Rawhide Down (40 page)

He flew to Washington
: Photographs introduced at trial; government psychiatric report; testimony of Johnson. NBC News reported in 1982 that Hinckley had stalked Reagan during the inauguration.

With a gun in his pocket
: Johnson testimony.

On December 8, while standing outside Blair House
: Government psychiatric report.

He bought a postcard
: Postcard introduced at trial.

After loading the gun in his hotel room
: Government psychiatric report.

On the way, he thought about:
Johnson testimony.

Once the cab pulled to a stop near the hotel
: Government psychiatric report.

He didn’t think
: Johnson testimony.

Hinckley felt as if the president were staring right at him
: Government psychiatric report.

Jerry Parr hovered by Reagan’s
: Interviews with Parr, Fury, Tim McCarthy, other agents, and a review of numerous Secret Service reports, as well as videos of Reagan’s arrival at the hotel.

At two p.m., Reagan walked down the short
: DDPRR.

Reagan popped out one of his contact lenses
: Reagan always gave speeches this way, according to Fischer and Ryan; Deaver,
A Different Drummer
, pp. 73–74.

At the sound of “Hail to the Chief”
: Videotape and audio recordings of speech, RRPL.

about a young baseball player
: In an interview, Danny Villanueva said he met Reagan as the former actor was gearing up for a gubernatorial run in the mid-1960s. Reagan was courting Hispanic voters, and Villanueva was placekicking for the Los Angeles Rams, a professional football team. At their first lunch, the pair hit it off, and soon Villanueva was introducing Reagan at speeches across the state. At one event, Reagan overheard Villanueva tell a humorous story about an up-and-coming minor leaguer whose wife gave him a hard time for refusing to change their baby’s diaper. Reagan appropriated the joke and inserted Villanueva into it for good measure.

Outside the Hilton
: Interview with Unrue; Unrue Secret Service report (redacted); Treasury report; interviews with Parr, Gordon, and other agents.

fifteen to twenty feet
: Treasury report.

peculiar design of the Hilton
: Treasury report; interviews with Unrue, Gordon, Parr, and Shaddick; multiple Secret Service reports.

Herbert Granger decided
: Treasury report; interview with Granger; Granger Secret Service report (redacted).

would still be about fifteen feet
: Granger testified at trial that the gunman was between ten and fifteen feet from Reagan when he started shooting.

Unrue, having parked
: Interviews with Unrue and Dennis Fabel, who was driving the follow-up car, as well as their Secret Service reports, FBI reports, and Treasury report.

A heckler had caused
: Interview with Fury; Fury testimony; Secret Service reports. In this photograph, you can clearly make out Hinckley’s face in the back of the crowd, as if he is standing on his tiptoes to see over the heads of those in front of him.

they allowed the Hilton’s
: Hilton security officer Secret Service report.

As departure time neared
: Interviews with Unrue, Gordon, and Fabel; those agents’ Secret Service and FBI reports; Treasury report.

to about twenty-five people
: Interview with Granger; an unnamed D.C. police officer estimated the crowd size at twenty-five, according to a Secret Service report.

6: 2:27 P.M.

Agent Jerry Parr stood backstage
: Interview with Parr.

the four thousand union members
: Treasury report.

The crowd rose to its feet
: Audio and video of event, RRPL.

Parr moved to the edge
: Interview with Parr; video of event, RRPL.

They took the stairs up from the ground
: Interviews with various Secret Service agents.

One agent aimed for the rope line
: Dennis McCarthy Secret Service report.

another trotted along
: Green Secret Service report (redacted).

a third angled for the limousine’s right front fender
: Varey Secret Service report; interview with Varey.

A fifth, carrying an Uzi
: Bob Wanko Secret Service report.

A sixth, Tim McCarthy
: Interview with Tim McCarthy; Tim McCarthy Secret Service report.

Jerry Parr’s wife, Carolyn
: Interview with Carolyn Parr.

The crowd outside the VIP
: Interview with Granger; government psychiatric report; Treasury report; various Secret Service reports.

