John Hinckley Jr.: Difference between revisions
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"The reasons the court has reached this decision rest with the hospital, not with Mr. Hinckley," Friedman said, adding that Hinckley's prior visits have been uneventful and his family has done all that has been asked of them. "Unfortunately, the hospital has not taken the steps it must take before any such transition can begin." |
"The reasons the court has reached this decision rest with the hospital, not with Mr. Hinckley," Friedman said, adding that Hinckley's prior visits have been uneventful and his family has done all that has been asked of them. "Unfortunately, the hospital has not taken the steps it must take before any such transition can begin." |
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==Cultural references== |
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Hinckley is one of the assassins portrayed in [[Stephen Sondheim]] and [[John Weidman|John Weidman's]] musical ''[[Assassins (musical)|Assassins]]'', in which he sings a folk ballad, "Unworthy of Your Love", professing his love to Foster. The song is a duet with [[Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme]] who was [[cult]] leader [[Charles Manson]]'s most loyal disciple. Fromme had herself previously failed to assassinate U.S. President [[Gerald Ford]]. |
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Hinckley had a copy of ''[[Catcher in the Rye]]'' on him at the time of his assassination attempt. He is said to have been influenced by [[Mark David Chapman|Mark Chapman]]. |
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The 1980s [[hardcore punk]] band [[Ism (band)|Ism]] recorded a song entitled [["John Hinckley Jr. (What Has Jodie Foster Done To You?)"]] on ''[[The Big Apple Rotten To The Core]]'' hardcore punk compilation and their 1983 debut LP ''[[A Diet For The Worms]]''. It includes the lyrics: "First [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]], then [[John F. Kennedy|Kennedy]], but Reagan got away/So you stood near the Hilton/With a gun in your hand/Waiting for Reagan/Even the mentally ill can calculate and premeditate plans." |
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Hardcore punk band [[The Crucifucks]] released a song on their self titled LP in 1985 entitled "Hinkley had a Vision", in which singer and lyricist [[Doc Corbin Dart]] fanticized about killing then president Reagon by "Chop(ing) off his head" and "mail(ing) it to them (Christians)in a garbage bag". |
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''[[National Lampoon]]'' included a "letter" from Hinckley in one issue, declaring "I shot the wrong Brady! It wasn't Jim I wanted - it was Mike, Carol, Greg, Marcia..." and names the whole ''[[Brady Bunch]]'' cast as future victims. |
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In the ''[[Family Guy]]'' episode "[[Model Misbehavior]]," Hinckley fires the gun to start a boat race, and then Foster shows up saying that she was impressed by the way he fired the gun and maybe she has changed her view of him, as well as of all men. |
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In the ''[[Seinfeld]]'' episode "[[The Pitch (Seinfeld episode)|The Pitch]]," [[Jerry Seinfeld (character)|Jerry Seinfeld]] remarks, "Give my best to Hinckley," after having an odd conversation with [["Crazy" Joe Davola]]. |
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In an episode of "Gilmore Girls", Luke Dane says, "and they told me to start writing letters to Jodie Foster!". |
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A song called "I Desire" appears on [[Devo]]'s fifth album, ''[[Oh, No! It's Devo]]'', which features lyrics by and based upon John Hinckley's songs to Jodie Foster. |
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In the ''[[American Dad]]'' episode "[[The Best Christmas Story Never]]," Stan is taken back in time to the 1970s where he convinces [[Martin Scorsese]] to quit drugs which results in ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' never being made. This results in an alternate future in which John Hinckley never attempts to assassinate Ronald Reagan, and [[Walter Mondale]] becomes President of the United States and soon after hands over power to the Soviets. |
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The 1980s [[Wall of Voodoo]] hit Far Side of Crazy is sung from the point of view of John Hinckley Jr. and incorporates Hinckley's poetry as well as such lines as "I shot an actor for an actress who lived to tell a joke." |
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In ''[[Se7en]]'', Brad Pitt's character Det. David Mills, says "Voices made me do it. [[Son of Sam|My dog made me do it]]. Jodie Foster told me to do it." when talking about the motives behind insane criminals deeds. |
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On Episode #301 of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', featuring ''[[Cave Dwellers]]'', [[Crow T. Robot]], seeing a credit for actress [[Lisa Foster]], jokes "I'd shoot [[Donald Regan]] to prove my love for Lisa Foster!" |
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On the TV series ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'', the last name of the central character, Ralph ''Hinkley'' (spelled without a C), was (without in-story explanation) changed to "Hanley," supposedly in reaction to John Hinckley's activities. |
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In ''[[Conspiracy Theory]]'', the characters Jerry Fletcher and Alice Sutton refer to Hinckley in conversation: |
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'''Jerry''': "[L]one gunmen assassins, they always have three names. [[John Wilkes Booth]], [[Lee Harvey Oswald]], [[Mark David Chapman]]..." |
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'''Alice''': "John Hinckley. He shot Reagan. He only has two names." |
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'''Jerry''': "Yeah, but he only just ''shot'' Reagan. Reagan didn't die. If Reagan had died, I'm pretty sure we probably would all know what John Hinckley's middle name was." |
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==References== |
==References== |
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Revision as of 04:15, 21 September 2007
John Hinckley, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | John Warnock Hinckley Jr. May 29, 1955 |
John Warnock Hinckley, Jr. (born May 29, 1955) attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981.
