ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN (MARCH 30, 1981)(CBS RADIO NETWORK COVERAGE)

[@geoff3103]

Dang, Lem Tucker NAILED IT.

[@gregv79]

Hall of fame stuff. Riveting, intense. It was worse than they thought once they got in there in the OR.

[@moretoknowshow]

Its one of the best pieces of coverage on the event. The TV coverage was, frankly, rough. Radio was the go-to still in that era..

[@gregv79]

The radio version is way more concise than TV network coverage. Rat a tat tat real time narration. This was a hell of a day. I saw it on TV in my cousins dorn room at DePaul Chicago

[@Lisa-di1wi]

I was only 23 and off from work that day. I remember watching it on TV at my grandmother's house

[@karlhelm875]

i was still in school. we all saw in on live tv before school was out.

[@624radicalham]

My God the first six minutes, that reporter that was on the scene gave the most accurate, most vivid report I've ever heard. The video of the incident came out later and backs up every single thing he said: The gunshot count, the number of people hit, Reagan ducking his head, waving and someone calling "Mr. Reagan" ... just wow. Compare that to when Kennedy was shot. Accurate accounts were wildly all over the place in '63. He wanted his name known as he made a point to pause and say his name even after he was introduced. His name is Lem Tucker. Well done.

[@alannewman4818]

Lem Tucker who won two Emmys for his reporting.

[@karlhelm875]

ROUGHLY THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO JOHN LENNON MONTHS EARLIER. SOMEONE CALLED HIS NAME AND FIRED. LENNON DIDN'T HAVE AS MUCH AS REAGAN THOUGH.

[@jamesslick4790]

@@karlhelm875 Lennon didn't have as much of WHAT vs Reagan?

[@sandrasanders706]

Lem Tucker was an excellent reporter for CBS. And very underrated.

[@mgstever1564]

I thought the same thing. An amazing recall of the facts! I was 10 years old, and I remember every bit of that day. We were sent home from school and listened to news for the rest of the day. Named my daughter Reagan, after my favorite President. I wish there were more like him today.

[@moclips1]

Thanks for posting this!

[@Nigelsmom2136]

You really do remember where you are when things like this happen. I was in the chair in the dentist's office getting a root canal.

[@altfactor]

Back in 1981, there was no Internet, so people couldn't jump on it to watch live streams of TV coverage. And few workplaces had TV sets. Thus many Americans only had radio to follow the initial events after the shooting.

[@terrihenricks4160]

I was mostly listening to the radio at work. During the noon hour (Pacific Time} there was a television in the grill where I had lunch. There was actually some nervous laughter in the place when Edwin Newman said NBC-TV would have a special report that night after the basketball playoffs. It seemed to everyone that they had the priorities wrong.

[@altfactor]

President Reagan was out of danger by evening, so the NCAA decided to go ahead with it's Division 1 men's basketball finals that night. The Academy Awards, however, were delayed by a day or two. If the President's condition was uncertain, the NCAA finals probably would have been postponed or cancelled, and NBC would have stayed with special news coverage through the evening. If the President had died, the NCAA finals and the Oscars probably would have been cancelled entirely, and NBC (along with the other networks) likely would have been on-the-air nonstop day and night until after the funeral.

[@paulsonj72]

@@terrihenricks4160 If you watch the start of the 1981 NCAA Title game Bryant Gumbel(who was working for NBC sports at the time) explains why NBC decided to televise the game that night. And the NCAA itself did not decide until about 7:45 PM ET(or about 35 minutes before tip off) to go ahead and play the game. Postponing the game was problematic as the Spectrum(where the Final 4 was that year) was scheduled to host an NBA playoff game the next night.(NBA season ended a month earlier that year than today). And FWIW CBS also went to regular programming that night. ABC had to fill the schedule due to the Oscars being postponed. kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYnJfHWerMyDe9E (1981 NCAA title game)

[@SeahawkKrakenguy]

I was 9 years old as well and i was in the school cafeteria when the office secretary came in and tearfully announced that the President had been shot. We were given the option of having an extended recess or we could go into the library and watch the news on tv.

[@SeahawkKrakenguy]

John Paulson Thank you for that link!

[@cpcva724]

I heard about it while watching a Flintstones rerun . The landlord hollared upstairs"Reagan was shot".

[@travels129]

WILLLLMAAAA

[@ADayInTheLifeofMrsPerkins]

This was just a few months after John Lennon was shot. Even as a child I remember it clearly.

