have
to be provided for his care?
DR. O'LEARY: I'm not totally familiar with the White House
facilities. There are ample numbers of qualified professional people to
provide care for him. And I understand there are X-ray facilities here
and that's about all he would need.
2
Nothing for an emergency?
DR. O'LEARY: Oh, I think -- I don't -- I can't speak with
any factual knowledge. I would be very surprised if the White House were
not properly equipped for an emergency.
Q
Dr. O'Leary, is there any evidence of any infection?
DR. O'LEARY: Well,- you know, that's been kind of our
puzzlement through this whole period. We have not found any evidence of
infection. Our cultures, both for the air-dependent and the non-air-
dependent bacteria are negative, have been from the beginning. We see no
bacteria on any of our specimen smears. It's a little perplexing, in
a sense, if we're dealing with infection. But that does not totally
exclude the possibility of infection, and indeed he was treated as if
he might well have infection. Those antibiotics were given on a "we mean
it" basis.
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Q
Well, the current program of pencillin then is
purely precautionary?
DR. O'LEARY: Yes, I think you have to put in the
category of precautionary just as following these X-rays out is
precautionary. I put that in the category more of treating the
doctor than treating the patient. The patient feels fine but
the doctors need reassurance.
Q
Why did you say it was puzzling, though? Do
most people who have this kind of operation have some level of --
DR. O'LEARY: Many people who have this kind of
operation and, maybe more particularly, this kind of injury,are
quite susceptible to infection. There are a variety of organisms
that normally inhabit the lung which, if you will, can set up shop
under relatively easily under these circumstances.
This is particularly true of the anaerobic
bacteria, those that are non-oxygen-dependent. And as it turns out
those are the ones that are a little bit harder to grow in culture.
And you just may not be able to get them out although they may well
be there.
We're not going to, I think, ever have an answer as to
whether the fever was related to the old blood and damaged tissue
in the lung or whether it was infection. As you know, the pay-off
is on the outcome anyway.
Q
Dr. O'Leary, will there be any restriction on the
President's physical activity? For example, is he going to be
advised to stay off his feet, get X amount of hours sleep, that
sort of thing?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I think that, by and large,
common sense will prevail. All the people I know who are involved in
his care have common sense and he certainly does. He's going to
need a full 8 hours sleep per night and he may wish to nap during
the day or in the afternoon or what have you and I think that's fine,
too. I think his you're going to see his physical activity
progress.
Q
It won't change then. (Laughter.)
DR. O'LEARY: I watched him walking in the hall
this morning. He moves along right briskly.
Q The diet, is it the hospital's choice or is it
his choice?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, it's actually been a mix.
Q
More specifically, the macaroni for dinner last
night and granola for breakfast this morning?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I guess we'll have to split that
responsibility 50-50. His -- at the current time, his evening
meals have been coming from the White House SO they can take the
macaroni. And his breakfast and lunch have been provided by
the hospital. So, we'll take the granola.
I
Dr. O'Leary, when you're getting in diet and
how about the metabolism and the thyroid? You mentioned in your
remarks that the weight did not go down. Is there any problem
there or in the metabolism in the thyroid?
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- 8 -
DR. O'LEARY: No, I wouldn't draw that parallel at
all. What I think, personally, is that he is in very good physical
shape. I mean, he slings around fence posts and chops wood. He
doesn't have a lot of body -- soft body fat around. And that's the
kind of material that you would tend to lose. And the one place
where that may show is really around his face and to some people
he may, I heard the comment made that he looks drawn, well, I don't
think he looks drawn. I think he looks like somebody who's lost
some weight around his face.
I
Dr. O'Leary, if the President -- sometime next
week, or let's say within a week of coming back to the White House,
wanted to make a national broadcast on radio and TV, could there
be any reason why he would be physically limited and not be able
to do that?
DR. O'LEARY: I think, within reason, I think that he
could handle that. That does require a certain amount of physical
energy too, as you know. I think he could be capable of a brief
broadcast, of ten minutes or something like that.
I Within a week of --
DR. O'LEARY: Yes, I think that that is clinically
feasible. But he may or may not want to do that depending upon
what he needs to say.
Q What actually happens now in this recuperative
period? Is there a development of a scar tissue over the incisions
and, I mean, is that what's actually taking place with the healing?
DR. O'LEARY: Yes, that's -- nature is doing it's job
and the scar tissue, if you've ever followed just a cut that you've
had on your arm, you start with a cut, and then you get a crust
all over it and then that falls off and you have a scar and that
shrinks over even a period of months. And that's not terribly
dissimilar from what's going on inside his lung.
Q
If this white patch grows larger, what would that
indicate?
DR. O'LEARY: If it were to grow larger, I think the
people would -- all of us would be very surprised if we didn't
see a fluid level in and it would mean it was just not communicating
adequately with the bronchial tubes. And I think I don't know
that anyone would take any further definitive measures. But you'd
want to follow it along until you had some assurance that it will
drain to the bronchial tubes. It will do that eventually if that
were to develop. Again, that's in a speculative area and I looked
at the chest zones, myself, this morning and I will be amazed if
that kind of problem develops. But we don't presume outcomes. We
deal with them when we have them.
I
Have you any word on Jim Brady, his prognosis?
I
Tell us about that button you're wearing.
DR. O'LEARY: Those are both Brady questions. Jim
Brady's doing fine again this morning. I think at this juncture,
we all ought to keep our expectations at a reasonable level. His
progress from here on out is going to be slower and it's -- we're
talking now weeks, months, of recuperation and a lot of hard work
for Jim Brady to regain as much function as possible. We feel
very optimistic about his mental state, about the return of his
personality. He may not be precisely the way he was before and,
undoubtedly there will be some subtle changes. But they may be
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- 9 -
so subtle that even the people who are very close to him are going
to have trouble identifying those.
&
Dr. O'Leary, will you be keeping him in George
Washington or will he go to some other area now for --
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I think that's a judgement to
be made by his physican and by his family. Our general estimate is
that he will probably require another two to four weeks of acute
care-level hospitalization after which he'll become a candidate for a
rehabilitation program. The most likely candidate program in the
city is George Washington. And I think there's a reasonable
likelihood that he would remain there for that -- a large portion of
which would be on an in-patient basis and then the balance could be
on an out-patient basis. But, it's quite possible that -- there are
other very good rehabilitation institutes around the country.
Q
Has his family asked for second opinions? Have
you had second opinions on his condition? Have you had field
neurologists --
DR. O'LEARY: There's been no such request. I think --
my information is the family is quite satisfied with his care and
his progress. And it is really too early to get into the rehabilitation
program, per se. He's just now getting started in physical therapy
and occupational therapy. This is a long process.
Q
Then when you're talking about returning to work,
you're really talking about months or years or what?
DR. O'LEARY: I would say many months and probably, not
necessarily, certainly, but probably a year. That's where I would
set my expectations and if he does very, very well and at six
months -- well, I'd think that's great. But, I think Jim Brady,
the person you all have known, will almost certainly be back. He
is going to have some motor impairment. We don't know how much.
I think it is probably a reasonable expectation, and I really want
to hedge this, that he will be able to walk with a cane. He might
do better than that. But he might not do as well as that and we
just don't know. It's just far too early.
Q
Yes, I'd like to ask about his sense of taste
and smell. Is that -- do you know if that's been impaired?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, he's not really to the point where
we can get down to fairly sophisticated neurologic testing nor would
it even be quite appropriate yet. There is some indication that
he may have lost part of his smelling capability, not necessarily
all of it, though. Smell does bear upon taste capabilities but
there are also separate taste capabilities. And taste assessment
is quite tricky. It will be
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- 10 -
quite some time before you can get a full evaluation of that.
Q
How is his speech?
DR. O'LEARY: His speech is pretty good. I haven't talked
with him that much and there are others who have. His speech is not really
slurred. It's pretty normal. I think his speech is going to probably be
fine.
Q
How does the thought process work at this stage?
Does he speak in simple sentences, even though the speech is not slurred?
Does he speak very slowly? Give us some description of that.
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I have some reluctance since I've not
had a lot of close personal experience in observing him. But he speaks in
sentences. I wouldn't say he speaks very slowly. He may not be totally
as crisp as he usually is and he probably doesn't say as much in terms of
volume of words or sequential sentences as he will. We are only 11 days
from a very near fatal injury. His survival is extraordinary and his
recovery is remarkable.
Q
What medication is he on?
DR. O'LEARY: He is on an anti-seizure medicaton, which is
precautionary, but he would probably be continued on that for at least a
year and that's sound management. He is currently off of his antibiotics
and his temperature is staying down. That's a nice, positiive reassuring
sign for us. And I believe he is still receiving what we call "cortico-
steroids" to assure that we don't run into any problem with any swelling
of the right side of the brain, although we are significantly beyond the
time where that's very serious concern.
Those are his basic medications.
Q
Is he in a great deal of pain? If he is, what is
he taking for that?
DR. O'LEARY: I should know more precisely about that.
I don't have the sense that he's in much pain. I don't know whether he's
requiring any pain medication. My guess, but I really have to emphasize
it's a guess, is that that's not really been an issue at all.
Q
Is the President going to see him?
DR. O'LEARY: I don't know the answer to that question.
Obviously, we're most anxious to get the President well and out of the
hospital. I think if he wanted, if he felt very strongly about going to
see Mr. Brady, that that would be arranged like anything else.
Q
Doctor, how long will the coughing therapy have to be?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I guess you'd have to say in a sense
that the President has taken over his own cough therapy. He coughs to
bring up whatever secretions are there whenever it's necessary. He still
has a good healthy cough and we expect him to have a good healthy cough,
but that's going to get less and less over time.
When we refer to cough therapy, we're really referring to
that as a component of chest physical therapy and the chest physical
therapy has been discontinued for more than 24 hours now.
