It is hard to believe that 25 years ago this afternoon, I came home from *gulp* 7th Grade and flipped on the TV (like any normal 13-year old). It was a little past 3pm Eastern and I must admit that I was a “General Hospital” (the original Luke & Laura Years) addict. But ABC News anchor man Frank Reynolds suddenly interrupted things.
President Ronald Reagan had been shot at this very minute 25 years ago. It is one of those moments, minutes, hours and days that will always be with me for the rest of my life. My President had been nearly killed that day by a lunatic in love with a Hollywood actress. But he survived.
And through his strength a nation began to rebuild itself from Watergate, energy crises, the birth of Islamo-fascism in Iran, and the growing nuclear threat from the Soviet Union.
Reagan’s brush with death was itself a catalyst to passing his economic and tax cut measures by a Democrat Congress in 1981 — launching the longest economic expansion in US history… some say we may still be reaping the benefits of Reagan’s tax cuts to this day.
Like his political loss in 1976, Reagan’s near death in 1981 found him rising out of the ashes — the American Phoenix standing tall and shining the beacon of freedom throughout the world.
25 Years ago…. unbelieveable. Thanks to Malcontent for reminding me of this date a few weeks ago!
-Bruce (GayPatriot)
Ya old fart! I of course was in the sixth grade then. It felt like the world was going mad with POTUS being shot and the Pope. Weird to look back on it all…
I was in the 6th grade too. I guess it’s like the first JFK moment for our generation. I still remember everything about that day. Where I was and what I was doing.
Very interesting. I was in 6th grade when Kennedy was assassinated.
ah well… i was a freshman in college at JMU… watching GH in a no longer existing student union hall… the whole place groaned when they cut into Luke and Laura… but everyone stayed seated and quiet… we didn’t know what would happen next…
it seems a lifetime ago…
I’m still trying to get my head around teenaged boys watching soap operas.
I remember hoping he wouldn’t die because that would create a martyr. His works were damaging enough. It’s always the Republicans who rack up the national debt and the Democrats who do the dirty work.
Ya old fart! I of course was in the sixth grade then.
I was in 3rd grade, fogey (sp?).
It’s always the Republicans who rack up the national debt and the Democrats who do the dirty work.
To the detriment of the country. Too bad the Soviet Union ain’t around anymore, eh? And what were those bastards thinking nailing Alger Hiss to the wall?
I’ll agree, though. It’s the liberals who do dirty work like fucking over Cap Weinberger.
I was in 5th, and I remember mom was getting gas, and we heard it on the radio.
I am taking the 5th on the whole Luke and Laura thing.
This is one of those, “where were you when…?” moments. I lived in Northbrook, IL at the time, and LOVED Reagan. His inspiration is what made me a Republican.
I was in 5th, and I remember mom was getting gas, and we heard it on the radio./quote by:just me
You heard your mother getting gas on the radio? I’d remember that too.
How embarrassing. 🙂
monty
I remember hearing about it –via Reynolds on TV– getting off a plane at National and thinking, they just got started in this Administration and it’s all in peril. It was less than 3 months into the term, everyone in the WH was green, and Reagan was supposed to be speaking to a group of union types –the Reagan Democrats– that day. I stayed there at the airport and watched it all unfold… including the anger in Reynolds when he inaccurately reported the press secy was dead… Al Haig taking the mic and “being in control”… the background sense that Russia or China would use the incident to some military advantage. Washington literally ground to a halt –like on 9/11.
It all seems surreal now. It isn’t dramatic to say we almost lost RR that day. It was hellish, heartbreaking, and harrowing. The worst moment came days later when he appeared at the hospital window looking frail, worn, haggard and thin.
Thanks, Bruce, for not stopping the rememberance at the point of the shooting but noting what good came of the event… but those pictures are still powerful reminders that scratch deep emotional chords in most Americans.
I was in the 4th grade I frist heard about the shooting when i got to my brothers house and i saw it on the news Reagan is the reason i am a republican so i was stunned to say the least
god of biscuits that reminds me of something reagan said “liberals live everyday like its April 15th republicans live everyday like its July 4th”
Nuyorker – I had forgotten that quote, thanks for reminding me of it, one of his best. The mind starts to go in old age, I was a freshman in college getting dressed to make a campaign speech (student senate, I won). Now where is my Geritol?
John F in Indy
nuyoker, never mind GoB. He’s one of those guys who liked that fact that Pres Clinton was a sexual reprobate; it made GoB feel better knowing that the guy in the WH would understand him. These people are always bitter toward those who show strong moral conduct in their leadership.
and ya know not for nothing michigan matt but clinton was the leader of the free world you would think he could upgrade his choice of women….. the wicked witch of the left, paula jones and monica i mean talk about a 3 dog night
When the tragic news broke, I was sitting in my 7th grade typing class (back in the old days when the only computer around was a Radio Shack TRS-80 and we all used typewriters to write). I was so glad to hear that he’d pull through. That, too, was my defining Republican moment when I became convinced that the GOP was for me.
Thanks, GP, for reminding us of who we are and why we are here.
Regards,
Peter Hughes
If anyone has the opportunity to watch it, PBS’s excellent series, “The American Experience,” did a wonderful two-parter on The Gipper a few years ago, and have repeated it a few times since it’s original airing.
The portion of the program dedicated to this event does a splendid job in bringing it home to me again and again.
I’ve since purchased the DVD, and have yet to grow weary of the nostalgia it brings.
Finally, if anyone here ever gets the chance to visit LA, a daytrip to the Reagan Library should be among your first stops. That portion of the museum dealing with the assasination attempt is humbling.
You heard your mother getting gas on the radio? I’d remember that too.
How embarrassing
That’s what happens when you still haven’t had any coffee and try to make coherant posts.
Working in SoCal this summer, so definitely will drop by the Reagan Library. Thanks for the tip.
It’s too bad that Jim Brady is still mildly incapicated 25 years later. I’m sorry that out of this whole violent invident that 1/ guns are a bigger problem now than then and 2/ that reagan survived to piss all over the country for another 7 years.
A freshman? I was in graduate school.
Geritol, indeed.
Jay @ #21: why don’t you go back to your blog and wait for someone to read you? I’m sure at least Ian or Mr Mod or Tim or Patrick or QueerP or CowboyBob will be along shortly to hype your numbers.
I was in the eighth grade. It was raining and the upper schooler who relayed the news to us on the bus ride home was more concerned about presidential trivia.
Jay, it is worth documenting that guns are not the problem, but crazy (all: please feel to define your own definition of crazy) people with guns are the problem.