Thirty-four years ago today, President Ronald Reagan was shot and several other were wounded in an assassination attempt. Today on her Twitter account, veteran reporter, Judy Woodruff, used new media to relay her first-person narrative of that chaotic and fateful day in her life and American history:
coming up in this hour – remembering this day in 1981, assassination attempt on Pres #Reagan – I was a reporter on the scene #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
34 years ago today, I witnessed something no one should ever have to see: an attempt to assassinate an American president #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
It lasted just a minute, but it’s forever burned into my memory #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/vulHFTmsPY
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I was a White House correspondent for @NBCNews, covering President Ronald Reagan as he entered only his 3rd month in office #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
On this rainy Monday he was talking to a group usually friendlier to Democrats- AFL-CIO’s Building & Construction Trades union #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
They were meeting at Washington’s Hilton Hotel, less than a mile and a half from the White House #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/6mllX0IrUp
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
It was my turn to be part of the small press pool that day, assigned to ride in the motorcade following Reagan’s limousine #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
We watched him go in a private entrance of the hotel as we headed for the double glass doors the public uses #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
In his after-lunch remarks, Reagan asked union members to “join me as we take this new path” #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
As soon as the audience stood to applaud, pool members ran back out to our waiting vans behind the President’s black limousine #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I stood no more than 25 feet away when Reagan emerged from the private door #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/7JMzDNh9co
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I began to shout a question about news from Poland where millions of striking workers won concessions from Communist leaders #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
At about 2:30 pm ET, before I could get the words “Mr. President” out of my mouth there was a “pop, pop, pop, pop” sound #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Six .22 caliber bullets were fired at President Reagan and three others in his entourage. “White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head and critically wounded, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy was shot in the side, and District of Columbia policeman Thomas Delahaney was shot in the neck.”
Firecrackers? No, it had to be gunshots #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
From all directions people yelled, “get down!” #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
There was a blur of commotion near the President’s car #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/d2i1ACGWR6
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Within moments his press aide screamed at reporters & camera crews to jump in the vans or stay put #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
In a split second, I decided to stay and phone NBC with the news #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
But as the motorcade sped away, I could see several ppl lying on the concrete sidewalk in front of the hotel, apparently hurt #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Police had hustled someone in the small public crowd to the ground #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
The 1 figure I recognized, lying in a pool of blood, was Reagan's new press secretary Jim Brady #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
It was clear he’d been hit in the head; it wasn’t at all clear if he would survive #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
“[T]he case of Jim Brady, shot in the head and the most grievously wounded that day,… began in confusion almost immediately with the erroneous report of his death, and has continued through subsequent months to be misunderstood by a public for whom the mysteries of the brain and its functions defy easy explanations.”
Here is footage from the scene when John Hinckley tried to kill President Reagan http://t.co/iMS6AFxd2V #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I felt a wave of sickness but before I could run for a phone, I wanted to know if anyone knew if the President had been hit #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
There was no one to ask. Everyone was rushing around, tending to the wounded, trying to get help #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Someone said they thought Reagan had made it out OK. With that shred of info. I ran to find a payphone in the Hilton lobby #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Remember pay phones?
All payphones at the hotel were in use, so I ran across the street to a building I’d never noticed before #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
There, I raced from one office to another until I persuaded someone to let me use a phone #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I told them quickly what had happened – that someone had shot at the President and several people had been hit #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I reached the @NBCNews desk, did a quick radio intvu, then found my camera crew and jumped in a taxi back to the White House #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
The rest of the day was a blur #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
NBC did live updates through the afternoon – very unusual for those pre-24-hour cable news days #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I stood on a chair in the back of the White House press briefing room, doing a stream of live reports #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Other reporters were stationed at George Washington University Hospital where Reagan and Jim Brady were being treated #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
“The president was shot in the left lung, and the .22 caliber bullet just missed his heart. In an impressive feat for a 70-year-old man with a collapsed lung, he walked into George Washington University Hospital under his own power. As he was treated and prepared for surgery, he was in good spirits and quipped to his wife, Nancy, ”Honey, I forgot to duck,” and to his surgeons, “Please tell me you’re Republicans.” Reagan’s surgery lasted two hours, and he was listed in stable and good condition afterward.”
Anchor John Chancellor asked me numerous times to describe what had happened during the shooting & what I had learned since #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
One bullet punctured a lung, we later learned, and Reagan came close to death, but we didn’t know this at the time #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
For now, all we could do was piece together info about Reagan’s condition, & the 25-year-old deranged shooter John Hinckley #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
It was later learned the emotionally disturbed Hinckley shot President Reagan in a deranged attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster.
There was a point when several major news organizations – including NBC – reported erroneously that Brady had died #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I was never told this and did not report it #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
But it was a profound lesson to me in how crucial it is to get information corroborated #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Jim Brady went on to live another 33 remarkably courageous years with a terrible brain injury http://t.co/JP175yJSPT #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Jim became an advocate for gun control #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Jim’s wife Sarah Brady oversaw his care and always kept a brave and sunny outlook, in public and in private #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
Whenever I think back on that day, it’s with pain, and an overwhelming sense of unreality and humility #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
“The next day, the president resumed some of his executive duties and signed a piece of legislation from his hospital bed. On April 11, he returned to the White House. Reagan’s popularity soared after the assassination attempt, and at the end of April he was given a hero’s welcome by Congress.”
It’s almost impossible to comprehend how lives can change in an instant #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
And how American history could have changed dramatically had the bullet lodged a few centimeters away from where it did #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
It’s humbling to be reminded that reporters who cover the President may in an instant be drawn into a much bigger story #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
using their best instincts as they scramble to get the facts straight, to make no mistakes, to keep everything in perspective #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
And to recognize that reporters are human beings who may be deeply affected by what we witness, even as we try to do our job #ReaganShot81
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
I’m not sure there’s any way to prepare for a day like that one #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/te5Grj6Ev6
— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015
What an amazing perspective Judy Woodruff had on that horrible day!
Where were you when it happened?
Photo credits: Ronald Reagan, Reagan Waves, John Hinckley
