The Daily Hatch
NCAA Championship game, March 28, 1977 — The New York City native found success at Marquette, a Jesuit school in Milwaukee, Wis., by building a program filled with NYC kids and area players. A great coach and even better quote, McGuire’s Warriors needed a last-second shot off a full-court pass to get by UNC Charlotte in the Final Four before upending Dean Smith’s Tar Heels in the final. McGuire walked into the sunset a champ.
Former First Lady Nancy Reagan prepares to present the Ronald Reagan Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mr. Bob Hope during his 94th birthday celebration. July 1, 1997
Jane “legs a mile long” Russell, Bob Hope and Roy Rogers from Son of Paleface (1952) – and a treat at the very end!
My grandfather, Everette Hatcher Sr. (1903-1988), and I saw Bob Hope do a performance in Memphis in 1982. It was great. I know that we used to watch Hope on TV together and he would always comment how amazing Hope was to be hosting so many TV Shows at his age.
I will be quoting from an article “Five Myths about Ronald Reagan” (Washington Post, Feb 4, 2011) by Edmund Morris.
1. He was a bad actor.
Well, yes and no. Most of the movies he made as a Warner Bros. contract player are unwatchable by persons of sound mind. When he was president, it was easy to laugh at them. The spectacle of the leader of the free world, a.k.a. Secret Service agent Brass Bancroft, deploying an enormous ray gun against an airborne armada was especially hilarious in 1983, the year he announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, that vaporizer of foreign nuclear missiles. “All right, Hayden – focus that inertia projector on ’em and let ’em have it!”
Even when Reagan believed he was acting well, as in “Kings Row,” he betrayed infallible signs of thespian mediocrity: an unwillingness to listen to other performers and an inability to communicate thoughts. Now that he is dead, however, one feels an odd tenderness for the effort he put into every role – particularly in early movies, when he struggled to control a tendency of his lips to writhe around his too-rapid speech.
Ironically, he was transformed into a superb actor when he took on the roles of governor of California, presidential candidate and president of the United States. Then, as never in his movies, he became authoritative, authentic, irresistible to eye and ear. His two greatest performances, in my opinion, were at the Republican National Convention in 1976, when he effortlessly stole Gerald Ford’s thunder as nominee and made the delegates regret their choice, and at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1985, when he delivered the supreme speech of his presidency.
I asked him once if he had any nostalgia for the years he was nuzzling up to Ann Sheridan and Doris Day on camera. He gestured around the Oval Office. “Why should I? I have the biggest stage in the world, right here!”
Midwest Regional semifinals, March 14, 1981 — Arkansas trailed defending champion Louisville 73-72 with five seconds remaining, but guard U.S. Reed was stuck trying to wind through defenders and was unable to pass. So he launched a 49-foot heave that found the bottom of the net. “Before the game I was shooting long shots in warmups,” he said. “They were so long the guys in the line were saying, ‘What are you doing?’ I was saying I may have to hit a long shot at the end of the game. You never know.”
n pictures: Japan earthquake and tsunami
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At least 300 people are already confirmed to have died but many are still missing.
I have made no secret of the fact that Ronald Wilson Reagan was my favorite president. We named our son Wilson after him. He could be funny when the occasion called for it and be serious when he needed to. In the video clip below he talks about the sacrifice of those who died on D-Day. Below that I have included some of Reagan’s humor.
Reagan’s D- Day speech
Reagan’s humor
I have wondered at times what the Ten Commandments would have looked like if Moses had run them through the U.S. congress
***Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other.
[ Funny Government Quotes]***Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his. (During 1980 presidential campaign)
[ Funny Political Quotes]***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.
[ Funny Government Quotes] [ Funny Economics Quotes]***Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.
[ Funny Political Quotes]***A Hippie is someone who walks like Tarzan, looks like Jane and smells like Cheetah. (Second book of Insults, 1981, ed. Nancy McPhee)
[ Funny Character Quotes]***Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.
[ Funny Political Quotes]***I’ve talked to you on a number of occasions about the economic problems our nation faces, and I am prepared to tell you it’s in a hell of a mess—we’re not connected to the press room yet, are we?
[ Funny Government Quotes] [ Funny Economics Quotes]***The best minds are not in government. If any were, business would steal them away.
