Rawhide Down (47 page)

15: “What Does the Future Hold?”

When the president seemed uncomfortable
: Interviews with Edmondson and Sullivan; anesthesia record; Zimmerman reflection.

doctors increased his pain
: Anesthesia record.

Doctors who had examined
: Zimmerman reflection; interview with Aaron.

Ben Aaron, who was keeping
: Interview with Aaron.

assistants sterilized the bronchoscope
: Zimmerman reflection.

Aaron lubricated the
: Interviews with Aaron, Zimmerman, Edmondson, and Sullivan; Zimmerman reflection; anesthesia record.

more conservative procedure
: Interview with Zimmerman; Zimmerman reflection.

“Don’t pull at it now”
:
The Saving of the President
; interview with Edmondson.

blood tests steadily improved
: Zimmerman reflection.

“All in all, I’d rather be in Phil.”
: Copy of notes provided by Joanne Drake, chief of staff of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Secret Service agents confiscated the notes as they were passed to nurses by the president. Eventually, they were given to Mrs. Reagan. Agents jotted times on some of the notes but not on all of them. I was able to triangulate the sequence of notes by using those times and by interviewing nurses and doctors.

Sullivan thought hard
: Interview with Sullivan.

After Lyn Nofziger’s
: Nofziger,
Nofziger
, p. 294; interview with Dr. Dennis O’Leary.

O’Leary sketched out his opening
: Interview with O’Leary.

“The president is”
: Transcript of press conference, RRPL; network news coverage of press conference.

If Jerry Parr hadn’t
: If Parr had gone to the White House, Reagan would have most likely died, according to Gens, Giordano, and Aaron. Nancy Reagan also credited Parr with saving the president’s life. In a 1998 interview with CNN’s Larry King, the former first lady said: “If Jerry hadn’t made the change from driving to the White House to the hospital, I wouldn’t have a husband.”

in O’Leary’s defense
: Interview with O’Leary; doctors—including Aaron and Giordano—felt that O’Leary did a good job at the press conference.

understated the amount of blood
: O’Leary said Reagan received five units of blood in the emergency room, and none in the operating room. In fact, Reagan received three units of packed red blood cells in the emergency room and just over five units in the operating room.

“This guy is good”
: Allen tapes.

adjourned at eight p.m.
: Allen tapes and notes.

Baker, Meese, and the others
: Photographs, GBPL.

Frazzled, he couldn’t
: Interview with Khachigian.

“I am deeply”
: Transcript of statement, RRPL.

Before heading home
: Interview with Giordano.

sat down next to Reagan
: Interview with Gens; Gens diary.

But Reagan had long
: Reagan,
Where’s the Rest of Me?,
pp. 194–95.

“Don’t fight it”
: Interviews with Edmondson and Sullivan.

Jerry Parr left the hospital
: Interview with Parr.

George Opfer sat
: Interview with Opfer.

Nancy Reagan was curled
: Noonan,
When Character Was King
, p. 185.

GW’s doctors gave Jim
: Interview with Kobrine.

stayed at her husband’s side
: Interview with Sarah Brady.

Allen, whose wife
: Interview with Allen.

While Bell monitored
: Interviews with Joanne Bell and Marisa Mize.

“I’m going to hold”
: Interview with Mize.

Aaron told Zimmerman
: Zimmerman essay.

Oscar-winning film
: The 1945 film starred his first wife, Jayne Wyman. Reagan and Wyman’s divorce was finalized four years later.

“You are in the GW recovery”
: Interview with Mize; Mize notes.

“How long in the hospital?”
: Interview with Mize. Just after asking that question, Reagan was reminded of his allergies. “I left something out. I do have something of an allergy to tape and moleskin,” he wrote. In the 1940s, Reagan broke his leg in six places during a charity softball game. His leg was wrapped in adhesive tape and moleskin. A day later, he learned he was allergic to moleskin and tape when his eyes were swelled shut and he began itching all over.

