Original subtitles

March the 30th, 1981, Washington, D .C., 2 .25 in the afternoon.

The President of the United States emerges from an hotel and heads towards

waiting limousine.

Suddenly, the sound of gunshots splits the air.

Four men are hit by flying bullets, including Ronald Reagan.

Who would want to kill the President, and why?

March the 30th, 1981, Washington, D .C.

U .S. President Ronald Reagan has just been shot.

Now, as he and the other victims are rushed to hospital and dramatic news

spreads, everyone wants to know who's attacked him and why.

Some people immediately assume that the Soviet Union is behind the attack.

A staunch right -wing Republican, Reagan has long been a harsh critic of

communism.

He's already antagonized the Soviets by warning their leader, Leonid Brezhnev,

that there will be grave consequences if he sends troops into Poland on the

pretext of restoring order, following a series of strikes organized by a rebel

trade union movement known as Solidarity.

The Soviets also know that Reagan will soon embark on a massive U .S. arms

buildup, acting as a counterbalance to the deployment of Soviet missiles in

Eastern Europe.

However, much as the men in the Kremlin might have preferred another president,

it is thought highly unlikely they'd try to assassinate Reagan on his home

ground.

So who else might it be?

The answer is surprising.

Reagan's assailant is a 25 -year -old college dropout called John Hinckley Jr.

And his reason for shooting the president is so bizarre, it's almost

unbelievable.

By March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan has been president for just 70 days.

Following the most expensive U .S. election campaign ever mounted, he

White House in January 1981.

An ex -movie and television star turned politician, Reagan is not only the first

actor to become president, at 69 he's also the oldest.

He first achieves national prominence in 1966 when he's elected governor of

California.

Three years later, Reagan firmly establishes his right -wing credentials

the U .S. public.

when he ordered the National Guard to break up a mass anti -Vietnam War

on the University of California, Berkeley campus.

The newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, quotes him as saying, if

to be a bloodbath, then let's get it over with.

Appeasement is not the answer.

Reagan first tries for the presidency in 1976.

when he competes against the incumbent Gerald Ford for the Republican Party

nomination.

He loses out to Ford, but only by a very narrow margin.

In 1980, Reagan tries again.

This time he gets the nomination, then the presidency itself, succeeding Jimmy

Carter, who'd become a lame duck, bedevilled by high inflation, high

unemployment, a faltering economy, and perhaps above all, the Iranian hostage

crisis.

In November 1979, a group of militant students take over the U .S. Embassy in

Tehran, holding the occupants captive.

In April the following year, Carter authorizes a rescue attempt.

It goes horribly wrong with three out of eight helicopters put out of action, a

transport plane wrecked, and eight people killed.

It would not be until January 20th, 1981, the day of Reagan's inauguration

president, that the hostages are finally released.

With this as a back cloth during his campaign, Reagan is able to depict

as a weak, ineffective and indecisive president.

So the voters go for the man they believe can restore their country's

itself.

I'm not frightened by what lies ahead, and I don't believe the American people

are frightened by what lies ahead.

Together, we're going to do what has to be done.

We're going to put America back to work again.

An accomplished public speaker, Reagan's homespun folksy manner and delivery

endears him to millions of ordinary Americans worried about the country's

worsening economy, and what many of them consider the U .S.'s inadequate defense

provision against the Soviet Union.

But there are also people who are bitterly opposed to the new Republican

president. They see him as an illiberal right -wing extremist.

However, when Reagan is gunned down outside an hotel in Washington, D .C. on

March 30, 1981,

His assailant has absolutely nothing against him personally.

All John Hinckley Jr.

wants to do is draw attention to himself.

And in doing so, he hopes to win the admiration of one of Hollywood's leading

young film actresses, Jodie Foster.

Hinckley was born on May 29, 1955, in Ardmore, Oklahoma, the youngest of three

children.