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March 16, 1990 — Hank Gathers, the nation’s leading scorer and rebounder as a junior, was part of Loyola Marymount’s 122 point-per-game offense when he collapsed during a conference tournament game and later died. His teammate, Bo Kimble, shot his first free throw during each of the Lions’ three NCAA tourney games left-handed in honor of Gathers. He made all three in a surpring run for the No. 11 seed.
1980 Presidential Debate between Reagan and Carter
Presidential Debate with Jimmy Carter
10/28/80
MS. HINERFELD
Good evening.
I’m Ruth Hinerfeld of the League of Women Voters Education Fund. Next Tuesday is election day. Before going to the polls, voters want to understand the issues and know the candidates’ positions. Tonight, voters will have an opportunity to see and hear the major party candidates for the Presidency state their views on issues that affect us all. The League of Women Voters is proud to present this Presidential Debate.
Our moderator is Howard K. Smith.
MR. SMITH
Thank you, Ms. Hinerfeld.
The League of Women Voters is pleased to welcome to the Cleveland, Ohio, Convention Center Music Hall President Jimmy, Carter, the Democratic Party’s candidate for re-election to the Presidency, and Governor Ronald Reagan of California, the Republican Party’s candidate for the Presidency. The candidates will debate questions on domestic, economic, foreign policy, and national security issues.
The questions are going to be posed by a panel of distinguished journalists who are here with me. They are: Marvin Stone, the editor of U.S. News and World Report; Harry Ellis, national correspondent of the Christian Science Monitor: William Hilliard, assistant managing editor of the Portland Oregonian; Barbara Walters, correspondent, ABC News.
The ground rules for this, as agreed by you gentlemen, are these: Each panelist down here will ask a question, the same question, to each of the two candidates. After the two candidates have answered, a panelist will ask followup questions to try to sharpen the answers. The candidates will then have an opportunity each to make a rebuttal. That will constitute the first half of the debate, and I will state the rules for the second half later on.
Some other rules: The candidates are not permitted to bring prepared notes to the podium, but are permitted to make notes during the debate. If the candidates exceed the allotted time agreed on, I will reluctantly but certainly interrupt. We ask the Convention Center audience here to abide by one ground rule. Please do not applaud or express approval or disapproval during the debate.
Now, based on a toss of the coin. Governor Reagan will respond to the first question from Marvin Stone.
MR. STONE
Governor, as you’re well aware, the question of war and peace has emerged as a central issue in this campaign in the give-and-take of recent weeks. President Carter’s been criticized for responding late to aggressive Soviet impulses, for insufficient buildup of our Armed Forces, and a paralysis in dealing with Afghanistan and Iran. You have been criticized for being all too quick to advocate the use of lots of muscle, military action, to deal with foreign crises, Specifically, what are the differences between the two of you on the uses of American military power?
GOVERNOR REAGAN
I don’t know what the differences might be, because I don’t know what Mr. Carter’s policies are. I do know what he has said about mine. And I’m only here to tell you that I believe with all my heart that our first priority must be world peace, and that use of force is always and only a last resort, when everything else has failed, and then only with regard to our national security.
Now, I believe, also, that meeting this mission, this responsibility for preserving the peace, which I believe is a responsibility peculiar to our country, that we cannot shirk our responsibility as the leader of the Free World, because we’re the only one that can do it. And therefore, the burden of maintaining the peace falls on us. And to maintain that peace requires strength. America has never gotten in a war because we were too strong. We can get into a war by letting events get out of hand, as they have in the last 3 1/2 years under the foreign policies of this administration of Mr. Carter’s, until we’re faced each time with a crisis. And good management in preserving the peace requires that we control the events and try to intercept before they become a crisis.
But I have seen four wars in my lifetime. I’m a father of sons: I have a grandson. I don’t ever want to see another generation of young Americans bleed their lives into sandy beachheads in the Pacific, or rice paddies and jungles in Asia, or the muddy, bloody battlefields of Europe.
MR. SMITH
Mr. Stone, do you have a followup question for the Governor?
MR. STONE
Yes. Governor, we’ve been hearing that the defense buildup that you would associate yourself with would cost tens of billions of dollars more than is now contemplated. In assuming that the American people are ready to bear this cost, then, nevertheless keep asking the following question: How do you reconcile huge increases in military outlays with your promise of substantial tax cuts and of balancing the budget, which in this fiscal year, the one that just ended, ran more than $60 billion in the red?
