Attempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan - Washington, DC
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 38° 54.968 W 077° 02.723
18S E 322669 N 4309458
On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan and three others were shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as they were leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel.
Waymark Code: WM10GKQ
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 05/05/2019
Views: 6
More from Wikipedia: "Hinckley's motivation for the attack was to impress actress Jodie Foster, who had played the role of a child prostitute in the 1976 film Taxi Driver. After seeing the film, Hinckley had developed an obsession with Foster.
Reagan was struck by a single bullet that broke a rib, punctured a lung, and caused serious internal bleeding, but he recovered quickly. No formal invocation of presidential succession took place, although Secretary of State Alexander Haig stated that he was "in control here" while Vice President George H. W. Bush returned to Washington.
Besides Reagan, White House Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady suffered brain damage and was permanently disabled; Brady's death in 2014 was considered homicide because it was ultimately caused by this injury.
A federal judge subpoenaed Foster to testify at Hinckley's trial, and he was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate the president. Hinckley remained confined to a psychiatric facility. In January 2015, federal prosecutors announced that they would not charge Hinckley with Brady's death, despite the medical examiner's classification of his death as a homicide. On July 27, 2016, it was announced he would be released by August 5 to live with his mother in Williamsburg, Virginia; he was subsequently released on September 10."
A marker has been placed on the hotel near the site of the shooting. It states:" On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan marked the 100th visit to Washington Hilton by a sitting U.S. President. Reagan had been invited to speak in the International Ballroom at a meeting of the North America's Building Trades Unions. Upon exiting the hotel along T Street at 2:27 p.m., Reagan was struck and wounded by a gunshot fired from John Hinckley, Jr., who had been waiting outside. Gunshots also wounded Reagan's Press Secretary James Brady, D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy. Reagan recovered from the incident and visited the hotel several times afterwards."
The location is along T Street near Columbia Road NW, on the right when traveling west. After photographing the marker, I walked over to The Newseum which had a photo of the attempt in their Pulitzer Prize exhibit. I included that in my uploaded photos. Notice that the canopy that was in place at the time has been replaced by a more secure drive-through entrance.
Date of crime: 03/30/1981
Public access allowed: yes
Fee required: no
Web site: [Web Link]
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