'HONEY, I FORGOT TO DUCK,' INJURED REAGAN TELLS WIFE - NYTimes.com 'HONEY, I FORGOT TO DUCK,' INJURED REAGAN TELLS WIFE By LYNN ROSELLINI, Special to the New York Times Published: March 31, 1981 WASHINGTON, March 30— Shortly before he was wheeled into the operating room, President Reagan looked up at his wife, Nancy, and told her: ''Honey, I forgot to duck.'' Nancy Reagan kissed her husband and then, as he was wheeled into surgery, she turned and went into a nearby room to wait out the long afternoon. She was pale but appeared calm. Mrs. Reagan had just returned to the White House from a luncheon when she was told by the Secret Service at 2:35 P.M. that there had been a shooting at the Capital Hilton Hotel. But it was not until she reached George Washington University Hospital a few minutes later that she learned her husband had been shot.

Joins President in Room As her limousine pulled up to the emergency entrance of the gray, cinderblock hospital on Washington Circle, she jumped out and sprinted through the doorway. Inside, Mrs. Reagan joined the President in his room while doctors prepared him for surgery. When it was time for Mr. Reagan to be wheeled down the hall, his wife held on to the handrail of his bed while doctors and Secret Service men accompanied them. But when the group reached the automatic doors that lead to a suite of 10 operating rooms, Mrs. Reagan was told that she could not accompany her husband inside. She went for a time to the hospital chapel and also met with the wives of James S. Brady, the President's press secretary, and Tim McCarthy, a Secret Service agent. Both men were also wounded in the attack on the President. Mrs. Reagan saw her husband after the operation and then went back to the White House. Sheila Patton, the First Lady's press secretary, said tonight that she was grateful for the outpouring of support and prayers for her husband.

The President's younger son, 23-year-old Ronald Prescott Reagan, a dancer with the Joffrey II ballet, was in Lincoln, Neb., preparing to perform with the troupe this evening at Lincoln's Kimball Recital Hall when he received word of the assassination attempt. He and his wife, Doria Palmieri, went from their hotel under heavy security to Lincoln Municipal Airport and flew to the capital to join his mother. Maureen Reagan, 39, and Michael Reagan, 35, President Reagan's daughter and son by the actress Jane Wyman, were in California when they learned of the shooting. Mr. Reagan said he, his wife and Miss Maureen and another sister, Patti Davis, 28, would fly to Washington so that when their father ''opens his eyes and comes out of sedation, we will be there.'' ''This mission,'' he said with tears streaming down his face, ''is really is a mission of love - love for Ronald Reagan'' ''A lot of things have been written about our family and our family's independence.

One thing about us, we love Ronald Reagan and we love Nancy Reagan.'' His sister Maureen urged the ''the American people to get angry and propose laws'' to prevent such incidents. ''I've often said perhaps it's not guns we should outlaw, but ammunition,'' she said. ''But something has to be done.'' Son Is Optimistic Her brother, speaking to reporters on the lawn of his home in the Sherman Oaks section of Los Angeles, was optimistic about the President's recovery. ''My father is a strong person and is in good shape,'' he said. ''He'll probably come out here at the end of April, go to my sister's wedding and go to the ranch and cut some wood and put this thing behind him.'' Ronald Reagan - 32 Famous Quotes by the 40th US President Ronald Reagan 32 Ronald Reagan Quotes You Should Know Famous Quotes by the 40th President of the United States President Ronald Reagan posing at his oval office desk. (October 25, 1984). (Picture courtesy the Ronald Reagan Library) By Jennifer Rosenberg Updated March 25, 2016.

Ronald Reagan served two terms as President of the United States, from 1981 to 1989. He was also the oldest person ever elected President, which was an issue during both elections. Known as "the Great Communicator," Reagan is often remembered for his quick wit and storytelling. Below you will find some of the funnier and more famous quotes by Ronald Reagan . Reagan's Philosophy of Life My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan All great change in America begins at the dinner table. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, delivered in the Oval Office (January 11, 1989) Life is one grand, sweet song, so start the music. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

-- Quote by Ronald Reagan from his letter announcing his Alzheimer's disease to the American public (November 5, 1994) continue reading below our video Profile of Ronald Reagan It's true hard work never killed anybody, but I figure, why take the chance? -- Quote by Ronald Reagan at the Gridiron Dinner (April 22, 1987) Well, I'm Not Going to Make Age an Issue I did turn 75 today - but remember, that's only 24 Celsius. -- Comment by Ronald Reagan right before he signed the Annual Economic Report of the President (February 6, 1986) Thomas Jefferson once said, "We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works." And ever since he told me that, I stopped worrying. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent's youth and inexperience.

