Rawhide Down_ The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Del Quentin Wilber [124]
The rally was a test run: Carpenter and Johnson testimony: “He felt clearly that if he would have had a gun he could have succeeded in shooting President Carter,” Johnson testified. “He said at one point that he was only about a foot away. And he was very surprised at how easy it was to get in a position to do this.”
Five days later: Hinckley flew from Columbus, Ohio, to New York City on October 2. On October 6, he flew from New York City to Lincoln, Nebraska. Carpenter testified that Hinckley traveled to Lincoln to “make contact with the person he describes as one of the leading [ideologues] of the Nazi Party and hopes to have some shared recognition with them of the importance of what he is doing in his life.… If I can just say what he in fact had was a post office box address in Lincoln, so that he sort of showed up in Lincoln and didn’t know where to find this person, what to look for. He spent the day in Lincoln but did not make contact.” On October 7, he flew from Lincoln to Nashville.
A security officer noticed what she: Testimony of Officer John A. Lynch, who arrested Hinckley at the airport.
Hinckley felt especially lucky: Government psychiatric report.
In November, Hinckley turned: Hinckley was home in Evergreen, Colorado, with his parents on election night. When it was clear that Ronald Reagan was a big winner, Hinckley was pleased. “Maybe there is hope for the country yet,” he told his father (Hinckley and Hinckley, Breaking Points, p. 119).
He flew to Washington: Photographs introduced at trial; government psychiatric report; testimony of Johnson. NBC News reported in 1982 that Hinckley had stalked Reagan during the inauguration.
With a gun in his pocket: Johnson testimony.
On December 8, while standing outside Blair House: Government psychiatric report.
He bought a postcard: Postcard introduced at trial.
After loading the gun in his hotel room: Government psychiatric report.
On the way, he thought about: Johnson testimony.
Once the cab pulled to a stop near the hotel: Government psychiatric report.
He didn’t think: Johnson testimony.
Hinckley felt as if the president were staring right at him: Government psychiatric report.
Jerry Parr hovered by Reagan’s: Interviews with Parr, Fury, Tim McCarthy, other agents, and a review of numerous Secret Service reports, as well as videos of Reagan’s arrival at the hotel.
At two p.m., Reagan walked down the short: DDPRR.
Reagan popped out one of his contact lenses: Reagan always gave speeches this way, according to Fischer and Ryan; Deaver, A Different Drummer, pp. 73–74.
At the sound of “Hail to the Chief”: Videotape and audio recordings of speech, RRPL.
about a young baseball player: In an interview, Danny Villanueva said he met Reagan as the former actor was gearing up for a gubernatorial run in the mid-1960s. Reagan was courting Hispanic voters, and Villanueva was placekicking for the Los Angeles Rams, a professional football team. At their first lunch, the pair hit it off, and soon Villanueva was introducing Reagan at speeches across the state. At one event, Reagan overheard Villanueva tell a humorous story about an up-and-coming minor leaguer whose wife gave him a hard time for refusing to change their baby’s diaper. Reagan appropriated the joke and inserted Villanueva into it for good measure.
Outside the Hilton: Interview with Unrue; Unrue Secret Service report (redacted); Treasury report; interviews with Parr, Gordon, and other agents.
fifteen to twenty feet: Treasury report.
peculiar design of the Hilton: Treasury report; interviews with Unrue, Gordon, Parr, and Shaddick; multiple Secret Service reports.
Herbert Granger decided: Treasury report; interview with Granger; Granger Secret Service report (redacted).
would still be about fifteen feet: Granger