‘Honey, I Forgot to Duck’: The Attempted Assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981

On March 30, 1981, President Ronald Reagan was shot while leaving a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Reagan had addressed the Building and Construction Workers Union of the AFL-CIO.

The headline on The Patriot on March 31 shouted in large letters, “REAGAN SHOT.”

As Reagan was walking to his limousine at 2:27 p.m. from the side entrance on Connecticut Avenue, John Hinckley Jr., 25, who was armed with a .22 caliber revolver, began shooting.