-- Quote by Ronald Reagan during the Second Presidential Debate against Walter Mondale (October 21, 1984) Funny Quips as President I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan Before I refuse to take your questions, I have an opening statement. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan How can a president not be an actor? -- Response by Ronald Reagan when asked by a reporter "How can an actor run for President?" during the presidential campaign (1980) Humor Even After Being Shot Please tell me you're all Republicans. -- Comment by Ronald Reagan to the surgeons who were about to operate on him after the assassination attempt (March 30, 1981) Honey, I forgot to duck. -- Comment made by Ronald Reagan to his wife, Nancy Reagan , when she arrived at the hospital following the assassination attempt (March 30, 1981) Albert Einstein, Your Virtue, and Your Neighbor's Job: Reagan's View of Taxes and Economics Even Albert Einstein reportedly needed help on his 1040 form.

-- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation on Tax Reform (May 28, 1985) A recession is when a neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Labor Day Address at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey (September 1, 1980) Balancing the budget is a little like protecting your virtue: You just have to learn to say "no." -- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Remarks at Kansas State University at the Alfred M. Landon Lecture Series on Public Issues (September 9, 1982) Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Remarks to the White House Conference on Small Business (August 15, 1986) Tear Down This Wall! Communism and the Soviet Union Mr. Gorbachev , open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!

-- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Speech at the Berlin Wall (June 12, 1987) How do you tell a Communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-Communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan during Remarks at the Annual Convention of Concerned Women for America held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia (September 25, 1987) If the Soviet Union let another political party come into existence, they would still be a one-party state , because everybody would join the other party. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Remarks to Polish Americans in Chicago, Illinois (June 23, 1983) I call upon the scientific community in our country, those who gave us nuclear weapons , to turn their great talents now to the cause of mankind and world peace, to give us the means of rendering these nuclear weapons impotent and obsolete.

-- Quote by Ronald Reagan during his Address to the Nation on National Security (March 23, 1983) Politics Isn't a Bad Profession Republicans believe every day is the Fourth of July , but the democrats believe every day is April 15 . -- Quote by Ronald Reagan You know, it has been said that politics is the second oldest profession and I've come to realize over the last few years, it bears a great similarity to the first. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Speech at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan (November 10, 1977) Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan Government Is the Problem Government's first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan at the National Conference of the Building and Construction Trades, AFL-CIO (March 30, 1981) Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.

-- Quote by Ronald Reagan, First Inaugural Address (January 20, 1981) Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan during his gubernatorial campaign (1965) Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan, Address to the Nation on the Fiscal Year 1983 Federal Budget (April 29, 1982) Abortion I've noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born. -- Quote by Ronald Reagan during the Anderson-Reagan Presidential Debate in Baltimore (September 21, 1980) BBC NEWS | Americas | Ronald Reagan: In his own words Ronald Reagan: In his own words Reagan came up with many succinct phrases The former US president Ronald Reagan was sometimes known by his soubriquet the Great Communicator. Over his career he was renowned for telling jokes, summing up issues with memorable lines, and making the odd gaffe. Here is a selection of his quotes: Government is not the solution, it's the problem.

Inaugural address, 20 January, 1981 Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidise it. 1986 A friend of mine was asked to a costume ball a short time ago. He slapped some egg on his face and went as a liberal economist. 1988 Honey, I forgot to duck. To wife Nancy Reagan in the emergency room after being shot, 30 March, 1981 I hope you're all Republicans. To surgeons as he went into the operating theatre Reagan was telling jokes soon after being shot When you see all that rhetorical smoke billowing up from the Democrats, well, ladies and gentlemen, I'd follow the example of their nominee: don't inhale. A reference to Bill Clinton at the Republican National Convention, 1992 I've noticed that everybody who is for abortion has already been born. 1980 How do you tell a communist? Well, it's someone who reads Marx and Lenin. And how do you tell an anti-communist? It's someone who understands Marx and Lenin.