GOVERNOR REAGAN
Mr. Stone, I have submitted an economic plan that I’ve worked out in concert with a number of fine economists in this country, all of whom approve it, and believe that over a 5-year projection this plan can permit the extra spending for needed refurbishing of our defensive posture, that it can provide for a balanced budget by 1983, if not earlier, and that we can afford — along with the cuts that I have proposed in Government spending — we can afford the tax cuts I have proposed — and probably, mainly because Mr. Carter’s economic policy, has built into the next 5 years, and on beyond that, a tax increase that will be taking $86 billion more next year out of the people’s pockets than was taken this year. And my tax cut does not come close to eliminating that $86 billion increase. I’m only reducing the amount of the increase.
In other words, what I’m talking about is not putting Government back to getting less money than Government’s been getting, but simply cutting, the increase in spending.
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n pictures: Japan earthquake and tsunami
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The quake was felt in the capital Tokyo, where workers evacuated swaying buildings, trains and underground services were halted, plants closed and the international airport temporarily shut.
President Reagan and Nancy Reagan Reagan dancing with (left to right) Stubby Kaye, Shirley Jones, Marvin Hamlisch and Lee Roy Reams during a rehearsal for “In Performance at the White House.” 8/5/88.
My University of Arkansas at Little Rock (UALR) Trojans played a great game last night, but just a great shot in the closing seconds from way out allowed their opponents to get to overtime. The Trojans can be proud!!!!It was the first game in the 2011 NCAA Tournament and it has been 21 years since they were in the tournament. I remember when Mike Newell took the Trojans to the tournament 3 of the 6 years he was here. I didn’t know if UALR would ever get back and I am glad they did.
In a prophetic speech concerning the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.” I am posting in the coming days excerpts from one of Reagan best speeches ever. He addressed the members of the British Parliament on June 8, 1982.
The march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history
At the same time, we invite the Soviet Union to consider with us how the competition of ideas and values — which it is committed to support — can be conducted on a peaceful and reciprocal basis. For example, I am prepared to offer President Brezhnev an opportunity to speak to the American people on our television if he will allow me the same opportunity with the Soviet people. We also suggest that panels of our newsmen periodically appear on each other’s television to discuss major events.
Now, I don’t wish to sound overly optimistic, yet the Soviet Union is not immune from the reality of what is going on in the world. It has happened in the past — a small ruling elite either mistakenly attempts to ease domestic unrest through greater repression and foreign adventure, or it chooses a wiser course. It begins to allow its people a voice in their own destiny. Even if this latter process is not realized soon, I believe the renewed strength of the democratic movement, complemented by a global campaign for freedom, will strengthen the prospects for arms control and a world at peace.
I have discussed on other occasions, including my address on May 9th, the elements of Western policies toward the Soviet Union to safeguard our interests and protect the peace. What I am describing now is a plan and a hope for the long term — the march of freedom and democracy which will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history as it has left other tyrannies which stifle the freedom and muzzle the self-expression of the people. And that’s why we must continue our efforts to strengthen NATO even as we move forward with our Zero-Option initiative in the negotiations on intermediate-range forces and our proposal for a one-third reduction in strategic ballistic missile warheads.
Our military strength is a prerequisite to peace, but let it be clear we maintain this strength in the hope it will never be used, for the ultimate determinant in the struggle that’s now going on in the world will not be bombs and rockets, but a test of wills and ideas, a trial of spiritual resolve, the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish, the ideals to which we are dedicated.
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NCAA East Regional opener, March 17, 2000 — Florida trailed No. 12 seed Butler 68-67 with 8.1 seconds remaining. So the Gators went for a “Home Run.” The designed play called for Teddy Dupay to dish to freshman Mike Miller, who cut across the lane and pulled up for a short jumper that rattled through the hoop as the buzzer sounded.
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Little known presidential facts:
n pictures: Japan earthquake and tsunami
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In Ichihara giant fireballs rise from a burning oil refinery. Thousands of people have also been evacuated from the area around a nuclear power plant, over fears its cooling system was damaged.
President Reagan and Nancy Reagan posing with Lady Bird Johnson during a Congressional Medal reception for Lady Bird Johnson in the Blue room. 4/28/88
Reagan documentary clip from PBS
Tubby Smith to Arkansas? We will have to wait and see. Tim Floyd to Arkansas? These are just some of the names being mentioned.
