President of the U.S., 1981-1989; Republican Governor (CA)
Survived 1981 assassination attempt by John Hinckley
A former Secret Service agent says, "People always ask, 'Hey, would you really take a bullet for the president? I say, 'What do you think, I'm stupid?' But what we'll do is we'll do everything in our power to keep the bullet out of the event. That's what
the Secret Service is all about. It's about being prepared, and it's about training properly."
On Mar. 30, 1981, John Hinckley fired a revolver at Reagan as he left the Washington Hilton Hotel after giving a speech. Instinctively, Agent Timothy McCarth
hurled himself in front of Reagan and took a bullet in the right chest. It passed through his right lung and lacerated his liver. While Secret Service agents have been wounded or killed during protection duty, McCarthy is the only agent to have actually
taken a bullet for the president by stepping into the line of fire. In a second and a half, Hinckley fired six rounds. Besides McCarthy, a Metropolitan Police Officer & Press Secretary Jim Brady were wounded. Brady suffered extensive brain damage.
Oversaw one execution as CA Gov., supported death penalty
On April 11, 1967, opponents of capital punishment held an all-night vigil outside Governor Reagan’s house to protest his refusal to grant clemency to Aaron Mitchell, sentenced to death for the murder of a Sacramento policeman.
Reagan later said it the worst decision he had to make. Mitchell was executed at 10 AM the following day in San Quentin’s gas chamber.
This was the only execution carried out in California during Reagan’s 8 years as governor.
Reagan granted clemency in the one other capital case that came to him, on the basis of evidence that the condemned man had a history of brain damage.
Reagan had been bitterly disappointed when the judge he had named to head the California Supreme Court wrote the decision striking down the state’s capital punishment statute after Reagan had left the Governor’s office.
Approved three new prisons and 6% growth in law enforcement
[In 1982, David Stockman presented] three budget levels for law enforcement called, at one extreme, for an increase of 14% in “real program growth” and the construction of seven new prisons. This was the increase requested by Attorney General William
French Smith and designated level one on Stockman’s chart. At the other extreme, program growth was reduced by 5% and all new prisons eliminated. Reagan chose level two, which provided for program growth of nearly 6% and construction of three prisons.
Source: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon, p. 153
, Jul 2, 1991
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