Q
Has the President said anything lately in terms of
his own illness or what happened to him, in terms of your conversations
with him?
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DR. O'LEARY: No, we just had a very light, friendly
conversation this morning, nothing of any great substance to relate.
I think, perhaps, others could give you more precise information.
Q
A joke, perhaps?
DR. O'LEARY: What?
Q
A joke, perhaps?
DR. O'LEARY: I don't have any jokes for you. I might pass
on to you that some of the nurses have commented that he seems to be
conversing more about issues of concern --
Q
Trying to convert them?
DR. O'LEARY: (Laughter) That's entirely possible, but
he is -- I mean, this is all kind of part of his progression. He is a
patient that literally is just about ready to go home from the hospital
and more fully take on his duties.
Q
Was he told that the House did not pass
part of his economic package? Has he been given that information?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I don't know who has told him what,
but he's got a television set going right in front of his bed. I bet
he knows.
Q
Did he watch the whole -- from the start of the
preparations for the lift-off until the cancellation?
DR. O'LEARY: I don't know precisely what time he got up
this morning, but I think that he was probably tuned in fairly early.
He was awake by the time I got there around 7:00 o'clock, so he saw most
of it, I presume.
Q
Dr. O'Leary, how painful is the chest therapy that
the President is going through and does it take a lot of his breath away
after he does --
DR. O'LEARY: Well, the chest therapy is an important
element of the management of the kind of problem that the President had.
It's not the most comfortable thing in the world and I'm sure if you asked
him or any other patient that's been through this, they'd say they'd rather
not. But he has really tolerated it very well. I'm sure he's glad he's
to the point now that he doesn't have to have the people thumping on his
chest and that he can manage himself, if you will, just by doing his own
coughing.
I
Progress report on your wife?
DR. O'LEARY: Progress report on my wife? Eleven days and
counting. (Laughter.)
THE PRESS: Thank you very much.
END
11:30 A.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
PRESS BRIEFING
BY LARRY SPEAKES
Saturday, April 11, 1981
The Briefing Room
11:15 A.M. EST
MR. SPEAKES: Good morning. We are passing out three
pieces of paper. The first one you have is the as delivered from
the hospital on departure. The second item is a statement by the
President which he requested this morning be prepared and which he
approved,
an
expression of appreciation to the George
Washington University Hospital staff. And the third thing is the
pool report from the hospital and motorcade.
I wanted to cover mainly here this morning to give
you a fill of what you may not have seen as the President left
the hospital, beginning at --
Q
He approved this statement?
MR. SPEAKES: He did approve it, uh-huh.
Q
Approve which statement?
2
But he didn't deliver it, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: No, he did not. It was his --
Q
Quiet in the back.
Q
Television animals.
MR. SPEAKES: Let the record show --
Tom, can you hear?
Q Yes.
MR. SPEAKES: Okay. At 7:30 this morning Mike Deaver
went to the hospital. The President was up and walking briskly, as
Mike describes it. Mike says he looked tremendous. At 7:45 the
President was told by his doctors that he could go home today. The
quote is, from the President, "I've already made up my mind on that."
Q
Oh? He said he'd already decided that.
MR. SPEAKES: That's right.
Q
Now which is it?
MR. SPEAKES: "I've already made up my mind on that,"
is the way it was relayed to me by Mike Deaver. Do we have a debate
on that?
Q
Well, in the pool report by Mr. Weisman he
gives a different quote.
I
From Deaver.
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MR. SPEAKES: I see.
I
From Deaver.
MR. SPEAKES: Well, we'll proceed. The breakfast
was eggs, orange juice, and decaffeinated coffee. The President
said, and I'm not sure this is in the pool report, "Food is
starting to taste better." He said, "Since that macaroni and
cheese it's all been uphill."
Q
That was supplied by the White House, that
macaroni and cheese, wasn't it?
MR. SPEAKES: It was supplied by the White House at
the President's request. He was complimenting the macaroni and
cheese. He said, "They tried to cook fancy food but I asked for
macaroni and cheese."
Q
Who tried to?
MR. SPEAKES: I think to some suggestions for his
menu he said he preferred macaroni and cheese.
Q
He said, "Since that macaroni and cheese it's
all been uphill"?
MR. SPEAKES: Uh-huh.
Q
When did he have that?
MR. SPEAKES: What day was it, Thursday night?
I
I wish you'd go on.
MR. SPEAKES: I'm trying to. (Laughter.)
Q
Does it go uphill from here?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, you know, these moments of history
here -- (laughter) -- okay, at 9:00 o'clock -- I will proceed at a
brisk pace unless otherwise instructed.
Q
I've asked for a lot of color and I'm very
interested in it.
MR. SPEAKES: Okay. 9:00 o'clock Ed Meese and Jim
Baker were there to visit with the President. At 10:30 he came out
of his room and spoke to the nurses and doctors in the hallway on
his floor. His quote was, "I walked in here. I'm going to walk out.
Q
Into the rain.
MR. SPEAKES: In the lobby, as he came down the
elevator, he spoke to the hospital staff that were assembled in the
lobby area, probably about 40 of them. He expressed thanks for their
medical care and he said, "I know I arrived here rather unexpectedly
and I apologize for the disruption."
Q
Is that a quote?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes, uh-huh. He got into the limousine --
oh, I've added something here that backs up to the floor. The first
person he saw when he came out of the room this morning was Sarah
Brady.
Q
Out of his own room?
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- 3 -
MR. SPEAKES: Yes, uh-huh. That is when he prepared
to leave the hospital, not early this morning.
Q
About 10:30?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes. They had a short conversation
and they hugged each other.
Q
Was that by accident or design?
MR. SPEAKES: I think Sarah went up to see the
President.
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- 4 -
Q
Accident?
MR. SPEAKES: No, not an accident.
Q
He has not yet spoken to Brady himself?
MR. SPEAKES: He has not yet spoken to Brady.
Perhaps there will be a phone call this weekend or the first
part of the week. We'll let you know on that.
Q
Will he go to the hospital
to visit Jim
when Jim is capable of seeing --
MR. SPEAKES: We just haven't even discussed that.
That takes him into the limousine and here to the South Grounds
which you saw. He went inside and Karna was inside and got
these quotes. When he first walked in, he said, "This looks
like a nice place," smiled broadly. He was greeted by Mr.
and Mrs. Ed Meese, the Attorney General William French Smith
and his family and Jim Baker and his daughter Mary Bonner, age
3-1/2. The President went over and gave Mary Bonner a kiss.
Q
Mary Bonner Baker?
MR. SPEAKES: Mary Bonner Baker, uh-huh.
Q
Baker's daughter?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes.
Q
3-1/2?
Q
This was inside the South Grounds?
MR. SPEAKES: That was in the Diplomatic Reception
Room on the ground floor, just inside the door. As far as the
remainder of the day --
Q
Excuse me. Did have to bend down to give this
3-1/2-year-old a kiss?
MR. SPEAKES: No, she was --
MS. SMALL: Baker was holding her and he went over
and he gave her a kiss and exchanged pleasantries.
MR. SPEAKES: Today Mrs. Reagan and Patti will be
upstairs with the President. There are no other visitors planned
on Saturday and Sunday. Karna has also assembled some material
here on the upstairs, the Solarium, and I think I may have discussed
this with some of you earlier and not been quite sure. The Solarium
is on the third floor. It is separate from the family living area,
which is on the second floor. It has a fresh coat of beige paint,
which is part of the refurbishing that's going on up there, a new
beige rug, and some tulips in boxes on the roof. It's described
as very pleasant and restful.
Q
Is there a desk there?
MR. SPEAKES: Down on the second floor is where his
study is, adjacent to the bedroom, and that's where he plans to
spend his time --
Ω
Is his study next to his room?
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- 5 -
MR. SPEAKES: To his bedroom on the second floor.
So we actually have the living quarters, the bedrooms and the
study and the living room area on the second floor and this
Solarium is up on top.
Q
Does the elevator go up to the third floor
or would he have to walk?
MR. SPEAKES: I'll have to check that.
See if
that elevator goes up. I presume it does.
Q
Larry, could I just go back? Was he wheeled
out and walked out because in most hospitals, the rule is that
you must be wheeled to the front door and then you can stand up?
MR. SPEAKES: I think the wheelchair rule ended at
the elevator when he started down and --
Q
In other words, he was wheeled to the elevator?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes, according to hospital rules.
Q
What floor was he on, now that it's all over?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know.
Q
Third.
MR. SPEAKES: Third, okay.
I
Did he go to -- who signed him out in terms
of paying the bill and making the arrangements --
MR. SPEAKES: I am told that he did not get any special
treatment. We haven't received the bill yet. It's due the first
part of the week.
Q
What's he going to be doing in the Solarium?
MR. SPEAKES: I think resting.
Q
All of this weekend and then go down to the
second floor --
MR. SPEAKES: He'll go downstairs to sleep.
Q
What you're saying, Larry, if he wants to work,
he'll probably go in the study on the second floor?
MR. SPEAKES: I would and I'm guessing here, but
I'll presume he'll sleep in his own bedroom and he'll work in
the study adjacent to it and sit in the living room and spend
a good bit of time on the third floor in the Solarium.
Q
What else is in the Solarium besides these
tulips?
Q
Goldfish.
Q
Hi-fi, glass tables--
MS. SMALL: The tulips are outside the windows. It
just makes it look pretty to look out and see the tulips.
Q
This morning when the doctors made the determination
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- 6 -
at 7:45 that he could leave, was that on the basis of X-rays
taken this morning?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes.
Q
They were taken, Larry?
Q
When were those taken, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know the time. I can check
with O'Leary.
MR. O'LEARY: I don't know either. (Laughter.)
Q
Larry, is there any work that he has to --
that needs his attention this weekend that he must do?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think so, unless something
comes up unexpectedly. He's fairly well acted on everything
for the week.