Four years later, his father, an engineer in the oil industry, takes up a

job in Dallas, Texas, and the family move.

After graduating from high school in 1973, Hinckley enrolls at Texas

University, Lubbock.

He remains here, on and off, for the next seven years, but will never

During the whole of this time, Hinckley, an introspective loner, makes no

friends.

Barely attending class, he remains either in his apartment, watching

or driving around the country, staying in a succession of run -down hotels and

motels. He dreams of becoming a rock star, hoping to emulate his great hero,

John Lennon.

To this end, he writes a number of songs and heads for Hollywood, where he plans

to break into the music business.

However, he gets nowhere.

And when he runs out of money, Hinkley is forced to return to his parents, who

are now living in the small town of Evergreen, about 30 miles west of

Colorado.

A short time later, he sets off for Hollywood again, but the answer's the

No one wants to buy his songs.

Then he tries his luck in Nashville, but again, nobody wants to know.

Back home again, he sinks into a deep depression.

and spends most of his time slumped in front of the TV.

There's one film in particular which Hinckley watches over and over again.

It's Taxi Driver, starring Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster.

De Niro plays a disturbed character called Travis Bickle, who plans to

assassinate a presidential candidate.

14 -year -old Foster plays a child prostitute.

Hinkley immediately identifies with Bickle.

He even wears the same clothes, eats the same food and drinks the same liquor as

the character in the film.

At the same time, he develops an unhealthy obsession with Foster, once

travelling to Hollywood in the hope of meeting her.

But there's no chance.

After he's seen Taxi Driver 15 times, Hinkley becomes fascinated by the idea

political assassination.

He reads books on the death of President Kennedy in 1963 and the attempt made on

Governor George Wallace's life in Alabama in 1972.

At the same time, he joins the group of U .S. neo -Nazis, but is expelled after

a year when even they find his views too extreme.

Throughout this period in his life, Hinckley doesn't let up in his obsession

with Jodie Foster.

And it will be this obsession which will eventually drive him to try and take

the life of a president.

In May 1980, John Hinckley reads in U .S. gossip magazine People that the

film star Jodie Foster is off to Yale College in New Haven, Connecticut that

autumn.

Determined to make contact with her, Hinkley persuades his parents to give

$3 ,600, which will enable him to join a writing course at Yale.

But there's no such course.

All Hinkley wants to do is to be near Foster.

Once there, he makes constant attempts to reach her by phone.

When this fails, he resorts to slipping love poems and messages under her door.

She ignores him.

After a week, Hinkley gives up.

and goes home but he still wants to attract foster's attention so he decides

assassinate u .s president jimmy carter who is now campaigning for a second term

in office hinkley buys three handguns and 30 rounds of ammunition and begins

trailing carter around the country but as he follows him from town to town at

one point getting to within six feet of him hinkley finds he can't go through

with the assassination

October the 7th, 1980, Nashville.

Hinckley is arrested at the airport when his guns are detected as he tries to

board a flight to New York.

While both the FBI and the Federal Aviation Administration is informed of

arrest, no one thinks about telling the people responsible for the president's

safety to Secret Service.

At the time, Hinckley doesn't strike anyone as a would -be political

Meanwhile, Hinckley is released with a cordon. His guns are confiscated and he

returns to his parents' home.

October the 11th, 1980, Dallop.

Hinckley buys two replacement .22 calibre handguns from a pawn shop.

November the 30th, 1980, Evergreen, Colorado.

Hinckley leaves home, telling his mother he's heading back to college in

Lubbock.

Instead, however, he flies to Washington, D .C.

This time he's got a new target, U .S. President -elect Ronald Reagan.

December the 8th, 1980, New York.

Rock star John Lennon is shot to death outside his apartment building.

His killer is Mark Chapman, another obsessive loner.

Hinckley is devastated.

He immediately flies to New York to take part in a Central Park vigil with

thousands of Lennon's grief -stricken fans.