In a prophetic speech concerning the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.” I am posting in the coming days excerpts from one of Reagan best speeches ever. He addressed the members of the British Parliament on June 8, 1982.
Reagan: Freedoms are always preferred by the people
The objective I propose is quite simple to state: to foster the infrastructure of democracy, the system of a free press, unions, political parties, universities, which allows a people to choose their own way to develop their own culture, to reconcile their own differences through peaceful means.
This is not cultural imperialism, it is providing the means for genuine self-determination and protection for diversity. Democracy already flourishes in countries with very different cultures and historical experiences. It would be cultural condescension, or worse, to say that any people prefer dictatorship to democracy. Who would voluntarily choose not to have the right to vote, decide to purchase government propaganda handouts instead of independent newspapers, prefer government to worker-controlled unions, opt for land to be owned by the state instead of those who till it, want government repression of religious liberty, a single political party instead of a free choice, a rigid cultural orthodoxy instead of democratic tolerance and diversity?
Since 1917 the Soviet Union has given covert political training and assistance to Marxist-Leninists in many countries. Of course, it also has promoted the use of violence and subversion by these same forces. Over the past several decades, West European and other Social Democrats, Christian Democrats, and leaders have offered open assistance to fraternal, political, and social institutions to bring about peaceful and democratic progress. Appropriately, for a vigorous new democracy, the Federal Republic of Germany’s political foundations have become a major force in this effort.
We in America now intend to take additional steps, as many of our allies have already done, toward realizing this same goal. The chairmen and other leaders of the national Republican and Democratic Party organizations are initiating a study with the bipartisan American political foundation to determine how the United States can best contribute as a nation to the global campaign for democracy now gathering force. They will have the cooperation of congressional leaders of both parties, along with representatives of business, labor, and other major institutions in our society. I look forward to receiving their recommendations and to working with these institutions and the Congress in the common task of strengthening democracy throughout the world.
It is time that we committed ourselves as a nation — in both the pubic and private sectors — to assisting democratic development.We plan to consult with leaders of other nations as well. There is a proposal before the Council of Europe to invite parliamentarians from democratic countries to a meeting next year in Strasbourg. That prestigious gathering could consider ways to help democratic political movements.
This November in Washington there will take place an international meeting on free elections. And next spring there will be a conference of world authorities on constitutionalism and self-goverment hosted by the Chief Justice of the United States. Authorities from a number of developing and developed countries — judges, philosophers, and politicians with practical experience — have agreed to explore how to turn principle into practice and further the rule of law.
East Regional semifinals, March 22, 1990 — With one second remaining against Clemson, Connecticut pulled off a minor miracle. The No. 1 seed trailed 70-69 — blowing a 19-point second-half lead – when Scott Burrell launched a 94-foot pass to Tate George. The senior guard spun away from defender Sean Tyson and sunk a 16-foot jumper that gave UConn a remarkable win. Burrell was amazed. “I never thought we’d have enough time to do it.”
In pictures: Japan earthquake and tsunami
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One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded has struck off the coast of north-east Japan, causing widespread destruction. Many casualties are feared.
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Little known presidential facts:
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President Reagan meeting with William F. Buckley in the Oval Office. 1/21/88.
I really thought that John Pelphrey would be allowed to coach the fine recruits that he signed. In fact, I thought that since all these recruits signed early that they had been given assurances from Jeff Long concerning that. I guess I was wrong.
In a prophetic speech concerning the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.” I am posting in the coming days excerpts from one of Reagan best speeches ever. He addressed the members of the British Parliament on June 8, 1982.
Freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few, but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings.
In the Communist world as well, man’s instinctive desire for freedom and self-determination surfaces again and again. To be sure, there are grim reminders of how brutally the police state attempts to snuff out this quest for self-rule — 1953 in East Germany, 1956 in Hungary, 1968 in Czechoslovakia, 1981 in Poland. But the struggle continues in Poland. And we know that there are even those who strive and suffer for freedom within the confines of the Soviet Union itself. How we conduct ourselves here in the Western democracies will determine whether this trend continues.
No, democracy is not a fragile flower. Still it needs cultivating. If the rest of this century is to witness the gradual growth of freedom and democratic ideals, we must take actions to assist the campaign for democracy.
