Rawhide Down_ The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Del Quentin Wilber [154]
Jack Buxbaum/The Washington Post
After a frantic car ride from the White House, Nancy Reagan rushed into the emergency room entrance of George Washington University Hospital, where she learned that her husband had been wounded. A few steps behind Mrs. Reagan’s left shoulder was Secret Service agent George Opfer, who had told the first lady about the shooting.
Frank Johnston/The Washington Post
At a press conference a few days after the shooting, Dr. Benjamin Aaron, who had performed surgery on the president, pointed to a spot on Dr. Joseph Giordano’s left side to demonstrate where Hinckley’s sixth bullet had struck Reagan. Giordano, head of GW’s trauma teams, had led a recent effort to improve the hospital’s emergency medical care.
Courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
In the hours after his surgery, Reagan jotted a number of notes to doctors and nurses, and this was one of his first. The president also wrote about his difficulty breathing. “Why can’t I...”—visible just above “All in all I’d rather be in Phil.”—was almost certainly the beginning of a question about why he couldn’t breathe.
James Thresher/The Washington Post
Lyn Nofziger, a gruff White House aide, provided the first confirmation that the president had been wounded to reporters during a press conference outside the hospital. Watching Nofziger was Larry Speakes, a deputy White House press secretary. Nofizger later told reporters about the jokes delivered by the president while he was in the emergency room.
D. Gorton/The New York Times/Redux
Secretary of State Alexander Haig addressed reporters in the White House press room and famously asserted that he was “in control.” Standing next to Haig was National Security Advisor Richard V. Allen, who struggled to contain his shock when Haig mangled the order of presidential succession during the briefing.
Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library
The atmosphere in the Situation Room—a secure conference room on the ground floor of the White House—was tense throughout the afternoon, and the attention of the country’s leaders was often riveted on slow-motion replays of the shooting on the conference room’s single television.
Courtesy George Bush Presidential Library and Museum
Before issuing a statement to the press shortly after eight o’clock that evening, Vice President George H. W. Bush (left) conferred with top Reagan administration advisors. Clockwise from Bush’s left are Edwin Meese, James Baker, Caspar Weinberger, Fred Fielding, and William French Smith.
Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library
President Reagan, hugging the first lady, waved to a crowd of supporters who cheered his return to the White House on April 11, only twelve days after the assassination attempt. One advisor later commented that Reagan resembled a championship golfer strolling toward the eighteenth green.
Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library
On April 28, 1981, just four weeks after nearly being assassinated, the president delivered an address to a joint session of Congress following what one reporter called a “rafter-shaking ovation.” With his behavior immediately after the shooting and this speech to Congress, Reagan turned a near tragedy into a political triumph.