First of all, my condolences to the Reagan familiy.

I remember very well the day an assassination attempt on Reagan was made on March 30, 1981. Those images of him waving and then being shoved into the car by agent Jerry Parr stands out very well. Three others were also wounded.

But there is something I really hope somebody can clear up. In the assassination attempt pictures, there a rather stocky, chubby man wearing dark glasses in the background who was very close to Reagan when he was shot. Exactly who was that man? At first, I thought it was Michael Deaver. But then I heard it may be Rick Ahearn.

You can take a look at a picture at:
http://www.ronaldreagan.com/reaganpics/rr48.jpg

He is the man at the far left of the picture. Who is he?

I hate to break it to you, but this could get really controversial/poltical really fast. Don't expect this to stay open too long.

Well, if someone can just answer my question, then the thread can be removed.

I'm not sure which person in the picture you're talking about. Is it James Brady?

No, James Brady is one of the balding men to the left of Reagan. In the picture, the man I'm asking about is the one who is at the farthest left in the photograph. He is wearing a gray suit and glasses.

Since he's so close to Reagan....most likely a Secret Service Agent.

Does he have a name?

The two men that I mentioned, Deaver and Ahearn, are not secret service agents.

I would have to say Secret Service Agent. I don't know his name though.

Originally posted by stella
Does he have a name?
I'm sure he has a name, but it was probably a secret.

I don't know who that man is, but I do have two newspapers (the L.A. Times and the Daily News) from March 31, 1981, with the assasination attempt on the front page.

Fleet/Tony - - - - - (Last name is a secret.) :D

Originally posted by Janice
I'm sure he has a name, but it was probably a secret.

:lol:

Don't know.

The man at the far right of the picture, by the way, is Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy. To the left of McCarthy is Washington policeman Thomas Delahunty. Both were wounded in the assassination attempt; both, like Reagan and Brady, survived.

Reagan is the only sitting President to be shot and survive. (Andrew Jackson and Gerald Ford were assassination targets, but neither were actually wounded.) Reagan was also the first President to beat the zero-year jinx - every other President elected in a year ending with zero, starting in 1840, died in office. (It was supposedly the curse of a Shawnee Indian who did it to get back at General William Henry Harrison, elected President in 1840, for the leading the U.S. Army in the Battle of Tippecanoe against the Indians in 1811.)

What happened to James Brady was awful. I wonder how he's doing today?

Originally posted by Janice
What happened to James Brady was awful. I wonder how he's doing today?

I saw him his wife, Sarah, interviewed on MSNBC this past week (Wednesday, I think; the day Reagan arrived in DC).

He seemed to be doing alright. He talked a little bit about Reagan, himself, and his stance on stem cell research.

Typical of most marriages, though, Sarah did most of the talking. ;)

Here's the Brady Center's website (http://www.bradycenter.org/).

Originally posted by AKA
I saw him his wife, Sarah, interviewed on MSNBC this past week (Wednesday, I think; the day Reagan arrived in DC).

He seemed to be doing alright. He talked a little bit about Reagan, himself, and his stance on stem cell research.

Typical of most marriages, though, Sarah did most of the talking. ;)

Here's the Brady Center's website (http://www.bradycenter.org/).
Thanks Brad. I'll check out that site. I have this image of Brady lying in a pool of blood that day. He was so wounded. It did result in the Brady Bill though.

Not that I care, but I wonder if the **** bag, John Hinkley has given any statements this week.

Originally posted by Janice
Not that I care, but I wonder if the **** bag, John Hinkley has given any statements this week.

Not if he's smart.

I was watching Larry King tonight, and he had an old Reagan interview from 1991, and he hit on how he felt about Hinkley. Tomorrow, I'll post his comments in this thread (the transcript isn't available yet).

Originally posted by AKA
Not if he's smart.

I was watching Larry King tonight, and he had an old Reagan interview from 1991, and he hit on how he felt about Hinkley. Tomorrow, I'll post his comments in this thread (the transcript isn't available yet).
Great. I know Reagan was forgiving towards him. That came out in a few eulogies this past week.

When you think about, was that ever bizzare....shooting the President to impress an actress. It defies logic on every imaginable level.

Hmm. I guess CNN isn't putting the transcript of this one up for some reason.

Anyway, like you said, Janice, Reagan forgave him. He said in the interview that he prayed for Hinkley at the hospital. I think that's very cool. It's certainly a good example for a new Christian like me (yes, you read that right; hope you didn't pass out).

I wish I could find a transcript, though.

Reagan called Hinckley "nutty as a fruitcake," a guy who didn't know what he was doing. Maybe they should charge that scumbag Mark David Chapman with the Reagan shooting. Chapman shot John Lennon; Hinckley, a Beatles fan, was by some reports pushed over the edge by John Lennon's murder and decided after going crazy to shoot Reagan to impress Jodie Foster.

So, if Chapman hadn't shot Lennon, Hinckley might not have gone insane and shot Reagan.

Originally posted by Steve M.
Reagan called Hinckley "nutty as a fruitcake," a guy who didn't know what we has doing. Maybe they should charge that scumbag Mark David Chapman with the Reagan shooting. Chapman shot John Lennon; Hinckley, a Beatles fan, was by some reports pushed over the edge by John Lennon's murder and decided after going crazy to shoot Reagan to impress Jodie Foster.

So, if Chapman hadn't shot Lennon, Hinckley might not have gone insane and shot Reagan.

Well, the two shootings were about two months apart, but I doubt Hinckley was influenced by Lennon's murderer.

Originally posted by AKA
Well, the two shootings were about two months apart, but I doubt Hinckley was influenced by Lennon's murderer.


