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and audiotapes—that helped me construct this narrative. Among those records were memos produced by key administration figures that described their actions that day. In writing Reagan’s story, I referred to the diaries he kept while president and to his two autobiographies, Where’s the Rest of Me? and An American Life. Also useful was a detailed account of the events of March 30, 1981, provided by Nancy Reagan in her memoir, My Turn. Finally, I benefited from reading hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles about the Reagan administration; biographies of the former president by, among others, Lou Cannon and Garry Wills; and a history of the administration’s first few years by Laurence I. Barrett.

In the interests of clarity, all times in this book are Eastern Standard Time.

Guide to Abbreviations and Shorthand in Notes

Secret Service reports: After the shooting, the Secret Service interviewed dozens of agents, police officers, and witnesses after the shooting. In citing information from these reports, I use the name of the agent or person who was interviewed. For example, Secret Service inspectors interviewed Jerry Parr, the chief of the White House detail. If I relied on information supplied to inspectors in that report, I cited it as Parr Secret Service report. Sometimes, the agent’s name was redacted in the record, but I have determined his or her identity through interviews. In that case, for example, I cite it as Green Secret Service report (redacted).

FBI reports: I obtained hundreds of pages of FBI reports, including the never previously released summary of agents’ interview of Ronald Reagan in the days after the shooting. These documents are cited the same way as the Secret Service reports.

Richard Allen’s tape recordings of the Situation Room: Allen tapes.

Memos by White House officials and cabinet secretaries: cited using the last name of the memo’s author (for example, Weinberger memo).

Unpublished material: I name the person who wrote it and provide a brief description of the record. For example, Dr. Benjamin Aaron wrote a sixteen-page personal reflection in the weeks after the shooting. In the notes, it appears as Aaron reflection. I have included most of these reflections and notes in my bibliography.

The Management Review on the Performance of the U.S. Department of Treasury in Connection with the March 30, 1981, Assassination Attempt on Ronald Reagan: Treasury report.

“Psychiatric Report in the Case of United States vs. John W. Hinckley, Jr.”: government psychiatric report.

Trial testimony: unless otherwise noted, all references to testimony refer to the trial of John W. Hinckley Jr. in 1982.

Author interviews: unless otherwise noted, all interviews were conducted by the author in 2009 and 2010.

Ronald Reagan, The Reagan Diaries: Reagan Diaries. All citations in the notes section are from volume 1.

Daily Diary of President Ronald Reagan: DDPRR. Unless otherwise noted, this refers to the diary of March 30, 1981, and was obtained from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: RRPL

George Bush Presidential Library: GBPL

White House Communications Agency: WHCA

Miller Center for Public Affairs at the University of Virginia: Miller Center

United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia: USAO

Associated Press: AP

United Press International: UPI

Los Angeles Times: LAT

Washington Post: WP

New York Times: NYT

Prologue

Ronald Reagan walked: Photos, RRPL; DDPRR, March 29, 1981; “Reagans Attend Church, Enjoy Spring Stroll,” AP, March 29, 1981; Dean Reynolds, UPI, April 4, 1981.

had not been able: Review of Reagan’s diary and the DDPRR for each Sunday since the inauguration.

didn’t want to impose: Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 396. Reagan wrote that he also stopped going to church because authorities warned him about terrorist hit squads attacking him during services. This alert most likely occurred four or five months after the assassination attempt. Michael Reagan told me that his father was not happy about missing church. On an Air