Rawhide Down_ The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Del Quentin Wilber [0]
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Prologue
1. Rendezvous with Destiny
2. The Man
3. Without Fail
4. “I’m Not Dangerous”
5. The Rope Line
6. 2:27 P.M.
7. “I Can’t Breathe”
8. The Trauma Bay
9. STAT to the ER
10. “My God. The President Was Hit?”
11. Operating Room 2
12. A Question of Authority
13. “I Am in Control Here”
14. The Waiting Room
15. “What Does the Future Hold?”
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Index
About the Author
Copyright
Photo insert
PROLOGUE
A day before the course of his presidency was forever changed, Ronald Reagan walked to church with his wife, Nancy. Sunday, March 29, 1981, was bright and warm, and as the Reagans strolled through the White House gates and across Pennsylvania Avenue, the president held the first lady’s hand. Trailed by Secret Service agents and a few journalists, the couple waved at onlookers and smiled for camera-toting tourists. As they walked through Lafayette Square, a woman pushed her young child through the security perimeter. Grinning, the president bent over to say hello.
Lately Reagan had not been able to attend church as often as he would have liked. During the previous year’s campaign it had been hard enough; since the inauguration, it had been almost impossible. For obvious reasons, security requirements for any trip outside the White House were cumbersome. He also didn’t want to impose on parishioners, who had to be screened by Secret Service agents and were often distracted by the presence of the president and his wife.
But that spring morning, the Reagans had chosen to attend the eleven o’clock service at St. John’s Church, a place of worship as intimately connected to American history as any in the nation. The Episcopal church, just off the north side of Lafayette Square, was designed by the same architect who rebuilt the White House and the Capitol after they were damaged in the War of 1812. Its half-ton steeple bell had been cast by Paul Revere’s son; a piece of stained glass donated by President Chester A. Arthur in memory of his wife hung in its south transept. Nicknamed the Church of the Presidents, St. John’s now welcomed the nation’s fortieth president, a man who revered both God and country.
The rector, the Reverend John C. Harper, had preached to every president since Lyndon B. Johnson. On this Sunday, the Reverend Harper delivered a sermon about faith and about finding God’s handiwork in ordinary things. He told a story about a sculptor who hammered and chiseled a large block of marble into a statue of Christ. When the sculptor was done, a young boy who had watched him at work asked, “Sir, tell me, how did you know there was a man in the marble?”
Then Harper made the message of his parable plain. “People have often asked that question of Christians who have seen God in Jesus Christ, in a stone statue, in a stained-glass window, in some human life,” he said. “‘How did you know He was there?’”
The answer, Harper said, was faith.
Before and after Harper’s sermon, the Naval Academy choir sang several hymns, which the president found inspiring. Later, writing in his diary, Reagan commented that the midshipmen “looked & sounded so right that you have to feel good about our country.”
Just before noon, the Reagans returned to the White House, this time traveling in an armored limousine. They ate lunch, spent a bit of time rearranging the furniture in the Oval Office, and then retired to the residence.
Only two months into his tenure, Reagan—like every president—had an ambitious political and legislative agenda. But the next day, according to his schedule, would not be especially arduous. The only event of note was a trip to a downtown hotel for a twenty-minute speech to a trade union.
* * *
THE BROAD OUTLINES of what happened the following day are well known. The president had just finished giving his speech when he was shot by a deranged gunman. He was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery; by that evening, it was almost certain that he would live. In the hours and days