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Tupelo, Mississippi, Tuesday Morning, March 31, 1981
.UPI Telephoto
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Agents tend to presidential assistant James Brady, right, and a policeman, left, who were wounded
Monday in an assassination attempt on President Reagan. The assailant is being held by agents in background. ·
WASHINGTON (UPI) - A young gunman ambushed President Reagan at close range Monday and fired a half-dozen shots - one of them piercing the president's lung inches from his heart. Doctors removed the bullet in a two-hour operation and said Reagan would recover. A man identified as John Warnock Hinckley Jr., 25, of Evergreen; Colo. was tackled and pinned to the pavement, whisked · away in a squad car and charged with attempted murder. Officials said last fall during the presidential campaign Hinckley had been arrested for carrying three guns in an airport. Hinckley faces a maxim um term of . life imprisonment if convicted · of attempting to assassinate the president. The shots outside a Washington hotel gravely wounded presidential press secretary James Brady and left a Secret _ Service agent and a police officer in serious condition. Reagan took the event in stride, joking with bystanders as he walked into the hospital under his own power. At 7:50 p.rn. CST he handed doctors in the recovery room a hand-written note quoting W.C. Fields: "All in all, I'd rather be in Philadelphia.'' Doctors at George Washington University Hospital said the 70yeat~old Reagan is an excellent physicalspecimen with the body of a young man and his survival never was in doubt.
lrady Shot Through Brain; Surgery Said Success£ul
James Brady
WASHINGTON (UPI) - White House press secretary Jim Brady, shot through lhe brain in· a • preside·n Ua l ass ass in a tion attempt Monday, emerged from . successful 4 ~-hour surgery with a "certainly better" outlook than believed earlier. Lyn Nofziger, . President Reagan's political director, returned to the White House from the hospital to brief. reporters on his discussion with Brady's surgeon, Dr. Arthur Kobrine; professor of neurosurgery at George Washington . University Medical Center. "The prognosis is certainly better at this moment than it was earlier this afternoon," Nofziger said.
"Jim came out of surgery at a bout 8: 15 p. m. His vital signs are stable. His pupillary reflexes that's the reflexes of his pupils iil 'his eyes f are normal. Dr. Kobrine feels there may be some impairment, but he doesn't know how much at this time; nor will he be able to know for quite some time." Pupil reflexes indicate brain activity. Sally McElroy, Brady's secretary, also said that while Brady's condition remains "guarded," he is "doing very well and the outlook is now more optimistic." She also said: "He's doing Continued on Page 10
Polish ·Union Colls Off Strike After Government Compromise WARSAW, Poland (UPI) Solidarity union leaders Monday suspended Tuesday's nationwide general strike after· reaching a wide-ranging compromise agreement . with the government on several controversial issues. · But it appeared government negotiators led . by Deputy Premier Mieczyslaw Rakowski gave up more than the union including concessions to farmers attempting to unionize - to achieve the settlement and avert
the strike that threatened to paraiyze Poland and provoke Soviet intervention. The agreement capped seven hours of last-minute talks and came after the Communist Party Central Committee ended a stormy 16-hour crisis session at dawn with a vote of confidence for the beleaguered government. · Solidarify ·chief Lech, Walesa called the agreement a · "great achievment." Ranking union negotiator · Andrzej Gwiazda,
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ASSASSINA'I'ION TRY -
Vol. 107 No. 309
standing next to him, appeared on Polish television and read a communique to the anxious nation announcing an agreement was reached and the strike suspended. The communique said Solidarity's national commission would nieet in Gdansk Tuesday to discuss the settlement and "decide on the general strike's fate" and if it should be postponed Continued on Page 10
indication how a person once detained on gun charges by authorities could have placed himself - without detection and carrying a .22-caliber handgun 10 feet from Reagan. Reagan, who never lost consciousness, ·walked into the hospital's emergency room leaning for support on Secret Service agents. · Even with blood seeping from his · wound and soaking his shirt, even with his left lung collapsed, even with what . doctors later called a "really mangled" slug lodged inches from his heart, his chin and spirits were high. "Don't worry," he reassured worried onlookers. "Honey, I forgot to duck," he joked to his wife, Nancy, who had rushed to the hospital to be at his side: And as he was wheeled into the operating room for. two .hours of "painful surgery," Reagan · looked up .at his doctors and prayed they were "good Republicans." "I think he knew he had been shot," Dr. Dennis O'Leary, head_ of clinical surgery at George Washington University Hospital, told reporters at a n~ws conference after the two-hour surgery. "I gather he felt a little light-headed, but I gather he was cracking jokes and was in good spirits at the time." · Reagan's chief political aide
--t( AMERICA'S FEARS of violence ·were rekindled and the vulnerabiity of the presidency was reaffirmed.Page 17. The prognosis for complete recovery is "excellent," and Reagan should be able to resume presidential duties today from his hospital bed. And Vice .President George Bush, ord .ered back to Washington from Texas, said "I can reassure this nation and a watching world that this nation is functioning fully and normally." The stunning · murder attempt occurred outside the sprawling Washington Hilton Hotel, one mile from the White House, where Reagan had just delivered a speech to a union convention. Waving and smiling, Reagan neared the bulletproof presidential limousine when the gunfire crackled. The grin on Reagan's face turned to frozen horror as a Secret Service agent shoved him into the car. Pandemonium erupted. Bystanders screamed in horror. Guns ·were drawn in an instant. Hinckley was buried immediately under a mass of agents. And the bloody bodies of Brady, · Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy and District of Columbia police officer Thomas Delahanty were sprawled on the rainswept pavement. There was no immediate
Continued on Pate 10
Suspect Has Prior Arrest On Fireanns Charge ·,:,/~;.~~f~"··--·i.~+i};:; ,:: .
