Rawhide Down_ The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Del Quentin Wilber [128]
A busy clerk at the nurses’ station: Interview with Koenig.
a gruff male voice: Interview with Koenig.
“That means the president is coming here”: Interview with Koenig.
“I have to cancel,” she told: Interview with Judith Whinerey.
Whinerey told a clerk: The Saving of the President.
“We have three gunshot”: John Pekkanen, “The Saving of the President,” Washingtonian, August 1981.
Wendy Koenig hurried: Interviews with Whinerey, Mitchell, Paul, and Koenig.
Near the nurses’ station: Interview with White; White Secret Service report. White, a civilian Secret Service employee, was in the hospital helping the daughter of a friend who had broken her ankle.
Kathy Paul watched as: Interview with Paul.
“This is the president, let’s”: Parr FBI report (redacted).
“I feel like I can’t breathe”: Interview with Paul; Paul notes.
felt suddenly overwhelmed: Interview with Mitchell.
“Was he shot?” she asked: Interview with Mitchell.
“No, we think he got an elbow in the ribs”: Interview with Mitchell.
“Maybe broke a rib”: Interview with Parr.
Seeing the president: The description of Reagan collapsing in the emergency room and being taken to the trauma bay was derived from interviews with Hernandez, Parr, Shaddick, Paul, and Mitchell, as well as several others at the scene; I also relied on a number of Secret Service and FBI reports, including those from Hernandez and his partner.
196 pounds of: Reagan’s GW physical examination form listed his weight as 196 pounds.
Paul was dizzy: Interview with Paul.
having a heart attack right here: Paul notes; interview with Paul.
Please don’t die: Interview with Paul.
Hernandez, the paramedic, was convinced: Interview with Hernandez.
“We’re going to cut your clothes off”: The Saving of the President.
“I feel so bad,” Reagan said: Interviews with Paul, Mitchell, Parr, and Hernandez.
Paul loosened the president’s tie: Paul notes; interview with Paul.
“I’ve got a line!”: Interviews with Hines and Paul. Hines said these words.
At first the technician: Interview with Cyndi Hines, the technician, as well as interviews with Hernandez, Paul, and Koenig.
But his trousers wouldn’t budge: Interview with Hernandez.
Wendy Koenig had helped cut away: Interview with Koenig.
“I can’t get a systolic pressure”: Interview with Koenig.
“Oh, shit, try it again!”: Interview with Mitchell.
“Set up a perimeter”: Parr FBI and Secret Service reports.
Watching the nurses struggle: Interview with Parr; Parr, “One Moment in Time,” Guideposts, March 1992.
8: The Trauma Bay
Agent George Opfer: Interview with George Opfer.
The first lady immediately: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 3; interview with Sheila Patton.
The first lady’s next major: Nancy Reagan’s monthly schedule, RRPL.
who sometimes received fan mail: Interview with Opfer.
had led a team assigned: Interview with John Simpson.
the supervisor told Opfer: Guy Secret Service report.
as she walked toward him: Interview with Opfer.
“There was a shooting”: The dialogue and action in this section are derived from Nancy Reagan, My Turn, and an interview with Opfer.
With Opfer leading: Interview with Opfer.
Opfer took his: Interview with Opfer.
pulse was steady: Pekkanen, “The Saving of the President”; interview with Tom Ruge.
to prevent anything “foolish”: Abrams, The President Has Been Shot, pp. 232–33.
Ruge was determined: Several doctors, including Joseph Giordano, Benjamin Aaron, and David Gens, commented on Ruge’s efforts to ensure that Reagan was treated like any other patient. Ruge also told his son, Tom, that one of the first things he told doctors and nurses was that he wanted Reagan to be treated like any other patient. “My dad was very clear that a big part of his job was to make sure that everything moved according to normal procedures,” Tom Ruge said. “He told me that when he went into the emergency room, he asked the staff, ‘If this was anyone else coming in with a gunshot wound, what