The President's Been Shot

What really happened to Ronald Reagan.

"Honey, I Forgot to Duck"

Asked before he became the 40th President whether he had a strategy for dealing with the Soviet Union and communism, Ronald Reagan replied, "We win. They lose." Some thought him passive and disengaged in those days. But the man I discovered in five years of research was a gambler -- a bold, determined guy. He came to the White House with a few simple ideas about reducing taxes to lessen the size and role of government, confronting communism, and leading America back to the romantic remembrances of his boyhood. He imagined a future where any American could walk proudly and safely down the world's meanest streets. Ironically, his greatest personal test came on a Washington street some 70 days after his inauguration.
-- Richard Reeves

Monday, March 30, 2:25 p.m.
On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan was leaving the Washington Hilton after addressing a conference of the AFL-CIO's Building Construction Trades Department. He left the hotel by a side entrance, waving to a small crowd. As he turned toward Michael Putzel, an Associated Press reporter who had called, "Mr. President," he heard a pop-pop-pop sound. "What the hell's that?" Reagan said to Jerry Parr, the Secret Service agent in charge of his guard unit. Parr was already moving, tackling the President, pushing him toward the ground as another agent, Ray Shaddick, forced both Reagan and Parr into the back of the President's limo, onto the floor.

"Take off," Parr yelled to the driver, Agent Drew Unrue.

Reagan was in great pain, the worst he had ever felt. "Jerry," he said, "get off. I think you've broken one of my ribs."

"Rawhide is returning," Parr shouted to Unrue. "Get the President to the White House."

The agent slid onto a jump seat. Reagan climbed up onto the backseat as Parr ran his hands along the President's side and back, feeling for blood or injury. The pain was paralyzing. Reagan sat stiffly. He coughed up bright red, frothy blood. After a pause he said, "I think I've cut my mouth."

"Go to GW!" Parr yelled now, meaning George Washington University Hospital. Sirens screamed around the limo. The police had already cleared the route to the White House along Connecticut Avenue to 17th Street, but at Pennsylvania Avenue, Unrue turned toward GW, about five blocks away.

David Prosperi, assistant to Press Secretary James Brady, ran back into the Hilton, looking for a phone. He called the deputy press secretary, Larry Speakes, gasping as he said, "Shots have been fired. Brady's down. I don't know about the President." Brady was on the ground in a pool of his own blood. A Secret Service agent and a Washington policeman had also been hit.

2:35 p.m.
As the limo reached GW, Reagan was in pain and had trouble breathing. But he was able to stand and tell Parr, "I'll walk in." He made it 40 feet until he was inside the emergency entrance. Then he sagged to the floor.

Parr and Shaddick carried the President to trauma bay #5A, where nurses and doctors cut off his clothes. Reagan's mouth and teeth were red from bubbling blood. "I can't breathe," he gasped. The doctors made a quick incision and inserted a tube into his throat. But with his systolic blood pressure reading down to 78, compared to his normal reading of 140, he passed out.

Doctors made three intravenous incisions to pump in new blood and liquids. The frothy blood meant lung damage, a collapsed left lung. Catheters were inserted in an effort to drain the blood in the lung. It came out dark, steadily pouring out as doctors tried to reinflate the lung.

"I don't hear anything," a nurse said, feeling for the President's pulse.

Oh, my God. We've lost him, Parr said silently. Lord, let him live.

The nurse, Kathy Paul, and a surgical resident, Wesley Price, noticed the small slit under Reagan's left armpit, a half-inch long. The President had been shot. Another nurse, Marisa Mize, held his hand. Reagan came out of it.

"Who's holding my hand?" he asked. "Does Nancy know about us?"

Michael Deaver, deputy chief of staff, called Jim Baker, the chief of staff, just as Speakes ran to Baker's office. Baker called several Cabinet members, telling them to come to the White House situation room. Staff members were already crowding into the small room.

Nancy Reagan, who had been having lunch at the White House, was at the hospital less than ten minutes later. The President opened his eyes and saw her. "Honey," he said, "I forgot to duck." It was what heavyweight boxing champ Jack Dempsey said after he lost the championship to Gene Tunney, when Reagan was a teenager back in Illinois.

Meanwhile, press assistant Lyn Nofziger arrived at the hospital with Jim Baker, counselor Ed Meese, and Speakes. The three had left just as Secretary of State Al Haig arrived at the situation room and took the big chair at the end of the conference table. Nofziger asked a few questions at the hospital, then called Ed Rollins, an assistant back at the White House, saying, "The guy's in really bad shape. They don't know if he's gonna make it or not."

Larry Speakes was taking notes: "Doctors believe bleeding to death. Think we're going to lose him. Rapid loss of blood pressure."

"Has the Vice President been called?" Haig asked in the situation room. George H. W. Bush was aboard Air Force Two, flying from the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to Austin for a speech. Yes, Bush had been called, by his press secretary, Pete Teeley. Haig was patched through to the plane.

"This is Secretary Haig, Mr. Vice President ..." He could not really hear Bush on the scrambled ground-to-air call, finally shouting, "George! This is Al Haig," telling him he should return to Washington.

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