As the hour passed four a.m.
: Interviews with Bell, Mize, Price, Pett, and Zimmerman; Zimmerman reflection;
The Saving of the President
.

Epilogue

After a fitful
: Interviews with numerous doctors and nurses.

stood at attention
: Interview with Bell.

conducted a basic
: Interviews with Maureen McCann and Carolyn Ramos.

“slapping a side of beef”
: Nancy Reagan,
My Turn
, p. 11.

ice chips
: Interview with McCann.

“I should have known”
: Tom Matthews, “Reagan’s Close Call,”
Newsweek
, April 13, 1981.

“I had hoped it was”
: Interview with McCann.

“Oh, damn”
: Transcript of Baker press conference, March 31, 1981, RRPL.

The first several
: Interviews with doctors; review of doctors’ notes; Aaron reflection.

Not until April 6
: DDPRR; Max Friedersdorf, oral history at Miller Center (October 2002).

temporary setback
: Interviews with doctors and nurses; Aaron reflection; discharge summary.

returned to the Oval Office
: DDPRR, April 24, 1981.

On April 28
: Text of speech, RRPL; multiple news accounts of speech, as well as a video of address downloaded from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Library website; “Reagan Returns to Public with Plea on the Economy,” AP, April 28, 1981.

On April 11, 1981
:
Reagan Diaries
, pp. 30–31.

the president prayed
:
Reagan Diaries,
p. 30; Ronald Reagan,
An American Life,
p. 261.

Soon after his discharge
: Ronald Reagan,
Reagan: A Life in Letters
, pp. 737–41; Ronald Reagan,
An American Life
, pp. 269–73.

“He was a performer”
: Interview with Ron Reagan.

“Somebody ought to entertain”
: Interview of President Reagan by author Mollie Dickenson in May 1985 that was tape-recorded by WHCA, RRPL.

in mid-March to 73 percent
: Barry Sussman, “Shooting Gives Reagan Boost in Popularity,”
WP
, April 2, 1981, p. A1; “Public Approves of President Far More Than of His Policies,”
WP
, June 4, 1981, p. A12.

“
what happened to Reagan”
: David Broder, “End of a Dream,”
WP
, April 1, 1981, p. A21.

“politically untouchable”
: Interview with David Broder.

“cemented a bond”
: Interview with Lou Cannon.

By the time he left office
: “Final Job Approval Rating for Recent Presidents,” Gallup website,
www.gallup.com
.

“
When life gives you lemons”
: Sue Anne Pressley, “When History, Destiny Converged,”
WP
, March 30, 2006, p. B1.

Before leaving GW
: Interview with Tim McCarthy.

In 1985, after twenty-three years
: Interview with Parr.

The Secret Service tried to deflect blame
: Testimony of Secret Service director H. Stuart Knight before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government, April 2, 1981. “What would we have done about it if notified? At a minimum, interview the gentleman,” Knight testified. Whether that would have stopped Hinckley is unclear. Colo, an experienced investigator, said that Hinckley would not have caused him much concern if he had interviewed him before the attack.

The Secret Service also repeatedly pointed out that the area behind the rope line had not been designated a press area by the White House. Such a decision would have required an agent to check identification of reporters and limit that area to cameramen and journalists, and Hinckley would never have been permitted to get so close. There is often a tug-of-war between the White House and the Secret Service over presidential security and access to the president.

the Secret Service did change
: After the shooting, the service rarely let a president enter or exit a limousine in public view. Instead, agents pulled the president’s limousine into garages or into tents, preventing potential assassins from getting a shot at the president during such vulnerable moments. The Washington Hilton also changed—it constructed a concrete bunker–like garage outside of the VIP entrance to shield presidents and other dignitaries during their arrivals and departures.

In 2010, it had 3,500
: Information provided by the Secret Service; Secret Service budget for salaries and expenses, Department of Homeland Security.

A few days later
: Interview with Sullivan; copy of the letter Reagan sent to Sullivan.

occasional notes from Reagan
: Interview with Giordano; copy of the note provided by Giordano.