Bryce Zabel's INSTANT HISTORY

25 Years Ago: Another President Is Shot

25 years ago today, President Ronald Reagan -- in office just over two months -- was shot outside the Washington Hilton by John Hinckley.

Here's how Time began its first article of six, "A Sense of Where We Are" by Roger Rosenblatt. They described their extensive coverage as "reflections on a week of anxiety, sadness and outrage."

It took a week to get the picture. First came the gasps and "not agains"; then the nation assumed its old too familiar position before the tube, reluctant pros in this business by now, ready to take in the slow-motion replays, the testimony of experts, the edgy reporters, a bloody head, a shot-up limousine, another blank-faced gunman.

There was a jumble to sort out. The President was O.K. But then he wasn't. They took him to the White House. No, to a hospital. Was it serious? Not very. Yes, very. Maybe ... And so on through the long Monday afternoon, the emotions buffeted by every bulletin—sinking at the report of White House Press Secretary James Brady's death; rising warily when the report is denied; a freeze at news that the President is undergoing surgery; a thaw when someone repeats a Reagan joke. Who was that fool who asked if the operation was going to be filmed?

More questions still—the public's tensions not at all alleviated by the figure of Alexander Haig claiming "I am in control here," in a voice full of jelly.

Put your politics aside -- whether you were one of the Democrats who thought of Reagan as evil and stupid (he turned out to be neither, in my opinion) or one of the Republicans who thought he was their Franklin Roosevelt. Imagine how close our democracy came to losing another president to gunfire. At that time, it had only been 17-years since President Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas.

The nation got through it quickly and moved on. Reagan joked with the doctors, showed wonderful spirit and won a lot of friends. When his wife, Nancy, showed up at the hospital, he quipped, "Honey, I forgot to duck." (He took the line from Jack Dempsey, but it will always be remembered as his.) Time noted some examples of the Reagan humor which I reprint here because they show clearly why people liked the guy.

> To surgeons, as he entered the operating room: "Please tell me you're Republicans."

> In a written note, upon coming out of anesthesia in the recovery room (paraphrasing Comedian W.C. Fields): "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia."

> In another note, recalling a Winston Churchill observation: "There's no more exhilarating feeling than being shot at without result."

> In a third note: "Send me to L.A., where I can see the air I'm breathing."

> In yet another note written while surrounded by medical staff: "If I had this much attention in Hollywood, I'd have stayed there."

> Complimented by a doctor for being a good patient: "I have to be. My father-in-law is a doctor."

> To an attentive nurse: "Does Nancy know about us?"

> To a nurse who told him to "keep up the good work" of his recovery: "You mean this may happen several more times?"

> To Daughter Maureen: The attempted assassination "ruined one of my best suits."

> Greeting White House aides the morning after surgery: "Hi, fellas. I knew it would be too much to hope that we could skip a staff meeting."

> When told by Aide Lyn Nofziger that the Government was running normally: "What makes you think I'd be happy about that?"

But we know now that he almost died. That would have put President George Herbert Walker Bush in office eight years earlier. Assuming he would only have made one term as he did in our timeline, then it's possible that in 1984 Walter Mondale would have defeated him. Whether or not that happened, 1988 would not have been the first term of a Bush dynasty. Someone else would have taken office. Clinton wasn't quite ready. Bob Dole? Joe Biden? The mind boggles...

Miers and O'Connor Confirmations: A Re-Run?

With the nation divided into red and blue states, and both sides peering out from their political  bunkers at the spectacle of more power lobbying and a potential filibuster over Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, it's worth a look back at the moment when Sandra Day O'Connor joined the high court.  She, too, was appointed by a very conservative President Ronald Reagan, but she sailed through -- because times were different, because Reagan wasn't Bush and because, honestly, everybody wanted to see a woman on the Supreme Court. Democrats now have to decide: do they want a woman on the court more than they hate Bush? Others can dissect the Miers nomination but if the Democrats decide they can't stop this one, we may get a re-run from 1981. Here's a look back to the moment when the first woman was about to crash the party that first Monday in October.

Justice -- At Last
July 20, 1981

In an article entitled "The Brethren's First Sister", Time gave a rave review to O'Connor and even to Reagan for selecting her, calling her a "Supreme Court nominee and a triumph for common sense."

Ronald Reagan lived up to a campaign pledge last week, and the nation cheered. At a hastily arranged television appearance in the White House press room, the President referred to his promise as a candidate that he would name a woman to the Supreme Court, explaining: "That is not to say I would appoint a woman merely to do so. That would not be fair to women, nor to future generations of all Americans whose lives are so deeply affected by decisions of the court. Rather, I pledged to appoint a woman who meets the very high standards I demand of all court appointees."

It's interesting to note that Reagan received high marks from his political opponents and the middle, but also faced, like Bush, some thunder from the right.

