The crowd outside the VIP: Interview with Granger; government psychiatric report; Treasury report; various Secret Service reports.
The reporters and cameramen who: Interviews with Sam Donaldson, Lou Cannon, and Ron Edmonds; Lou Cannon, “The Shooting: The Shooting Scene,” WP, March 31, 1981, p. A1; Michael Putzel, “The Presidential Smile Disappears,” AP, March 31, 1981; Gilbert Lewthewaite, “A Reporter Who Witnessed the Attack Recalls the ‘Bloody Seconds,’ the Chaos,” Baltimore Sun, March 31, 1981, p. 1; wire services, “‘You Shot at My President, I’ll Kill You,’” Miami Herald, April 2, 1981, p. A21; Fred Barnes, “Routineness of President’s Visit to Hotel May Have Abetted Gunman,” Baltimore Sun, March 31, 1981, p. A6; Tom Collins, “They Were There When Bullets Flew,” Quad-City Times, March 31, 1981, p. 3.
“Press, press, let us through!”: Government psychiatric report.
“No, we were here first!” screamed: Government psychiatric report.
“They think they can do anything they want!”: AP radio reporter Secret Service report.
Seconds behind him, David Fischer: Interview with Ahearn.
Mike Deaver and Jim Brady: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 16; Dickenson, Thumbs Up, p. 63.
Reagan saw the same reporters: Reagan FBI report.
did plan to make one dramatic gesture: Reagan FBI report.
Jerry Parr slid a step behind: Interview with Parr; Parr Secret Service report; Parr FBI report (redacted).
carried a bulletproof steel slab: Interview with Shaddick.
eighteen inches behind: Parr FBI report (redacted).
If an attack had occurred: Interview with Parr.
his plan changed: Interview with Parr.
Tim McCarthy, Parr’s point man: Tim McCarthy Secret Service report; Tim McCarthy FBI report; video of shooting, various television networks.
Instantly, Parr’s left hand: Interview with Parr; slow-motion video of shooting, USAO.
the corner of his eye: Interview with Parr.
Parr’s mind raced: Interview with Parr.
John Hinckley couldn’t believe his luck: Government psychiatric report; Johnson testimony.
felt exceedingly calm: Government psychiatric report.
even now he wondered: Johnson testimony. Johnson testified that Hinckley thought, “Should I, should I pull out the gun and start firing?”
he saw himself dying: Government psychiatric report.
then he crouched: Interview with Granger; Granger testimony.
Goodbye, he thought: Government psychiatric report.
Blue flame spat from the gun: FBI interview of witness standing next to Hinckley.
The first person hit: Adelman laid out the order of shots during the trial.
Instinctively, he pivoted: Delahanty FBI report.
“I am hit!”: Delahanty FBI report.
The sight line between Hinckley and the president: Opening statement by Adelman. The third shot sailed high and hit a building across the street.
1.7 seconds: FBI reports.
Sitting at the Lincoln’s wheel: Interviews with Unrue and Parr; Unrue Secret Service report (redacted). The limousine was so heavily armored that Unrue would not have heard the gunfire if the door had been closed.
Agent Dennis McCarthy: Dennis McCarthy trial testimony; Dennis McCarthy Secret Service report; Dennis McCarthy, Protecting the President, pp. 65–84.
Herbert Granger was facing: Interview with Granger; Granger testimony. Granger and Delahanty were facing the wrong direction when Hinckley started shooting because they had momentarily turned from the crowd to orient themselves to the president. Later, Delahanty said he felt terrible about this, according to Hardesty, who spoke to the wounded officer in the hospital. In an internal report, the Secret Service defended the officers, saying “a study of tapes showed that the police officers were facing the crowd; however, in glancing around, providing 360 degrees of coverage, or checking on the exact position of the president gave the impression of watching the president.” Others, however, see a valuable lesson in the officers’ actions. In the conference room of her office in police headquarters, D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier displays a large photo of both officers looking at Reagan, not the crowd, in the seconds before the assassination attempt. It’s a reminder, she says, to always remain vigilant and focused on the crowd, not the president.
with such force that: Interview with Granger.
We have to keep him alive: Dennis McCarthy, Protecting the President, p. 76.
Another agent scrambled inside: Rick Tobin Secret Service report.
“Let’s move him to another car”: Dennis McCarthy, Protecting the President, p. 77.
thinking about Oswald: Interview with Danny Spriggs.
McCarthy exploded: Dennis McCarthy testimony during a pretrial evidence suppression hearing.
Agent Jim Varey watched: Interviews with Varey and Ahearn, as well as their FBI and Secret Service reports.
leaped from the front passenger seat: Interview with Gordon; Gordon Secret Service report.
“Let’s go!”: Robert Weakley Secret Service report (redacted). Weakley was a Secret Service protective support technician and the driver of the spare limousine.
Dan Ruge, who was standing: Dan Ruge FBI report; interview with Tom Ruge, son of Dr. Ruge.
