Ronald Reagan

[MattM37]

What were you doing the day Reagan was shot?

I was in second grade. I remember getting off the bus and going in the house -- my mom and sister were watching the news coverage. "Matt, somebody shot the President!" my sister yelled. I remember listening to the news speculating about possible Russian involvement, and my Dad snorting and saying b.s., it was just some crackpot.

[Pmacc60]

I was at work when a fellow coworker told me the president was just shot. At the time we could not find out how bad , later on it became knowledge how close he came to dying !

[fitch270]

My most vivid recollection was the image of him being shoved into the limo and the pile on Hinckley. Wasn’t much more to it to remember I guess but the speed at which it went down sticks with me. Couple seconds of chaos and it was over.

Then you find out the Jody Foster motivation and even at 13 years old it’s like WTH?

[FirstBubba]

Hearne, Texas

Wife pregnant with second child. An 18 month old at home. Little did I know I was 3 months from losing my dad. He had a heart attack in '80.
Had just bought a home.
Working a "union" job (shifts) at the time, worrying about a (R) POTUS was low on my priority list.
...and yeah, the Jody Foster angle was a bit of a head scratcher.....but what do you expect from a "wanna be" assassin? A Rhodes Scholar?

[99explorer]

And they say Jodie was not impressed.
She was expecting an earlobe.

[99explorer]

[bowhunter75richard]

Have no idea. Don’t even recall the date let alone what I was doing. Must have made a huge impression on me........

Of course I recall the Kennedy assignation and where I was at, must have had a larger impact, or maybe it was the outcome that prevailed.

Maybe my views and interest politically were less defined in the Reagan era or I had already given up hope of politics being a cure for anything. Pretty much the same thinking concerning the present administration !

FJB

[Pmacc60]

I do recall. I was in undergraduate school pursuing the BSEE. Walking through the student center, I saw the news coverage on TV and like many others, stopped to watch the report.

I also remember watching on TV the Kennedy funeral procession in '63 and Neil Armstrong's first step on the moon in '69

I remember JFK ‘s funeral procession ,it’s one of the oldest memories I have . I was 31/2 years old.

[jhjimbo]

What were you doing the day Reagan was shot?

I was in second grade. I remember getting off the bus and going in the house -- my mom and sister were watching the news coverage. "Matt, somebody shot the President!" my sister yelled. I remember listening to the news speculating about possible Russian involvement, and my Dad snorting and saying b.s., it was just some crackpot.

I remember he asked his surgeon if he was a Republican.

[FirstBubba]

Have no idea. Don’t even recall the date let alone what I was doing. Must have made a huge impression on me........

Of course I recall the Kennedy assignation and where I was at, must have had a larger impact, or maybe it was the outcome that prevailed.

Maybe my views and interest politically were less defined in the Reagan era or I had already given up hope of politics being a cure for anything. Pretty much the same thinking concerning the present administration !

FJB

I had to look up the date and then attempt to recall what was going on in my life at the time.
I was young (30) and engaged in living, raising a new family (kids don't come with instruction manuals!), tending an expecting wife, a new home and the events of June (father passing) and I kinda pushed Reagan's shooting to the "back burner" of life.

[MattM37]

Once it was known Reagan would live, and that the incident wasn't going to cause a nuclear war, I think its main effect (along with a lot of gun control proposals!) was sparking conversation about the Kennedy assassination. In my house, at least -- and later I also remember my teacher at school talking about the Reagan shooting for maybe 5 minutes, and then what she remembered about Kennedy's for probably half an hour. A big part of that, I recall, was how shaken she was when Jack Ruby's shooting of Oswald was captured on live TV.

I can't remember the name of it now, but there's a relatively new documentary about the Kennedy assassination that's 100% newsreel and talk show footage from that day and the following week. Well worth watching. (Interesting look back in time, too: Reporters at the newsdesk listening on two phones at a time, one to each ear ... reporters smoking during their live broadcasts ... and of course, the hairdos and eyeglasses.)