1987 My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes. A joke, not realising a microphone was on, 1984 I urge you to beware the temptation of pride, the temptation of blithely declaring yourselves above it all and label both sides equally at fault, to ignore the facts of history and the aggressive impulses of an evil empire, to simply call the arms race a giant misunderstanding and thereby remove yourself from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil. I believe that communism is another sad, bizarre chapter in human history whose last pages even now are being written. 1983. The other day someone told me the difference between a democracy and a people's democracy. It's the same difference between a jacket and a straitjacket. 1986. If you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, if you seek liberalisation, come here to this gate ... open this gate ... tear down this wall.

At the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, addressing a speech to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, June 1987 Reagan was a big fan of Thatcher We will always remember. We will always be proud. We will always be prepared, so we may always be free On the 40th anniversary of the Normandy landings, 6 June, 1984 She's the best man in England. On former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher If I ache, it's because we are apart and yet that can't be because you are inside and a part of me, so we really aren't apart at all. Yet I ache but wouldn't be without the ache, because that would mean being without you and that I can't be because I love you. A letter to Nancy in 1963, quoted in her 2000 book I Love You, Ronnie I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.

Announcing his Alzheimer's disease, 5 November, 1994 President Ronald Reagan's Assassination Attempt Jokes: His Best Lines SHARE TIME The April 13, 1981, cover of TIME After a March 30, 1981, assassination attempt, the President tried to keep the country's spirits up with these one-liners When President Ronald Reagan was shot on this day, March 30, in 1981, it was anything but funny. The assassination attempt by John W. Hinckley Jr. required the President to undergo surgery and seriously wounded three others. But Reagan knew it was also important to convey to the country that he was going to be OK. And — before he was told that others had been injured — he knew that humor could get that message across, perhaps better than any other official reassurance. According to TIME’s coverage of the assassination attempt, the very first thing he said to the First Lady when she arrived at the hospital was, “Honey, I forgot to duck,” a reference to a one-liner used by boxer Jack Dempsey.

The magazine compiled this list of his best reactions to the shooting and his own injuries: > To surgeons, as he entered the operating room: “Please tell me you’re Republicans.” > In a written note, upon coming out of anesthesia in the recovery room (paraphrasing Comedian W.C. Fields): “All in all, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.” > In another note, recalling a Winston Churchill observation: “There’s no more exhilarating feeling than being shot at without result.” > In a third note: “Send me to L.A., where I can see the air I’m breathing.” > In yet another note written while surrounded by medical staff: “If I had this much attention in Hollywood, I’d have stayed there.” > Complimented by a doctor for being a good patient: “I have to be. My father-in-law is a doctor.” > To an attentive nurse: “Does Nancy know about us?” > To a nurse who told him to “keep up the good work” of his recovery: “You mean this may happen several more times?” > To Daughter Maureen: The attempted assassination “ruined one of my best suits.” > Greeting White House aides the morning after surgery: “Hi, fellas.

I knew it would be too much to hope that we could skip a staff meeting.” > When told by Aide Lyn Nofziger that the Government was running normally: “What makes you think I’d be happy about that?” And TIME wasn’t Reagan’s only admirer on the humor front: That year’s Oscars took place the following day, and host Johnny Carson joked that he wanted to call in the President to help punch up the script. Read TIME’s full coverage of the assassination attempt, here in the TIME Vault: A Moment of Madness "Honey, I forgot to duck" Ronald Reagan after being shot in 1981 "Success requires no apologies, failure permits no alibis" Napoleon Hill Favorites Reagan . Bonus Video . American Experience . WGBH | PBS Share Assassination Attempt On March 30, 1981, 70 days into his presidency, President Reagan was shot outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. Transcript Narrator: On March 30th, 70 days into his presidency, Reagan delivered yet another pitch -- to a union convention at the Washington Hilton Hotel. At 2:25 he left the meeting and approached his limousine.

Deaver: I ran to the car behind the limousine. I thought we were going to the White House. We started going over dividers on Connecticut Avenue and ah I realized when we came into the port of the George Washington Hospital that we were going there. I jumped out of the car and Reagan's getting out of the car, and he always had this thing where he would pull his pants up to be sure they were just right, button his coat again, which he did when he got out of the limousine. And I thought, he's fine - walked into the hospital, the minute he hit the door, he went down. Nancy: When I got there, um, everybody's still telling me, he hasn't been shot, he hasn't been hit. And I think it was Mike Deaver who was standing waiting for me and I think he was the one who told me, that ah, he'd been hit. Narrator: A deranged lone gunman, John Hinckley, Jr., had fired six bullets at the president. One ricocheted off Reagan's limousine, and tore into his left lung missing his heart by an inch.