Q
Are we to assume or can you confirm that
the spot O'Leary talked about yesterday sitting on his lung
has reduced in size or is the same?
MR. SPEAKES: He didn't give me a size on it. He
said -- let me see
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- 7 -
what, let's see what I did with these quotes. I believe I left
them upstairs. But he said that it looked sufficiently improved
that they were very confident in letting him go home.
Q
You're not making this up, are you?
MR. SPEAKES: No.
Q
Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes.
Q
What's his work day going to be like for the
first few days next week?
MR. SPEAKES: It will be a day by day thing. We will --
I would suppose, and we haven't made any decisions, it will be
very similar to what you've seen in the hospital with a gradually
increasing schedule.
Q
Do you have any photos done inside the hospital
or inside the White House?
MR. SPEAKES: Right now we are looking at the possibility
of some White House photos as visitors come and go next week.
Q What about today's activities?
MR. SPEAKES: We're going to take a look at what
Evans made and see if there's anything that would be helpful. The
only thing Evans got was the lobby departure and a couple of shots
inside in the Diplomatic Reception Room.
Q
Larry, what are the plans for his medical care
from now on?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, Dr. Ruge will see him every day.
Dr. Aaron, I guess, may come from time to time. I don't know
what the schedule's going to be on that. And that's about the size
of it.
Q
Who will be the medical spokesman now that he's
out of the hospital and presumably O'Leary is not to be the
spokesman. Will it be Dr. Ruge or will Dr. Aaron come speak to
us?
MR. SPEAKES: I would presume it will be me,as bad
as that may be. I will talk to Ruge every day. If there is a
need for medical detail, we will certainly have Ruge or O'Leary
or Aaron or whoever you desire.
Q
Larry, does the President intend to catch up
on any of his work today?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know. You see his quote there
that his first order of business is"to sit down," and it just
depends -- his desires.
Q
Does that reflect discomfort or pain he experiences
when he walks?
MR. SPEAKES: Mike described it to us yesterday that
it was a stiffness. So, we didn't ask the question today.
I
Were either Dr. O'Leary or Dr. Aaron in the lobby
or in the corridor when he left?
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MR. SPEAKES: I didn't see them. They could have been
upstairs, but I didn't see them.
Q
Did Ruge come back with him in the motorcade?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes.
Q
Second car or the --
MR. SPEAKES: First car.
Q
Larry, could you describe for us the new security
arrangements that seem to be in effect today?
MR. SPEAKES: No, we just don't discuss security.
Q
Are there new arrangements?
MR. SPEAKES: You saw what I saw.
Q
What did you see?
Q
What did we see?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, you saw a motorcade and you saw
Secret --
Q
I saw a lot of White House Staff in front of
the press. Are they going to become the new human shield? (Laughter.)
Q
Better them than us, Helen. (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: I hope not. We've lost one
volunteer. Other than that, what's your desire about the afternoon?
We could keep open here 'til 3:00 or so and --
Q
That would be good.
MR. SPEAKES: -- I don't anticipate having a single thing other
than whether we might release these photos.
Q
What if he wants to see us? (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: We will summon you. I will come to you
personally, Sam.
Q
I've got plans, never mind.
Q
Will he watch the space shuttle ceremony?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know.
Q
Larry, will the President have to take any breathing
exercises or anything, any kind of rehabilitation program?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think so. What did O'Leary say
yesterday?
Q
O'Leary said that he could go out whenever he
has --
Q
O'Leary said he should continue to breathe.
(Laughter.)
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Q
Larry, do you think we could get an update in
a couple of hours of how he settled in, and where he went, and
what he did?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think we'll have a whole lot
because nobody's up there but family.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END
11:30 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 2, 1981
PRESS BRIEFING
BY LARRY SPEAKES
The Briefing Room
(12:03 P.M. EST)
MR. SPEAKES: The President's schedule in the hospital
this afternoon includes a meeting at 12:30 with Secretary Haig, a
meeting at 12:45 with Secretary Weinberger. Both of these meetings
are to discuss the upcoming trips of the Secretary of State and
the Secretary of Defense. The Vice President will participate in
these meetings this afternoon. Mrs. Reagan is expected at the
hospital shortly if she is not there at the present time. We
anticipate photographs will be made of the Haig and Weinberger
meetings by the White House photographer. We will release these
black and white prints for those on our regular distribution list.
It will be available at about 3:30 p.m. and color prints about
5:00 p.m.
Q
Could you post the photographs for those who aren't
on
regular distribution, just put them in your glass thing?
Thank you.
MR. SPEAKES: The President met with Ed Meese and Jim
Baker and Mike Deaver at 7:15 this morning. They discussed his
intelligence briefing material which he read. He was updated on
the legislative victory on the Reconciliation Bill. Jim Baker
said the President broke into a big smile when told of the 88-10
victory in the Senate.
Q
Who said this, please?
MR. SPEAKES: Jim Baker. And the President's quote
was, "That's tremendous." In addition, this morning the President
directed that letters be prepared for his signature, for Secretary
Haig, to be delivered to the various foreign leaders that the
Secretary will visit while abroad.
Q
How many are there?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know how many letters there are.
There are a number of countries that the Secretary's going to visit.
Q
And Haig and Weinberger won't be together? Or
will they be in a picture with the President?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know whether it will be a
separate picture or together. Their meetings are separate but
their --
Q
But you don't know whether the one picture, that
will be it?
Q
Larry, are those letters intended to reiterate his --
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know the content of them, Bill.
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State Department can probably give you something or we may wait
until they're delivered.
Q
They're personal letters to heads of state?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know that you could characterize
them as that or not.
Q
Are they Reagan's --
MR. SPEAKES: Yes, they are Reagan letters. There
will be a signature so I guess you --
Q
Could you characterize the message in them,
Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I could not.
Q
They'll be going on special missions and specific,
different countries?
MR. SPEAKES: As most of you know, at 2:00 p.m. today
in Room 101 of Ross Hall at George Washington University, there
will be a medical briefing for sound and cameras. It includes
Dr. O'Leary and others who have participated in the treatment of
the President. Yesterday evening at 9:45 p.m., Senator Strom
Thurmond visited with the President very briefly.
Q
The President was asleep at 9:00, wasn't he?
MR.
SPEAKES:
10:00.
Okay, I think we've given out
most of this.
Q
Who initiated this visit?
MR. SPEAKES: Strom was in the hospital or came to the
hospital. I don't know.
Q
Strom was in the hospital?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes, he was there.
Q I wonder if he wanted to talk about his position
on gun control?
MR. SPEAKES: -- in agreement on that. Let's see,
the President was awake at 7:00 a.m. and had breakfast at 8:00 a.m.
We've put out the menu. The President walked in the hallway this
morning at 10:30 and --
Q
How far and how fast did they hit speed's corner?
Q
What's his temperature?
MR. SPEAKES: Okay, we have released the Presidential
appointments of Donald J. Senese to be Assistant Secretary of
Education and Research and Improvement, Department of Education;
Gary L. Jones to be Deputy Under Secretary for Planning and Budget,
Department of Education; and Winifred Ann Pizzano to be Deputy
Director of the ACTION Agency. The President has signed a letter
to the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and
the Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs which you
have.
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The Vice President's schedule for the afternoon you
have seen. The Vice President is on the Hill at this time and
is expected to deliver a statement by the President -- It's a
statement by the President which we will have shortly in regard to
the Senate victory yesterday.
Q
May I ask a question about the schedule?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes.
Q
And I'm sorry if it's been answered.
MR. SPEAKES: It's all right.
Q
Out in the Rose Garden, the Vice President told
the people from the Cancer Society that he was going in to the
hospital at 12:30.
MR. SPEAKES: That's right. He will participate in the
meetings with Haig and Weinberger which I've announced.
Q
You don't know whether they'll all be in the
same picture with him?
MR
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MR. SPEAKES: Until we see the picture we won't know.
Q
You mean Haig is going to deliver this in a
speech or --
MR. SPEAKES: No, the Vice President.
I
I mean Bush.
MR. SPEAKES: He's going to be on the Hill and he will
make a statement which we will have here and he'll make it on
behalf of the President.
I
Statement where? On the floor?
MR. SPEAKES: No, it'll be after a meeting with
Senator Baker and other senators. It's on the Senate victory
last night on the budget resolution, the budget reconciliation.
I
Does the President think that was a sympathy vote?
MR. SPEAKES: I haven't heard him express it but I
wouldn't characterize it that way.
Q
Has his temperature gone down now?
MR. SPEAKES: It was on the merits of the legislation.
I
Has his temperature gone down?
MR. SPEAKES: We have had no change from the medical
statement as we issued it earlier. It's moderate, I think they
described it, and that's the way we'll describe it.
Q
This is a different question than those asked
in the O'Leary briefing yesterday. In the original picture we
got of the President entering the hospital as cheery and
cracking jokes and very much in control as opposed to the
Marlene Cimons story in the Los Angeles Times today, which
quotes a nurse as saying he was scared. The nurse had to hold
his hand. That the President was bewildered and disoriented.
Why were the Reagan staffers who were at the hospital putting out
these happy-go-lucky joking stories when indeed the President was
apparently very frightened at his circumstance and bewildered
by what had happened?
MR. SPEAKES: Walt, I was there and the statements
that we put out were accurate, as I saw them. That's the best
I can say.
Q
Is it possible maybe they're inaccurate, though,
by virtue of the fact that things transpired which you didn't see
and perhaps the White House put out a distorted story of the
President's attitude and condition at the time?
MR. SPEAKES: In my opinion the White House did not
put out a distorted story. As to what a nurse saw, I can't comment
on that. I think Dr. Ruge commented on what a doctor saw yesterday
and how people could get differing opinions. I saw the President
as he left the emergency room en route to the operating room and
I'm here to testify that what we said was very accurate.