Some argue that we should encourage democratic change in right-wing dictatorships, but not in Communist regimes. Well, to accept this preposterous notion — as some well-meaning people have — is to invite the argument that once countries achieve a nuclear capability, they should be allowed an undisturbed reign of terror over their own citizens.
We reject this course.
As for the Soviet view, Chairman Brezhnev repeatedly has stressed that the competition of ideas and systems must continue and that this is entirely consistent with relaxation of tensions and peace.
Well, we ask only that these systems begin by living up to their own constitutions, abiding by their own laws, and complying with the international obligations they have undertaken. We ask only for a process, a direction, a basic code of decency, not for an instant transformation.
We cannot ignore the fact that even without our encouragement there has been and will continue to be repeated explosions against repression and dictatorships. The Soviet Union itself is not immune to this reality. Any system is inherently unstable that has no peaceful means to legitimize its leaders. In such cases, the very repressiveness of the state ultimately drives people to resist it, if necessary, by force.
While we must be cautious about forcing the pace of change, we must not hesitate to declare our ultimate objectives and to take concrete actions to move toward them. We must be staunch in our conviction that freedom is not the sole prerogative of a lucky few, but the inalienable and universal right of all human beings. So states the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, among other things, guarantees free elections.
National championship, April 4, 1994 — Nothing fazed Scotty Thurman. Never mind that Hawg fan Bill Clinton was watching. Never mind that Arkansas was tied 70-70 with 51 seconds remaining against Duke, playing in its fourth title game in the last five years. Never mind that Antonio Lang, 6-8 and long-limbed, was flying at Thurman. The junior swingman simply added a little more arc to his shot, which eventually gave Arkansas its only NCAA crown.
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Little known presidential facts:
President Reagan posing with Bette Davis at the Kennedy Center Honors for Lifetime Achievement at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. 12/6/1987
I remember in 1981 when I heard the song “Bette Davis Eyes” sung by Kim Carnes,and I personally did not like the song, but it got played over and over. In fact, it spent 9 weeks as a #1 song on U.S.Billboard Hot 100, and was Billboard’s number one single of 1981. The song won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The song was also a number one hit is 31 countries. Bette Davis admitted to being a fan of the song and approached Carnes and the songwriters to thank them for making her “a part of modern times.”
That just proves that the music I do not like will probably go on to be the music that everyone else in the world loves. I have never figured out what is so special about Bette Davis eyes. You can look at the picture above and figure it out yourself.
Music video by Kim Carnes performing Bette Davis Eyes.
In a prophetic speech concerning the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.” I am posting in the coming days excerpts from one of Reagan best speeches ever. He addressed the members of the British Parliament on June 8, 1982.
Free Elections are loved by the people
The hard evidence of totalitarian rule has caused in mankind an uprising of the intellect and will. Whether it is the growth of the new schools of economics in America or England or the appearance of the so-called new philosophers in France, there is one unifying thread running through the intellectual work of these groups — rejection of the arbitrary power of the state, the refusal to subordinate the rights of the individual to the superstate, the realization that collectivism stifles all the best human impulses.
Since the exodus from Egypt, historians have written of those who sacrificed and struggled for freedom — the stand at Thermopylae, the revolt of Spartacus, the storming of the Bastille, the Warsaw uprising in World War II. More recently we’ve seen evidence of this same human impulse in one of the developing nations in Central America. For months and months the world news media covered the fighting in El Salvador. Day after day we were treated to stories and film slanted toward the brave freedom-fighters battling oppressive government forces in behalf of the silent, suffering people of that tortured country.
And then one day those silent, suffering people were offered a chance to vote, to choose the kind of government they wanted. Suddenly the freedom-fighters in the hills were exposed for what they really are — Cuban-backed guerrillas who want power for themselves, and their backers, not democracy for the people. They threatened death to any who voted, and destroyed hundreds of buses and trucks to keep the people from getting to the polling places. But on election day, the people of El Salvador, an unprecedented 1.4 million of them, braved ambush and gunfire, and trudged for miles to vote for freedom.