The reporters and cameramen who
: Interviews with Sam Donaldson, Lou Cannon, and Ron Edmonds; Lou Cannon, “The Shooting: The Shooting Scene,”
WP
, March 31, 1981, p. A1; Michael Putzel, “The Presidential Smile Disappears,” AP, March 31, 1981; Gilbert Lewthewaite, “A Reporter Who Witnessed the Attack Recalls the ‘Bloody Seconds,’ the Chaos,”
Baltimore Sun
, March 31, 1981, p. 1; wire services, “‘You Shot at My President, I’ll Kill You,’”
Miami Herald
, April 2, 1981, p. A21; Fred Barnes, “Routineness of President’s Visit to Hotel May Have Abetted Gunman,”
Baltimore Sun
, March 31, 1981, p. A6; Tom Collins, “They Were There When Bullets Flew,”
Quad-City Times
, March 31, 1981, p. 3.

“
Press, press, let us through!”
: Government psychiatric report.

“
No, we were here first!” screamed
: Government psychiatric report.

“
They think they can do anything they want!”
: AP radio reporter Secret Service report.

Seconds behind him, David Fischer
: Interview with Ahearn.

Mike Deaver and Jim Brady
: Deaver,
Behind the Scenes
, p. 16; Dickenson,
Thumbs Up
, p. 63.

Reagan saw the same reporters
: Reagan FBI report.

did plan to make one dramatic gesture
: Reagan FBI report.

Jerry Parr slid a step behind
: Interview with Parr; Parr Secret Service report; Parr FBI report (redacted).

carried a bulletproof steel slab
: Interview with Shaddick.

eighteen inches behind
: Parr FBI report (redacted).

If an attack had occurred
: Interview with Parr.

his plan changed
: Interview with Parr.

Tim McCarthy, Parr’s point man
: Tim McCarthy Secret Service report; Tim McCarthy FBI report; video of shooting, various television networks.

Instantly, Parr’s left hand
: Interview with Parr; slow-motion video of shooting, USAO.

the corner of his eye
: Interview with Parr.

Parr’s mind raced
: Interview with Parr.

John Hinckley couldn’t believe his luck
: Government psychiatric report; Johnson testimony.

felt exceedingly calm
: Government psychiatric report.

even now he wondered
: Johnson testimony. Johnson testified that Hinckley thought, “Should I, should I pull out the gun and start firing?”

he saw himself dying
: Government psychiatric report.

then he crouched
: Interview with Granger; Granger testimony.

Goodbye,
he thought
: Government psychiatric report.

Blue flame spat from the gun
: FBI interview of witness standing next to Hinckley.

The first person hit
: Adelman laid out the order of shots during the trial.

Instinctively, he pivoted
: Delahanty FBI report.

“I am hit!”
: Delahanty FBI report.

The sight line between Hinckley and the president
: Opening statement by Adelman. The third shot sailed high and hit a building across the street.

1.7 seconds
: FBI reports.

Sitting at the Lincoln’s wheel
: Interviews with Unrue and Parr; Unrue Secret Service report (redacted). The limousine was so heavily armored that Unrue would not have heard the gunfire if the door had been closed.

Agent Dennis McCarthy
: Dennis McCarthy trial testimony; Dennis McCarthy Secret Service report; Dennis McCarthy,
Protecting the President
, pp. 65–84.

Herbert Granger was facing
: Interview with Granger; Granger testimony. Granger and Delahanty were facing the wrong direction when Hinckley started shooting because they had momentarily turned from the crowd to orient themselves to the president. Later, Delahanty said he felt terrible about this, according to Hardesty, who spoke to the wounded officer in the hospital. In an internal report, the Secret Service defended the officers, saying “a study of tapes showed that the police officers were facing the crowd; however, in glancing around, providing 360 degrees of coverage, or checking on the exact position of the president gave the impression of watching the president.” Others, however, see a valuable lesson in the officers’ actions. In the conference room of her office in police headquarters, D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier displays a large photo of both officers looking at Reagan, not the crowd, in the seconds before the assassination attempt. It’s a reminder, she says, to always remain vigilant and focused on the crowd, not the president.

with such force that
: Interview with Granger.

We have to keep him alive: Dennis McCarthy,
Protecting the President
, p. 76.

Another agent scrambled inside
: Rick Tobin Secret Service report.

“Let’s move him to another car”
: Dennis McCarthy,
Protecting the President
, p. 77.