I What about, as long as you're talking about accuracy --
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.MR. SPEAKES: Let me clear up something right here.
The statement the Vice President's going to make is his own but
he will discuss express the President's appreciation.
Q
As long as we're talking about accuracy, I was
wondering, Mr. Baker held a briefing the other day in which he
indicated that there was no confrontation at all between
Weinberger -- or no substantial competition between Weinberger and
Haig. And yet there's a story in the New York Times today with what
appear to be some pretty good quotes that suggest that the
confrontation between Weinberger and Haig was much more tense than
had previously been reported. Can you help us out on that?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, Mr. Gergen, I think, made comments
in that interview, that I think directly play on this matter. Mr.
Gergen was there.
Q
Were you there during that?
MR. SPEAKES: I was there, uh-huh.
Q
Can you confirm those quotes?
MR. SPEAKES: I confirm the Gergen version of them.
I'm not going to discuss the quotes.
Q
Weinberger called Haig "buddy"?
MR. SPEAKES: I'm just not going to discuss it.
Q
You mean you were there? What was the sequence
of events? You were briefing here and then Secretary Haig came
up and briefed and then he went back, but then you were there at
that point. And that is the point at which whatever happened
occurred, whatever discussion occurred?
MR. SPEAKES: Sam, I think we've beat this horse for
several days here. I just think it's time to move on.
Q
It's an old bag of bones.
Q
That's for us to decide.
MR. SPEAKES: Okay, we'll beat the horse.
Q
Wait a moment. He hasn't answered my question
yet.
Q
You're in a position to say whether these are
right or wrong.
Q
He didn't answer my question, which was was that
the point at which the discussion occurred? Now I'll be quiet.
MR. SPEAKES: Jim Baker and David have discussed that in
quite a lot of detail and I'm just not going to discuss it any
further.
Q
But, Larry, there're some very serious inconsistencies
here in a lot of aspects of this story and particularly in the Haig
story. Yesterday or two days ago I asked you about
the very
same question which Mr. Weinberger apparently asked, namely, under
whose authority did Haig announce he's in charge? That question's
never been answered.
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MR. SPEAKES: Jim Baker answered it.
Q
But I think it's still confused, because as I
read this Times story --
MR. SPEAKES: Read the transcript, Walt, not the Times
story.
Q
In the transcript he does.
Q
Constitutionally does he explain it?
Q
He goes into that whole discussion.
Q
No, he wasn't talking about the Constitution.
Q
In the transcript he says that General Haig
suggested this arrangement and he acceded to it.
Q
Sam, what's your opinion on all this?
Q
Well, Mr. Weinberger was confused about who was
in charge, very clearly. Because Weinberger said he was told he
was in charge. Haig comes out and announces this.
MR. SPEAKES: Well, quoting from the New York Times,
and I'm quoting to you what Jim Baker and David said.
Q
It's obviously in your interest to play down
any fractious disputes here and I'm not all that convinced by
what you folks are putting out, because sources who don't want
to be named are putting out stories which --
MR. SPEAKES: The sources who do want to be named are
talking on the record. Let me throw something in here on the
Secretary Haig letters, the presidential letters that Secretary
Haig is carrying. They are to the leaders of four Mideast
countries which the Secretary's visiting, Egypt, Israel, Saudi
Arabia, and Jordan.
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#51-4/2
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Q
What about the inconsistency where Haig came
up and told us there was no increased military readiness when
DOD had already increased readiness? Do you people have a
credibility problem there?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I don't think we have a credibility
problem. I don't know that it was increased. I haven't seen
an announcement of that.
Q
Has the President had a setback in his health?
MR. SPEAKES: Helen, I wouldn't describe it that way.
I've talked both to Dr. Rnge and Dr. O'Leary this morning.
Q
The temperature rise , is that worrisome?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, as they say, quite normal.
Q
What is the temperature?
Q
When do they expect it to come down and are
they doing anything to bring it down?
MR. SPEAKES: Let's see. I think in the statement
they say -- they don't address that in the statement.
Q
Yes, they do. They say, "oxygen increased and
temperature up, oxygen increased."
Q
Is his temperature over 100?
MR. SPEAKES: I just don't want to discuss it, Gary --
Q
Why can't you tell us what it is, Larry?
Q
Here it is, Larry.
MR. SPEAKES:
because the doctor decided to phrase
it in these terms and that's --
Q
Why? I mean this is a simple fact.
Q
Is he afraid to tell us?
Q
Dr. O'Leary is telling us what his temperature is.
Q
Is it 104?
MR. SPEAKES: I'm not going to pick a figure out
of the air.
Q
What is it, Jerry?
Q
I'm not doing this briefing.
Q
It's a fair question, Larry. Why can't we get
an answer to that.
MR. SPEAKES: The doctor explicitly wanted to express
it this way and --
a
Well, that indicates that they might be hiding
something and we're
concerned about that.
Q
Larry, the American people consider a temperature,
they usually get the degree. We don't go by moderate or something
like that.
Q
Is it not possible and have the doctors talked
about this --
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MR. SPEAKES: They're going to talk about it at
2:00.
I
This is just a general question, sir. Is it
not possible that the President is having too much company? That
will elevate his temperature.
MR. SPEAKES: I'm not going to tell Strom to stay away.
Q
That's happening to me right now.
Q
What about when he sees Haig? (Laughter.)
Q
Larry, do you know right now what the President's
temperature is?
MR. SPEAKES: I do not.
Q
Larry, if I may, one of the worst concerns after
an operation is the possiblity of infection and when a temperature
rises that's usually the first thing they look for. Can you tell
us whether the President is suffering any after-surgery infections?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I can't make any other statement other
than what the doctors have said. This is the way they wanted to put
it and that's simply it.
2
Larry, did the President receive a letter from
this boy's father -- Hinckley's father?
MR. SPEAKES: I'm not aware of it. I don't know.
I can ask that question.
Q
Would you check and see, please?
MR. SPEAKES: Sure.
Q
From Hinckley?
Q
Hinckley's father.
Q
The President has walked down the hall. Has
he done so unaided?
MR. SPEAKES: I think he's had nurses by his side,
but I'm not sure whether they're holding him or not.
I
If he walks with tubes in his chest, he's got
to be carrying one of those little equipment-functioning things
on wheels along beside him, right?
MS. SMALL: The nurse carries it and walks with him.
I
Does he have any tubes in him?
MR. SPEAKES: I think the tubes are still in.
I
Will the picture be taken with the tubes?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know.
Q
What about Poland? (Laughter.) Well, I mean --
Q
It seems a reasonable question to me actually.
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Q
Well, I was asking it last Monday and it never
got answered.
MR. SPEAKES: Okay. Well, the situation in Poland --
has been reported military activities continuing at a high
level.
Q
Whose military activities?
MR. SPEAKES: The Soviet military activities, the
Warsaw Pact.
Q
We're not talking about -- Well, I do want to
make the distinction. Are these military forces within Poland
already?
MR. ALLIN: The same maneuvers that have been going
on.
I
Warsaw Pact?
Q
What about increased Soviet preparations outside
the border of Poland?
MR. SPEAKES: There has been some intensification of
these things.
Q
There seems to be divided opinion.
Q
What does that mean? "Intensification" of what?
What does that mean?
I
Of what things, Larry, please?
MR. SPEAKES: The Soviets remain in a position to
intervene very promptly, but we have no evidence that they've
decided to do SO.
Q
Well, you said there had been some intensification.
Are you simply repeating the statements that Secretary Weinberger
made yesterday or are you suggesting that between that time and
this time there has been a further intensification.
MR. SPEAKES: No, I'm not suggesting an escalation.
Our position is we'll watch it closely and we remain concerned
about it.
Q
You said the President would be talking with
Weinberger and Haig about their trips. Will they also be discussing
the Poland situation as well?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, I'm certain it could come up, but
the President has been briefed on all matters of national security
this morning and he may raise it or he may not. This is not a
meeting that has a specific agenda other than the trips of the
Secretaries.
Q
If the situation worsens in Poland to such
a degree that they have either intervened or it looks very
serious, would they call back Secretary Haig from his Mideast
trip?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, that's so hypothetical at this time,
I wouldn't want to address it.
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I
What is the purpose of the letters that Reagan
is sending with Haig?
MR. SPEAKES: What would you say, Mort?
MR. ALLIN: An expression from the President to leaders
of those countries and he wanted to take this opportunity with the
Secretary of State going there, a personal visit, to communicate
his views directly to them. I wouldn't call them "courtesy".
I
How would you characterize them?
MR. ALLIN: I just don't want to characterize them.
I'll see what we can find out.
Q
Is it normal procedure for a Secretary of State
to carry such letters?
I
How about Weinberger? He's going to NATO, is it?
MR. SPEAKES: He's going to a NATO meeting.
I
When?
MR. SPEAKES: Tonight.
2
Who, Weinberger?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes. It's a regular meeting.
I
Where does the line of authority go?
I
You knew the question.
MR. SPEAKES: He's leaving this evening to attend a
meeting of the Nuclear Planning Group of NATO and there are ministers
of defense from various NATO countries.
&
Where is that meeting?
MR. SPEAKES: Let's see, I think the meeting is in --
I
It's in London.
MR. SPEAKES: -- is it in London? Okay.
Q
Are you trying to convey some heightened concern
about Poland in your statement or is this simply in response to a
question? Did you plan to sort of -- I mean I don't get the context
in which we're getting this.
MR. SPEAKES: Your middle thing. It was in response to
a question.
Q
There isn't some new thing that has happened?
I
Nothing new since what Secretary Weinberger said
yesterday, is that correct?
MR. SPEAKES: That's correct, uh-huh.
I
They're giving a consistent answer.