John W. Hinckley
Lower Teen Wage Stirs Opinions By DEBORAH COUNCE EditorialResearcb Staff Several local employers voiced differing opinions on a proposed subminimum ·wage for teen-age workers, with most saying they don't think · a such a wage guideline would greatly affect their pay and hiring practices. The U.S. Senate is holding hearings this week on ~ bill introduced by Seo:. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, that would permit any employer to hire 16- to-19-yearolds at 75 percent of the minimum wage for the first six months on the job. Managers of food establishments voiced the most support for the " ·youth Continued on Page 10
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. wXSnu'lG1'0N (UPI) .,,.. John W. ''Jack'! Hinckley Jr., 25, who was arrested on charges of trying to assassinate President Reagan, has a history of psychiatric care and was arrested in Tennessee last fall for carrying firearms, officials said Monday . William Brissey, captain of the Nashville, Tenn., Airport security police, said Hinckley had been arrested in Nashville on Oct. 9 for trying to board an airline with three handguns and 50 ro.unds of ammunition in a suitcase. President ·carter was in Nashville that day. A source close to the Reagan shoopng investigation said Hinckley' had been in Nashville a couple of days and was heard to note Reagan had canceled a campaign appearance there scheduled for
Oct. 7. Jim Robinson, an attorney for Hinckley's father, John w. Hinckley Sr. of Evergreen, Colo., issued a statement from the family that the younger Hinckley "had been under psychiatric care. However, the evaluations did not alert anyone to the seriousness of his condition." Rob,inson refused to answer any questions about the nature of Hinckley's present or past condition, or his treatment. The FBI said it could not immediately confirm or deny that Hinckley had been arrested in Nashville last fall. But airport officials said he had been arrested trying to board an American Airl~nes flight, and the Continued on Page 10
Assassination Attempt . Shocks State Leaders .
From Staff and Wire Reports Mississippi leaders expressed shock and . anger Monday following the attempted assasination of President Reagan. First District Rep. Jamie Whitten expressed a "deep sense of regret" at what he called· a "senseless and tragic act." Gov. William Winter called the murder attempt an "outrageous attack" and said such violence seerp.s to "happen with greater
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frequency." Senator Thad Cochran said he was "shocked and stunned." "We pray for the speedy recovery of the president and the . others wounded and urge the American people to remain calm," -Cochran said. "Our · national government will continue to function in an effective manner during · this Continued on Page 10
briefl.y·~~~~------------~----------2 join alderman fields
speakes state native
Local insuranceman Mitchell Sa very filed qualifying papers Monday to run for alderman-at~ large and Loyd Hartley filed pape_rs to run for alderman ii\ the fifth ward. Savery, president of the Mississippi-Alabama Fair Association, joins James Russel Brown, Milton Clegg, J.V. Sheffield and Dwayne Spencer in the race. for the alderman-atlarge · post. Hartley, Super Sagless plant superintendent, seeks the•lifth ward aldermanic post as a Republican.
Larry Speakes, a Cleveland, Miss., native, Monday was the voice of the White House with · Pre~ident Ronald Reagan and Press Secretary James Brady hospitalized -with gunshot wounds.Page 8.
homestead deadline The deadline for filing for the 1981 homestead tax exemption is Wednesday. Those filing should . bring their auto tag number to the county tax assessor's office.
tarry Speakes
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indiana tops tarheels
weather
Isiah Thomas poured in 23 pointed Monday night to lead Indiana by North Carolina Tarheels 63-50 for the national championship in a game almost delayed by the wounding of President Reagan. Page 13.
Cloudy. High 70s; low 50s. Sunrise 5: 47; sunset 6:22. Details on page 10.
no stocks reported Because trading on Wall Street was suspended late Monday afternoon following news of the attempt on President Reagan's life, today's Daily Journal carries no stock report.
index About People .•.............. 11 Around Dixie ................ 12 Around Mississippi. ........... 3 Classified ................. 20-23 . Comics ..... : ................ 19 Editorial...................... 4 LookAtLee ................... t ·Markets .•... . ............... 23 Mississippi Living .......... ~ 6-7 Movies .•....• .. .......•...•. 23 Obituaries ... . ..... : ....•.... 10 Sports ..................... 13-18 What's Happening ............ 9 World Briefs .•................ 2