They stood for hours in the hot sun waiting for their turn to vote. Members of our Congress who went there as observers told me of a women who was wounded by rifle fire on the way to the polls, who refused to leave the line to have her wound treated until after she had voted. A grandmother, who had been told by the guerrillas she would be killed when she returned from the polls, and she told the guerrillas, “You can kill me, you can kill my family, kill my neighbors, but you can’t kill us all.” The real freedom-fighters of El Salvador turned out to be the people of that country — the young, the old, the in-between.
Strange, but in my own country there’s been little if any news coverage of that war since the election. Now, perhaps they’ll say it’s — well, because there are newer struggles now.
On distant islands in the South Atlantic young men are fighting for Britain. And, yes, voices have been raised protesting their sacrifice for lumps of rock and earth so far away. But those young men aren’t fighting for mere real estate. They fight for a cause — for the belief that armed aggression must not be allowed to succeed, and the people must participate in the decisions of government — [applause] — the decisions of government under the rule of law. If there had been firmer support for that principle some 45 years ago, perhaps our generation wouldn’t have suffered the bloodletting of World War II.
In the Middle East now the guns sound once more, this time in Lebanon, a country that for too long has had to endure the tragedy of civil war, terrorism, and foreign intervention and occupation. The fighting in Lebanon on the part of all parties must stop, and Israel should bring its forces home. But this is not enough. We must all work to stamp out the scourge of terrorism that in the Middle East makes war an ever-present threat.
But beyond the troublespots lies a deeper, more positive pattern. Around the world today, the democratic revolution is gathering new strength. In India a critical test has been passed with the peaceful change of governing political parties. In Africa, Nigeria is moving into remarkable and unmistakable ways to build and strengthen its democratic institutions. In the Caribbean and Central America, 16 of 24 countries have freely elected governments. And in the United Nations, 8 of the 10 developing nations which have joined that body in the past 5 years are democracies.
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Little known presidential facts:
U.S. President Ronald Reagan assassination attempt.
I remember exactly where I was when I heard that President Reagan had been shot. I had just got out of a freshman class at college and turned on my car. The radio immediately went into a news story saying that President Reagan had been shot.
Today, some more details came out about that day 30 years ago:
AP – ** FILE ** In this March 30, 1981 file photo, President Reagan waves, then looks up before being shoved … WASHINGTON – A Secret Service audiotape 30 years old sheds light on the chaotic aftermath of Ronald Reagan’s shooting when neither the president nor his guardians realized he’d been shot, and an agent’s snap decision to get him to a hospital might have saved his life.
“Let’s hustle,” agent Jerry Parr is heard barking as Reagan’s limousine suddenly changed course, the sight of the president’s blood signaling there was more wrong with him than a bruised rib or two, as everyone thought right after the March 30, 1981, attack. The car, which had been spiriting Reagan back to the security of the White House after the spray of gunfire, sped to George Washington University Hospital instead. Reagan lost about half his blood and came closer to death that day than Americans realized for years later.
The Secret Service released the tape Friday in response to a public-records request from Del Wilber, a Washington Post reporter whose book, “Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan,” comes out next week.
Just over 10 minutes, the tape captures the urgent, confused yet coolly methodical radio communications among agents on the scene and the Secret Service command post, starting when the president and his entourage walked out of the Washington Hilton while John Hinckley Jr., with a pistol, stood waiting.
Hinckley opened fire, wounding press secretary James Brady in the head, police officer Thomas Delahanty in the back of the neck and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy in the abdomen before his last bullet ricocheted off the limousine, grazing Reagan’s rib and lodging in his lung. As has been known, Reagan and his protectors at first thought he’d merely hurt his ribs from being shoved into the vehicle by Parr.
At 2:27 p.m., 19 seconds into the tape, agent Ray Shaddick radios: “Advise, we’ve had shots fired. Shots fired. There are some injuries, uh, lay one on.”
Sixteen seconds later, Parr radios assurance about a president whose Secret Service code name was drawn from the Westerns he loved: “Rawhide is OK. Follow-up. Rawhide is OK.”
“You wanna go to the hospital or back to the White House?” Shaddick asks.
“We’re going right. we’re going to Crown,” Parr says, using a code word for the White House.
“Back to the White House,” Shaddick repeats. “Rawhide is OK.”
Twenty-four seconds later, a voice asserts again: “Rawhide’s alright.”
But 25 seconds after that, the plan abruptly changes: “We want to go to the emergency room of George Washington.”
