Learn Our History Today: 31 years ago today, on March 30, 1981, a mentally unstable John Hinckley, Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan in the chest outside a hotel in Washington, D.C., where the president had just finished a speech at a labor meeting.
Reagan was walking to his limousine when Hinckley, who was standing with a group of reporters, fired six shots in the president’s direction. Hinckley’s bullets struck Reagan and three of his attendants including White House Press Secretary, James Brady, who was shot in the head, D.C. police officer, Thomas Delahaney, who was shot in the neck, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, who was shot in the side.
Hinckley was quickly subdued, while Reagan was pushed into the safety of his limo by a Secret Service agent. The president, initially unaware that he had been hit, was shot in his left lung, and the .22 caliber bullet just missed hitting his heart.
Not wanting to cause alarm, President Reagan insisted on walking into George Washington University Hospital unassisted. While he was being prepped for surgery, he displayed his unwavering sense of humor as he joked to his wife, Nancy, “Honey, I forgot to duck,” then turned to his surgeons and said, “Please tell me you’re Republicans!”
After a two-hour surgery to remove the bullet and repair his collapsed lung, it was back to business for Reagan. He actually resumed his executive duties and even signed legislation right from his hospital bed! The president returned to the White House on April 11 and enjoyed soaring popularity shortly thereafter.
As for 25-year old John Hinckley, he was booked on charges of attempted assassination of the president. During his trial in June, 1982, he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Hinckley’s attorneys claimed that he suffered from narcissistic personality disorder and an obsession with the film Taxi Driver and the movie’s leading female, Jodie Foster. The assassination attempt, they claimed, was an attempt to reenact the events of the film in his own life, arguing that the movie (not Hinckley) was the actual planning force behind the attempt on Reagan’s life.
Our history is chock-full of dramatic, captivating stories, and it’s so important that we inspire our children and grandchildren to take an interest in the events that shaped our nation. Just imagine the course that history could have taken if Hinckley had successfully assasinated Reagan!
We created Learn Our History DVDs as an aid for you, the parents and grandparents of our children, to help your child not only take an interest in history, but to be inspired by the important lessons in our nation’s stories and passionate about leading our nation in the right direction in the future.
With the Learn Our History series, your kids will learn all about President Reagan, his assassination attempt and how he went on to become one of the most revered presidents of our time. If you haven’t tried our DVDs yet, why not take advantage of our incredible offer to get a FREE DVD and 6 FREE gifts for your kids when you try our introductory DVD today? Just click here to get started: http://learnourhistory.com.
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Showing posts with label The Reagan Revolution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Reagan Revolution. Show all posts
Friday, March 30, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
Learn Our History Today: February 6
Learn Our History Today: On today’s date in 1911, President Ronald Reagan was born in Tampico, Illinois.
Before becoming the nation’s 40th president in 1981, Reagan had several careers—he started out as a radio sports announcer in the Midwest, which served as a springboard to a Hollywood career during the 1930s. He earned the nickname “The Gipper” from his role of George “The Gipper” Gipp in “Knute Rockne, All American.”
During World War II, Reagan served as a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, appearing in various propaganda films. After the war, he served as the President of the Screen Actor’s Guild between 1947 and 1952. During that same time, Reagan was a proponent of FDR’s New Deal. In 1960, he made the switch to the Republican Party.
Reagan’s entered a life in politics in 1966, when he was nominated by California Republicans for Governor. He was elected Governor and served two terms between 1967 and 1975.
1976, he challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford to become the Republican Party’s candidate and established himself as a more conservative choice compared to Ford, who appeared more moderate. Ford prevailed, earning the nomination with 1,187 delegates compared to Reagan’s 1,070. Of course, Ford lost the election of ’76 to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Reagan campaigned for the highest office in the United States again in 1980 and swept into office, carrying 44 states with 489 electoral votes (remember, 270 are needed to win the White House)! He served two terms as president—and he managed to break his record when he was reelected in 1984; he received a record 525 electoral votes, winning 49 out of 50 states.
For the most part, Reagan’s presidency was marked by huge success—he influenced change both domestically and internationally. During what would become known as the “Reagan Revolution,” Reagan reinvigorated American morale and reduced people’s reliance on government. During his first inaugural address on January 20, 1981, he said “In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem!” On that same day, Iran freed 52 U.S. hostages who had been detailed for 444 days during the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Just 69 days into his presidency, an attempt was made on Reagan’s life when he was shot by John Hinkley, Jr. as he left a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Reagan suffered a punctured lung, but recovered quickly.
During his tenure, Reagan resurrected a no-nonsense perception of America throughout the world. He boosted military spending and took a bold stance against Communism, which, in part, led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet, because of his charisma, he was able to cultivate a successful diplomatic and personal relationship with the Russian leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.
In 1986, many Americans became upset with his administration when evidence surfaced that it struck a deal to sell Iran arms, and used the money to finance anti-Communist guerrillas in Nicaragua. Reagan, however, successfully plead plausible deniability and was dubbed the “Teflon President.”
Despite the scandal, to this day Ronald Reagan’s embodiment of a powerful leader who supported traditional American values has endured and he is recognized as one of the greatest presidents in American history.