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#51-4/2
- 11 -
Q
There's still something new. Didn't you say they
were still piling up forces?
MR. SPEAKES: It remains at virtually the same level
as the Secretary discussed it.
I Could I go back to the Poland thing, please? I'm
a little confused when you say that the Soviets, that there's been
some intensification of military activities around Poland's borders,
and yet in the same breath you say there is no intention, no
indication the Soviets intend to intervene. Wouldn't that
intensification of activities around Poland's borders seem to
suggest that indeed that might happen?
MR. SPEAKES: No. They remain in a position to but
we don't --
Q When they intensify their activities, doesn't that
suggest that something may be about to happen, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, there's no evidence that we have
that indicates that.
Q
When were these maneuvers supposed to end?
MR. SPEAKES: Some time ago, as we understood it.
MR. ALLIN: Last week we announced that.
Q
I couldn't remember the day.
Q
Larry, you've been named Acting Press Secretary ?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, the Acting Press Secretary business
is, first of all, our concern is for Jim and hopefully that he'll
be back with us at an early date. It's simply a situation that
evolved as a deputy and that Karna and I will step in and do what's
necessary here and we're operating on a day-to-day basis.
Q
Are you Acting Secretary?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, there's no such title. I'm the
deputy and I will assume the role as the spokesman and Karna and
I will work together.
Q
It is clear that even if Jim returns soon, "soon"
does not mean in the next few weeks. So is this the type of
arrangement that you're going to continue, a day-to-day, ad hoc
thing?
MR. SPEAKES: We haven't addressed it. We're taking it
a day at a time and so I don't think there's been any decision on
a permanent person and certainly no discussions whatsoever of
replacing the Press Secretary.
Q Larry, is there any consideration of the fact that
Mrs. Reagan, when she went to see the policeman in the hospital, was
she in danger from that bullet in him?
MR. SPEAKES: I haven't thought about that, Sarah.
I don't know much about exploding bullets, so I just can't comment
on it.
Q
Is there any Act that we have or any law that
makes these exploding bullets out of law?
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MR. SPEAKES: I think we'd have to go to the Attorney
General to get that. I don't know what the legalities of it are.
Q
Do you know if that bullet that was removed from
the policeman's neck was, in fact, an explosive bullet?
MR. SPEAKES: The FBI is conducting tests on these
bullets so I'm not sure that they've completed one on that. I
think they gave a seat of the pants prognosis this morning on those
bullets, a guess at it.
Q
They did complete the tests on the bullet?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know that they've completed them.
2
You do?
Q
Did you read the Jack Anderson column today?
MR. SPEAKES: I did read the Jack Anderson column.
I
Is there any veracity to it?
MR. SPEAKES: I would have no comment on how we deal
with foreign governments.
I
Is there apprehension about the wisdom of having
Haig and Weinberger out of the country at the same time?
Q
It seems like a good idea to me.
(Laughter.)
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MR. SPEAKES: Obviously, we don't think it's a problem
or they'd both wouldn't be out of the country at the same time.
Q
What's the chain of commmand with
them out of the country, the Vice President has command of
military matters --
MR. SPEAKES: Well, I don't want to discuss
command authority, but we have the President of the United States who
is Commander and Chief and there is a -- certainly an arrangement
in the State Department, an arrangement in the Defense Department
where somebody's in charge.
Q
Is it Carlucci and Clark?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't know. Good question. -- go
right over here.
Q
Larry, one more time, let me follow that up,
let me tell you. What justification have you in law or precedent
that gives you all the authority to make such arrangements? I
don't think the Congress will go along with you on this. Mr.
Tip O'Neill was having this looked into the other day. I don't
know what he's found out. But he made the statement that he had --
that Congress had given you all no authority to make such an
arrangement.
MR. SPEAKES: What kind of an arrangement?
Q
He had said that what Congress gave you all
was succession and after succession he said they did not give
you all any power to do this and they were going to look
into it. Have you found out anything else about this?
MR. SPEAKES: No, not a thing.
Q
Back to my horse, I want to whip this horse.
Listen, Evans and Novak in their piece on Haig this morning said
that, quoted an unidentified member of the White House staff as
saying that -- Evans and Novak said that quoting a member of
the White House staff as saying that, "Someone on the White House
staff feels that the press is out to do a hatchet job on Al
Haig." Is that the feeling of the White House staff?
MR. SPEAKES: It is not. We have --
Q
You'll have to do it yourself? (Laughter.)
Q
You don't need any help. Is that it?
MR. SPEAKES: Mr. Meese and Mr. Baker have said it about
a dozen times in the last two or three days that the job that the
Secretary did in the Situation Room -- and it's what they agreed
to and they have no quarrel with it.
Q
That's not my question. My question was: Does
the White House staff feel that the press is out to do a hatchet
job on Haig?
MR. SPEAKES: No.
Q
Is everything buddy-buddy?
MR. SPEAKES: That's a good characterization.
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Q
Larry, Deaver said yesterday that there were some
presidential policy decisions that have had to be deferred until
next week because of the President's hospitalization. Can you
shed more light on how many and their character?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I can't spell that out. I'm not
aware of any that have been deferred. I have been in most of
the meetings and when there's a decision required out of a meeting,
as we have discussed, the approve-disapprove memorandum goes
to the President and he'll make a decision in the hospital.
Q
Didn't the Auto Task Force report decision
get delayed as a result of the shooting? I think you said so earlier
this week.
MR. SPEAKES: There was not an Auto Task Force report
due. There was a scheduled announcement of some decisions involving
the auto industry which will probably come next week. The only
reason for the delay the decisions had been essentially made.
The only reason for the delay was that they had originally had
the President scheduled to participate in the announcement.
Q
Let me follow up then. Are you saying that
the actions to be announced Monday or Tuesday or whenever next
week are separate from the Auto Task Force?
MR. SPEAKES: They're a part of the Auto Task Force
and the Regulatory Task Force and those kinds of studies.
Q
Who actually makes the decision?
Q
Have any -- the President's reaction?
MR. SPEAKES: I'd have to check on that.
Q
The delay to announce it this week is not
a high-level decision?
MR. SPEAKES: Ask me that again.
Q
The delay of announcing the regulatory action
this week is not being affected by the Presidential incident?
MR. SPEAKES: No.
Q
Who actually makes the decisions, Larry?
MR. SPEAKES: The President.
Q
But who -- You said, "Approved-disapproved."
MR. SPEAKES: The President.
Q
But you said the thing goes to him approved or
disapproved and then he makes a decision on it. But who does
that initial approval or disapproval?
MR. SPEAKES: Who does the memo? Someone in the meetings
that's in charge of the meeting.
Q
Who is it though?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, I would guess, you know, if it was
a Cabinet meeting, the secretary to the Cabinet would make the memo.
Mr. Meese would probably do it.
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Q
Well, suppose something is disapproved, but the
President goes opposite?
Q
What are we talking about? Are we talking about
auto pollution and that kind of thing, or are we talking about
Japanese auto --
MR. SPEAKES: No, we're not talking about imports.
Q.
When these memos go to the President, do they
recommend approval or disapproval or do they have choices?
MR. SPEAKES: I'm sure they have choices. As most memos
are that require Presidential decision, they allow him to make a
choice or none of the above.
Q
Larry, have these memos actually gone to the President,
or are you talking about hypothetical situations in which there
might be disagreement?
MR. SPEAKES: I'm talking about hypothetical situations.
Q
Could you answer my specific question, please,
because if a memo goes to the President and says, "disapproval,"
would he ever go against that disapproval?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, I'm sorry, Naomi. It's a blank
by the approve-disapprove line and he makes a choice.
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0
Larry, true or false?
Q
None of the above.
I
How long did Senator Thurmond speak with the
President this morning?
MR. SPEAKES: He just said "Hello," and was in and out.
Q
Was the President informed that this could
possibly have been a bullet, a devastator bullet?
MR. SPEAKES: I haven't asked as to whether he has.
Q
Can we find out if he has been informed of that?
He must have read it in the paper by now.
MR. SPEAKES: Possibly. Yes, we can check. The story
just broke last night so I don't know whether anybody's mentioned
it to him or whether he has read it.
Q
Larry, would the letters being given to Haig
include reassurances that his authority has not been diminished?
MR. SPEAKES: I haven't seen the letters. I don't
think that would be necessary to put in there. The Secretary of
State clearly travels with the full colors of his office and with
the President's best wishes.
Q
Larry, has the President talked with either
President Nixon or President Ford?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think the President has. Of
course, in the course of events on Monday they were informed.
Q
Larry, in terms of the President talking, do
these tubes in his chest impair his speech or his speaking ability
at all?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think so. I haven't heard anyone
mention it who's been out there.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END
12:30 P.M. EST
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
April 2, 1981
BRIEFING FOR REPORTERS
BY
DR. RUGE AND DR. O'LEARY
The Briefing Room
12:01 P.M. EST
MR. SPEAKES: We have with us today a gentleman you've met be-
fore, Dr. Dennis O'Leary of the George Washington University Hospital
and also with us is Dr. Daniel Ruge, the White House physician.
DR. O'LEARY: Well, Mr. Reagan is resting through a
really totally normal and uncomplicated post-operative course. He
got some good rest yesterday and that is reflected in his appearance
this morning. He is alert. He's been up walking. My understanding
is he covered 50 yards in two minutes. That's pretty good for
any of us. He wolfed down his breakfast and he is doing quite
well.
Q
Dr. O'Leary?
DR. O'LEARY: Yes.
Q
Can we ask you a question? There are reports that
when the President was first brought into the emergency room, he
was in acute distress. Doctors who were there are quoted as saying
that his vital signs were fluctuating and that he was on the edge
of a potentially life-threatening situation. What are the facts?
