About the Program
Del Quentin Wilber, reporter for The Washington Post, recalls the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. The President, codenamed Rawhide, had just delivered a lunch-time speech at the Washington Hilton Hotel and upon exiting was fired upon by John Hinckley, Jr. The author details the Secret Service and White House response to the attempt, the severity of the President’s injuries, and the surgeons who operated on President Reagan. Del Quentin Wilber is joined in discussion by Jerry Parr, the Secret Service agent who pushed President Reagan into a waiting limousine and Dr. Joseph Giordano, the surgeon who operated on the President. The talk takes place at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.