Then, once again, he returns to the home of his long -suffering parents.

Two months later, Hinckley flies to Washington, D .C., where he spends the

few weeks aimlessly wandering around.

Still obsessed with Jodie Foster, Hinckley considers stalking and killing

Senator Edward Kennedy, brother of John and Robert, both cut down by assassins.

He even considers shooting either Foster herself or some of the people around

her.

But he soon dismisses the thought.

and focuses once again on killing Ronald Reagan.

While he's working out where, when, and how he'll do it, Hinckley gets his

picture taken outside Ford's Theatre, Washington, scene of Abraham Lincoln's

assassination in April 1865.

He also begins gathering information on Lee Harvey Oswald, President Kennedy's

alleged assassin.

He intends using him as a role model in his plan to kill Reagan.

February the 19th, 1981, Evergreen, Colorado.

Hinkley returns home briefly.

Then he heads off to Yale in New Haven for a few days.

He starts slipping notes under Jodie Foster's door again.

She complains to the local police, who say they'll warn him off.

But they can't find him. No one knows where he is.

In fact, after his parents refused to support him anymore, Hinckley is holed

in a Denver motel.

He's now more determined than ever to kill the president.

March the 29th, 1981, Washington, D .C., 12 .15 p .m.

Hinckley arrives in the city on a Greyhound bus.

He checks into the Park Central Hotel on 18th and G Street.

It's just across the road from the U .S. Secret Service headquarters.

Hinckley is now only one day away from his attack on the president.

March the 30th, 1981, Washington, D .C.

Hinckley is in his hotel room, checking Reagan's daily schedule in a newspaper,

The Washington Star.

he sees that the president will be addressing a lunchtime conference at the

Hilton Hotel on Connecticut Avenue.

That morning, Hinckley writes Foster a final letter.

In it, he tells her, there is a definite possibility that I will be killed in my

attempt to get Reagan.

As you well know by now, I love you very much.

Jody, I would abandon this idea of getting Reagan in a second, if I could

win your heart and live out the rest of my life with you.

The letter is never sent and was later found by police.

Hinckley then leaves his hotel and makes his way to the Hilton.

Now all he has to do is wait for the right moment to shoot the President.

March 30th, 1981, the White House, 1 .45pm.

President Reagan and his entourage leave for the Hilton Hotel.

They head along Pennsylvania Avenue into Connecticut Avenue,

and then through the tunnel under DuPont Circle,

turn right into Florida Avenue, left on

T Street, and arrive at the VIP entrance to the Hilton.

The Hilton Hotel, Washington, D .C.

President Reagan is addressing 3 ,500 members of the Building and Construction

Workers Union at a lunchtime conference.

Hinckley has now joined a small crowd outside the hotel.

After making a short speech, Reagan emerges at 2 .25 p .m.

He's accompanied by a few of his aides, police... and secret service agent.

Hinckley steps forward and crouches down in the classic police firing pose and

opens fire with a .22 handgun.

He gets off six shots before he's pulled to the ground.

Meanwhile, Reagan is bundled into his car and driven away at high speed.

Only now can the agents take stock of the damage Hinckley's attack has caused.

His first shot hit White House Secretary James Brady in the head.

The second struck Washington police officer Thomas de la Hanty in the back.

The third had just missed Reagan's head and hits a building across the street.

The fourth hit Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the stomach, and the

fifth struck the president's limousine.

It's Hinckley's sixth and final shot, which, after ricocheting off the car,

Reagan, hitting him under the left arm.

But as he's rushed from the scene, no -one seems to realise Reagan's been

injured.

Pandemonium ensues.

Hinckley has been pounced upon and is now arrested, whilst members of the

Service attempt to seal the area.

Worried that there might be more than one gunman, They want to ensure there

no further victims.

Now totally subdued, Hinkley is held tight by Secret Service agents and local

police and dragged towards a car.

