Rawhide Down_ The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Del Quentin Wilber [73]
A moment later, Gergen appeared and passed a hastily drafted statement to Haig, who began to read it aloud. “‘This is to confirm the statements made at George Washington Hospital that the president was shot once, in the left side, as he left the hotel,’” Haig said, jotting notes as he went. “‘His condition is stable. We are informed by James Baker that a decision is now being made…’”
Haig paused, obviously unhappy with the rest of Gergen’s sentence.
Allen jumped in: “‘… as to the course of medical treatment’?” he asked. “Are we going to say the word ‘operate’?”
“‘Whether or not to operate now to remove the bullet,’” Haig said slowly, pausing as he made corrections on Gergen’s draft.
After a few more minutes of work, the brief statement was nearly finished. Before it was done, though, Haig made sure that it mentioned that the secretary of state was among those in the Situation Room.
* * *
OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL, a growing horde of reporters was becoming impatient for news. At least two journalists had already slipped into the hospital and had had to be escorted out by officials. Scores of others prowled the grounds, interviewing patients, employees, bystanders—anybody who might have something to say about the shooting and Reagan’s condition.
Jim Baker knew that the administration had to provide some information about the president before things got out of hand. Skeptical that Larry Speakes, the deputy press secretary, could handle the assignment, Baker deputized Lyn Nofziger—a top political aide who had also made his way to GW—to talk to the media. Though Nofziger had handled press for Reagan when he was the governor of California, he was not an ideal spokesman in the television age. Gruff and quick-witted, he had bags under his eyes, wore a ragged goatee, and favored rumpled sports coats and loosely knotted ties. Still, he had a sharp mind, and he was easily the most experienced and unflappable public relations staffer at the hospital. Standing in front of a line of reporters not far from GW’s emergency entrance, Nofziger clutched notes he had scribbled on the back of pink hospital record sheets. A Secret Service agent shadowed his every move.
“We have this information,” Nofziger said, his voice grave but confident. “The president was shot once in the left chest. The bullet entered from the left side. He is conscious. He is in stable condition. That is literally all I can tell you at this time.”
“The president?” a reporter asked.
“The president.”
“Was anybody else shot?”
“Off the wires, I understand that three people were shot, including Jim Brady, the press secretary. I do not know how serious that wound is.… I have no information on the condition of the other persons.”
“Was the president’s heart endangered by the shot?”
“No.”
Nofziger began walking up and down the line of journalists, punctuating each answer with a quick movement of his right hand.
“Is the bullet still in his body?”
“Yes.”
“Is he in surgery?”
“At this moment, he is not undergoing surgery,” Nofziger said, although he had just seen Reagan being wheeled to the operating room. “I don’t know whether he will.”
“Is he conscious?”
“Yes.”
“Did he seem seriously injured?”
“Obviously a wound in the chest is a serious wound.”
* * *
IN OPERATING ROOM 2, Wesley Price, one of the doctors who had initially treated the president, prepared Reagan’s abdomen by bathing the area from his ribs to his groin in antiseptic. Though the belly tap itself would require only a small incision, Price sterilized a large part of Reagan’s body in case the surgical