THE BULLETT THAT SAVED A PRESIDENCY:

Reagan Wounded In Chest By Gunman; Outlook 'Good' After 2-Hour Surgery; Aide And 2 Guards Shot; Suspect Held (Howell Raines, 3/30/1981, The New York Times)

At 4:14 P.M, Mr. Haig, in a voice shaking with emotion, told reporters that the Administration's ''crisis management'' plan was in effect, and citing provisions for Presidential succession, Mr. Haig asserted that he was in charge.

Mr. Reagan's wife, Nancy, and senior White House advisers rushed to the hospital and talked to Mr. Reagan before he entered surgery at about 3:24 P.M.. Despite his wound, the 70-year-old President walked into the hospital and seemed determined to assure his wife and colleagues that he would survive.

''Honey, I forgot to duck,'' Mr. Reagan was quoted as telling his wife. As he was wheeled down a corridor on a hospital cart, he told Senator Paul Laxalt, a political associate, ''Don't worry about me.'' According to Lyn Nofziger, the White House political director, Mr. Reagan winked at James A. Baker 3d, his chief of staff. Then, spying Edwin Meese 3d, the White House counselor, Mr. Reagan quipped, ''Who's minding the store?''

The operating room was said to be the scene of a bit of the partisan humor favored by the chief executive. Mr. Nofziger said that Mr. Reagan, eyeing the surgeons, said, ''Please tell me you're Republicans."

At this point, Mr. Reagan had apparently not been told of the grave wounds to the three men who went down in the spray of bullets aimed at him.
[...]

Mr. Reagan regained consciousness early tonight, according to a White House statement. It said: ''At 8:50 this evening, the President joked with his doctors in the recovery room and, despite the tubes in his mouth, he gave them a handwritten note that said, 'All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.' ''

The President's game recounting of the show-business line, attributed to W.C. Fields as his choice of epitaph, struck a sharp contrast with the events of the day. [...]

Mr. Reagan was operated upon by Dr. Benjamin Aaron and Dr. Joseph Giordano of the university's staff. Asked if it was ''medically extraordinary'' for Mr. Reagan to have walked into the hospital, Dr. O'Leary said, ''Maybe not medically extraordinary, but just short of that.''

Dr. O'Leary said the surgeons made an incision about six inches long just underneath the left nipple. Mr. Reagan received two and a half quarts of blood through transfusions during what Dr. O'Leary called a ''relatively simple procedure.''

The bullet was removed intact, although its shape had been distorted by striking Mr. Reagan's rib. A .22-caliber bullet is relatively small, and although capable of killing, generally does less tissue damage than the larger calibers typically used by lawenforcement officers.

Mr. Reagan, who has been in office just over two months, is the eighth American President to become an assassin's target. Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and John F. Kennedy were killed by gunmen. Unsuccessful attempts were made on the lives of Andrew Jackson, Harry S. Truman and Gerald R. Ford. This is the third assassination attempt since President Kennedy's death in 1963. Two attempts were made on President Ford's life in September 1975.

Funny how that one incident indelibly shaped our images of both Ronald Reagan, positively, and Al Haig, negatively. Meanwhile, note Howell Raines's implication that the President's humor was inappropriate. Jackass.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 30, 2004 7:14 AM