Nowhere in the tape does anyone state that the president is hurt.
Inside the car, however, as participants have told it, Reagan was worsening. Parr had quickly checked Reagan as they sped away and finding nothing terribly amiss, preferred the safety and medical facilities of the White House to an unsecured hospital. And when Reagan found blood in his mouth, the president told his men he must have cut his lip. But Reagan was becoming more ashen, complained of trouble breathing and the bleeding did not appear to be from a mere cut. Parr ordered the diversion to the hospital.
“Go to George Washington fast,” agent Drew Unrue is heard saying, at 01:57 minutes into the tape.
“Get an ambulance,” Parr tells the command post, known as Horsepower. “I mean get the, um, stretcher out there.” He wants the hospital to be ready to wheel the president in.
“We’ve made the call,” Horsepower replies.
“Let’s hustle,” Parr says.
Sirens are heard, and a voice confirms that authorities have captured a suspect. Hinckley was piled on and arrested at the scene.
Less than four minutes after Reagan left the Hilton, the car carrying the stricken president arrives at the hospital. Moments later, “Rainbow” — Nancy Reagan — is on her way.
Reagan had suffered extensive internal bleeding, but his gunshot wound was not discovered until doctors examined him. As it turned out, he did not enter on a stretcher but got out of the car, walked in with the help of agents and began to collapse before those around him picked him up and carried him to the emergency room. Doctors were able to stabilize his blood pressure in short order before removing the bullet in surgery.
Reagan’s wisecracks at the hospital that day testified to his resilience while masking the gravity of the struggle to save him. “Honey, I forgot to duck,” he told his wife. He told his doctors he hoped they were all Republicans, prompting this comeback from the liberal who led the trauma team, Dr. Joseph Giordano: “Today, Mr. President, we are all Republicans.” Reagan was in the hospital for nearly two weeks; recovery took months, but did not prevent a robust presidency.
Brady was permanently disabled, which did not inhibit him from becoming an advocate for gun control. Delahanty was sent into retirement with enduring pain. McCarthy, who had turned himself into a human target, standing with his arms up and legs spread between Reagan and the gunman, recovered. Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity and has been confined at a psychiatric hospital, granted increasing time outside in recent years.
The Palace of Westminster more commonly known as the Houses of Parliament is situated on the banks of the Thames in Westminster London. It is the home of the House of Commons and the House of Lords. It began life as a royal residence in 1042 under Edward the Confessor. The current mock gothic building design was result of a national competition. The plan of the building was the work of Charles Barry, with the gothic details designed by Augustus Pugin. The building has approximately 1,000 rooms, 100 staircases, and 3 km of passageways.
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I heard Peyton Hillis will be giving autographs on Sunday from 1pm to 3pm at Dillards at Park Plaze in Little Rock. Peyton was on 103.7 the buzz today and he said he hopes to go another 4 or 5 years in the NFL. He always gives 100% on every play and he hates to go out of bounds when he can still get another yard. That is tough on a body. I wish him well. I remember seeing him play against Bryant. Also a friend in Conway told me that Peyton used to be in his Sunday School class in the 7th grade and Peyton beat him arm wrestling even then.
In a prophetic speech concerning the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.” I am posting in the coming days excerpts from one of Reagan best speeches ever. He addressed the members of the British Parliament on June 8, 1982.
Sir Winston Churchill refused to accept the inevitability of war or even that it was imminent. He said, “I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines. But what we have to consider here today while time remains is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible in all countries.”
Well, this is precisely our mission today: to preserve freedom as well as peace. It may not be easy to see; but I believe we live now at a turning point.In an ironic sense Karl Marx was right. We are witnessing today a great revolutionary crisis, a crisis where the demands of the economic order are conflicting directly with those of the political order. But the crisis is happening not in the free, non-Marxist West, but in the home of Marxist-Leninism, the Soviet Union. It is the Soviet Union that runs against the tide of history by denying human freedom and human dignity to its citizens. It also is in deep economic difficulty. The rate of growth in the national product has been steadily declining since the fifties and is less than half of what it was then.