After naming O'Connor, the President suddenly found himself awash in praise from a wide range of political liberals, moderates and old-guard conservatives. At the same time, he was under harsh assault from the moral-issue zealots in the New Right who helped him reach the Oval Office. Although they had little chance of blocking the nomination, they charged that O'Connor was a closet supporter of the ERA and favored abortion.

Even Tip O'Neill said that the nomination was "the best thing he's done (Reagan) since he was inaugurated."  I'm trying to use my imagination here and see if I can conjure an image of any Democrat praising any nominee that Bush puts forward -- but I can't see Nancy Pelosi saying words like her predecessor. She may, however, be equally powerless to stop this nomination.

Still, if you're looking to understand why everybody's so fired up about Bush's new nominee, just look at that date on the issue.  July, 1981 -- 24 years ago. These things don't come around that often and they do matter. What was so shocking and ground-breaking then has changed to the place that Bush probably felt compelled to fill the vacacancy with a woman. Actions do have consequences.

John Lennon: 65 in October

We're coming up on two significant dates in the life (and death) of John Lennon. On October 9, Lennon would have been 65 years old had he not been gunned down 25 years ago on December 8, 1980. Both Time and Newsweek gave over their covers to Lennon's passing. I've chosen Newsweek to focus on because it has that haunting portrait by Richard Avedon. Also, I had previewed the first Newsweek cover to feature the Beatles back in 1964 in an earlier post, and it's interesting to compare how the coverage changed in those intervening years.

John Lennon 1940-1980
December 22, 1980

Newsweek devoted twelve entire pages to the death of John Lennon in a special "pull-out" coverage. It contained a handful of separate articles entitled: "Death of a Beatle" which was the news coverage, "Lennon's Alter-Ego" about assassin Mark David Chapman, "Strawberry Fields Forever" about the influence of the Beatles, and "An Ex-Beatle 'Starting Over'" about Lennon's new emergence on the public scene after nearly five years of absence.

"Come together, he had once asked them in a song, and now they came, tens of thousands of them, to share their grief and shock at the news. John Lennon, once the cheeky wit and sardonic soul of the Beatles, whose music had touched a generation and enchanted the world, had been slain on his doorstep by a confused, suicidal young man who had apparently idolized him. Along New York's Central Park West and West 72nd Street, in front of the building where Lennon had lived and died, they stood for hours in tearful vigil, looking to each other and his music for comfort."

But, of course, there was no comfort because no matter how many times we sang "Imagine" that week, nothing would bring him back. I remember hearing the news myself -- at the time I was a CNN correspondent in Los Angeles (we had just gone on the air) and I was at home and saw it on the TV. I immediately called my brother and told him and he seemed to react like, "So why are you calling me?" About a half hour later he called back and said he didn't know what he was thinking -- he was devastated like the rest of us. Looking back, I think his delayed reaction came from the sheer out-of-left-field unthinkablility of the news. Nobody saw this coming.

The magazine called Lennon the "unofficial" leader of the Beatles, cited his "numinous influence" on pop culture and noted: "the killing stunned the nation -- and much of the world -- as nothing had since the political assassinations of the 1960s."

"Lennon, semiconscious and bleeding profusely, was placed in the back seat of Officer James Moran's patrol car. 'Do you know who you are?' Moran asked him. Lennon couldn't speak. 'He moaned and nodded his head as if to say yes,' Moran said... Though doctors pronounced Lennon dead on arrival at Roosevelt (Hospital), a team of seven surgeons labored desperately to revive him. But his wounds were too severe. There were three holes in his chest, two in his back and two in his left shoulder. 'It wasn't possible to resuscitate him by any  means,' said Dr. Stephen Lynn, the hospital's director of emergency services. 'He'd lost 3 to 4 quarts of blood from the gun wounds, about 80 percent of his blood volume." After working on Lennon for about half an hour, the surgeons gave up, and went to break the news to Yoko."

Newsweek gave Lennon and the Beatles a great deal more credit for their music than they had 16 years earlier. "These are great songs. If they are pop, then clearly pop is capable of greatness in expressing the pathos of mass society." Lest we give them too much credit, however, for "getting it", that same article concludes talking about the song "Happiness Is a Warm Gun", never mentioning (or knowing) that the "gun" was not a firearm, but a hypodermic needle.

Lennon never gave up his passion for social justice. On the day he was shot, John and Yoko had decided on a trip to San Francisco for the following week to walk with Asian workers who were demonstrating for wage equality. Let's close with Yoko Ono's own words:

"Some people are saying this is the end of an era. But what we said before still stands -- the 80s will be a beautiful decade. John loved and prayed for the human race. Please tell people to pray the same for him. Please remember that he had deep faith and love for life and that, though he has now joined the greater force, he is still with us."

Happy 65th birthday, John. We still miss you.