Patti Davis: I was afraid he would die and that he would die without me really knowing who my father was. I knew how close to death he was once I got to Washington, the country didn't know until years later. Nancy Reagan: He was so white. I have never seen anybody so white, and he had that thing over his face to help him breathe and there was blood. And, ah, he opened his eyes and saw me, and um, that's when he said, "Honey I forgot to duck." Ronald Reagan: Grace Under the Scalpel - Urban Legends Urban Legends Ronald Reagan: Grace Under the Scalpel 'Please tell me you're all Republicans,' said the President to the surgeons Sign Up for Our Free Newsletters Thanks, You're in! There was an error. Please try again. Please select a newsletter. Please enter a valid email address. Did you mean ? What's New Ronald Reagan. Getty Images The grace and humor Reagan showed after the attempt to assassinate him in 1981 had, more than any other single event, added a mythical quality to his leadership, revealing his character in a way that made it almost impossible to dislike him.

— Garry Wills, Reagan's America: Innocents at Home I RECEIVED a note from reader Mike Ambrose, whose comments inspired an intriguing course of research into events following would-be assassin John Hinckley's attempt on Ronald Reagan's life in 1981: At the time, I was a federal government employee. I remember the news media reporting that Reagan was awake and alert when he was wheeled into the emergency room at George Washington University Hospital — so awake and alert that he was said to have looked up at the doctors and nurses and said, "I hope you're all Republicans." A couple of days after the assassination attempt, the Director of our office came in and told us that a good friend of hers was head nurse in the GWU Emergency Room and claimed that Reagan was not at all awake and alert when they wheeled him in, so he couldn't have looked up at the doctors and nurses and said the Republican line. continue reading below our video Great Singers Gone too Soon So, what's the truth of the matter?

Notwithstanding media reports at the time, it's now clear from eyewitness testimony (including that of Reagan himself) that the gravely wounded President was indeed only semi-conscious at best as he was wheeled into the emergency room after the assassination attempt . In his memoir, An American Life, Reagan remembers: We pulled up in front of the hospital emergency entrance and I was first out of the limo and into the emergency room. A nurse was coming to meet me and I told her I was having trouble breathing. Then all of a sudden my knees turned rubbery. The next thing I knew I was lying face up on a gurney... But it's also true that fully an hour went by between the moment Reagan was delivered to the emergency room and when he was anesthetized for surgery — time enough for him to regain enough composure to utter the famous quip. In fact, by all accounts, Reagan turned into a veritable joke machine during the hour-long wait. 'All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia' The first words he uttered upon regaining consciousness were to a nurse who happened to be holding the president's hand. "Does Nancy know about us?" he quipped.

When Nancy herself arrived a few minutes later, Reagan greeted her with the comment, "Honey, I forgot to duck." (He was quoting prizefighter Jack Dempsey, who had said the same thing to his own wife after losing the heavyweight championship to rival Gene Tunney in 1926.) Reagan even found occasion to pay homage to W.C. Fields.

When a nurse asked him how he was feeling, he responded, "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia." (The original line, which Fields had proposed for his own epitaph, was: "On the whole, I would rather be in Philadelphia.") And, according to Edwin Meese, Reagan's Attorney General, the President stumped him and other members of the White House staff with the greeting, "Who's minding the store?" (Fortunately, no one told him it was Al "I'm in charge here" Haig.) Prev ‘I forgot to duck’ | New York Post ‘I forgot to duck’ Assassination attempt on President Reagan ASSOCIATED PRESS ( The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan by Del Quentin Wilber Henry Holt Ashen and struggling for breath, President Ronald Reagan lay on a gurney as a surgeon inserted a tube into his chest cavity to help with his labored breathing. The anesthesiologist patted the president’s right shoulder and said, “Everything is going to be OK.” Reagan quipped, “I hope they are all Republicans.” No one laughed. The scene was too tense.

