Rawhide Down_ The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Del Quentin Wilber [119]
The agency began by revamping: Interviews with Fran Uteg, Robert Powis, John Simpson, Le Gette, Kelly, Parr, and other former agents. Former agent Ernest Kun described the “Attack on Principal” drills he helped create in Los Angeles. The Secret Service provided me with a course outline of “Ten Minute Medicine” from 1975, as well as a 1981 internal newsletter that briefly described the agency’s “AOP” training.
At 9:15: DDPRR; details of the phone conversation between Schmidt and Reagan come from Allen’s extensive notes and my interviews with Allen, as well as a transcript of a press briefing that morning by James Brady, RRPL.
laborers in the Solidarity movement: News accounts and U.S. intelligence reports.
“possible turning point”: CIA memo entitled “Poland: Possible Turning Point,” March 25, 1981. “Solidarity and the government are on another collision course and will have greater difficulty than ever before in avoiding violence,” the report said. “The chances have increased markedly that the regime will impose martial law even though doing so risks provoking widespread disorder and a military intervention by the Soviets.”
the two leaders agreed: At his press briefing, Brady said, “The situation in Poland was discussed and both the president and the chancellor feel on behalf of their own countries, that in the event suppression be applied either externally or internally in Poland … it would be impossible to render further economic assistance.”
The president spent the next hour: DDPRR; Allen’s notes of briefing.
This event, like every other: “The President’s Schedule, Monday, March 30, 1981,” RRPL; DDPRR; photos, as well as audio and video recordings of meeting by WHCA, RRPL.
Reagan thanked the men: Tape recording of meeting by WHCA, RRPL.
At 11:30 p.m., after all: Transcript and tape recording by WHCA of Reagan’s remarks at Gridiron Dinner, RRPL.
During a long stint: For eight years, starting in 1954, Reagan hosted a weekly television show sponsored by General Electric. He also served as a company spokesman, touring GE plants and delivering speeches to its employees, managers, and civic and business groups. The long weeks on the road and rail—Reagan did not get over a fear of flying until he ran for governor—refined his speech-making skills and honed his political philosophy.
Reagan told the ballplayers a favorite: Transcript of luncheon, RRPL.
It was a great story: “I was broadcasting the Cubs when the only mathematical possibility, and Billy Herman will remember this very well, that the Cubs had of winning the pennant was to win the last 21 games of the season,” Reagan said. “And they did.” The streak was an accomplishment for the Cubs. They clinched the pennant after their twenty-first straight victory, this one over the St. Louis Cardinals, on September 27, 1935. The Cubs won their next game, but then lost their final two to St. Louis. When the Cubs started the streak, the team was just 2½ games behind the Cardinals and 2 games back of the New York Giants. The Cubs lost the World Series to the Detroit Tigers.
That same morning: Interview with Chase Untermeyer, as well as Untermeyer’s diary. In describing the trip on Air Force Two, I also relied on Bush’s autobiography, Looking Forward, and notes and a transcript of an interview of Bush by Untermeyer on the plane. Bush’s biographical details came from his memoirs, the White House website, www.whitehouse.gov, various newspaper stories, and the Naval Historical Center. Tension between Reagan and Bush during the 1980 campaign was drawn from newspaper accounts, as well as Craig Shirley’s exhaustive history of the 1980 campaign, Rendezvous with Destiny.
Shortly before eleven a.m.: Nancy Reagan’s monthly schedule, RRPL; Carla Hall, “The First Lady and Barbara Bush Meet the Arts Volunteers,