Rare Reagan Assassination Attempt

THE FOLLOWING IS AN UPDATED ENCORE TIM MOORE BLOG:

It’s a moment that all Secret Service agents train for. The President of the United States (POTUS) is being escorted in public—and shots ring out.

There is a protocol—a specific sequence of events that every agent instinctively reverts to—or at least should. The moment is fleeting, the threat always present, but rarely detected in advance. The virtual impossibility of protecting even a President is driven home in the video below. The footage is an extended version of the scene that has been replayed a million times since that fateful incident exactly 30 years ago today. Almost tossed into the garbage, it was salvaged just recently.

Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoZeZprXnDg

The assassination attempt on President Reagan occurred on this date in 1981. A routine walk to the Presidential limousine turned into anything but that—as an assassin was able to get close enough to the leader of the free world to kill him instantly. After a labor meeting at the Washington Hilton Hotel, John Hinckley, Jr. waited patiently for the man who was his prey.

Six shots were fired, hitting the President and three of his attendants. Although the Secret Service quickly subdued the assailant, it was too late to prevent the damage from those bullets.

Reagan was hit in the lung and was immediately evacuated to George Washington University Hospital nearby. That .22 caliber bullet just missed his heart. White House Press Secretary James Brady was hit in the head and seriously wounded. Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy was hit in the side and District policeman Thomas Delahanty was shot in the neck.

Much has been made of the assailant’s obsession with actress Jodie Foster—and the notion that the shooting was a deranged attempt to impress her. Unlike the Kennedy assassination, which time and painstaking research has determined beyond a shadow of a doubt was a conspiracy, this attempt was truly the act of a solitary madman. A “not guilty by reason of insanity” verdict was returned—and Hinckley was committed to a mental hospital. Since that day, Hinckley has been allowed supervised day trips off the hospital grounds—and even UNSUPERVISED visits to his parents once a week. The Secret Service voluntarily monitors these trips, but it is amazing to think that one day, Hinckley may actually be released.

While Reagan fully recovered and returned to the White House amid a hero’s welcome, the road has been much tougher for James Brady, who is still seriously impaired.

Whether Hinckley is now mentally healthy—or for that matter was ever really “not responsible” for his actions, there has to be a measure of SANITY applied to the treatment of those who would take the life of our President. Success or failure in the attempt is irrelevant. A life sentence—without any chance for parole—whether it be from a prison or a mental hospital—is a must. When JFK was assassinated, it wasn’t even a Federal crime to assassinate the President (really).

To think that life without parole would act as a deterrent is folly. Those who commit these crimes don’t process the consequences in advance. Nevertheless, our society needs to value human life—especially that of our leaders—high enough to make sure that the door is permanently locked---and the key is thrown away. If you’d like my blog in your weekday box, just let me know: tim.moore@citcomm.com