DR. O'LEARY: Okay, let me try to address this in a little
bit of detail because we've retraced the steps very carefully and
I think probably the most important thing is to draw some distinction
between the visual appearance of the President when he arrived in
the emergency room, on the one hand and on his actual clinical
condition, on the other hand.
The President did walk into the emergency room. It is
alleged that he collapsed. He indeed went down on one knee, if
that's collapsed, SO be it. He was then picked up and carried back
into the resuscitation bay where any patient who had undergone a
traumantic injury would have gone.
The reason for him going down on one knee, I think,
probably relates to a couple of elements. First of all, it is probably
likely that he experienced a vaso-vagal
reaction. It's a
kind of reaction that patients, often responsive, develop when they
have blood drawn. And what happens usually is that they start to
sweat. They appear pale and dusky. Their blood pressure falls.
And their pulse rate falls. They really look awful. However, the
occurrence of this is usually is about for 45 seconds to a minute
and they wake up and are fine, in no sense is at a clinically threatening
situation although the visual impact can really be quite striking.
The other contributing element -- two other contributing
elements, I think, are that, first of all, we have to remember that
the President did lose some blood. I think again that has probably
been a bit overstated. When the chest tube was first placed in,
approximately 1200 cc's of blood were removed. That's a little bit
over two units and for someone like Mr. Reagan, that would not have
been sufficient to have caused him to go into shock as is being
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- 2 -
implied.
Finally, it is alleged and I believe it's probably true
that Mr. Reagan, when he came in, was complaining of air hunger.
Again, any patient who has a partial or total collapse of a lung
will complain of air hunger. Some of that is real, you know,
physiologically, they're a little bit short of air. But a lot of
that is perceptual, too. You have to remember there are many patients
who have a full lung removed and who function perfectly normally
without any particular air hunger. The President had also coughed
up some blood. Again that is totally expected for anyone with a
penetrating injury of the lung. And a little blood goes a long way
in terms of visual impact. Mr. Reagan was taken back into the
resuscitation bay. There was a lot of swirling around of people
literally, like any patient when he settles into resuscitation area,
the noise level was significant. The nurse who took his blood
pressure reports that she had a lot of trouble hearing his blood
pressure because of the noise level in the area. Therefore, she
obtained a blood pressure through palpation. That is a less
satisfactory and far less accurate measure of blood pressure.
It is that blood pressure level, however, that was reported in the
New York Times as being a systolic
in the range of 75 or so.
Simultaneously, he had an intravenous started and fluid,
saline that was starting to be run into him and the next blood pressure
reading not more than a minute later was 120. Well, that is not
consistent with a shock-like state. It is more consistent with a
little bit of orthostasis, that is that the blood pools down in the
leg. He's lost a little bit of blood and is quite consistent with
the Vaso-Vagal reaction. As soon as you lay him down flat,
he's fine.
I Dr. O'Leary, if they had not taken him immediately
to this hospital and had taken him to a hospital at a greater distance,
would that time factor created any more danger to his life?
DR. O'LEARY: Obviously, that's quite speculative. It's my
own personal belief that if for some reason the President had not
received attention for another 20 or 30 minutes that he probably
still would have been okay. The nature of his injury, the rate of
bleeding, and so forth, were not at a life-threatening level.
Again, I've reviewed the sequence of events very carefully
with Dr. Eddlestein. who's the Director of the Emergency Room, with
Dr. Giordano, who's the head of the trauma team. Both of these
individuals have seen many trauma patients covering a broad spectrum
of injuries and, in their judgment, at no point in time was he
even remotely close to extremis.
Q
Was he bleeding from the mouth when he arrived?
DR. O'LEARY: He had coughed up some blood and I believe
there's a little bit of --
I
Trickling down?
DR. O'LEARY: No, I don't think so. I think he had some
blood around his lips as it has been stated to me.
Q
Did he know he was shot at that point?
DR. O'LEARY: He apparently at that time did not know that
he had been shot nor did the receiving nurses know. Again, that is
really not very surprising if you've talked to people who have
been involved in war time -- how they tell you that they were shot,
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- 3 --
that they didn't realize it for several minutes or more than that
after they had been shot, a very common reaction.
0
Doctor, does the President still have drainage
tubes or intravenous tubes in his body? Does he still have attachments
that would permit the insertion, reinsertion of endotrachial tubes?
We're asking this because we're trying to determine why we haven't
been given a picture of the President. This has caused some level
of concern that we haven't seen a picture of the President.
DR. O'LEARY: Okay, well, you've got several questions
built in there. They're all quite pertinent. The President still
has two chest tubes in place. Again, that is -- perfectly
expected it at this point in time and they will be removed at the
point in time when the assessment by his primary physician, the
doctor here, indicates that it's time to take those out.
He does not have an intravenous running any longer.
He's on a full diet. He wolfed down his breakfast this morning.
The only reason for maintaining the intravenous even through
yesterday afternoon was to administer the end of the (portion) of his
prophylactic antibiotics. He received his last dose at 5:00
yesterday afternoon. Like any thoracotomy patient at this point,
he is occasionally receiving some oxygen therapy which is the
attachment around at a 40 percent typical mixture. And that is
usually placed on him when he's lying in bed when you would expect
the excursions of his chest wall, would not be as great as when
he is up and walking around or even sitting up.
I realize your consternation over not having any
visual pictures relative to the President. But I think my own
feeling is that if it were not the President and it were any other
patient, that he is a patient in the hospital, the primary goal
is to assure his rapid recovery. And I would prefer, medically,
not to hassle him with anything else. I understand your needs
and the perceived public needs. But I think our main job is to
get him better. And I guess I also feel that he, like anyone else,
is entitled to some privacy.
Q
Let me follow that up if I may. Is there
any hardware on or about the President's face or person that would
look funny if pictures were taken?
DR. O'LEARY: No, there isn't. There are no close
attachments relative to an endotrachial tube.
Q
But, doctor, you are not telling us are you,
doctor, that it's doctors order that he not have his picture taken?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I think it's a combination of
respecting his privacy. It is a medical preference not to, and
I think it is the White House's preference. He looks fine.
Q
Why not show us? I think that's the question.
Q
Doctor, do we understand correctly that you
are reducing the amount of pain killer, medication, so that the
President will remain clear-headed in running the government even
though he would be in more pain than a normal chest patient at
this point?
DR. O'LEARY; Well, you really couldn't reduce it much
from what he was getting to begin with. He's really not required
very much pain medication at all now. He's down to Tylenol Number
three which is about what you take for a headache.
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Q
When will he get out of the hospital?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, that obviously depends upon the
day -by -day assessment.
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He's making very rapid progress and --
Q
Mid-week? Next week?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, we would -- I think we would be hopeful,
certainly by next week. His progress is super.
Q
Doctor, two questions. Number one, can you describe
the chest tubes? What are they connected to? And also, can you describe
in more detail how he looks? You said he looks fine, but can you describe
his color and a little bit more about his disposition and so forth?
We understand he's in some pain.
DR. O'LEARY: Well, he's not in so much pain that he would
ask, even, for pain medication. When it is suggested to him, he'll take
some pain medication. I think the visual impact, for instance, when he
was out walking down the hall and the nursing staff was remarking, "My,
he's a fine looking man." He looks very good. He has good color in
his cheeks. He has his hair combed. In many respects, he's functioning
quite normally.
Ω
Any new jokes?
Q
What about the chest tubes?
2
Is he attached to anything as he was walking?
DR. O'LEARY: The chest tubes are attached to a suction
kind of apparatus under water which is how those things are handled.
I've not personally examined that area, so I can't describe any detail
to you.
O
What is the purpose of those tubes?
DR. O'LEARY: The purpose of the chest tubes is two-fold.
One, to remove any air that continues to be in the space between the
lung and the chest wall. And secondly, and of course at this particular
time, most importantly to drain any fluid which accumulates in that
area.
Q Doctor, do you think it's medically wise for him to
take a trip to Mexico?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, we're at least three weeks away from
there and I think, candidly, I'd have to say that all of that determination
is going to revolve around an on-going assessment of his rate of
recovery and his progress. I just can't guess how he's going to be
feeling three weeks from now. He has been --he's had a major injury
and he's had a major surgical procedure and I don't expect him to be
100 percent of normal in three weeks. That's not a reasonable expectation
for anyone.
Q
Dr. O'Leary, what is the normal post-operative recup-
eration period in a case such as this? Can we expect that the President
would want to take some time off once he leaves the hospital?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, the normal hospitalization would probably
be in the range of one to two weeks. If you're talking about somebody
who worked in a construction job, for instance, you might suggest that
he not go back to work for somewhere between three and six weeks. If you
were talking to someone who had, perhaps, a more sedentary kind of desk
job, that individual might be able to go back to work between 10 days and
three weeks or SO. And for someone who's pretty hardy, a good bit less
than that and obviously there are intervening steps where you could work
a half-day or a couple of hours a day. The President's progress is SO
good at this point in time, we expect him to be assuming everything
continues to go well, on the short end of all of these recovery periods,
but we are speculating.
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Q
What do you have
on James Brady's
condition?
DR. O'LEAEY: Mr. Brady continues to make satisfactory
progress. We are a long ways from home on Mr. Brady. I think I have
to underline that and inject a note of caution. He had a repeat post-
operative routine CT scan last night. It is significantly improved over
the CT scan that was performed just prior to surgery. This morning he
still has a good deal of swelling around his eyes and his face which
one would expect to evolve and disappear over time, but the swelling
around his face makes it difficult for him to open his eyes. He can
open his eyes with help and this morning, in doing so, the doctor held
up three fingers and said, "How many fingers do you see?" And he said,
"Three." That is very simple, in a sense, but I think it implies good
function of some rather complex nerve pathways.
