President Reagan Was Shot and Survived

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan left the Washington Hilton Hotel after addressing thousands of union members. As he walked toward his limousine, John Hinckley Jr., a troubled 25-year-old, fired six shots in seconds. A police officer, a Secret Service agent, and Press Secretary James Brady were all hit.

Reagan himself was struck by a bullet that ricocheted off the armored car and lodged near his heart, puncturing a lung. At first no one realized the president had been shot. Rushed to George Washington University Hospital, the 70-year-old Reagan reportedly told surgeons, “I hope you’re all Republicans.”

He became the first sitting U.S. president to survive being shot in an assassination attempt.

Hinckley had stalked the president to impress actress Jodie Foster, an obsession sparked by the film Taxi Driver. In 1982 he was found not guilty by reason of insanity, a verdict that reshaped American insanity-defense law. Brady, gravely wounded, became a leading voice for gun control before his death decades later.