President Reagan Assassination Attempt
Title
President Reagan Assassination Attempt
Creator
Description
This is WIVB-TV's coverage of the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.
Rich Newberg reported from the nation's capital and got reaction and updates from Senator Alfonse D'Amato and Congressman Jack Kemp.
On March 30, 1981, just after Ronald Reagan was waving to a crowd outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., shots rang out from a .22 caliber revolver fired by John Hinckley, Jr. who was only fifteen feet away.
The 70 year old president, who was about two months into his first term, took a bullet that ricocheted off his limousine and lodged in his chest, just missing his heart. His press secretary James Brady was shot in the head and suffered brain damage. Police officer Thomas Delahanty was hit in the back. Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy was wounded in the chest. McCarthy had positioned himself between Hinckley and the president. President Reagan's life was saved by the medical team at George Washington University Hospital.
Hinckley, who would later be found not guilty by reason of insanity, had fantasized that his attempt on the life of President Reagan would somehow impress actress Jodie Foster, who appeared in the movie Taxi Driver. In that movie the character played by Robert De Niro plots to assassinate a presidential candidate. Hinckley was committed to a psychiatric hospital and released in 2016.
Rich Newberg reported from the nation's capital and got reaction and updates from Senator Alfonse D'Amato and Congressman Jack Kemp.
On March 30, 1981, just after Ronald Reagan was waving to a crowd outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., shots rang out from a .22 caliber revolver fired by John Hinckley, Jr. who was only fifteen feet away.
The 70 year old president, who was about two months into his first term, took a bullet that ricocheted off his limousine and lodged in his chest, just missing his heart. His press secretary James Brady was shot in the head and suffered brain damage. Police officer Thomas Delahanty was hit in the back. Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy was wounded in the chest. McCarthy had positioned himself between Hinckley and the president. President Reagan's life was saved by the medical team at George Washington University Hospital.
Hinckley, who would later be found not guilty by reason of insanity, had fantasized that his attempt on the life of President Reagan would somehow impress actress Jodie Foster, who appeared in the movie Taxi Driver. In that movie the character played by Robert De Niro plots to assassinate a presidential candidate. Hinckley was committed to a psychiatric hospital and released in 2016.
Date
1981-03-30
Subject
Publisher
Buffalo & Erie County Public Library (publisher of digital)
WIVB (Television Station : Buffalo, N.Y.)
Rights
Copyright held by WIVB-TV. Access to this digital version provided by the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Videos or images in this collection are not to be used for any commercial purposes without the expressed written permission of WIVB-TV and the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library. Users of this website are free to utilize material from this collection for non-commercial and educational purposes.
Type
Moving Image
Format
video/mp4
Language
Collection
Citation
Newberg, Rich, “President Reagan Assassination Attempt,” B&ECPL Digital Collections, accessed December 5, 2025, https://digital.buffalolib.org/document/17430.