All Weekend, Every Weekend. On C-SPAN3.

American Artifacts: Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan

White House Photographer Image Taken During Shooting

White House Photographer Image Taken During Shooting

Washington, DC
Sunday, April 1, 2012

Del Quentin Wilber, author of “Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan,” met American History TV at the Washington Hilton to recreate the afternoon of March 30, 1981. On that day, John Hinckley fired six bullets at President Reagan, who had just completed a speech to the AFL-CIO. Using archival photographs and video, and declassified audio from the U.S. Secret Service, we trace the route of the presidential motorcade to The George Washington University Hospital. This program airs Sunday at 8am, 7pm, and 10pm ET.

Updated: Tuesday, April 3, 2012 at 4:57pm (ET)

Related Events

Ronald Reagan Interment Ceremony at His Presidential Library
Friday, June 11, 2004     

The Reagan family and selected guests attend the interment service at Pres. Reagan's gravesite at his presidential library in Simi Valley, CA.

Ronald Reagan, 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, TX
Thursday, July 29, 2004     

Ronald Reagan speaks at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, Texas.

Remembering the Assassination Attempt on Pres. Reagan
Wednesday, March 23, 2011     

On March 30th 1981, President Ronald Reagan, code-named ”Rawhide" had just delivered a lunch-time speech at the Washington Hilton Hotel. While exiting the hotel, the President was fired upon by John Hinckley, Jr. and suffered a gunshot wound.
 
Tonight, the Newseum marked the event by bringing together two of the men involved in saving President Reagan's life, Secret Service Agent Jerry Parr and George Washington University Hospital surgeon Dr. Joseph Giordano.

30th Anniversary of Reagan Shooting
Wednesday, March 30, 2011     

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.

The Presidency: Ronald Reagan’s Legacy
Saturday, December 10, 2011     

Tom Brokaw of NBC, Former California Governor and U.S. Senator Pete Wilson, and authors Richard Reeves, Lou Cannon and Doug Brinkley debate the legacy of Ronald Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.  This year marks the 100th Anniversary of Reagan’s birth.

American Artifacts: Ronald Reagan “One Life” Exhibit
Monday, December 26, 2011     

Ronald Reagan was born in 1911, and the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery is marking the 40th president’s centennial by featuring his life and presidency in their “One Life” room. We visited the National Portrait Gallery and toured the Ronald Reagan “One Life” exhibit with curator Sidney Hart.

History of Columbia, South Carolina
Today     

C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles take American History TV on the road. Throughout the weekend of May 18-20 we feature the history of Columbia, South Carolina.

Loyalists in NYC During the American Revolution
Today     

Thousands of colonists rejected the War for American Independence and many fled to the British stronghold of New York City. San Jose State University History Professor Ruma Chopra discusses the situation in the city and the perspective of those who looked upon the British as natural allies in religion, language and blood and thought the violence of rebellion was unnecessary and unlawful.

American Artifacts: The Chinese in America
Today     

American History TV visited San Francisco’s Chinatown to follow historian Charlie Chin as he tells the story of the Chinese in America to a group of college students. This is part one of a three-part series on San Francisco’s Chinatown. This portion of the series was recorded in the Chinese Historical Society of America Museum.
 

Lectures in History: Iran-Contra Affair
Saturday     

Metropolitan State University professor Douglas Rossinow teaches a class on the Iran-Contra affair, which took place in the mid-1980s during the Reagan Administration. The Iran-Contra affair stems from Reagan administration officials funding the Contras - who were fighting against the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua - with money from the sale of arms to Iran. The arms were being sold to Iran in the hope of gaining the release of American hostages held in Lebanon - hence the reason the affair is sometimes called as the “arm-for-hostages” scandal. Metropolitan State University is in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Share This Event Via Social Media

Photo Gallery

C-SPAN's Video Library
Questions? Comments? Email us at AmericanHistoryTV@c-span.org