Where were you when President Reagan was shot?

I was five years old and it was probably about the 3rd event of historical importance that I remember (the first two being the Iran hostage crisis and John Lennon getting shot). I was in my friend Elaine’s furnished basement and we were watching TV—“Little House on the Prairie,” I think, when the news broke into our “regularly scheduled programming.” I also vaguely remember playing around on her mother’s exercise bike at the time. How weird that I am finally old enough to remember things that happened 3 decades ago?!

I don’t remember where I was when he was shot, but I met and talked with him about a year later in Phoenix. His mother-in-law lived in the same condo as I, and he had come to visit her on Mother’s Day. I was amazed that even after the attempted assassination, the Secret Service guys let me walk right up to him and introduce myself. Though I was no fan of Reagan’s politically, I was thrilled to meet a President and impressed that the “Leader of the Free World” took the time to chat with me briefly, looking me straight in the eye the entire time.

Driving down Collins Avenue in Miami. I heard about it on the car radio. I didn’t like Reagan. I was at Berkeley when he was governor of California. He took a state that had the fifth healthiest BNP in the world and took it to number 15 by the time he was done. Libraries were closed, parks departments were no longer mowing lawns regularly, schoolbooks were worn and outdated. His tax cuts for her rich and cuts in services totally transformed the state. And his use of the National Guard and LEOs on campus did a lot of damage and radicalized a lot of people. So, I was really surprised at my emotional reaction when I heard the president had been shot. This was the third presidential shooting in my lifetime. I immediately pulled off the street to some fern bar with a bunch of TVs. It was early afternoon. There were some office types in there, some women. A couple of guys having an animated conversation at the end of the bar. Every TV in the place had a different channel reporting the shooting with the sound off. Nobody seemed to care but me and the bartender. Other than us, nobody paid much attention. I was kind of disturbed at that. And Miami was a big Republican town. It stuck with me. I was sick of the apathy I saw in America anyway. This just put a fine point on it. A few months later when I had a chance at a job in Europe, I snapped it up and didn’t come back for eight years. This wasn’t the only reason I left, of course, but it had an impact.
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I was on my Dad’s boat. The really bizarre thing was that my Dad was swimming at the time, and with no one saying anything (we were the only ones anchored in that little cove), he shot out of the water and yelled: “Turn on the radio!” just as the reports starting coming in.

Working in a phone company building in San Francisco.
I hated Reagan (still do), but was very upset by the shooting; my emotions a carry over from the Lennon event.

I remember being at work and with all major news events we were allowed to gather around the TV and watch the unfolding events.
@Austinlad what a great story.

I can remember the shooting being newsworthy, but not so newsworthy that I can remember what my fourteen year old self was actually doing at the time. Bungled assasination attempts of foreign leaders aren’t the most memorable events to a teenage lad. If he’d bought the farm, maybe…

@meiosis – I would imagine that this event would be more memorable for Americans than for others. Nationality might play into things here. (I have no idea as to your nationality, btw.)

I was working on a silo unloader in the barn and heard it on the radio, then went into my grandfather’s house and watched it on tv.

I was in my Film production class in college. I remember it well as it was a major shock to hear your President was shot and the information was sketchy at first and hearing about Brady taking one for the Pres added intensity to the moment.

I don’t have an alibi

I don’t remember exactly where I was when he was shot. What I do remember was either that same day or the next day going to eat with my dad and him telling me that only in a country like America can the president be shot, and there still be calm in the streets, and feel completely safe to leave the house, and that the country’s government was intact and stable. If I remember correctly he was shot on a Monday, so either it was a three day weekend, or we were given Tuesday off because of the shooting. My dad worked for the federal government, we lived right outside of D.C., either scenerio is possible. He probably remembers.

I was probably in a pub drinking. I was a student then, so being in the UK, courses would have finished and entertainment would have been the main concern. Still is.

I was in 5th grade. Everyone in my elementary school was taken to the auditorium and we heard about it there.

I was a glimmer in the eye of God. I wasn’t even conceived yet.

Hell, my parents weren’t even together yet.

I was a freshman in high school. After lunch instead of going back to class, they sent us to the library to watch the news.

I was not quite 2, so I assume I was being diapered and fed at home or something…

I was pregnant with my second child and reading to my first. My mom called me on the phone and told me to turn my TV on. I probably didn’t finish the story I was reading to my daughter.
I remember leaving the TV on all the rest of that day and evening, and for several days after, keeping track of the news.

In Hollywood, getting ready to ask Jodie Foster out on a date. If only I could have thought of a way to get her attention and impress her…..

I seem to recall being in the library. I would have been a senior in high school.

@crisw I was in high school too at the time, maybe the same one as you, but probably not in the library.

Same as @Fiddle_Playing_Creole_Bastard, my parents hadn’t even met yet, therefore I did not exist.

Also, lol @12Oaks

I wonder how many people remember that Hinkley did it out of his love for Jodie Foster.

I remember Jodie Foster having to field a lot of questions from the press.

@filmfann She was pitching Amanda from The Bad News Bears. We all loved her and her Freaky Friday self…..

Reagan criticized her movies for not being wholesome. He was refering to Taxi Driver and Carnival.
I adore Jodie, and wonder how this event changed her.

Ronald Reagan, being an authoritarian thug, was of course the height of wholesome!

I was on the options trading floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange. We watched the news on the Dow Jones display. It was a nine bell headline alert. The market went into free fall, and then we halted trading for the day.

Most of us went out for cocktails since we were off so early.

i was at home working on a freelance editing project. my husband came home at lunchtime and turned on the tv to breaking news.

i remember him saying something like ‘i didn’t want him to get elected, but i didn’t want him to get shot either.’

it took several days for details about the shooter to come out. i remember taking great comfort in that: they didn’t have us all in the computer system yet.

I was 5 and I have only a vague jumble of memories regarding this event. I do remember being of an age where it was seriously shocking to me, the idea that a president wasn’t invulnerable. I was a bit disturbed by seeing the chaos and the emotional upset of the adults of the world (which is never a good thing to a kid.. if the adults are freaking out, you know it’s bad news).

I was aware of the concept of assassination at that age, but up until Reagan, it was a thing of historical lore (i.e. Lincoln). That was kind of shocking, too. I had no concept of politics or party lines; to me, as a kid, our president was simply our president and, as such, was to be listened to and respected. I remember being in disbelief, like, WHY would anyone do that?

I wasn’t born. :P

I was sixteen, it was after school and I was probably watching M*A*S*H on TV when they broke in with the news. I thought Reagan is/was one of the worst presidents we’ve ever had, but he was still my president and I felt heartsick and scared and angry and very sorry for his family. I was relieved to hear that he was OK.

Kennedy was shot less than a month after I was born, and I knew all about how awful it was for the country and for the citizens and how everybody went into mourning. When Reagan was shot, I was stunned and couldn’t help but think that this horrible tragedy had happned again. And I was still reeling from the assassination of John Lennon. I was very afraid.

I was 14, and in school, and I don’t really remember much about it.

I was 11 years old in 6th grade and we were dismissed from school at about 2:00pm. I think the administration at my school were anticipating Reagan dying because he was so old at the time.

I was in the kitchen making lunch and heard it on the radio. I was a little emotional, but I was also 9 months pregnant. In fact, my son was born that night, though he wasn’t due for another week!