President Reagan narrowly escaped death. The White House was brought under control after several hours of chaos. But the horrifying memories of that fateful afternoon still haunt America to this day.
“Was the President hit?”
At the Washington Hilton – a famous hotel in Washington, DC, not many people pay attention to the rather simple sign placed near a lower entrance. – originally designed exclusively for VIP guests. That is also the place that marks the horrifying memories of 40 years ago when President Ronald Reagan was shot and seriously injured in an assassination attempt that shocked America. At that time, attacker John Hinckley fired 6 bullets in just 2 seconds at the President. America fell into a political crisis in the following hours.
White House press secretary James Brady suffered a serious head injury that left him partially paralyzed throughout his life and is currently a famous activist for gun control – an issue that currently haunts America. In the latest conversation with Guardian newspaper, Mr. David Prosperi – assistant press secretary of President Ronald Reagan and who was present at the hotel at that time – recounted the fateful afternoon.
At 2:30 p.m. on March 30, 1981, after completing a speech at a joint conference at the Washington Hilton Hotel, President Reagan left the hotel and took the plane. limousine is waiting. A loud shout rang out from the press crowd: “President Reagan!” He turned around and waved goodbye. Suddenly a man pulled out a gun and fired 6 consecutive bullets at the President.
“I heard a very loud popping sound like someone releasing a balloon and it exploded and then there were five more pops. And I knew that was gunfire,” said Mr. Prosperi, now 67 years old. “Instinctively, I bent down and pulled journalist Judy Woodruff along. When the motorbike group whistled past, I stood up and clearly realized the situation before me.”
An unprecedented scene appeared before our eyes. “White House press secretary James Brady was lying face down on the ground with a bullet wound in the head. Rick Ahearn – a senior White House staffer – was kneeling next to him trying to stop Brady’s bleeding with a handkerchief. I heard his screams. Rick: Does anyone have a handkerchief? I threw mine to Rick and quickly ran into the hotel because I knew I had to call the White House,” Mr. Prosperi recounted.
At that time, cell phones were still quite primitive and Mr. Prosperi did not have a phone. In the end, he had to use his personal credit card to make a pay phone call in the hotel to report to the White House press office.
“At that time I “I think that’s how the White House determined official information and understood that the President had been shot because the secret service at that time had not yet determined whether the President had been hit or not,” Mr. Prosperi added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Rick Ahearn recalled that Mr. Prosperi at that time really faced the difficult task of answering the press. Everything is on lockdown. The police and secret service are trying to ensure security. People are screaming and asking what’s going on. “Was the president hit?” is the question that keeps coming up. Finally Prosperi replied: “The President was shot but I cannot confirm right now whether he was hit or not.”
In fact, the President President Reagan was not hit directly by a bullet, but a bullet bouncing from the car hit him in the chest and penetrated his lungs, leaving him in critical condition. The aides did not know this at the time. “They didn’t know until they got to the hospital,” said James Miller, director of the Office of Management and Budget at the time.
The White House is in crisis
If the incident happened in today’s modern technological age, things would definitely be clearer quickly because there would be images on every social media platform in a split second. . But back then it was a completely different world.
Information at that time was very contradictory. Mr. Reagan has only been in office for 69 days. Means of communication are not as modern as they are now. The White House fell into crisis when cabinet members were truly confused. At the Situation Room, the top officials were anxiously arguing.
The press conference room was very chaotic, with journalists frantically demanding accurate and timely information. The White House had to make every effort to control the situation. But no one really knows the true information about the case to be able to respond to the press. After a few hours, new information was revealed.
A bullet ricocheted off the side of the limousine and hit the President’s left lung only about 7 5 cm from the heart. The second bullet pierced the head of White House Press Secretary James Brady, the third bullet hit police officer Thomas Delahanty in the back. And the fourth bullet hit Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy in the chest. President Reagan was immediately taken to the hospital. Right in that moment of life and death, he whispered to his wife – First Lady Nancy Reagan: “I’m sorry, honey, I forgot to dodge (the bullet).”
According to the source, even before entering the operating room, he joked with the doctors: “I hope you are all Republican members.” . Surgeon Joseph Giordano, a Democrat, replied: “Today we are all Republicans.”
President Reagan narrowly escaped death. He was the 5th US leader to be attacked but the first US president to escape death in an assassination attempt. Since then, there have not been any similar incidents.
After being discharged from the hospital, President Reagan took the helm of the United States to peacefully promote a politics has great influence. That leadership style made him popular with both the Republican and Democratic factions in Congress and many people across the country. He ran America from 1981 to 1989.
The culprit was acquitted
In the Love Room In the White House situation at that time, the most serious question raised was whether the assassination was a plot by the Soviet Union to start a war or not? The incident took place during the height of the Cold War and many submarines carrying nuclear missiles were heading towards the American coast.
However, the culprit was later identified as John Hinckley, 25 years old, the son of a wealthy businessman and a lone actor not part of the conspiracy. conspiracy of any country. After Hinckley’s arrest, there was information that this guy had an acute mental disorder and only acted because he wanted to impress Jodie Foster, the female star he was obsessed with after watching her play in the movie. movie Taxi Driver in 1976.
Hinckley went to trial on June 21, 1982 but was acquitted because he was determined to be mentally ill. This name was later released and admitted to St. Elizabeth. It was not until 2016 that he was released from the mental hospital and moved to his mother’s house in Williamsburg, Virginia.
There has been much controversy surrounding this court decision. special case when people mention the fate of White House Press Secretary Brady – who was hospitalized for 239 days after being shot. When he died in 2014 a medical examiner said the cause was from injuries sustained in the 1981 assassination.
Mr. Prosperi who visited Brady said in the hospital a few days after the shooting: “I believe that to this day if it weren’t for the assassination Brady would have been one of the best press secretaries in the White House. He had a way with people.” with the media’s sense of humor. But what a pity!”.
Hinckley’s attacker bought the gun at a pawn shop in Dallas, Texas, even though he was being treated for mental illness and was arrested for illegal possession of weapons 4 days earlier. The assassination occurred just 3 months after famous singer John Lennon was assassinated in New York, causing gun control to heat up and become a political focus.
After being discharged from the hospital, Brady and his wife Sarah constantly called for gun control and created the Brady Bill, which stipulated background checks and even time to control people who wanted to buy guns. Congress passed the bill in 1993. But some regulations were later repealed under lobbying pressure from the National Rifle Association. And to this day, the issue of gun control is still a difficult problem for America.
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