“Doctor, get in that car!”: Interview with Tom Ruge.
as Mary Ann Gordon climbed: Ruge FBI report.
his first impulse was to jump: Interview with Shaddick; Shaddick Secret Service report.
“We’ve had shots fired”: Treasury report.
One climbed through the open right rear door: Interview with Russell Miller; Miller Secret Service report.
The other agent: Dalton McIntosh Secret Service report.
it was still 2:27 p.m.: Trainor, manning the Secret Service command post, checked a clock when he heard the reports of the shooting and noted it was 2:27 p.m., according to his Secret Service report. The Treasury report also notes the time of the shooting as 2:27. The FBI report put the shooting at about 2:25. I relied on the times in the Treasury report because it is the most exhaustive government account of the shooting and the actions of Secret Service agents.
people were frightened and upset: Various FBI reports and newspaper accounts.
Seeing an agent: Interview with Carolyn Parr.
“He’s with the Man”: News coverage of the shooting; Wanko is the agent with the Uzi.
7: “I Can’t Breathe”
As the president’s limousine: Interview with Parr; Parr Secret Service report and Parr FBI report (redacted).
Reagan sat slumped: Interview with Parr.
he looked like an exhausted basketball: Interview with Parr.
“Were you hit?”… Reagan said: Unrue Secret Service report (redacted); Parr FBI report (redacted).
Parr fumbled for the radio: Interview with Parr.
“Give me the radio”: Interviews with Parr and Unrue.
“Rawhide is okay”: Treasury report; transcript of radio calls provided by the Secret Service. All radio dialogue in this section comes from the Treasury report, Secret Service reports, or the transcript of the radio calls.
A few seconds later: Treasury report.
the president looked as if: Interview with Parr.
“I think you hurt my rib”: Interview with Parr; Parr FBI report (redacted); Reagan FBI report.
“Is it your heart?” Parr asked: Unrue Secret Service report (redacted).
it was coated in blood: Interview with Parr.
“I think I cut the inside”: Parr FBI report (redacted).
Half kneeling, half sitting: Interview with Parr.
Hunched forward in the driver’s seat: Interview with Unrue; Unrue Secret Service report (redacted); Unrue FBI report.
Unrue saw two agents, their Uzis drawn: Unrue Secret Service report (redacted).
About a mile from the Hilton: Weakley Secret Service report (redacted).
D.C. police officers were not far b
ehind: D.C. police officers’ FBI reports.
Jerry Parr examined the president: Interview with Parr.
was now pressing his handkerchief to his lips: Interview with Parr.
“I think we should go to the hospital”: Unrue FBI report (redacted).
“Get us to George Washington as fast as you can”: Unrue Secret Service report (redacted).
“We want to go to the emergency room of George Washington”: Treasury report.
“Go to George Washington fast”: Treasury report; Secret Service transcripts.
“Get an ambulance, I mean, get a stretcher out there,” Parr said: Treasury report; Secret Service transcripts.
streaked across L Street: Gordon Secret Service report.
Mary Ann Gordon tried to reach: Gordon Secret Service report.
she received no reply: Interview with Gordon.
“We have to get in front of the limo”: Gordon Secret Service report.
The spare limousine made the sharp right: Gordon Secret Service report.
It was the so-called route car: Timothy Burns Secret Service report; Secret Service report of unidentified driver of route car. Burns was a passenger in the route car.
Only Jerry Parr knew: Interviews with various agents and police officers; review of Secret Service reports.
Deaver had scrambled: Deaver, Behind the Scenes, p. 17; interview with Fischer.
Fischer reached over: Interview with Fischer.
Holding back tears, he started to pray: Interview with Fischer.
A few blocks away: Interview with Trainor; Trainor Secret Service report; interview with Guy; Guy Secret Service report; Treasury report.
Drew Unrue asked Jerry Parr: Interviews with Unrue and Parr.
The two agents with Uzis: McIntosh Secret Service report; interview with Miller; Frederick White Secret Service report; interview with White.
I guess he wants to: Interview with Parr.
He steadied himself and hitched: Interview with Fischer; Deaver, A Different Drummer, p. 135.
So far, so good: Deaver, A Different Drummer, p. 135.
Fischer felt less: Interview with Fischer.
It was 2:30 p.m.: Shaddick radioed Trainor at the command post that they had arrived, and Trainor checked the clock to mark the time, according to Trainor’s Secret Service report.
a 512-bed medical center: “Excitement, Inconvenience; Reagan Stay Has Its Effect on GW Hospital,” WP, April 2, 1981, p. A6.
a dozen or so patients: White Secret Service report. He estimated that there were twelve to fifteen patients in the area of the emergency room.
In Trauma Bay 5: Interviews with Dr. Joyce Mitchell, Kathy Paul, and Bob Hernandez; contemporaneous notes taken by Kathy Paul; The Saving of the President.
