March 30th, 1981. John Hinckley was a 25-year-old with romantic delusions, convinced that actress Jodie Foster would be impressed if he killed the president. Outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C., Hinckley caught up with his target. And I don't think there was a better demonstration of how that training worked than the assassination attempt against President Reagan. Judge Jerry Parr and Ray Shattuck, as soon as that first shot goes off, they grab the president and they throw him into the car. Agent Tim McCarthy shielded Reagan with his body, taking a bullet in the process.
Within moments, the limo sped away from a scene of chaos. Hinckley was buried under a mountain of Secret Service agents. Agent McCarthy, Press Secretary James Brady.
And D.C. policeman Thomas Delahanty lay on the sidewalk, severely injured. All three survived, but Brady had permanent brain damage.
The old saying that, you know, a Secret Service agent will take a bullet for the president. If you look at the Reagan assassination, Tim McCarthy did do that, but he was trained to do that as well. And his heroic actions demonstrate that. Although the agents around the president reacted heroically, many mistakes had been made.
The Secret Service relies on a perimeter system of protection. The outer is a preliminary check by local police. The middle has Secret Service agents searching for weapons. And then there's the inner perimeter, and that's the final defense. It's the agents around the president.
Hinckley had penetrated two of the perimeters and fired at least five shots at point-blank range. The Secret Service had been trying for years to get metal detectors to screen for weapons. They got authorization days later.
The perimeters were tightened, and the idea of an open arrival and departure ended after the attempt against President Reagan.