But they can't open the door.

Panic and confusion still reign as Hinckley is thrown into the back of

squad car and, sandwiched between two Secret Service agents, is driven off to

formally charged with assault and attempted murder.

The President's car is now racing along Pennsylvania Avenue towards the White

House. But as it passes through the DuPont Circle Tunnel, Reagan begins

up blood.

The driver is immediately ordered to bypass the White House and head straight

for George Washington University Hospital, further along Pennsylvania

On arrival, Reagan is immediately rushed to the operating theater.

George Washington University Hospital.

As Hinckley's other victims are brought in, Reagan is already undergoing

surgery. The doctors remove the bullet, which has missed the president's heart,

by a mere three inches.

Dr. Dennis O 'Leary explains the extent of Reagan's injuries to the world's

press.

It was a single bullet wound that entered slightly underneath the left

It traversed about three inches of the chest wall and then ricocheted off the

seventh rib into the left lower lobe of the lung and moved about three inches

into the lung substance itself.

When visited by his anxious wife, Nancy, Reagan famously jokes, Honey, I forgot

to duck.

As the president is still undergoing surgery,

the Secretary of State, Al Haig, informs a hastily called White House press

conference that in the absence of Vice President George Bush, who was on a

to Texas, he's now in charge.

This causes uproar.

and Hague is forced to give way after being accused of misunderstanding the

chain of command, as laid down in the 25th Amendment, should the president be

incapacitated.

Bush returns to Washington at 6 .30 that evening and assumes temporary control

of the situation.

April 11, 1981, Washington, D .C.

Reagan is discharged from hospital.

While there, he keeps a close eye on both domestic and international affairs,

even warning Soviet Union leader Brezhnev not to act in a heavy -handed

Poland as the Solidarity Movement flexes its muscles.

But it will take several more weeks before he's able to ease himself back to

work fully.

The two law enforcement officers injured during the attack on Reagan quickly

recover from their wounds and are soon back on duty.

However, Press Secretary Brady is not so lucky. His head wound would leave him

permanently disabled.

Later, Jodie Foster makes a statement recalling Hinckley's harassment of her

Yale.

Due to my profession as an actress, I've often been contacted by strangers.

Last fall, I received several pieces of unsolicited correspondence signed John

W. Hinckley or JWH, and I threw them all away.

This is not uncommon, as I receive a great deal of similar unsolicited

correspondence.

At the beginning of March, I received three or four more notes similarly

and on March 6, 1981, I gave them to my college dean, who in turn gave them to

the Yale police.

These are now in the custody of the FBI.

In none of these letters and notes I received was any mention, reference, or

implication ever made as to violent acts against anyone, nor was the President

ever mentioned.

I've cooperated fully with the FBI, the Secret Service, and the U .S. Attorney's

Office, and I will continue to do so.

Meanwhile, the attempt on the President's life sparks off yet again a

gun control in the U .S.

Although the right to bear arms is enshrined in the Constitution, a great

people now express concern.

over just how easy it is for a person like Hinckley to buy a gun over the

counter.

Rocky Goldstein, who'd sold Hinckley the gun used to shoot Reagan, came in for a

fair amount of abuse.

June 16th, 1981,

the White House.

Reagan gives his first press conference since being shot. He tells the

sympathetic news teams that he's pretty much recovered.

May the 4th, 1982, Washington, D .C.

Hinckley's trial begins.

He's charged with 13 separate offenses.

Seven weeks later, Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity.

He's confined to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Washington, where he remains

day.

Reagan recovers fully from his injury and goes on to further second term,

becoming one of the most popular presidents in U .S. history, as together

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he brings the Cold War to a close.

He will eventually die on June 5, 2004, aged 93.

older than any ex -U .S. president before him.

He had also won the Cold War.

Had Ronald Reagan been killed for no apparent reason, the consequences for

world could have been far more serious than anyone can imagine.