“I’m tired of my buddies getting shot down!”: Paul notes; interview with Paul.
Mitchell knew that anyone: The Saving of the President.
was wheeled to a nearby room: Interviews with Paul and Mitchell.
A moment later, a small white telephone began: Interviews with Wendy Koenig and Mitchell.
A busy clerk at the nurses’ station: Interview with Koenig.
a gruff male voice: Interview with Koenig.
“That means the president is coming here”: Interview with Koenig.
“I have to cancel,” she told: Interview with Judith Whinerey.
Whinerey told a clerk: The Saving of the President.
“We have three gunshot”: John Pekkanen, “The Saving of the President,” Washingtonian, August 1981.
Wendy Koenig hurried: Interviews with Whinerey, Mitchell, Paul, and Koenig.
Near the nurses’ station: Interview with White; White Secret Service report. White, a civilian Secret Service employee, was in the hospital helping the daughter of a friend who had broken her ankle.
Kathy Paul watched as: Interview with Paul.
“This is the president, let’s”: Parr FBI report (redacted).
“I feel like I can’t breathe”: Interview with Paul; Paul notes.
felt suddenly overwhelmed: Interview with Mitchell.
“Was he shot?” she asked: Interview with Mitchell.
“No, we think he got an elbow in the ribs”: Interview with Mitchell.
“Maybe broke a rib”: Interview with Parr.
Seeing the president: The description of Reagan collapsing in the emergency room and being taken to the trauma bay was derived from interviews with Hernandez, Parr, Shaddick, Paul, and Mitchell, as well as several others at the scene; I also relied on a number of Secret Service and FBI reports, including those from Hernandez and his partner.
196 pounds of: Reagan’s GW physical examination form listed his weight as 196 pounds.
Paul was dizzy: Interview with Paul.
having a heart attack right here: Paul notes; interview with Paul.
Please don’t die: Interview with Paul.
Hernandez, the paramedic, was convinced: Interview with Hernandez.
“We’re going to cut your clothes off”: The Saving of the President.
“I feel so bad,” Reagan said: Interviews with Paul, Mitchell, Parr, and Hernandez.
Paul loosened the president’s tie: Paul notes; interview with Paul.
“I’ve got a line!”: Interviews with Hines and Paul. Hines said these words.
At first the technician: Interview with Cyndi Hines, the technician, as well as interviews with Hernandez, Paul, and Koenig.
But his trousers wouldn’t budge: Interview with Hernandez.
Wendy Koenig had helped cut away: Interview with Koenig.
“I can’t get a systolic pressure”: Interview with Koenig.
“Oh, shit, try it again!”: Interview with Mitchell.
“Set up a perimeter”: Parr FBI and Secret Service reports.
Watching the nurses struggle: Interview with Parr; Parr, “One Moment in Time,” Guideposts, March 1992.
8: The Trauma Bay
Agent George Opfer: Interview with George Opfer.
The first lady immediately: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 3; interview with Sheila Patton.
The first lady’s next major: Nancy Reagan’s monthly schedule, RRPL.
who sometimes received fan mail: Interview with Opfer.
had led a team assigned: Interview with John Simpson.
the supervisor told Opfer: Guy Secret Service report.
as she walked toward him: Interview with Opfer.
“There was a shooting”: The dialogue and action in this section are derived from Nancy Reagan, My Turn, and an interview with Opfer.
With Opfer leading: Interview with Opfer.
Opfer took his: Interview with Opfer.
pulse was steady: Pekkanen, “The Saving of the President”; interview with Tom Ruge.
to prevent anything “foolish”: Abrams, The President Has Been Shot, pp. 232–33.
Ruge was determined: Several doctors, including Joseph Giordano, Benjamin Aaron, and David Gens, commented on Ruge’s efforts to ensure that Reagan was treated like any other patient. Ruge also told his son, Tom, that one of the first things he told doctors and nurses was that he wanted Reagan to be treated like any other patient. “My dad was very clear that a big part of his job was to make sure that everything moved according to normal procedures,” Tom Ruge said. “He told me that when he went into the emergency room, he asked the staff, ‘If this was anyone else coming in with a gunshot wound, what is the first thing you’d do?’ They replied, and he said, ‘Then, that is what we are going to do.’”
Seeing Ruge, Deaver: Transcript of interview of Deaver by Richard Darman, a top aide to James Baker (hereafter “Deaver transcript”). This interview was conducted the day after the shooting and is a detailed reconstruction of events from Deaver’s perspective. The presidential aide forgot he had this record in his possession until shortly before he died, according to Jeff Surrell, one of Deaver’s colleagues at Edelman, a public relations firm, and a collaborator on two of his books. Surrell and
Amanda Deaver, the advisor’s daughter, provided me with this key record. Deaver told Surrell that Darman also interviewed Baker and Meese. However, none of these interview transcripts are at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Barrett excerpted a small portion of Deaver’s transcript in Gambling with History.
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