First published 2011
On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan walked toward his limousine outside the Washington Hilton Hotel when gunshots shattered the afternoon calm. John Hinckley Jr. had opened fire, wounding Reagan, press secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent, and a police officer. Del Quentin Wilber uses exclusive interviews and previously unseen documents to reconstruct this pivotal day minute by minute. The book reveals how Secret Service agent Jerry Parr's quick thinking saved the president's life, follows the surgeons who operated as Reagan lost half his blood, and tracks White House officials scrambling to determine if America was under attack. Wilber draws on new sources to tell the complete story of the seventy days into Reagan's presidency when the nation faced its first assassination attempt since John F. Kennedy's murder. The book captures Reagan, code-named "Rawhide," as a leader who inspired both affection and respect in those around him. This detailed narrative exposes how close the country came to losing another president and shows how surviving the attempt shaped Reagan's entire presidency.
Genres: biography, history, 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, american-history
Vibes: detailed, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, minute-by-minute
Setting: Washington Hilton Hotel, White House
Period: 1981, Reagan Presidency
320 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.