The Would-Be Ronald Reagan Assassin Who Wanted To Impress Jodie Foster
CORBIS/Corbis via Getty ImagesPresident Ronald Reagan waves to a crowd moments before being shot.
On March 31, 1981, 25-year-old John Hinckley Jr. sat down and wrote a letter to the 17-year-old actress Jodie Foster. Obsessed with Foster after seeing her film Taxi Driver, Hinckley was willing to do anything to get her attention — even if it meant assassinating President Ronald Reagan.
“As you well know by now I love you very much. Over the past seven months I’ve left you dozens of poems, letters, and love messages,” Hinckley wrote about an hour before the assassination attempt.
“Jodie, I’m asking you to please look into your heart and at least give the chance, with this historical deed, to gain your love and respect.”
Then, Hinckley took his .22 caliber revolver, which he had bought at a pawn shop in Texas, to the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. He stood with a group of reporters and waited. And when Reagan stepped onto the sidewalk, the would-be assassin fired six shots at the president and his entourage.
Public DomainThe chaotic aftermath of the Ronald Reagan presidential assassination attempt.
“Shots fired!” someone shouted over the police radio, adding, “Rawhide [the president’s codename] is okay.”
However, it was a much closer call than anyone initially realized. At first, Secret Service agents thought that Reagan had escaped completely unharmed. It wasn’t until he started coughing up blood in the presidential limo that they realized he’d been hit, and raced him to the hospital.
Though Hinckley’s bullet had only narrowly missed Reagan’s heart, the president maintained his famously upbeat demeanor at the hospital. “Honey, I forgot to duck,” he told his wife, Nancy. And to his doctors, Reagan quipped, “I hope you’re all Republicans.”
Reagan wasn’t the only one injured by Hinckley. White House Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, and D.C. policeman Thomas Delahanty had also been shot. They all survived, but Brady — who was shot in the head — had to use a wheelchair for the rest of his life.
John Hinckley Jr. was found not guilty by reasons of insanity and spent the next 30 years in psychiatric care. Released in 2016, he has since shared a number of original songs on YouTube.
