Who Shot Ronald Reagan?

The storyline goes that the man who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan, John Hinckley Jr., was just a loser who tried to kill the President in order to impress a movie star. In fact, Hickley is a far different man than the rest of the country has come to know.

Hinckley grew up just a few miles from Dealy Plaza in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was his hero. He was a very good athlete and extremely popular in school, elected class president in seventh and ninth grades. He went to Highland Park High School, the Fighting Scots, a highly segregated school in the most affluent part of Dallas.

John Hinckley was a mama’s boy. His mother, Jo Ann Moore, spoiled him and he developed into a right-wing racist. He hated blacks and Jews and had a fascination with white supremacist groups, reading as much as he could about them. He joined the National Socialist Party of America, the Nazis, and went around wearing a storm trooper uniform and marching in Nazi rallies. He was a big fan of Lincoln Rockwell. At one point he even formed his own terrorist group to fight minorities called the American Front. He wrote that the American Front was, “for the proud white conservative who would rather wear coats and ties instead of swastikas and sheets.” He pursued the same agenda as David Duke.

Hinckley came from a very wealthy and conservative family. His father, John Hinckley Sr., was president of Vanderbilt Energy and one of George H. W. Bush’s biggest financial supporters. The Bush family knew the Hinckley’s very well. In fact, Neil Bush was scheduled to have a dinner with John Hinckley’s brother, Scott, the day after the assassination. Both Neil and John spent a lot of time in Lubbock, Texas. Hinckley went to Texas Tech in Lubbock from 1973 on, never graduating, while Neil Bush ran George W’s 1978 Congressional campaign from Lubbock.

Hinckley was a frequent visitor to Hollywood, California. By his own account, he saw the movie Taxi Driver fifteen times (one should always believe what a white supremacist says). The FBI pursued a possible California conspiracy, but considering the parties involved, it was easier to label Hinckley a nut.

It’s interesting how Hinckley’s movements parallel with Karl Rove’s. From Denver to Texas to Southern California, Rove and Hinckley traveled the same paths. Rove’s connections to SoCal go back to his early days when he worked for USC’s Donald Segretti, one of the original rat fuckers. The Hinckley family was also big on Chuck Colson, giving John the right-wing hatchet man’s autobiography to help straighten him out.

Hinckley created a well documented cover story which he maintains to this day. When Jodie Foster entered Yale, Hinckley moved to New Haven, supposedly to be close to her. He repeatedly harassed her with messages and phone calls, which he made sure to tape record.

Before shooting Reagan, Hinckley made one last visit to Hollywood. He stayed for just one day before taking a bus to Washington D.C.. He then went to the Hilton Hotel and waited for Reagan to emerge, drew his German automatic handgun, went into a crouched marksman stance, and emptied six rounds of exploding Devastator bullets at the newly-crowned President. Reagan survived and George H. W. Bush had to wait another eight years to become president.

They caught the guy dead to rights so there was no way Hinckley was going to get off. Rather than have a full airing of the events come out, the defense shifted the debate to whether Hinckley was sane or not. Mental issues became the real trial. It became a sham; Jodie Foster was brought into it, quacks were arguing in circles, and the real story was lost in the shuffle. Hinckley was eventually judged not guilty by reason of insanity.

Even if you discount all the Bush coincidences and motives, the question needs to be asked, why hasn’t John Hinckley’s neo-Nazi past come out? By proclaiming that the attempted assassin is insane, you are absolving every terrorist in America of their crime, because, by definition, all neo-Nazi’s are insane.

Hinckley is currently allowed release from prison for up to four nights at a time, under the supervision of his parents.

Aaron Dahl

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