Posted on 03/30/2006 3:26:13 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
WASHINGTON -- It was 25 years ago today that John Hinckley tried to kill President Reagan.
He fired the shots that struck President Ronald Reagan and three others outside a Washington D.C. hotel. The shooting came just 70 days into the Reagan presidency. It nearly killed him and permanently disabled White House Press Secretary James Brady.
The shooting was said to be an attempt by Hinckley to impress actress Jodie Foster. At his trial a year later, Hinckley was found innocent by reason of insanity. He is still in a Washington mental hospital, continuing his efforts to be allowed to take more unsupervised trips outside the hospital.
Brady and his wife became strong opponents of handguns and were a driving force behind the Brady bill that requires a waiting period and background checks for gun buyers.
Hard to believe it was a quarter of a century ago.
God bless and keep The Great Ronald Reagan.
Too bad the Brady's didn't focus their energy on keeping Hinckley behind bars for life.
Thanks for posting Aussie!
Dark day indeed but it was one of Reagans finest hours.
I can't believe how much I still miss him. He was the greatest!
There are many sad things about this day.
I was in American history class when we heard. My teacher was extremely liberal. When we heard President Reagan had been shot some of the students began to cheer.
The teacher became furiously angry with them demanding that they shut up and show respect for our President and our country. When she calmed down she explained that when we face hostility it is key that all Americans band together if we want our country to survive.
It was an important lesson in civics.
Too bad 48% of the people didnt believe it..
"Too bad 48% of the people didnt believe it.."
Those Americans who cheer when a conservative leader dies or is injured are a minority of a minority. They are harmful and they are shrill but they are not the bulk of Americans who vote Democratic, IMO.
I refer to the other side as the 48%, for the number that Kerry supposedly garnered. Your teachers point was to band together in times of crisis. I would submit that the 48% have not done that..
Beloved President Reagan - please keep an eye out for America from above!
Remember that show in the early `80`s with Jack Klugman called "Quincy"..When it was declared (or found) that Hinckley was insane and would be sent to a mental hospital, I saw a statement from Jack at the end of one episode of Quincy where Jack was absolutely outraged over Hinckley getting off with the insanity defense...Nobody seems to remember that, but I can recall quite clearly being pretty shocked at the time that some actor would be so ticked off for real. I mean the veins in his neck were bulging "For shooting the PRESIDENT this punk is getting a wrist slap??"
I was about 18 at the time and a Reagan fan (I had Reagan for President stickers on my bumper) , but that was probably the first time I ever saw an actor on TV really speak his mind.
When I heard Jack got throat cancer years later I felt for the guy. He defended one of, if not the greatest President this country ever had when others where making fun that President, and it seems 25 years later Jack was exactly right about the outcome of that trial.
25 years later this punk is walking around. Other countries, he would have been dead long ago. By the way, it`s never been proven that Hickley was mentally ill, only that he had "identity problems". He was a fan of the movie Taxi driver, nothing more (Coincidentally I`m a New York city taxi driver by the way..Please, that has nothing to do with what I am writing here! lol!). Before the shooting Hinckley was never declared schizophrenic nor declared mentally ill. True schitzos or mentally ill will have a history of similar bizarre behavior, Hinckley didn`t.
The reason he shot Reagan was because he was inspired by the attention Mark Chapman got from killing Lennon, and he took that idea to get off on his infatuation with Jodie Foster. The punk is lucid as a bell and here he is being deemed "cured" and being allowed to walk around.
If it hasn`t occurred to anyone yet, one of theories for the causes of alzheimer's disease and other similar diseases such as Parkinsons is extreme stress, the neurons of the brain "short out" when confronted with too much input such as facing death. Would Reagan have lived longer if he wasn`t shot? Who knows, but it is too late now isn`t it, and here is Hinckley walking around free as OJ.
I agree many Democrats mourned President Reagan's death. Indeed, just look at his furneral - so many Americans honoring him. I also know many Democrats who voted for him, TWICE.
Amazing how much history would have changed had the bullet not been an inch away from killing him. Reagan was the most amazing person who lived during my lifetime.
I will never forget, I was 11 in McLean ,VA. God Bless RR
Whether the twenty-year phenomenon was a curse or coincidence, it seems to have ended with Reagan. With less than three years to go, President Bush is alive and quite well.
Didn't we hear that Hinkley had been discharged? I thought it happened a year or so agao.
Come to think of it, you could be right. Can anyone confirm?
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