Reagan Assassination Attempt

March 30, 1981

U.S. President Ronald Reagan, James Brady, and two others are shot by John Hinckley, Jr., who was trying to impress actress Jodie Foster, whom he had developed an obsession with after seeing the film Taxi Driver. Brady was left paralyzed from a gunshot wound to the head. He would die in 2014 due to causes directly related to the shooting. A secret service agent and a D.C. police officer were also shot, but survived the shooting. Hinckley was subdued and apprehended at the scene. The 70-year-old Reagan was shot in the left lung with the bullet just missing his heart. As he was being prepped for surgery, he joked to his wife Nancy Reagan, “Honey, I forgot to duck”. In 1982, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity. He was sentenced to institutional psychiatric care, from which he was released in 2016 to live full-time at his mother’s home.