EP 169: The Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan
About this episode
This episode discusses the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley, Jr. and the events surrounding it.
This week on Hashtag History, we will be discussing the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan. On March 30, 1981, President of the United States Ronald Reagan was shot outside of the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, as he was leaving a speaking engagement. He was shot by a man named John Hinckley, Jr., a twenty-five year old man who had fallen in love with actress Jodie Foster after seeing her in the movie, Taxi Driver (which she starred in when she was twelve-years-old), and believed that if he successfully killed the President, that she would be impressed. Reagan was actually seriously injured during this attempt. When he was thrown into his limousine by his servicemen, they originally thought he had just broken a rib or something and that’s why he was experiencing chest pain. But they discovered after he reached the hospital – where he collapsed – that Hinckley had successfully hit him with a bullet that had come within an inch of his heart. He miraculously recovered and was released a few weeks later. As for his would-be assassin, he was found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity and was sent to a psychiatric hospital…that he was actually released from in 2021…so yes, he…
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