Ronald Reagan on St. Patrick's Day.Ronald Reagan Library.
On March 30, 1981, the President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by lone wolf gunman John Hinkley Jr in midtown Washington D.C as he was returning to his limousine.
The deluded gunman Hinkley believed the attack would impress actress Jodie Foster whom he had developed a dangerous obsession after viewing in Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film "Taxi Driver".
The sniper shooting of presidential candidate Donald Trump is the most serious attempt to assassinate a U.S. president in over 40 years.
The attack on Trump echoes that of then-President Reagan who, incidentally, saw his approval ratings skyrocket after he survived the attempt on his life.
Reagan was seriously wounded by a revolver bullet that ricocheted off the side of the presidential limousine and hit him in the left underarm, breaking a rib, puncturing a lung, and causing serious internal bleeding.
He was close to death and rushed to nearby George Washington University Hospital where, it has been said, that upon arriving, President Regan said to the surgeons ‘I just hope you’re Republicans’ to which a doctor is said to have replied ‘Today Mr President, we’re all Americans.’
President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by lone wolf gunman John Hinkley Jr in midtown Washington D.C as he was returning to his limousine.
The shooter, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on charges of attempting to assassinate the president. He remained confined to a psychiatric facility in Washington D,C where he remained for 37 years until he was released on September 10, 2016.
In echoes of the present day, the attempt on Reagan drew attention to concerns about political violence and dangerous rhetoric in a deeply polarized U.S. and it altered the tenor and tone of the nation.
After the assassination attempt, Reagan’s approval skyrocketed and he went up 22 points in the polls going on to win a landslide historic second term in the White House.
Watch a short piece from PBS comparing Ronald Reagan's assassination attempt to Donald Trump's:
* This article was originally published on Extra.ie.