Man that would have been a real depressing time for me if I wasn't 1 years old. My favorite movie star Steve McQueen died in Nov. 1980. My favorite beatle John Lennon was murdered a month later. And my favorite president Ronald Reagan was shot in March 1981.

Originally posted by AKA
I think that's very cool. It's certainly a good example for a new Christian like me (yes, you read that right; hope you didn't pass out).
Go you! Now lose that avatar and you've won my heart. ;) Kidding.

Seriously, good for you. I've been telling my husband that I want to start attending church.

As for the King transcript, it may take a day or two.

LARRY KING: You know, you're very good at describing things, and something has fascinated me and I'm sure the audience.

What is it like to be shot? I mean, we all think about that. We've watched it in movies. You've played it in movies. You've been shot, and shot others.

What's it like...

RONALD REAGAN: Well, I'll tell you what it's like.

KING: ...to be really shot?

REAGAN: What it was like was I didn't know I was shot. I heard a noise, and we'd came out of the hotel and headed for the limousine. And I heard some noise and I thought it was firecrackers.

And the next thing I knew, one of the Secret Service agents behind me just seized me here by the waist and plunged me head- first into the limo. I landed on the seat and the seat divider was down. And then he dived in on top of me, which is part of their procedure, to make sure that I'm covered.

Well as it turned out later, the shot that got me carroned (ph) off the side of the limousine and hit me while I was diving into the car. And it hit back here, into the arm and then hit a rib. And that's what caused an extreme pain, and then it tumbled, it turned instead of edgewise and went tumbling down to within an inch of my heart.

But when I got in the car, I hadn't felt anything. He landed on top of me and then the pain, which now I know came from the bullet hitting that rib -- that terrific pain, and I said, "Jerry (ph), get off, I think you've broken a rib of mine." And he got off very quickly. And just then, I coughed and I had a handful of bright red frothy blood. So I said, And I guess the -- evidently (ph) the broken rib has pierced a lung. Well, he simply turned and said, "George Washington Hospital" and we were on our way.

But -- and all the way, I used up my handkerchief and then I used up his. But when I got to the emergency entrance, I got out of the car and walked in. And the nurse met me, and I told her I was a little trouble breathing, and what I thought it was. And the next thing I knew, then when my knees began to turn to rubber and I wound up on a gurney. And I was wearing a suit like this -- for the first time I'd ever worn it; it was brand new. And they were taking scissors and cutting it off of me.

KING: And you were thinking, What are they doing?

Did you ever think you might die?

REAGAN: No, although I didn't just leave it to chance. I talked to my friend upstairs about that.

KING: But you never thought that this was the end?

REAGAN: No.

KING: For some people in that situation, in a trauma situation, think it's over.

REAGAN: No, I found out afterward that a lot of those people at the hospital thought it could very likely be the end. They said that I was very near going into a state of shock. And I had also lost more than half the blood in my body. And -- so that...

KING: Were you angry?

REAGAN: Well, I didn't know for quite awhile, until they began to tell me about the young man that had done this, and what his problem was, that he was not exactly in a normal basis. And so then, I added him to my prayers, that...

KING: Did you?

REAGAN: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) for myself -- well, if I wanted healing for myself, maybe he should have some healing for himself.

KING: The pope forgave the man who shot him. You forgive John Hinckley?

REAGAN: Yes, I found out he wasn't -- he wasn't thinking on all...

(LAUGHTER)

KING: Levels.

REAGAN: ..on all cylinders, yes.

Thanks Brad. That man sure had a way with words, and many people could learn a thing or two about forgiveness from him.

Originally posted by Steve M.
Don't know.

The man at the far right of the picture, by the way, is Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy. To the left of McCarthy is Washington policeman Thomas Delahunty. Both were wounded in the assassination attempt; both, like Reagan and Brady, survived.

Reagan is the only sitting President to be shot and survive. (Andrew Jackson and Gerald Ford were assassination targets, but neither were actually wounded.) Reagan was also the first President to beat the zero-year jinx - every other President elected in a year ending with zero, starting in 1840, died in office. (It was supposedly the curse of a Shawnee Indian who did it to get back at General William Henry Harrison, elected President in 1840, for the leading the U.S. Army in the Battle of Tippecanoe against the Indians in 1811.)

which reminds me, Bush was elected in a year ending in 0. I'll have to check but I know Kennedy and Reagan were shot in their first term, well Bush's is almost up. Will he break the curse?

Originally posted by Janice
Great. I know Reagan was forgiving towards him. That came out in a few eulogies this past week.

When you think about, was that ever bizzare....shooting the President to impress an actress. It defies logic on every imaginable level.

When the Pope was shot nearly two months later, his would-be assassin, Mehmet Ali Agca, turned out to be a Soviet agent trying to get rid of the Pope for the Kremlin. Reagan could have easily been shot by the KGB, just as George W. Bush - or, if he is elected in November, John Kerry - is a likely assassination target of al-Qaeda. :(

Originally posted by AKA
Well, the two shootings were about two months apart, but I doubt Hinckley was influenced by Lennon's murderer.

The FBI found an audio recording Hinckley made on December 31, 1980, in which he expresses grief over the death of John Lennon while sipping peach brandy, alone in his parents' house, and vows to get Reagan to impress Jodie Foster in the new year. All I'm saying is that maybe Lennon's murder put Hinckley in such a funk that it strengthened his resolve to commit the shooting. Hinckley confused the movies with real life, and his own private thoughts blurred one another. He simply could not think straight.

I see you've all turned the discussion that I created into a general chat about Reagan and very few discussed the original question that I posed. Anyways, I've been able to find out for myself what that secret service agent's name is now.

His name is Robert Wanko.