We have no evidence of any major complications yet. But
there are a wide spectrum of possible complications that could develop
and we're watching for those carefully. If any of those develop,
that would change the outlook substantially. He's able to move around
in bed with -- and to cooperate with the nursing staff in rendering his
kind of standard treatments that he's undergoing. The operative drains
that were placed in his head at the time of surgery have been removed.
Although these are all small little things, they are all positive things.
2 But they indicate no paralysis?
DR. O'LEARY: I think it is far too early to make any
neurological assessment. I think we won't have a more-or-less final
neurological assessment for six to 12 months and I don't think that
even a reasonably good preliminary assessment is going to be possible
for a couple of weeks.
I
Doctor, how aware is he of what happened to him? Does
he know that he's been shot? Does he know of the circumstances of why
he's there?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I think that's hard to assess because
he's not really at an active conversation stage. He's yesterday, I
think there was some impression that he was engaging in conversations.
That is a bit overstated. He said three words yesterday. He said,
"Brady, ball" and then when he was asked to say one, two, three, he
repeated, "One, two, three." That's very good, but that is far from a
conversation as you well know.
Q Doctor, on the President's wound, do we know, do you
know whether it was now a direct hit or whether he was hit by a ricochet
or a fragment of the bullet?
DR. O'LEARY: I've heard the same news reports you have,
SO I don't know the answer to the question.
Q Doctor, could you tell us when they discovered it was
a bullet wound? And tell us at what point did he qo down with one knee?
Could you give us that sequence?
DR. O'LEARY: Okay. He went down on one knee as he came
through the entrance into the emergency room. So,that's quite early
in the sequence of events. It was not really until he got back in the
resuscitation bay and he was in a supine position on the table that
one could readily identify that he had a bullet wound. As soon as
someone goes into the resuscitation bay, their clothes are cut aside from
them in order to give the doctors full access to managing the patient.
Certainly, as soon as his shirt was taken off, the bullet wound became
readily apparent. So, I would say it was within probably a minute or
two of the time that he got into that area. They knew right then.
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I Was there blood on his shirt?
DR. O'LEARY: I don't know whether there was blood on the
shirt. I'm sorry, I just can't answer that question. There was -- there
never was a lot of bleeding. The chest tube was placed in very early.
As I said, the drainage from the tube was about 1200cc's -- that's about
half of what he lost totally over time. He bled steadily, but not
vigorously, and I think that was a very important piece of information
in that it suggested that he had not -- the bullet had not struck any
major vessel. And, as I say, he was very easy to stabilize, initially
with fluids, and then with the blood transfusions.
I
Did they locate the bullet wound right away?
I Doctor, what were you treating him for when you didn't
know it was a bullet wound? Were you treating him for a heart condition?
Or just the bleeding or what?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, let's put our time sequence -- we're
talking as if this was spread out over a lot of time. The bullet wound
sight was discovered, probably, within one to two minutes after the
time he got on the table. That's not a lot of time. There are certain
things that are standard and almost anyone who comes into that area
with any kind of problem is going to have an intravenous line placed, he's
going to have electro-cardiogram monitor placed. There are certain
functions that we would monitor in anyone. As soon as the bullet wound
sight is identified, you can bet that a chest tube is going to be placed
immediately. It was all happening very quickly.
&
Doctor, I have a question on his collapse. You say he
went down on one knee, but he was being supported by his agents
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and the paramedics
say that his eyes rolled back in
his head. The reason perhaps that he didn't fall all the way was
because they carried him at that point or did he just go down on
one knee and then catch himself?
DR. O'LEARY: You're getting down to a level of detail
that I have a lot of trouble addressing, whether his eyes rolled
back or not. I don't know. But I can tell you that if someone
has a vasovagal reaction their eyes may look as `if they're
rolling back. They really can look very, very bad and not be in
any significant clinical danger there.
2
Did he faint?
DR. O'LEARY: My understanding, fairly precisely, is
that at no time did he lose consciousness. I guess I would
emphasize that many patients who have vasovagal reactions will
lose consciousness during that acute time. Question?
O
Sir, would the President have received all of
the bullets in his body had not his aides, those in his party,
Mr. Brady and the other gentlemen, been wounded?
DR. O'LEARY: That's really very hard to say. As I --
I wasn't --
2
I mean the angle, from the photographs, from the
films and SO forth?
DR. O'LEARY: It was my understanding that the
President was shielded by the Secret Service agents and that
certainly helped.
I
And Mr. Brady.
DR. O'LEARY: I presume SO. I don't -- I just don't
know. I wasn't there at the scene.
2
Doctor, what are his vital signs today?
I
Doctor, what was the sequence of events --
DR. O'LEARY: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. One at a
time.
Q Doctor, putting together the sequence of events
in the emergency room, did you talk to some of the people that were
in fact quoted in some of the reports, indicating that the eyes
rolled back and that these other sorts of things, to put together
the sequence of events?
DR. O'LEARY: Okay, I've not discussed the matter with
the paramedic. I have talked at some length with Dr. O'Neill. He
feels he was maybe sandbagged a little bit. A copy of the emergency
room record was obtained by the media and Dr. O'Neill, like any
good, hardworking surgical intern, had been up and awake for about
40 consecutive hours when he was called. He tells me that the
reporter read off a long list of information to him and then said,
"Dr. O'Neill, can you confirm this?" And he said, "Yes," and that
was the story.
I Are you worried that the initial reports were too
positive, however, because these kinds of things indicate it was
more problematic?
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DR. O'LEARY: Well, I'm not. I mean, I will absolutely
stand by our original statements without any reservations
whatsoever. I think you have to remember, first of all, that
the hospital worked very closely with the White House and, secondly,
that we were acutely aware that we had a great deal to lose by not
being perfectly candid with the press and with the nation.
Q Dr. O'Leary, would you explain a little further
on that question? You said you talked to Dr. O'Neill. You
earlier quoted, I believe, Dr. Giordano and Dr. Edelstein. Do
you know who was present when in the ER and did you speak to those
who arrived first or did you speak to just Dr. Giordano, persons
who arrived later?
DR. O'LEARY: Okay. Much of the information I have
given to you is secondhand through Dr. Edelstein from the two
nurses who were actually present and received the President in
the anteroom into the emergency room area. Obviously, there were
other people standing around and making their observations.
Dr. O'Neill is serving as part of the trauma team and actually
arrived at about the same time that Dr. Giordano did, which was
roughly 30 seconds within the time that the President arrived in
the emergency room area.
Q Did you say Dr. Giordano arrived within 30 seconds?
DR. O'LEARY: Dr. Giordano, as a member of the
trauma team, and the trauma team, arrived almost simultaneously,
within 30 seconds of the time the President physically arrived in
the emergency room area.
Q
Dr. O'Leary, what are the President's blood
pressure and pulse rate today?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, they're, of course, never absolutely
precise. The President's blood pressure has been ranging as it has
all along with systolic between 120 and 130 or a little over 130,
perfectly within normal range and his pulse rate is generally
within the range of 70. We should all have such normal vital
signs.
Q
Doctor, the President's staff is taking him limited
paperwork, asking him to make some minor decisions. How capable is
he at this point of making decisions related to carrying on the
functions of government and the functions of the Presidency?
DR. O'LEARY: He's quite capable. I wouldn't sell him
short in any respect. Obviously, we feel that it is important as
an intrinsic element of the President's therapy that he get
adequate rest, because again, our major goal is to have a
satisfactory recuperative phase. But if any important issue at
all came up I don't think there'd be any question that he would be
able to address it quite effectively.
I
How many hours of sleep is he getting?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, he slept, I think, in the range of
eight to 10 hours last night and had napped off and on through the
day. I think he's gradually catching up on his sleep debt.
Q
How much time is he actually spending working?
I mean, there is no question that he's doing quite a bit. How much
is actually being spent and what restrictions do you have on him at
the present time?
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DR. O'LEARY: Well, I can't really testify to precisely
how much work he's doing. He has been receiving some visitors from
the White House, and he has received, I think, some telephone calls.
There is some effort to limit this a bit but it has been about as
active as we would want it to be and have it still be compatible
with his recovery.
Q
Could you clarify, there are reports medically
that you had a false positive abdominal tap and that they did
a laparotomy.
DR. O'LEARY: No.
Q
You just indicated that there was a peritoneal
lavage incision.
DR. O'LEARY: That's correct.
Q
But others have said that there was a laparotomy
started. Could you clarify this?
DR. O'LEARY: No, that is not true. A peritoneal
lavage involves a small incision, perhaps a couple of inches
beneath the umbilicus. Okay? That is not a laparotomy. The fluid
is introduced and then it is taken out through tilting the
patient and it was not false positive. It was unequivocally negative.
Q Doctor, can you nail down a couple of stories
here for us? There are a couple of stories. Let me just ask you
quickly about them. One is that when you
notified the
hospital over the telephone line, that the notification was simply
that the presidential motorcade was on the way to the hospital
but there was no further elaboration?
DR. O'LEARY: No, there were two calls and I can
understand some of the confusion. The first call that came in was
that the presidential motorcade was arriving and it was followed
almost immediately by a second call that indicated that a Secret
Service agent had been shot and injured and was on his way. That
in itself immediately triggered the call to the trauma team.
2 Okay, the second point if I may ask, there is a
story that has been published that when the trauma team arrived at
the emergency room or at the room where the President had been
brought that they were asked to produce some sort of credentials.
DR. O'LEARY: I think that was probably not true for the
trauma team but by the time I arrived, which was probably four or
five minutes after the President had arrived, the traffic control
that was being managed both by our staff and by the Secret Service
was being quite effective and I don't think it impaired the
movement significantly. Our major concern was to keep the
onlookers, if you will, back in order to permit movement back and
forth.
Q
I understand that. I was talking about an
original team of the trauma unit to aid the President being asked
to produce credentials and delayed. There was the story about that.
DR. O'LEARY: Okay. I don't believe that that's true
but I can't give you precise details.
