''Honey, I Forgot To Duck''
My speech at the Hilton Hotel was not riotously received- I think most of the audience were Democrats- but at least they gave me polite applause.
After the speech, I left the hotel through a side entrance and passed a line of press photographers and TV cameras. I was almost to the car when I heard what sounded like two or three firecrackers over to my left- just a small fluttering sound, pop,pop, pop.
Just then, Jerry Parr, the head of our Secret Service unit, grabbed me by the waist and literally hurled me into the back of the limousine. I landed on my face atop the armrest across the backseat and Jerry jumped on top of me. When he landed, I felt a pain in my upper back that was unbelievable. It was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. “Jerry,” I said, “get off. I think you've broken one of my ribs.”
I tried to sit up on the edge of the seat and was almost paralyzed by pain. As I was straightening up, I had to cough hard and saw that the palm of my hand was brimming with extremely red, frothy blood. “You not only broke a rib, I think the rib punctured my lung,” I said.
-Ronald Reagan in An American Life Chapter 42 Page 259.
On March 30th, 1981, President Reagan was shot by 25-year-old John Hinckley. Reagan was inches away from death. After his assassination attempt and recovery, his popularity and approval rating soared to 73%.
(Photo: Reagan.U.Texas.Edu *Click To Enlarge)
After the speech, I left the hotel through a side entrance and passed a line of press photographers and TV cameras. I was almost to the car when I heard what sounded like two or three firecrackers over to my left- just a small fluttering sound, pop,pop, pop.
Just then, Jerry Parr, the head of our Secret Service unit, grabbed me by the waist and literally hurled me into the back of the limousine. I landed on my face atop the armrest across the backseat and Jerry jumped on top of me. When he landed, I felt a pain in my upper back that was unbelievable. It was the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. “Jerry,” I said, “get off. I think you've broken one of my ribs.”
I tried to sit up on the edge of the seat and was almost paralyzed by pain. As I was straightening up, I had to cough hard and saw that the palm of my hand was brimming with extremely red, frothy blood. “You not only broke a rib, I think the rib punctured my lung,” I said.
-Ronald Reagan in An American Life Chapter 42 Page 259.
On March 30th, 1981, President Reagan was shot by 25-year-old John Hinckley. Reagan was inches away from death. After his assassination attempt and recovery, his popularity and approval rating soared to 73%.
(Photo: Reagan.U.Texas.Edu *Click To Enlarge)
''I Hope You're All Republicans'' -President Reagan
''We're All Republicans Today, Mr. President'' -Doctor Giordano (a Democrat)
Reaganomics
''The most immediate priority was dealing with double-digit inflation, high unemployment, and a prime interest rate of 21.5%, the highest since the Civil War.
I believed that policies of the federal government reaching back for decades were mostly responsible for the problems. Although I knew we couldn't turn things around overnight, I wanted to begin reversing those mistakes and now I had a chance to try to do it. With my advisors, I had begun working on an economic recovery plan the first day after the election. The morning after inauguration day, at our first cabinet meeting, and at a meeting the following day of a team of specialists I had appointed to coordinate economic policy, we began the job of implementing the plan.''
¨Excessive tax rates were at the heart of the problem. Back in the fourteenth century, a Muslim philosopher named Ibn Khaldoon wroth something about taxes in ancient Egypt: ¨ At the beginning of the dynasty taxation yields a large revenue from small assessments. At the end of the dynasty, a taxation yields a small revenue from large assessments.¨ In other words, when rates were low, the revenue was great; when rates were high, the revenue was low.¨
-Ronald Reagan, An American Life Chapter 37 Page 230-231.
In 1981 President Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act, which dropped the individual income tax dramatically. This Act would cause a small recession in 1982 before a recovery process began in 1983.
(Photo: Reagan.UTexas.Edu *Click To Enlarge)
I believed that policies of the federal government reaching back for decades were mostly responsible for the problems. Although I knew we couldn't turn things around overnight, I wanted to begin reversing those mistakes and now I had a chance to try to do it. With my advisors, I had begun working on an economic recovery plan the first day after the election. The morning after inauguration day, at our first cabinet meeting, and at a meeting the following day of a team of specialists I had appointed to coordinate economic policy, we began the job of implementing the plan.''
¨Excessive tax rates were at the heart of the problem. Back in the fourteenth century, a Muslim philosopher named Ibn Khaldoon wroth something about taxes in ancient Egypt: ¨ At the beginning of the dynasty taxation yields a large revenue from small assessments. At the end of the dynasty, a taxation yields a small revenue from large assessments.¨ In other words, when rates were low, the revenue was great; when rates were high, the revenue was low.¨
-Ronald Reagan, An American Life Chapter 37 Page 230-231.
In 1981 President Reagan signed the Economic Recovery Tax Act, which dropped the individual income tax dramatically. This Act would cause a small recession in 1982 before a recovery process began in 1983.
(Photo: Reagan.UTexas.Edu *Click To Enlarge)
A Recession Is When A Neighbor Loses His Job. A Depression Is When You Lose Yours. And Recovery Is When Jimmy Carter Loses His.
-Ronald Reagan 1980 Presidential Campaign
''It's Morning Again In America''
''I regarded the 1984 presidential election as pivotal-not because I wanted to live in the White House for four more years, but because I believed the gains we'd made during the previous four years were in jeopardy. Although an economic expansion was under way, I thought we could do more to stimulate the economy by making our tax system fairer and simpler. I wanted to persuade Congress to cut more waste out of our budget and continue the process of making government smaller and less intrusive in our lives. I still thought I had a shot at balancing the budget during the next four years.''
- Ronald Reagan in An American Life Chapter 51 Page 325.
A recession early in Reagan's presidency caused the power of Washington to swing to the left in the 1982 midterm elections. With the economy improving, Reagan ran for re-election. He ran against former Vice President Walter Mondale. Reagan’s 1984 Re-Election win was one of the most lopsided landslide victories in American history. Reagan captured 525 out of the 538 electoral votes to win back the White House.
''To me, former Vice-President Walter Mondale, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1984, was another classic tax-and-spend liberal from the new school of the Democratic Party. Yet, when I watched Mondale's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, it almost seemed that he was trying to sound like a Republican. Apparently sensing that the public was in a conservative mood and fed up with big government, he talked about old-fashioned values and improving the efficiency of government, and promised the people he wanted to do some of the very same things we were already doing.''
-Ronald Reagan in An American Life Chapter 51 page 325
(Photo: Reagan.UTexas.Edu)
- Ronald Reagan in An American Life Chapter 51 Page 325.
A recession early in Reagan's presidency caused the power of Washington to swing to the left in the 1982 midterm elections. With the economy improving, Reagan ran for re-election. He ran against former Vice President Walter Mondale. Reagan’s 1984 Re-Election win was one of the most lopsided landslide victories in American history. Reagan captured 525 out of the 538 electoral votes to win back the White House.
''To me, former Vice-President Walter Mondale, the Democratic presidential nominee in 1984, was another classic tax-and-spend liberal from the new school of the Democratic Party. Yet, when I watched Mondale's acceptance speech at the Democratic convention, it almost seemed that he was trying to sound like a Republican. Apparently sensing that the public was in a conservative mood and fed up with big government, he talked about old-fashioned values and improving the efficiency of government, and promised the people he wanted to do some of the very same things we were already doing.''
-Ronald Reagan in An American Life Chapter 51 page 325
(Photo: Reagan.UTexas.Edu)
I Will Not Make Age An Issue Of This Campaign. I Am Not Going To Exploit, For Political Purposes, My Opponent's Youth And Inexperience.