A Tale of Two Assassination Attempts — A Tale of Two Targets
Reagan’s critics disliked Reagan. Trump’s critics hate Trump.
On March 30, 1981, a 30-year-old man named John Hinckley Jr. tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. After giving a speech at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., Reagan was returning to his limo when Hinkley shot him and wounded three others. Reagan’s press secretary James Baker was struck in the head and became permanently disabled.
As Reagan was waving to a crowd, a bullet ricocheted off his limo, struck him under his left arm, broke a rib and caused massive internal bleeding. His injuries were far more serious than first thought. In fact, some initial reporting claimed Reagan was “unharmed.” In fact, Reagan almost died. The would-be assassin was wrestled to the ground.
At the hospital, Reagan reportedly said to first lady Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck.”
As Reagan was wheeled to the operating room, Reagan said to his doctors, “Please tell me you’re Republicans.”
About the would-be assassin, he said, “Does anybody know what that guy’s beef was?”
When Reagan regained consciousness from anesthesia, he wrote a note saying, “All in all, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.”
He wrote in another note, “Send me to L.A., where I can see the air I’m breathing.”
In yet another note to his medical staff, he wrote, “If I had this much attention in Hollywood, I’d have stayed there.”
After a nurse praised his recovery by saying, “Keep up the good work,” Reagan said, “You mean this may happen several more times?”
When a top aide told him the government was continuing to perform normally, Reagan said, “What makes you think I’d be happy about that?”
On July 13, 2024, a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump. As Trump stood on an outdoor stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Crooks, from a nearby rooftop, fired eight rounds. He killed one audience member and seriously wounded two others. A bullet struck Trump in his upper right ear. As agents surrounded him and escorted him off stage toward his SUV, the bloodied former president thrust his right fist in the air, pumped his arm and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” He was taken to a hospital, treated and released the same day.
The day after the assassination attempt against Reagan, The New York Times wrote: “(M)ost (members of Congress) wore the glazed expressions and had the subdued manners of those in shock. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, took the floor, after initial reports were received, and declared: ‘My family has been touched by violence. Year after year in recent times we have seen violence in this country: My brother John Kennedy and my brother Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers, George Wallace, Al Lowenstein, Vernon Jordan, the attack on President Ford, and now the attack on President Reagan. All of us who care about this country and who care about our fellow citizens bear an important responsibility in whatever way we possibly can to rid this society and to rid this country of the kind of violence and hatred that we have seen.’”
Reagan’s approval ratings jumped 8 points to nearly 68%.
President Joe Biden, two days after the Trump assassination attempt, gave a brief address from the White House and urged Americans to “lower the temperature in our politics.”
A Florida Atlantic University/Mainstreet poll conducted after the assassination attempt found a “small bump” in favor of Trump, but nothing like the 8-point increase Reagan experienced. One survey of Democratic voters found that one-third agreed with the following statement: “I wish Trump’s (would-be) assassination hadn’t missed.”
Reagan had many detractors. A Democratic member of the House, for example, accused him of “trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from Mein Kampf.” Trump detractors include first lady Jill Biden who, five days before the assassination attempt, pronounced Trump “evil.” Trump’s detractors include Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, who three weeks after the assassination attempt called Trump supporters “fascist.”
Reagan’s critics disliked Reagan. Trump’s critics hate Trump.
COPYRIGHT 2024 LAURENCE A. ELDER