You can help your children learn all about Reagan’s contribution by giving them Learn Our History’s very first DVD, “The Reagan Revolution” available at http://learnourhistory.com/go.cfm?do=Video.ShowOffer&sv=1
Before becoming the nation’s 40th president in 1981, Reagan had several careers—he started out as a radio sports announcer in the Midwest, which served as a springboard to a Hollywood career during the 1930s. He earned the nickname “The Gipper” from his role of George “The Gipper” Gipp in “Knute Rockne, All American.”
During World War II, Reagan served as a lieutenant in the Army Air Corps, appearing in various propaganda films. After the war, he served as the President of the Screen Actor’s Guild between 1947 and 1952. During that same time, Reagan was a proponent of FDR’s New Deal. In 1960, he made the switch to the Republican Party.
Reagan’s entered a life in politics in 1966, when he was nominated by California Republicans for Governor. He was elected Governor and served two terms between 1967 and 1975.
1976, he challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford to become the Republican Party’s candidate and established himself as a more conservative choice compared to Ford, who appeared more moderate. Ford prevailed, earning the nomination with 1,187 delegates compared to Reagan’s 1,070. Of course, Ford lost the election of ’76 to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Reagan campaigned for the highest office in the United States again in 1980 and swept into office, carrying 44 states with 489 electoral votes (remember, 270 are needed to win the White House)! He served two terms as president—and he managed to break his record when he was reelected in 1984; he received a record 525 electoral votes, winning 49 out of 50 states.
For the most part, Reagan’s presidency was marked by huge success—he influenced change both domestically and internationally. During what would become known as the “Reagan Revolution,” Reagan reinvigorated American morale and reduced people’s reliance on government. During his first inaugural address on January 20, 1981, he said “In the present crisis, government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem!” On that same day, Iran freed 52 U.S. hostages who had been detailed for 444 days during the Iran Hostage Crisis.
Just 69 days into his presidency, an attempt was made on Reagan’s life when he was shot by John Hinkley, Jr. as he left a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton Hotel. Reagan suffered a punctured lung, but recovered quickly.
During his tenure, Reagan resurrected a no-nonsense perception of America throughout the world. He boosted military spending and took a bold stance against Communism, which, in part, led to the collapse of the Soviet Union. Yet, because of his charisma, he was able to cultivate a successful diplomatic and personal relationship with the Russian leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.
In 1986, many Americans became upset with his administration when evidence surfaced that it struck a deal to sell Iran arms, and used the money to finance anti-Communist guerrillas in Nicaragua. Reagan, however, successfully plead plausible deniability and was dubbed the “Teflon President.”
Despite the scandal, to this day Ronald Reagan’s embodiment of a powerful leader who supported traditional American values has endured and he is recognized as one of the greatest presidents in American history.
You can help your children learn all about Reagan’s contribution by giving them Learn Our History’s very first DVD, “The Reagan Revolution” available at http://learnourhistory.com/go.cfm?do=Video.ShowOffer&sv=1
Friday, January 20, 2012
Learn Our History Today: January 20
On this day in history, January 20, several US Presidents were inaugurated into office, beginning with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his second term in 1937. Prior to this, most presidents were inaugurated on March 4 (with exception to the presidents who took office following the death of their predecessors), but the 20th Amendment which was passed in 1933 made January 20th the official inauguration date for all future presidents.
It’s common knowledge that our president can serve up to two terms in office, meaning up to two inaugurations, but did you know that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated four times? The two term tradition was an unwritten rule dating back to George Washington’s decision to decline a third-term run in 1796. In 1940, Roosevelt had said he would not run unless he was drafted; well, the delegates ended up nominating him by 946 to 147 on the first ballot, and he went on to win the presidency. He ran again in 1944, carrying 36 states. The 22nd Amendment, which was ratified in February 1951, officially set the limit to two terms in office. In addition, it also limits a president to serving 10 years, in the event one succeeds to the office.
Also on this day in history, the Iran Hostage Crisis ended, just minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th president of the United States. Reagan’s first course of business upon entering office was to free the nearly $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, promoting Iran to release the hostages.
You can teach your children about the Iranian Hostage Crisis and Ronald Reagan’s achievements in Learn Our History’s video, “The Reagan Revolution”, available at http://learnourhistory.com.
It’s common knowledge that our president can serve up to two terms in office, meaning up to two inaugurations, but did you know that President Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated four times? The two term tradition was an unwritten rule dating back to George Washington’s decision to decline a third-term run in 1796. In 1940, Roosevelt had said he would not run unless he was drafted; well, the delegates ended up nominating him by 946 to 147 on the first ballot, and he went on to win the presidency. He ran again in 1944, carrying 36 states. The 22nd Amendment, which was ratified in February 1951, officially set the limit to two terms in office. In addition, it also limits a president to serving 10 years, in the event one succeeds to the office.
Also on this day in history, the Iran Hostage Crisis ended, just minutes after Ronald Reagan’s inauguration as the 40th president of the United States. Reagan’s first course of business upon entering office was to free the nearly $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, promoting Iran to release the hostages.
You can teach your children about the Iranian Hostage Crisis and Ronald Reagan’s achievements in Learn Our History’s video, “The Reagan Revolution”, available at http://learnourhistory.com.
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