The dimensions of this failure are astounding: A country which employs one-fifth of its population in agriculture is unable to feed its own people. Were it not for the private sector, the tiny private sector tolerated in Soviet agriculture, the country might be on the brink of famine. These private plots occupy a bare 3 percent of the arable land but account for nearly one-quarter of Soviet farm output and nearly one-third of meat products and vegetables. Overcentralized, with little or no incentives, year after year the Soviet system pours its best resource into the making of instruments of destruction. The constant shrinkage of economic growth combined with the growth of military production is putting a heavy strain on the Soviet people. What we see here is a political structure that no longer corresponds to its economic base, a society where productive forces are hampered by political ones.
The decay of the Soviet experiment should come as no surprise to us. Wherever the comparisons have been made between free and closed societies — West Germany and East Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, Malaysia and Vietnam — it is the democratic countries what are prosperous and responsive to the needs of their people. And one of the simple but overwhelming facts of our time is this: Of all the millions of refugees we’ve seen in the modern world, their flight is always away from, not toward the Communist world. Today on the NATO line, our military forces face east to prevent a possible invasion. On the other side of the line, the Soviet forces also face east to prevent their people from leaving.
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Little known presidential facts:
President Reagan speaking at a Take Pride in America event with actors Clint Eastwood and Louis Gossett Jr. in the Rose Garden. 7/21/87.
Former President George W. Bush delivers a eulogy for Ronald Reagan. part 2
On Tuesday night I went to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Trojans v. N. Texas Mean Green game. UALR won a thriller at the buzzer. In fact, they were down by four points with 25 seconds left. That was one of the most amazing comebacks I have ever seen.
March 10th at 6:30pm will be the last game for John Pelphry possibly. If Tennessee eliminates the Razorbacks from the SEC Tournament then many believe Pelphry will be gone. I personally think that Jeff Long will give him one more year to coach these fine recruits he signed. We will see.
In a prophetic speech concerning the Soviet Union, Ronald Reagan predicted that “the march of freedom and democracy will leave Marxism-Leninism on the ash-heap of history.” I am posting in the coming days excerpts from one of Reagan best speeches ever. He addressed the members of the British Parliament on June 8, 1982.
We have not inherited an easy world. If developments like the Industrial Revolution, which began here in England, and the gifts of science and technology have made life much easier for us, they have also made it more dangerous. There are threats now to our freedom, indeed to our very existence, that other generations could never even have imagined.
There is first the threat of global war. No President, no Congress, no Prime Minister, no Parliament can spend a day entirely free of this threat. And I don’t have to tell you that in today’s world the existence of nuclear weapons could mean, if not the extinction of mankind, then surely the end of civilization as we know it. That’s why negotiations on intermediate-range nuclear forces now underway in Europe and the START talks — Strategic Arms Reduction Talks — which will begin later this month, are not just critical to American or Western policy; they are critical to mankind. Our commitment to early success in these negotiations is firm and unshakable, and our purpose is clear: reducing the risk of war by reducing the means of waging war on both sides.
At the same time there is a threat posed to human freedom by the enormous power of the modern state. History teaches the dangers of government that overreaches — political control taking precedence over free economic growth, secret police, mindless bureaucracy, all combining to stifle individual excellence and personal freedom.
Now, I’m aware that among us here and throughout Europe there is legitimate disagreement over the extent to which the public sector should play a role in a nation’s economy and life. But on one point all of us are united — our abhorrence of dictatorship in all its forms, but most particularly totalitarianism and the terrible inhumanities it has caused in our time — the great purge, Auschwitz and Dachau, the Gulag, and Cambodia.
Historians looking back at our time will note the consistent restraint and peaceful intentions of the West. They will note that it was the democracies who refused to use the threat of their nuclear monopoly in the forties and early fifties for territorial or imperial gain. Had that nuclear monopoly been in the hands of the Communist world, the map of Europe — indeed, the world — would look very different today. And certainly they will note it was not the democracies that invaded Afghanistan or supressed Polish Solidarity or used chemical and toxin warfare in Afghanistan and Southeast Asia.If history teaches anything it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly. We see around us today the marks of our terrible dilemma — predictions of doomsday, antinuclear demonstrations, an arms race in which the West must, for its own protection, be an unwilling participant. At the same time we see totalitarian forces in the world who seek subversion and conflict around the globe to further their barbarous assault on the human spirit. What, then, is our course? Must civilization perish in a hail of fiery atoms?Must freedom wither in a quiet, deadening accommodation with totalitarian evil?
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Little known presidential facts:
The Daily Hatch 