Later, moments before he would undergo risky surgery to remove the bullet in his left shoulder, Reagan, ever the entertainer, knew not to waste the line. He pulled the oxygen mask from his face and said, “I hope you are all Republicans.” The room filled with laughter and the tension evaporated as Dr. Joseph Giordano, a liberal, replied, “Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans.” Thirty years ago, on March 30, 1981, Reagan was shot when walking out of a Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC. Much of what happened that day became part of the Reagan’s legacy — his grace under fire, the assassin’s twisted motive — but author Del Quentin Wilber in “Rawhide Down” provides a riveting minute-by-minute account of the shooting and reveals that Reagan came closer to death than the public knew. 7 a.m. Reagan awoke, showered and shaved, putting on a new dark blue pinstripe suit, a custom-made gift from his wife, Nancy. By 8:30 a.m., he finished breakfast with his wife and was provided with a detailed schedule of events for the day.

He would spend the morning in the White House, speaking with West Germany’s chancellor about the growing labor unrest in Poland, attend a daily national security briefing and speak to Hispanic supporters in the Cabinet Room. The biggest event of the day would take him out of the White House and into the downtown Hilton, where he would give a speech to a trade union. After which he had plans to have a hair cut and call it a day. Meanwhile, John Hinckley Jr., the 25-year-old son of a wealthy oil executive, spent the night at a cheap motel, en route to his goal of seeking out Jodie Foster, the object of his dangerous obsession, at Yale University. But when he woke up the morning of March 30, he saw a newspaper article that caught his eye: “The President’s Schedule.” “If I can get close enough,” he thought, “I can end this madness.” Wilber writes that Hinckley “fantasized about getting splattered against the wall in a blaze of Secret Service bullets.” That would finally impress Foster, whom he had been stalking since seeing her in “Taxi Driver.” 1:10 p.m.

The 1972 black armored Lincoln Continental, nicknamed “The Stagecoach,” waited to deliver the president to the Hilton. Directly ahead of Stagecoach there was a second armored limousine, holding Dr. Daniel Ruge, Reagan’s personal physician, and behind it was a follow-up car that carried a half-dozen agents with handguns, shotguns and submachine guns. Even though Reagan was under high security, he still had premonitions, Wilber writes. Months earlier, when Reagan had attended a gala at Ford’s Theatre, he couldn’t help but imagine the moment when John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln. “Reagan well understood that, despite his armored limousine and Secret Service detail, a determined assassin might one day kill him,” Wilber writes. Hinckley stood in the crowd with a handful of reports and spectators, carrying a RG-14 revolver, sometimes called a “Saturday” because it was cheap and easy to obtain, in the right pocket of his beige jacket. Reagan walked by the onlookers and into the Hilton. As he approached the podium, the sound of “Hail to the Chief” introducing him, he popped out one his contact lenses.

He couldn’t read a speech with both in, so he used one eye to scan the crowd and the other to read. 2:27 p.m. Twenty or so people clustered behind the rope separating onlookers 30 feet from the president’s pathway to the armored vehicle waiting for him. Other times, they had kept people 60 feet away from VIPs, but they decided it was not necessary to do so in this situation. Hinckley couldn’t believe his luck. He was extremely close to the president. He reached into his jacket’s right pocket as Reagan walked out into the open. “Goodbye,” he thought. “Goodbye to myself.” The president walked along the pathway to the vehicle, smiled at the crowd and waved his left arm. Pop. Reagan’s press secretary, Jim Brady, who was standing two feet away from the rope, was hit point-blank in the head. Pop.

Officer Thomas Delahanty instinctively pivoted to shield the president after hearing the initial gunfire, but fell hard to the ground, hit in the back and screaming, “I am hit!” Instantly, Reagan’s nearest Secret Service agent, Jerry Parr, reached out for the president’s head and grabbed his left shoulder, forming a human shield. Pop. Pop. Parr shoved Reagan forward toward the open door of the armored Lincoln. Agent Tim McCarthy whirled around to face the gunfire, assuming a blocking stance, but was hit by a bullet that spun him to the ground. Pop. Pop. The bullet hit the bulletproof window of the limousine door. Parr pushed the president inside with the force of his body. 2:30 p.m. Inside Stagecoach, the situation was going from bad to worse. “Were you hit?” Parr asked. “No, I don’t think so,” Reagan said. “I think you hurt my chest when you landed on top of me.” The agent noticed blood on the paper napkin that the president used to wipe his mouth. His face was turning gray and his lips seemed blue. They raced him to the hospital. When they arrived, Parr jumped out to help Reagan out.

