Rawhide Down_ The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Del Quentin Wilber [122]
At eleven that Monday morning: Interview with Bill Green; Green Secret Service report (redacted).
Green had been working on the visit since Wednesday: Treasury report; Green Secret Service report (redacted); interview with Green.
Green read a standard security survey: Green Secret Service report (redacted); interview with Green.
On Friday, he went to the Hilton: Interviews with Rick Ahearn, Al Fury, and Green; Ahearn Secret Service report (redacted), Green Secret Service report (redacted), Fury Secret Service report (redacted); Treasury report.
But union officials did not: Interview with Ahearn; Ahearn Secret Service report (redacted).
Green, Ahearn, and the others: Interviews with Green and Ahearn; their Secret Service reports (redacted).
they agreed to place a rope line: Treasury report; Green and Ahearn Secret Service reports (redacted); interviews with Green and Ahearn.
This was the rope line’s usual location: In their interviews with Secret Service inspectors, agents said the rope was positioned where it had usually been placed during past presidential visits.
about thirty-five to forty feet: Treasury report.
On at least one previous visit: An unidentified agent told inspectors this, according to a Secret Service report. “It was done on that occasion due to the size of the crowd,” the report said. The agent believed the dignitary was from China, according to the report.
On Saturday, Green visited: Interview with Green; Green Secret Service report (redacted).
This news pleased him: Green Secret Service report (redacted).
Later, he would be disappointed: Green Secret Service report (redacted).
A little before eleven: Green Secret Service report (redacted).
giving his most experienced agents: Green Secret Service report (redacted).
5: The Rope Line
By 1:10 p.m.: Interview with Mary Ann Gordon; Gordon Secret Service report.
The 21½-foot car, code-named Stagecoach: Interviews with Parr, Ray Shaddick, and other agents, as well as two Ford Motor Co. press releases provided by the Secret Service. Derek Moore, a conservation specialist at the Henry Ford museum, which now has the limousine on display, said the Lincoln was recently weighed and it topped out at 10,400 pounds. The museum’s records indicate that the limousine weighed 13,000 pounds before it was delivered in 1992. Moore could not explain the discrepancy. More than likely, the Secret Service removed something before the limousine was delivered to the museum or the limousine’s weight dropped after a refurbishment in the years following the shooting.
He was quickly assigned: “Reagan Gets Secret Service Protection,” LAT, June 22, 1968, p. 13; Tom Goff, “Reagan Blames Bomb Attempt on Hoodlums,” LAT, July 11, 1968, p. 3.
At his seventieth birthday party: David Broder, “Outsider Quietly Moves to Inside Lane,” WP, March 30, 1981, p. A1.
A month and a half later: Reagan Diaries, p. 28; Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 262; Joseph McLellan, “Stars and Austerity at Ford’s Theater Gala,” WP, March 23, 1981, p. C1.
Now, at 1:45: DDPRR; Treasury report; various Secret Service reports.
Riding next to Reagan in the passenger: Interview with Donovan; Treasury report.
got a chilly reception: Interview with Donovan.
Reagan and Donovan chatted briefly: Interview with Donovan; Tom Matthews, “Reagan’s Close Call,” Newsweek, April 13, 1981, p. 31.
Riding in the front passenger: Interviews with Parr and Drew Unrue; Parr Secret Service report and Unrue Secret Service report (redacted).
Directly ahead of Stagecoach: Interviews with Secret Service agents; Secret Service reports.
riding in the passenger seat of a marked cruiser: Interview with Gordon; Gordon Secret Service report.
she’d chauffeured Jimmy Carter: Interview with Gordon; “Carter Feels ‘Safe’ with Woman at Wheel,” AP, September 4, 1980.
Gordon had driven: Gordon Secret Service report.
wielded handguns: Interview with Shaddick.