Rawhide Down (54 page)

U.S. Senate

Unrue, Drew

Untermeyer, Chase

Ursomarso, Frank

Varey, Jim

Villaneuva, Danny

Wallace, George

assassination attempt on

Warner, Jack

Washington Hilton

advance security team at

exit plan from

Washington Hospital Center (WHC)

Washington Post

Washington Star

Watergate scandal

Weinberger, Caspar

West Germany

Whinerey, Judith

White, Frederick

White House Communications Agency

Wilson, Edith

Wilson, Woodrow

World War II

Wright, Jim

Zimmerman, Jack

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D
EL
Q
UENTIN
W
ILBER
is an award-winning reporter for
The Washington Post
. He has spent most of his career covering law enforcement and sensitive security issues, and his work has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife and two sons.

Henry Holt and Company, LLC

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^®
and
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are registered trademarks of Henry Holt and Company, LLC.

Copyright © 2011 by Del Quentin Wilber

All rights reserved.

Photograph
here
courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Wilber, Del Quentin.

Rawhide down : the near assassination of Ronald Reagan / Del Quentin Wilber. — 1st ed.

        p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8050-9346-9

  1.  Reagan, Ronald—Assassination attempt, 1981.   I.  Title.

E877.3.W55 2011

973.927092—dc22                                           2010049808

First Edition 2011

eISBN 978-1-4299-1931-9

First Henry Holt eBook Edition: March 2011

Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan delivered a speech to a branch of the AFL-CIO at the Washington Hilton hotel. The president, a former union leader in Hollywood, thought the address was important enough to rewrite the beginning by hand. Reagan began his twenty-minute speech just after two p.m.

Courtesy Ronald Reagan Library

At 2:27 p.m., just seconds before a would-be assassin opened fire on Reagan and his entourage, the president waved to spectators across the street. Walking on the president’s right, wearing a light-colored raincoat, was Secret Service agent Jerry Parr, head of Reagan’s protective detail.

James K. W. Atherton/The Washington Post

Hoping to get to know Reagan better, Jerry Parr had switched shifts so he could accompany the president to the speech. Parr saved the president’s life that day—twice.

Alexander Fury/Courtesy U.S. Attorney’s Office

That morning, John W. Hinckley Jr. spotted Reagan’s schedule in a local newspaper and at the last minute decided to go to the Hilton and attempt to kill the president. Clearly visible in back of several journalists and onlookers, Hinckley was inadvertently captured in this photograph by a hotel security official concerned about a noisy heckler.

Courtesy Eddie Myers

Federal agents and D.C. police detectives were confounded by Hinckley’s calm demeanor as they pressed him for information in the hours after the shooting. In this photograph taken by an FBI agent at the bureau’s Washington field office, D.C. police detective Eddie Myers is keeping a close eye on his suspect.

Author’s collection

Hinckley bought this R.G. Industries model RG 14 for about forty-five dollars at a Texas pawnshop in the fall of 1980, soon after three other handguns were taken from him at the Nashville airport following his stalking of then president Jimmy Carter. Before leaving for the Hilton, Hinckley loaded the revolver with explosive bullets.