The Shooting Of Ronald Reagan By John Hinckley Jr. The John Lennon Obsessed With Today's History, March 30, 1981

JAKARTA - On March 30, 1981, a man named John Hinckley Jr. tried to commit the assassination of the President of the United States (US) Ronald Reagan. He shot Reagan in the chest while outside a hotel in Washington, DC

Citing Biography, Hinckley had studied Reagan's timetable that had been printed in the newspapers and focused on his speech at the Hilton Hotel. Reagan was notorious for opposing organized labor.

But early on as president, Reagan spent some time approaching union officials. On the day of the shooting, Reagan delivered a speech to the leaders of the AFL-CIO, the largest US umbrella organization for organized labor.

The shooting incident occurred several months after Reagan was elected US President. Ronald Reagan was elected US President in November 1980, winning a landslide victory against the incumbent, Jimmy Carter and the independent candidate, John B. Anderson.

Already a well-known actor and leading leader of the conservative movement, Reagan's election as president was a new beginning for US politics. Reagan was fiercely anti-communist. Reagan embraced the Christian evangelical movement.

Reagan promised to cut the government and impose a trickle down economy, namely a theory that states economic growth focuses on the owners of money who will seep into the poorest layers of society and benefit all levels of society.

With his strong partisan prowess, gloomy economy, and international crisis, Reagan started his presidency with favorable approval ratings. But the shooting attempt at the Hilton Hotel had nothing to do with politics.

It was then that Reagan had just finished addressing a labor meeting at the Hilton Hotel. He was walking to his limousine with the entourage, when John Hinckley Jr., stood among a group of reporters and fired six shots at Reagan.

The shot hit Reagan and his three bodyguards. White House Press Secretary James Brady was hit in the head and seriously injured. Secret protection agent Timothy McCarthy was shot from the side.

Another, Columbia District policeman Thomas Delahanty was shot in the neck. After opening fire, Hinckley was caught taped to the wall. President Reagan, however, seemed unaware that he had been shot.

Reagan is pushed into a limousine by secret protection agents and rushed to the hospital. Reagan was hit in the left lung.

To an impression on a 70-year-old man with a torn lung, he walked into George Washington University Hospital in his own strength. While being treated and prepared for surgery, Reagan was doing very well.

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Operation Reagan lasted two hours. Reagan returns to the White House on April 11. Unfortunately, White House Press Secretary James Brady did not experience the full recovery that Reagan did.

He suffered severe brain damage. Part of his body was paralyzed. He lost control of his left arm, his left leg weakened, and his short-term memory disappeared.

Brady underwent several operations after the shooting. A year later, treatment options for him became increasingly limited.

Brady went on to become a prominent supporter of arms control. Although Reagan had opposed it in the 80s, Reagan then supported the 1993 Brady Guns Prevention Bill.

The bill was finally passed and signed by President Bill Clinton. The law creates background checks and waiting times for weapons purchases. Brady's death in 2014 was declared homicide as a direct result of the shooting.

Hinckley was known to be obsessed with John Lennon. His heart broke when the idol was shot dead.

On New Years Eve, Hinckley got drunk and declared, “I just wanted to say goodbye to the past year, which meant nothing; total misery, total death, John Lennon is dead, the world is over, forget it. "

Investigators also found a letter Hinckley had written to actress Jodie Foster hours before the attack on Reagan. He again confessed his love for the 18-year-old actress and explained the shooting of the president was purely a game of his heart.

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Hinckley was found not guilty of mental illness when he was tried in 1982. The decision caused quite a stir, even though Hinckley was locked up in a mental hospital for nearly 20 years after the incident.

Starting in August 1999, Hickley was allowed to make day trips outside the hospital and was then allowed to visit his parents once a week without supervision. Secret Service volunteers are watching Hickley at the time.

In 2016, he was given parole to live with his mother in Williamsburg, Virginia. In 2018, a judge ruled that Hickley could live within 75 miles of Williamsburg, provided he saw a psychiatrist regularly.

* Read other information about WORLD HISTORY or read other interesting writings from Putri Ainur Islam.

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