But he shook his head, as if to say, “I can do it myself.” “Reagan climbed out of the Lincoln and stood up. He steadied himself and hitched up his pants” and walked unaided through the ER doors. “I feel like I can’t breathe,” he said, as he wobbled, his eyes rolled to the back of his legs and he fell, saved by two Secret Service agents before he hit the floor. They rushed Reagan to the trauma bay, where they began cutting off his clothes. Slowly, the nursing staff began to realize that this was not just any patient: the man’s shirt was stitched with “RR.” 2:37 p.m. G. Wesley Price, a surgical resident, arrived, and pulled out a stethoscope and pressed it to the right and left sides of the lungs. The right side seemed fine but the left side was not functioning. “We’d better roll him over,” he said. He noticed a small, half-inch-long slit 5 inches below the president’s armpit. “He’s been shot,” he said to Parr and another Secret Service agent. The president was suffering from a collapsed lung and a chest cavity filling with blood.

Despite the excruciating pain he was in, the hospital staff was amazed by Reagan’s courteousness. “I don’t mean to trouble you,” Reagan would say to the nursing staff, “but I am still having a hard time breathing.” And he maintained his trademark sense of humor. When the first lady arrived to see her husband for the first time, she was shocked by how sickly and gray he was with the IV lines and the oxygen mask. Even though he struggled to breath, he pulled off the mask. He said, “Honey, I forgot to duck,” referencing the line boxer Jack Dempsey used after he lost the heavyweight championship in 1926. 4:30 p.m. After several surgeries, it was finally time for doctors to focus on removing the bullet lodged in the president’s left lung. Alongside were Secret Service agents, who to the amusement of doctors and nurses, had put their surgical scrubs on incorrectly; some even wore the surgical booties over bare feet instead of shoes. Using a No. 10 scalpel, Dr. Benjamin Aaron made a 6-inch incision, starting below his left nipple and moving towards his back.

The bullet was somewhere in the lower lobe of the left lung, about an inch from the heart. It was now his mission to find it. But it would not be an easy task. During his first try, he couldn’t find it. Wilber said Aaron had the image of a New York Post headline in his head: “Doc Leaves Bullet in President!” So he ordered another X-ray. Finally, he felt something hard. He sliced open the lung and plucked out the bullet, only the size of a dime. Reagan’s total blood loss was 3.5 liters, or over half his total blood volume. Recovery Throughout his hospital stay, Reagan continued his positive and cheerful outlook, communicating through notes, writing down famous Winston Churchill quotes, and even flirting with nurses. He asked one, “Does Nancy know about us?” And told another that he felt like “I’ve done a remake of ‘Lost Weekend,’ ” referring to the movie about an alcoholic’s bender. When told about the would-be assassin, he replied: “I had hoped it was a KGB agent.

On second thought, he would have missed.” Reagan returned to the Oval Office on April 24 and on April 28 gave his first public speech since the attack. The way in which he handled his near-death experience added to his high approval ratings when he left office. About his courage under fire, he was characteristically modest. “There was a crowd standing around,” he told an interviewer in 1985. “Somebody ought to entertain them some way.” Share this: Ronald Reagan Assassination Attempt By Jennifer Rosenberg Updated May 31, 2016. On March 30, 1981, 25-year-old John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on U.S. President Ronald Reagan just outside the Washington Hilton Hotel. President Reagan was hit by one bullet, which punctured his lung. Three others were also injured in the shooting. The Shooting Around 2:25 p.m. on March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan emerged via a side door from the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington D.C. He had just finished giving a speech to a group of trade unionists at the National Conference of Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO.

Reagan only had to walk about 30 feet from the hotel door to his awaiting car, so the Secret Service had not thought a bullet-proof vest to be necessary. Outside, waiting for Reagan, were a number of newspapermen, members of the public, and John Hinckley Jr. When Reagan got close to his car, Hinckley pulled out his .22-caliber revolver and fired six shots in quick succession. The entire shooting took only two to three seconds. continue reading below our video 10 Best Universities in the United States In that time, one bullet hit Press Secretary James Brady in the head and another bullet hit police officer Tom Delahanty in the neck. With lightening quick reflexes, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy spread out his body as wide as possible to become a human shield, hoping to protect the President. McCarthy was hit in the abdomen. In the mere seconds that all this was taking place, another Secret Service agent, Jerry Parr, pushed Reagan into the backseat of the awaiting presidential car. Parr then jumped on top of Reagan in an effort to protect him from further gunfire. The presidential car then quickly drove off. The Hospital At first, Reagan didn't realize that he had been shot.