2 Doctor, you've been talking mostly about the
physical activity and what effect that would have on the President's
condition. What about mental strain? We're hearing reports about
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him signing Executive Orders, all these other things. How is mental
strain going to effect his recovery and what about when he gets back
to the White House?
DR. O'LEARY: I think mental strain is less of an issue.
All of us handle mental strain a little bit differently. The
President handles mental strain pretty darned effectively. I don't
think that's going to be a significant limitation at all in his
recovery.
I
Doctor, I realize it was just a short span of
seconds there but what were they treating him for, heart attack,
blood in the mouth thinking there was some sort of a stroke, or
what? Before they knew it was a bullet?
DR. O'LEARY: I don't know what further to elaborate.
I
Well, that's not quite clear. Did they assume he
had a heart attack, is that it? The first people who
worked on him before you got there, I guess.
DR. O'LEARY: When a patient enters into the
resuscitation area for reasons that he's been injured or doesn't
look good or what have you, the initial measures taken are
general measures that would apply to a variety of conditions and
problems and at the same time the patient is being evaluated very
quickly, through very standard measures, in order to obtain some
diagnostic precision which will govern the further specific
therapeutic efforts. I think, for instance, that he had
monitor lines placed on him. He had an intravenous started.
That would apply to almost anyone, if you will, as soon as the
bullet hole was identified he had a specific measure taken, the
placement of a chest tube, and we moved from there.
I
How often do the doctors see him and has he
said anything funny lately? You had a lot of one-liners the
first night.
DR. O'LEARY: I think he's maintained his humor but
I don't have any of the precise copy. He is -- we have really
tried to limit the amount of physician involvement. He is a
post-operative thoracotomy patient in the presidential surgical
suite. We have a chief surgical resident in constant attendance.
Dr. Ruge, his personal physician, is in constant attendance,
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and Dr. Aaron his primary surgeon, visits him several times in the
course of the day and Dr. Aaron calls upon such additional consultants
as are necessary, which haven't been very necessary.
Q
You mean he's not in the surgical suite? He's in the
Presidential -- it's not an ordinary hospital room, then?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, a couple days ago, it didn't even exist.
I
Could I just follow this up? Is it the same accommo-
dations that other patients have? Or is it something different?
DR. O'LEARY: He is in a standard patient room, however, we,
for obvious security reasons, had to create a suite out of an existing
patient wing --
I
It was just a use of your charm which seemed to --
DR. O'LEARY: No. You would probably call it a suite and
we wouldn't have had a suite if it hadn't been for the President. So,
if you follow it logically, it is an independent patient care area.
It has its own supplies, its own drugs, its own nursing staff. It is
totally capable of standing alone in terms of providing care to him.
Ω
Doctor, could you elaborate on the breathing assistance
that the President is getting, I gather, sporadically, especially when
he's lying down? How is that done?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I wouldn't say -- breathing assistance
is really not quite appropriate. He: is undergoing coughing therapy.
He is a very highly motivated and effective patient. That's important
to make sure he keeps clearing his airways. He's doing very well with
that. He received some chest physical therapy. This is all standard
therapy in a post-thorocotomy patient.
I
How are you handling the oxygen?
DR. O'LEARY: Okay. The oxygen, which he only receives
occasionally, is a very simple little plastic tube that is draped around
his head so that it will stay in place and he doesn't have to hold it up
there. It has a couple of little prongs that just lie right underneath
his nose and it provides a little bit of oxygen enrichment as he sits
there and breathes normally.
Q
Do you expect any --
DR. O'LEARY: He breathes fine all by himself. This is
just to give him a little bit enrichment when he's lying back in bed
and doesn't have full chest expansion.
Ω
Do you expect any depression?
I
You mentioned various tubes and devices that the
President has at various times had.
Can you give us the total number
of incisions, openings, whatever that were made in his body as a result
of these procedures?
DR. O'LEARY: Probably within one. That's not too bad.
He has the peritoneal lavage site below his umbilicus. He has
his thorocotomy incision site and he has two chest tubes in place, each
of those going through a separate small opening in the skin. I do not
know whether one of those two tubes is through the same site that the
tube in the emergency room was placed through which might be an additional
incision site and that's it.
I
Do you think there will be any depression?
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Q
Doctor, you said before that the bullet hit the top
of the seventh rib. Where on the body did it hit that rib?
DR. O'LEARY: My understanding is laterally, it entered,
as I described previously, under the left armpit, traveled down and
medial somewhat which would be a fairly sharp angle down through the
chest well itself of a distance of about three inches and then struck
the seventh rib and moved inward.
Q
Is it right under where it came into the body?
DR. O'LEARY: Yes, or a little bit more medial. More like
a steep diagonal line as I understand it.
Q
Could you spell vaso-vagal?
DR. O'LEARY: V-a-s-o - v-a-g-a-1.
Q
Doctor, could you recapitulate the sedation the
President has had since the surgery was completed?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, please remember that I'm not personally
taking care of the President and that's a level of detail I haven't
kept apprised on. My understanding is that he has required, by normal
standards, minimal pain medication and essentially no sedation.
Q
Doctor, are you denying flatly that he was ever in
danger of death?
DR. O'LEARY: I am denying that flatly.
Q
Sir, would you assess the value of the operation of
that emergency unit there?
DR. O'LEARY: Excuse me? I --
Ω
Would you assess the George Washington University
emergency unit?
DR. O'LEARY: Well, I'm a little biased, you have to under-
stand that. (Laughter.) We think it's very good. It is a certified
trauma unit of which there are four in the District of Columbia. Because
of our physical location in the city, we receive a large number of trauma
patients and we have a lot of experience in dealing with them. We think
we're pretty good at it.
Q
Doctor, did the President get pre-surgical sedation
when he was in the emergency or resuscitation bay?
DR. O'LEARY: He did not receive any there. I don't know
whether he received separate medication from his anesthesia. As I had
described previously, his anesthestic was really a balanced anesthesia
which involves several agents and it's kind of perferred type of anesthesia
today.
Q
How quickly -- how much time passed from the time he
got into the resuscitation bay to the time he was taken to the operating
room and --
DR. O'LEARY: About 40 minutes which -- the major delay
being the necessity for two separate x-rays which had to be taken and then --
I
Then was he conscious or beginning to go under during
the 40-minute period?
DR. O'LEARY: No. He was totally alert through that time
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up until the time he received -- started to receive his anesthesia in
the operating room.
Q
And where did he receive that? In the operating room?
DR. O'LEARY: In the operating room.
Q Doctor, you indicated earlier there was a written record
of the first few minutes. Is there such a record and is it available to
other newspapers?
DR. O'LEARY: I don't have it. Again, I think you have to
get into the issue of medical records and privacy. We do not distribute
patient medical records at all, except upon the authorization of the
patient himself.
Q
Will there be any depression or traumatic reaction from
this shocking event to the President himself? Or --
DR. O'LEARY: I doubt that very, very much.
Q
How much is the bill right now, Doctor?
DR. O'LEARY: This is a good time to turn it over to Mr. Speakes.
Q
Has your wife given birth yet?
DR. O'LEARY: Three weeks.
Q
Three more weeks.
MR. SPEAKES: Let me add a couple of things that are to keep
you up to the minute. Senator Laxalt and Senator Baker met with the
President at the hospital this morning for 10 minutes from 12:00 o'clock
until 12:10. The President said, when the two Senators entered the room,
speaking to Laxalt he said, "I saw you on TV this morning." He said,
"I see all the early shows now." Senator Baker --
Q
Does he have more than one television?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't think so.
Q
He switches around.
2
A channel switcher.
MR. SPEAKES: Senator Baker says -- equal treatment. Senator
Baker says to the President, "There is a lot of love and general devotion
to you on Capitol Hill." The President later in the conversation said,
"I found out it hurts to get shot." There was discussion of a resolution
that's been passed on the Hill today that I'm not quite certain of the
details, but it commends Agents Parr and McCarthy and the President made
a statement on that, saying, "They did just fine." Senator Baker reported
to the President that the reconciliation bill was near passage in the
Senate and that they had rebuffed 26 amendments and Senator Baker char-
acterized it as "nothing like that before in legislative history."
Q
Since the day they passed the bill to repeal the black-out
on pro-television games. (Laughter.)
MR. SPEAKES: Other than that, that's up to the minute.
Thank you.
Q
Is Dr. Ruge going to come out?
Q
Dr. Ruge refused to come out.
MORE
- 15 -
Q
Larry, who provided that notetaking?
MR. SPEAKES: David Fisher.
Q
Larry, will there be a photograph released tomorrow of
the President?
MR. SPEAKES: I don't want to lock us into a date, but we
anticipate having one soon.
I What's the latest, Larry, on the review by the Secret
Service of what happened that day?
MR. SPEAKES: Bill, I don't know. I assume they have an
on-going situation. Secretary Regan testified this morning, but I don't
have the
--
Q
Will the White House now release the missing photographs
in the sequence that you released two days ago -- in the time we see
the President emerge and the time the President has already been put
in the car?
MR. SPEAKES: Sam, as I reported to you earlier, there is
no missing photograph in there. That's shot one and shot two on the
proof sheet which I've examined myself.
MORE
- 16 -
Q
You're denying that there are any photographs
in between?
MR. SPEAKES: I'm denying that shot one you see there
is the first shot and that the White House photographer put his
camera down and then he resumed shooting and you have shot two.
That's the extent of it.
Q
It would surprise you if someone in the White
House said otherwise then?
MR. SPEAKES: Well, I have spoken to the photographer
and that's what he told me.
Q
Larry, is the President aware of the prediction
made by this California psychic in January? What did he think
of it? And are you aware of any effort to
pass on a warning?
MR. SPEAKES:
I can't repeat it. I'm
not aware that he's aware.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END
12:40 P.M. EST