[@shahrulamar5358]

Lennon was murdered in December 1980.;

[@ADayInTheLifeofMrsPerkins]

@@shahrulamar5358 yes. March 1981 is 3 months after.. I remember both very clearly.

[@shahrulamar5358]

@@ADayInTheLifeofMrsPerkins Lennon widow still alive.

[@williampremo9807]

And in May the pope was shot in St peters square.

[@stlmopoet]

I was 15. Started watching news as soon as I got home from school.

[@WECOOK1969]

I was 11 years old when President Reagan was shot.... I remember it all over the news.

[@gspendlove]

I was 10 years old, and all I remember was the teacher brought in a TV on one of those wheeled carts. She turned it on, turned off the lights in the classroom and drew the shades like teachers do when they're showing an educational film or something. And everything stopped. There wasn't any joking around, we were just silent, watching the news coverage. I wondered why somebody would shoot the president, didn't he know the president was a really important man in charge of America? And what was going to happen to America if the president died? I was scared and dismayed. It reminds me now of how I felt as a very little kid watching TV and the news broke in with a bulletin saying "The King has died." I started crying. My mommy came into the room and I turned to her and said, "They said the King died!" And she picked me up and held me. Of course, I didn't know they were talking about Elvis Presley.

[@dougbadgley6031]

Scary day. I was in fourth grade.

[@robminmonaca]

Doug Badgley how did u find out about regan being shot ?

[@karlhelm875]

so was i. we're probably the same age.

[@swami1]

First word that Reagan was hit comes at 22:13.

[@automatedrussianbot]

3:33:21 last word Reagan was hit

[@zareonx7959]

I was working nights, I recall getting up at about 7:00 pm and being in the shower when my Mom told me thru the door that Reagan had been shot.

[@jamesslick4790]

As an end of an era bit: I first heard about the attempt on President Reagan via...C.B.! I heard "chatter" about it on Channel 19 (the de facto "trucker's channel) and then put on "regular radio".

[@andyrose5616]

1:17:04 The moment Larry Speakes is given a note written by Al Haig telling him to leave the briefing room.

[@robertpalin2161]

the man running with the black box was probably the guy who carried the "football", the nuclear codes

[@paulsonj72]

As good as guess as any. Shooting scenes like that are usually chaotic after the incident occurs

[@og-greenmachine8623]

🤡 nuclear weapons are a hoax. Learn some science and read a periodic table. There’s nothing it contains that can generate that type of ridiculous energy. Amazing how stupid people are. So you’re a CIA troll I see💡 Incompetent as usual. You erased my reply to your statement below. So here I go AGAIN: Show me how to construct a nuclear weapon - using the periodic table or S “THEE” FU! You won’t do it because it’s impossible. You guys aren’t fooling anybody with these fake accounts stupid replies misdirection arguments and 👉🏻mindless chatter🤡

[@robertpalin2161]

@@og-greenmachine8623 you’re proof of that

[@og-greenmachine8623]

@@robertpalin2161 How so? Tell me how to construct a nuclear weapon, using the periodic table. Or ->S “THEE” FU! Don’t just make stupid mindless retorts. This is an example of how stupid you are. You added exactly nothing to the argument💡

[@denniskovaschetz9689]

Awsome coverage

[@bobbydowns8004]

My favorite president. God Bless President Reagan.

[@stevematthews2933]

right on, thanks !!!!!!

[@zareonx7959]

THANK YOU !!!

[@pookerville]

What a shock it was!

[@itinerantpatriot1196]

I remember this day quite clearly. There was a great deal of confusion. Early reports said President Reagan was unhurt and that James Brady was dead. Then the report changed. We were watching the coverage on ABC and I forget who the anchor was but he became quite agitated over the contradictory reports, especially when another bulletin contradicted the earlier report concerning James Brady. We were all very concerned. President Reagan was the first president I ever voted for, being too young to vote in earlier elections. Such a tragedy that James Brady never fully recovered. IMO Hinckley should still be locked up but that's just me.

[@paulsonj72]

Frank Reynolds was the ABC anchor who had the on air explosions regarding the bulletins.

[@itinerantpatriot1196]

@@paulsonj72 Thanks. I couldn't remember who it was but he was visibly shaken.

[@GeorgeHahn-y6c]

Was only 17 in November of 80 so the first time I voted (for Reagan) in 84

[@rodstetzer9550]

​@paulsonj72 Reynolds was upset because ABC reported that Brady was dead. When it was announced Brady was fighting for his life, Reynolds yelled to his colleagues: "Let's get it right!" I thought it was Reynolds' finest moment, making sure that accurate reporting was paramount on ABC.

