White House Press Briefing Following Assassination Attempt on Ronald Reagan
Press briefing by Deputy Press Secretary Larry Speakes, given in the aftermath of the March 30, 1981 assassination attempt on President Reagan. Topics include: the health of President Reagan and Press Secretary James Brady; Reagan's activities and actions immediately following...
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OCR Page 1 of 26THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
PRESS BRIEFING
BY
LARRY SPEAKES
April 1, 1981
12:13 p.M. EST
MR. SPEAKES: Good afternoon. First of all, I want to
let you know that I spoke with Sarah Brady this morning from the
hospital. Sarah, is, of course, very encouraged by the reports on
Jim. She specifically wanted to say that she had numerous calls
from Jim's friends in the media and that she wanted you to know
that she deeply appreciates these telephone calls. She has, of course,
not been able to get back to anyone at the present time. But
she
hopes to soon. She just specifically wanted to call and let you
know that she appreciates it.
I transmitted to her that your feelings were that most
of these calls were certainly not for news but from friends of
Jim who wanted to know about his situation and express your feelings
for Jim through Sarah.
I just talked to Dr. Ruge at the hospital. The President
has just awaken from a nap and the situation is as we announced it
in the medical statement this morning. We anticipate having another
medical statement this afternoon, probably around 3:00. These
statements, as you know, follow the doctors' rounds in visiting
the President and that explains the fluid time as to when they
release him.
Q
What do you mean the doctors' rounds?
MR. SPEAKES: When the doctor visits the patient.
Q
You mean Ruge or others?
MR. SPEAKES: Others and Ruge. We are now handing
out the personnel announcements, presidential appointments -- Kie-
ran O'Doherty to be Commissioner of the Postal Rate Commission
and the the President plans to designate him as Chairman; Warren
T. Lindquist to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the New
Community Development Corporation, and, once the appointment`is
effective, he will become General Manager and Chief Executive
Officer; Fred J. Villella to be Deputy Director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency; William R. Gianelli to be Assistnat
Secretary of the Army for Civil Works; Lawrence J. Korb to be
Assistant Secretary of Defense, Manpower Reserve and Reserve Affairs
and Logistics; Shelby T. Brewer to be Assistant Secretary of Energy,
Nuclear Energy. These had been earlier signed by the President.
These are not the ones that he signed today which are now going
through our normal paperwork procedure. And I don't anticipate
having them today. The President --
Q
Larry, how many is he signing today, do you know?
MR. SPEAKES: No, I'll have to check that figure.
Q
Could we take a look at his signature?
MR. SPEAKES: Yes, we'll let you do that.
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