Rawhide Down_ The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Del Quentin Wilber [140]
O’Leary sketched out his opening: Interview with O’Leary.
“The president is”: Transcript of press conference, RRPL; network news coverage of press conference.
If Jerry Parr hadn’t: If Parr had gone to the White House, Reagan would have most likely died, according to Gens, Giordano, and Aaron. Nancy Reagan also credited Parr with saving the president’s life. In a 1998 interview with CNN’s Larry King, the former first lady said: “If Jerry hadn’t made the change from driving to the White House to the hospital, I wouldn’t have a husband.”
in O’Leary’s defense: Interview with O’Leary; doctors—including Aaron and Giordano—felt that O’Leary did a good job at the press conference.
understated the amount of blood: O’Leary said Reagan received five units of blood in the emergency room, and none in the operating room. In fact, Reagan received three units of packed red blood cells in the emergency room and just over five units in the operating room.
“This guy is good”: Allen tapes.
adjourned at eight p.m.: Allen tapes and notes.
Baker, Meese, and the others: Photographs, GBPL.
Frazzled, he couldn’t: Interview with Khachigian.
“I am deeply”: Transcript of statement, RRPL.
Before heading home: Interview with Giordano.
sat down next to Reagan: Interview with Gens; Gens diary.
But Reagan had long: Reagan, Where’s the Rest of Me?, pp. 194–95.
“Don’t fight it”: Interviews with Edmondson and Sullivan.
Jerry Parr left the hospital: Interview with Parr.
George Opfer sat: Interview with Opfer.
Nancy Reagan was curled: Noonan, When Character Was King, p. 185.
GW’s doctors gave Jim: Interview with Kobrine.
stayed at her husband’s side: Interview with Sarah Brady.
Allen, whose wife: Interview with Allen.
While Bell monitored: Interviews with Joanne Bell and Marisa Mize.
“I’m going to hold”: Interview with Mize.
Aaron told Zimmerman: Zimmerman essay.
Oscar-winning film: The 1945 film starred his first wife, Jayne Wyman. Reagan and Wyman’s divorce was finalized four years later.
“You are in the GW recovery”: Interview with Mize; Mize notes.
“How long in the hospital?”: Interview with Mize. Just after asking that question, Reagan was reminded of his allergies. “I left something out. I do have something of an allergy to tape and moleskin,” he wrote. In the 1940s, Reagan broke his leg in six places during a charity softball game. His leg was wrapped in adhesive tape and moleskin. A day later, he learned he was allergic to moleskin and tape when his eyes were swelled shut and he began itching all over.
As the hour passed four a.m.: Interviews with Bell, Mize, Price, Pett, and Zimmerman; Zimmerman reflection; The Saving of the President.
Epilogue
After a fitful: Interviews with numerous doctors and nurses.
stood at attention: Interview with Bell.
conducted a basic: Interviews with Maureen McCann and Carolyn Ramos.
“slapping a side of beef”: Nancy Reagan, My Turn, p. 11.
ice chips: Interview with McCann.
“I should have known”: Tom Matthews, “Reagan’s Close Call,” Newsweek, April 13, 1981.
“I had hoped it was”: Interview with McCann.
“Oh, damn”: Transcript of Baker press conference, March 31, 1981, RRPL.
The first several: Interviews with doctors; review of doctors’ notes; Aaron reflection.
Not until April 6: DDPRR; Max Friedersdorf, oral history at Miller Center (October 2002).
temporary setback: Interviews with doctors and nurses; Aaron reflection; discharge summary.
returned to the Oval Office: DDPRR, April 24, 1981.
On April 28: Text of speech, RRPL; multiple news accounts of speech, as well as a video of address downloaded from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library website; “Reagan Returns to Public with Plea on the Economy,” AP, April 28, 1981.
On April 11, 1981: Reagan Diaries, pp. 30–31.
the president prayed: Reagan Diaries, p. 30; Ronald Reagan, An American Life, p. 261.
Soon after his discharge: Ronald Reagan, Reagan: A Life in