[@JorgeCat78]

I know I've said this in other videos, but I'll say it here! I can only imagine, people who lived through JFK's assassination thinking to themselves "Dear God no, not again!"

[@5roundsrapid263]

My mom was 6 when JFK died, and 24 when this happened. She told me she literally said that when this happened!

[@PimpLenin]

My father said the same thing. He was in high school when Kennedy was assassinated. When I asked him about the Reagan attempt, he said he was outside on the back porch, listening to the radio when the news broke. Once he got some details, he went and told out neighbor, who was outside cutting their grass. After than, he went inside and watch the television news with my mother. He did say it all brought back the same feelings of sadness, confusion, and anger that the Kennedy assassination brought up. It was only 18 years after JFK, 13 years after MLK and RFK, and just a few years after the attempts on George Wallace and Gerald Ford, so these things were still very fresh in the memories on most adults at the time.

[@partlycloudyoptimist809]

As this was happening I was being born.

[@denniskovaschetz9689]

I was 9 years old almost a great tragdy

[@christopherwelch136]

“Missed it by that much,” to quote agent 86.

[@ItsAGoodChannel]

Missed this by 4 years.

[@kenhowell8403]

We hear so much about Jerry Parr and Tim McCarthy, rightfully so. Of equal interest to me is the agent with the machine gun who stays behind. What was his name and story?

[@paulsonj72]

Just wish I knew who was on the air when the initial bulletin came through. It sounds like Denny Long but I am not sure. Later on it is Steve Canon and THAT I know.

[@markshepherd4437]

Dan Hertsgaard

[@kenhowell8403]

Does anyone know the name of the secret service agent who had the automatic weapon? I'm assuming it's an Uzi of some type. What is his story?

[@DavidVonPeinJFK]

The agent's name was George Hickey. The weapon was an AR-15.

[@kenhowell8403]

@@DavidVonPeinJFK thanks. I did some research and Hickey appears to be part of the Kennedy detail. I was referring to the agent in the Reagan incident who had the automatic weapon. He had a moustache and stayed at the scene after the president left.

[@5roundsrapid263]

One Secret Service agent had a briefcase with a 9mm Uzi with an extra magazine. It flipped open and he pulled it out. I’ve seen it in photos along with the other agent with an AR-15.

[@ldchappell1]

I was visiting my brother in a hospital in Oakland, California on March 30, 1981. I remember walking into a waiting room and all of these people were sitting around clapping. A lot of them hospital employees. I noticed everybody was staring at a TV bolted to the wall and watched the coverage for a few minutes. Most of the conversation I heard was "He deserved it." "What does he expect firing all those people?" I was also laid off when Reagan won the election but I wasn't wishing the guy would die.

[@1959HT]

ldchappell1 Hopefully San Francisco & Oakland are destroyed by earthquakes

[@كوخعندالشاطيء]

@@1959HT 😁👿

[@كوخعندالشاطيء]

🙄

[@brent4723]

WCCO, the Good Neighbor. This is where Minnesotans have turned for breaking news for decades.

[@alitlweird]

I remember when Buckwheat was shot.

[@danlowe8684]

From author Russ Baker: John W. Hinckley’s brother attends a surprise birthday party at Neil Bush’s house in a period when John Hinckley was suffering serious mental problems. The government exerts financial pressure on the Hinckley family business. Hinckley shoots President Reagan, nearly making Neil Bush’s father the president. The financial pressure on the Hinckleys disappears, George H.W. Bush is in charge of the “investigation” of the shooting, the Hinckleys chalk it all up to their son’s demons, everyone focuses on Jodie Foster, and that’s the end of that.

[@GeorgeHahn-y6c]

Was a 18 year old senior in high school

[@denniskovaschetz9689]

Great covarge

[@brucehubbard1852]

Could we not have some photos going, black screen is so full and not a good way to keep your audience.

[@moboutmen]

It's radio. The black screen, in my opinion, makes it that much more powerful.

[@seanabel3759]

@@moboutmen Agreed

[@Flirri]

@@moboutmen this way you get to treat it just like when it was on the radio

[@ArchernAce]

Very dramatic.

[@mariacardenas4665]

I was at school

[@akhtarnaseer58777]

All was a drama act

[@larry1824]

He's no kin to me

[@paulsonj72]

Rudy Macklin of LSU when asked about the assassination attempt following the consolation game at the Final Four