Never-before-heard recordings of the moments following the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley Jr have been released 30 years after the fateful shooting in Washington.
Secret Service agents can be heard saying they will take Rawhide back to Crown. In other words, take Reagan back to The White House.
But moments later the calm and collected agents realised he had been shot and coolly said: ‘We want to go to the emergency room of George Washington. Let’s hustle.’ As blood started to foam in the President’s mouth.
Initially the agents and the President were unaware that he had a bullet lodged in his lung just an inch from his heart.
At first Reagan complained that he had taken a knock to the ribs as he was bundled into the car, unaware he was shot.
He had in fact been hit with the sixth bullet which bounced off his armour plated car outside the Washington Hilton hotel.
On March 30 1981 at 2:27 pm, 19 seconds into the tape, agent Ray Shaddick radios: ‘Advise, we’ve had shots fired. Shots fired. There are some injuries, uh, lay one on.’
Sixteen seconds later, agent Jerry Parr – who was in the car with Reagan – radios assurance about the President whose Secret Service code name was drawn from the Westerns he loved: ‘Rawhide is OK. Follow-up. Rawhide is OK.’
Shaddick adds: ‘You wanna go to the hospital or back to the White House?’
‘We’re going right. we’re going to Crown,’ Parr says.
‘Back to the White House,’ Shaddick repeats. ‘Rawhide is OK.’
Twenty-four seconds later, a voice asserts again: ‘Rawhide’s alright.’
But 25 seconds after that, the plan abruptly changes: ‘We want to go to the emergency room of George Washington.’
Nowhere in the tape does anyone state that the president is hurt but inside the car Reagan was losing blood.
He found blood in his mouth but told his men he must have cut his lip.
But Reagan was becoming more ashen, complained of trouble breathing and the bleeding did not appear to be from a mere cut. Parr ordered the diversion to the hospital.
‘Go to George Washington fast,’ agent Drew Unrue is heard saying.
‘Get an ambulance,’ Parr tells the command post, known as Horsepower. ‘I mean get the, um, stretcher out there.’
‘We’ve made the call,’ Horsepower replies.
‘Let’s hustle,’ Parr says.
Meanwhile over at the scene, agents and police piled on top of Hinckley, pinning him down and trying to avoid anyone from trying to shoot him.
Sirens are heard, and a voice confirms that authorities have captured a suspect.
White House Press Secretary James Brady lay on the floor having been shot in the head. District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty was hit in the back and another bullet hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the abdomen as he covered the President.
Less than four minutes after Reagan left the Hilton, the car carrying the stricken president arrives at the hospital. Moments later, ‘Rainbow’ – Nancy Reagan – is on her way.
Reagan had suffered extensive internal bleeding, but his gunshot wound was not discovered until doctors examined him.
Reagan lost about half his blood and came closer to death that day than Americans realised for years later
He did not enter on a stretcher but got out of the car, walked in with the help of agents and began to collapse before those around him picked him up and carried him to the emergency room.
Doctors were able to stabilize his blood pressure in short order before removing the bullet in surgery.
The Secret Service released the tapes in response to a Freedom of Information request from Del Wilber, a Washington Post reporter whose book, ‘Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan,’ comes out next week.