He thought he had maybe broken a rib when he had been thrown into the car. It wasn't until Reagan began coughing up blood that Parr realized Reagan might be seriously hurt. Parr then redirected the presidential car, which had been heading to the White House, to George Washington Hospital instead. Upon arrival at the hospital, Reagan was able to walk inside on his own, but he soon passed out from loss of blood. Reagan had not broken a rib from being thrown into the car; he had been shot. One of Hinckley's bullets had ricocheted off of the presidential car and hit Reagan's torso, just under his left arm. Luckily for Reagan, the bullet had failed to explode. It had also narrowly missed his heart. By all accounts, Reagan remained in good spirits throughout the entire encounter, including making some now-famous, humorous comments. One of these comments was to his wife, Nancy Reagan, when she came to see him in the hospital. Reagan told her, "Honey, I forgot to duck." Another comment was directed to his surgeons as Reagan entered the operating room. Reagan said, "Please tell me you're all Republicans." One of the surgeons responded, "Today, Mr.

President, we're all Republicans." After spending 12 days in the hospital, Reagan was sent home on April 11, 1981. What Happened to John Hinckley? Immediately after Hinckley fired the six bullets at President Reagan, Secret Service agents, bystanders, and police officers all jumped on Hinckley. Hinckley was then quickly taken into custody. In 1982, Hinckley was put on trial for attempting to assassinate the President of the United States. Since the entire assassination attempt had been caught on film and Hinckley had been captured at the scene of the crime, Hinckley's guilt was obvious. Thus, Hinckley's lawyer tried using the insanity plea. It was true; Hinckley did have a long history of mental problems. Plus, for years, Hinckley had been obsessed with and stalked actress Jodie Foster . Based on Hinckley's warped view of the movie Taxi Driver, Hinckley hoped to rescue Foster by killing the President. This, Hinckley believed, would guarantee Foster's affection.

On June 21, 1982, Hinckley was found "not guilty by reason of insanity" on all 13 counts against him. After the trial, Hinckley was confined to St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Recently, Hinckley has been awarded privileges which allow him to leave the hospital, for several days at a time, to visit his parents. President Reagan shot, March 30, 1981 - POLITICO POLITICO President Ronald Reagan waves just before he is shot outside the Washington Hilton, March 30, 1981. President Reagan shot, March 30, 1981 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter On this day in 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest at the side entrance of the Hilton Washington hotel by John Hinckley Jr. Reagan was walking to his limousine after a speech to AFL-CIO leaders when Hinckley, 25, who was standing among a group of reporters, fired six shots, hitting Reagan and three others. Hinckley shot James Brady in the head, inflicting permanent brain damage on Reagan’s press secretary.

Timothy McCarthy, a Secret Service agent, was shot in the side, and Thomas Delahanty, a District of Columbia policeman, was shot in the neck. Both recovered from their wounds. Story Continued Below Hinckley was quickly overpowered and pinned against a wall while Reagan, still unaware that he had been shot, was shoved into his limousine by an agent and rushed to George Washington University Hospital. The .22-caliber bullet collapsed Reagan’s left lung and just missed his heart. Remarkably, the president, who was 70 at the time, walked unassisted into the emergency room. As he was being prepped for what turned out to be two hours of life-saving surgery, he quipped to his wife, Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck.” “Please tell me you’re Republicans,” he said to his surgeons. The next day, the president, reported to be in stable condition, signed a bill from his hospital bed. Reagan’s popularity continued to soar after he returned to the White House on April 11. At the end of the month, he received a tumultuous welcome on Capitol Hill. In June 1982, a D.C.

jury found Hinckley — who had been obsessed with Jodie Foster and her 1976 film “Taxi Driver” — not guilty by reason of insanity. He has since been confined to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington. Since 1999, Hinckley has been allowed to make unsupervised day trips to visit his parents. Source: “President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime,” by Lou Cannon (1991)

Question: Who said "honey, I forgot to duck" after being shot in 1981?
Answer: Ronald Reagan