What Happened After The Reagan Assassination Attempt

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan arrived at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. Reagan's security detail required the president to wear a bulletproof vest at times, but he was not wearing one on the day of the speech. 

Reagan gave a speech to roughly 5,000 members of the AFL-CIO around 2 pm, then exited the building to get into a waiting car. In his diary, Reagan later wrote, “Speech not riotously received - still it was successful.”

As Reagan and his entourage made their way to the vehicle, a crowd of supporters and media members gathered. In that crowd was John Hinckley Jr., an Oklahoma native from a wealthy family. 

John Hinckley Jr. had been purchasing weapons for some time by 1981, and had also developed an obsession with actress Jodie Foster. When Hinckley arrived in Washington, DC, in March 1981, he was actually on his way to New Haven, CT. When he saw a headline in the newspaper on the morning of March 30 about Reagan's speech, his plans changed.

Hinckley decided to take a gun to the hotel where Reagan was speaking. By one account, Hinckley wanted to take his own life but thought if he shot at the president, the Secret Service would kill him instead. Hinckley later said he was trying to get Foster's attention.

Brandishing a .22 caliber revolver, Hinckley waited for Reagan to emerge from the Hilton. As Reagan walked toward his waiting limousine, Hinckley opened fire. He shot six bullets at the president and the men with him.

Reagan later wrote in his diary:

Left the hotel at the usual side entrance and headed for the car - suddenly there was a burst of gunfire from the left. S.S. Agent pushed me onto the floor of the car & jumped on top. I felt a blow in my upper back that was unbelievably painful. I was sure he'd broken a rib.

When gunfire rang out, two Secret Service agents, Jerry Parr and Ray Shaddick, shoved Reagan into the limousine. At first, it appeared as though the president had not been injured, but he began coughing up blood. He'd been hit, although it wasn't clear at that time where the bullet entered his body.

Three others were hurt on March 30, 1981, by the bullets from Hinckley's gun. James Brady, the president's press secretary, was struck in the head by the first bullet, while the second bullet hit Washington, DC, police officer Thomas Delahanty in the neck. Delahanty had blocked Reagan from the gunfire and was injured as a result.

The third bullet sailed over Reagan, who had already been pushed toward the car,  and the fourth bullet hit Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy in the chest or abdomen. The fifth bullet struck the window of the limousine (the window was made out of bulletproof glass), and the final bullet also ricocheted off the limousine, ultimately striking the president. 

After John Hinckley Jr. fired the first shot - less than two seconds before the final shot - onlookers pounced. Alfred Antenucci, a labor official from Ohio, hit Hinckley on the head. 

Another Secret Service agent, Dennis McCarthy, dove toward Hinckley. McCarthy landed atop the would-be assassin while others helped subdue him. Among the other individuals who helped bring Hinckley down was Frank J. McNamara, another labor official. According to McNamara:

Al [Antenucci] grabbed him first. Al has more guts than anybody else… Then I started punching him [the gunman]. I hit him so hard in the head I was left with blood on my knuckles.

McCarthy said in his report about the incident that he had to “strike two citizens to get them to release the subject." He then helped move Hinckley to a police car.

It wasn't known until later that John Hinckley Jr. wasn't a political zealot or trying to make a statement about Reagan or his administration. Hinckley had seen Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, the 1976 movie starring the actress and Robert DeNiro. After watching the movie more than a dozen times, Hinckley developed an infatuation with Foster that became an obsession. As a result, he took several steps to get her attention.

Reagan wasn't the first US president Hinckley targeted. Hinckley had previously attended rallies and events where President Jimmy Carter was present. He believed that if he killed the president, he would become as famous as Foster. 

Hinckley was also traveling to New Haven, CT, to see Foster, who was attending Yale University, the same institution where Hinckley told his parents he would take writing classes during the summer of 1980. 

Hinckley had previously called and spoken to Foster and sent her poems and letters professing his love for her. In a letter dated the day of the assassination attempt, Hinckley wrote:

There is a definite possibility that I will be killed in my attempt to get Reagan. It is for this very reason that I am writing you this letter now. As you well know by now I love you very much. Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. 

The letter also said:

I would abandon this idea of getting Reagan in a second if I could only win your heart and live out the rest of my life with you, whether it be in total obscurity or whatever. I will admit to you that the reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I just cannot wait any longer to impress you. I've got to do something now to make you understand, in no uncertain terms, that I am doing all of this for your sake!

Secret Service Agent Jerry Parr was in the limousine with Reagan when the latter began coughing up blood. Parr immediately re-routed the car to George Washington University Hospital so he could be seen by a doctor. According to Dr. Joseph Giordano, the surgeon at the hospital who assessed Reagan:

The president had a serious injury that caused blood loss significant enough that he initially collapsed with no obtainable blood pressure. Immediate treatment was essential. Stopping at the White House would have delayed treatment, perhaps causing a fatal outcome. 

Reagan was able to walk into the hospital but collapsed soon after. It wasn't entirely clear that Reagan would survive the shooting when he first arrived at the hospital. Nancy Reagan had been called and was at the hospital. In her memoirs, she recalled:

Ronnie looked pale and gray. Underneath the oxygen mask, his lips were caked with dried blood. He saw me, and pulled up the mask and whispered, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” I was fighting tears too hard to try to smile, so I just leaned over and kissed him.

Reagan had been struck under his left arm by a bullet, and exploratory surgery revealed a bullet had punctured his lung. The president also had a cracked rib and internal bleeding. Once the damage was repaired and the bullet removed, Reagan spent nearly two weeks in the hospital recovering from his injuries. He was released on April 11, 1981. As he left, Reagan quipped that the first thing he was going to do was “sit down.”