EYEWITNESS TO HISTORY: Veteran Reporter Judy Woodruff Remembers the Day President Reagan was Shot

Joe MessinaApril 6, 2015

Written by Gwendolyn Simms

Thirty-four years ago today, President Ronald Reagan was shot and several other were wounded in an assassination attempt. Today on her Twitter account, veteran reporter, Judy Woodruff, used new media to relay her first-person narrative of that chaotic and fateful day in her life and American history:

coming up in this hour – remembering this day in 1981, assassination attempt on Pres #Reagan – I was a reporter on the scene #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

34 years ago today, I witnessed something no one should ever have to see: an attempt to assassinate an American president #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

It lasted just a minute, but it’s forever burned into my memory #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/vulHFTmsPY

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

I was a White House correspondent for @NBCNews, covering President Ronald Reagan as he entered only his 3rd month in office #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

On this rainy Monday he was talking to a group usually friendlier to Democrats- AFL-CIO’s Building & Construction Trades union #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

They were meeting at Washington’s Hilton Hotel, less than a mile and a half from the White House #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/6mllX0IrUp

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

It was my turn to be part of the small press pool that day, assigned to ride in the motorcade following Reagan’s limousine #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

We watched him go in a private entrance of the hotel as we headed for the double glass doors the public uses #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

In his after-lunch remarks, Reagan asked union members to “join me as we take this new path” #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

As soon as the audience stood to applaud, pool members ran back out to our waiting vans behind the President’s black limousine #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

I stood no more than 25 feet away when Reagan emerged from the private door #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/7JMzDNh9co

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

I began to shout a question about news from Poland where millions of striking workers won concessions from Communist leaders #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

At about 2:30 pm ET, before I could get the words “Mr. President” out of my mouth there was a “pop, pop, pop, pop” sound #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

Six .22 caliber bullets were fired at President Reagan and three others in his entourage. “White House Press Secretary James Brady was shot in the head and critically wounded, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy was shot in the side, and District of Columbia policeman Thomas Delahaney was shot in the neck.”

Firecrackers? No, it had to be gunshots #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

From all directions people yelled, “get down!” #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

There was a blur of commotion near the President’s car #ReaganShot81 pic.twitter.com/d2i1ACGWR6

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

Within moments his press aide screamed at reporters & camera crews to jump in the vans or stay put #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

In a split second, I decided to stay and phone NBC with the news #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

But as the motorcade sped away, I could see several ppl lying on the concrete sidewalk in front of the hotel, apparently hurt #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

Police had hustled someone in the small public crowd to the ground #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

The 1 figure I recognized, lying in a pool of blood, was Reagan's new press secretary Jim Brady #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

It was clear he’d been hit in the head; it wasn’t at all clear if he would survive #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

“[T]he case of Jim Brady, shot in the head and the most grievously wounded that day,… began in confusion almost immediately with the erroneous report of his death, and has continued through subsequent months to be misunderstood by a public for whom the mysteries of the brain and its functions defy easy explanations.”

Here is footage from the scene when John Hinckley tried to kill President Reagan http://t.co/iMS6AFxd2V #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

I felt a wave of sickness but before I could run for a phone, I wanted to know if anyone knew if the President had been hit #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

There was no one to ask. Everyone was rushing around, tending to the wounded, trying to get help #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

Someone said they thought Reagan had made it out OK. With that shred of info. I ran to find a payphone in the Hilton lobby #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

Remember pay phones?

All payphones at the hotel were in use, so I ran across the street to a building I’d never noticed before #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

There, I raced from one office to another until I persuaded someone to let me use a phone #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

I told them quickly what had happened – that someone had shot at the President and several people had been hit #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

I reached the @NBCNews desk, did a quick radio intvu, then found my camera crew and jumped in a taxi back to the White House #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

The rest of the day was a blur #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

NBC did live updates through the afternoon – very unusual for those pre-24-hour cable news days #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

I stood on a chair in the back of the White House press briefing room, doing a stream of live reports #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

Other reporters were stationed at George Washington University Hospital where Reagan and Jim Brady were being treated #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

“The president was shot in the left lung, and the .22 caliber bullet just missed his heart. In an impressive feat for a 70-year-old man with a collapsed lung, he walked into George Washington University Hospital under his own power. As he was treated and prepared for surgery, he was in good spirits and quipped to his wife, Nancy, ”Honey, I forgot to duck,” and to his surgeons, “Please tell me you’re Republicans.” Reagan’s surgery lasted two hours, and he was listed in stable and good condition afterward.”

Anchor John Chancellor asked me numerous times to describe what had happened during the shooting & what I had learned since #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

One bullet punctured a lung, we later learned, and Reagan came close to death, but we didn’t know this at the time #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

For now, all we could do was piece together info about Reagan’s condition, & the 25-year-old deranged shooter John Hinckley #ReaganShot81

— Judy Woodruff (@JudyWoodruff) March 30, 2015

It was later learned the emotionally disturbed Hinckley shot President Reagan in a deranged attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster.