Remembering 1981 Assassination Attempt

A compilation was shown of interviews with Reagan administration officials, historians, and Nancy Reagan, remembering the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.

Interviews included: on November 23, 1988 with Michael Deaver, White House Deputy Chief of Staff (1981-85); on December 15, 1988 with Kenneth Duberstein, White House assistant for legislative affairs (1981-83); on December 7, 1999 with Nancy Reagan; on March 20, 2002 with Sarah Brady that included a video clip of her husband, former Press Secretary James Brady, on November 30, 1993; on November 23, 1999 with Edmund Morris; and on November 19, 1999 with former President George H.W. Bush.

On Monday March 30, 1981 President Ronald Reagan was shot by John Hinckley Jr. outside the Washington Hilton after he delivered a speech to a trade group on his first budget. At 1:30 p.m., John Hinckley Jr. stepped forward from a crowd of television reporters and fired six shots from a Rohm R6-14 revolver. The bullets from Hinckley’s gun struck Ronald Reagan in the left chest, Press Secretary James Brady in the left temple, Officer Thomas Delahanty in the neck, and Security Agent Timothy J. McCarthy in the stomach. Hinckley was immediately arrested, and his trial began over a year later, on May 4, 1982. On June 21, 1982, after seven weeks of testimony and three days of deliberation by the jury, John Hinckley Jr. was found not guilty by reason of insanity. close