Biography
John Hinckley, Jr. was born on May 29, 1955, in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and grew up in Texas.[1] He went to Highland Park High School in Dallas County, Texas. The family, owners of the Hinckley Oil company, later moved to Colorado. An off-and-on student at Texas Tech University from 1972 to 1980, in 1975 he headed to Los Angeles in the hope of becoming a songwriter. These efforts were unsuccessful, and his letters home to his parents were full of tales of misfortune and pleas for money. He also spoke of a girlfriend, Lynn Collins, who turned out to be a complete fabrication. He returned home to his parents' house in Evergreen, Colorado, before the year was out. Over the next few years he developed a pattern of living on his own for a while and then returning home broke.
Obsession with Jodie Foster
After repeated viewings of the 1976 movie Taxi Driver, in which a disturbed protagonist, Travis Bickle, played by Robert DeNiro, plots to assassinate a presidential candidate, Hinckley developed an obsession with actress Jodie Foster, who played a child prostitute in the film[2]. When Foster entered Yale University, Hinckley moved to New Haven, Connecticut, for a short time to be nearer to her, slipping poems and messages under her door and repeatedly contacting her by telephone.
Failing to develop any meaningful contact with Foster, Hinckley developed such plots as hijacking an airplane and committing suicide in front of her to gain her attention. Eventually he settled on a scheme to win her over by assassinating the president, with the theory that as a historical figure, he would be her equal. To this end, he trailed Jimmy Carter, then president, from state to state, but was arrested in Nashville, Tennessee on a firearms charge. Penniless, he returned home once again, and despite psychiatric treatment for depression, his mental health did not improve. In 1981, he began to target the newly elected president, Ronald Reagan. It was also at this time that he started collecting information on Lee Harvey Oswald, John F Kennedy's assassin, whom he saw as a role model.
Just prior to Hinckley's failed attempt on Reagan's life, he wrote to Foster[3]:
Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself. [...] the reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you.
Reported Hinckley family connections
According to the March 31, 1981, edition of the Houston Post, and reported by AP, UPI, NBC News and Newsweek, Hinckley is the son of one of George H.W. Bush's political and financial supporters in his 1980 presidential primary campaign against Ronald Reagan; John Hinckley Sr.'s Vanderbilt Energy had been threatened with a $2 million fine the morning of the assassination attempt. John Jr.'s older brother, Scott Hinckley, and Neil Bush had a dinner appointment scheduled for the next day.[4][5]
Associated Press published the following short note on March 31, 1981:
The family of the man charged with trying to assassinate President Reagan is acquainted with the family of Vice-President George Bush and had made large contributions to his political campaign ... Scott Hinckley, brother of John W. Hinckley Jr. who allegedly shot at Reagan, was to have dined tonight in Denver at the home of Neil Bush, one of the Vice-President's sons ... The Houston Post said it was unable to reach Scott Hinckley, vice-president of his father's Denver-based firm, Vanderbilt Energy Corp, for comment. Neil Bush lives in Denver, where he works for Standard Oil Co of Indiana. In 1978, Neil Bush served as campaign manager for his brother, George W. Bush, the Vice-President's eldest son, who made an unsuccessful bid for Congress. Neil lived in Lubbock, Texas, throughout much of 1978, where John Hinckley lived from 1974 through 1980.
Assassination attempt
On March 30, 1981, Hinckley fired a Röhm RG-14 six times at Reagan as he left the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. after addressing an AFL-CIO conference. The gun cost $25, was manufactured by Rohm Gesellschaft, a West German company, and assembled in Miami by its American subsidiary, R.G. Industries, Inc.[6] ATF agents determined that the gun was bought at Rocky's Pawn Shop in Dallas, Texas.[7] It was loaded with six Devastator rounds, designed to explode on impact, though all failed to do so.[8]
Hinckley wounded press secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delehanty, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy. The initial barrage missed President Reagan, but he was seriously wounded when a bullet that bounced back from the bulletproof glass of the presidential limousine hit him in the chest.[9] Hinckley did not attempt to flee and was arrested at the scene. All of the shot men survived and recovered, although Brady, who had been shot in the right side of his head, remained paralyzed on the left side of his body. [1]
Trial
At the trial in 1982, charged with 13 offenses, Hinckley was found not guilty by reason of insanity on June 21. The defense psychiatric reports found him to be insane while the prosecution reports declared him legally sane.[9]
Hinckley was confined at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C.[9] When reporters asked Hinckley's attorney Vincent J. Fuller to elaborate about his victory over the federal government he said, "Another day, another dollar."[10]
Reaction to verdict
The verdict led to widespread dismay; as a result, the U.S. Congress and a number of states rewrote the law regarding the insanity defense. Idaho, Kansas, Montana, and Utah have abolished the defense altogether[11]. In the United States prior to the Hinckley case, the insanity defense had been used in less than 2% of all felony cases and was unsuccessful in almost 75% of the trials in which it was used.[9] Hinckley's parents wrote a book in 1985, Breaking Points, about their son's mental condition.[9]
St Elizabeths
Shortly after his trial, Hinckley wrote that the shooting was "the greatest love offering in the history of the world," and was upset that Foster did not reciprocate his love.[12]
After being admitted, tests found that Hinckley was an "unpredictably dangerous" man who may harm himself, Jodie Foster, and any other third party. In 1983 he told Penthouse magazine that on a typical day he will “see a therapist, answer mail, play [his] guitar, listen to music, play pool, watch television, eat lousy food, and take delicious medication”.[13]
He was allowed to leave the hospital for supervised visits to his parents in 1999 and longer, unsupervised releases in 2000.[1] These privileges were revoked when he was found to have smuggled materials about Foster back into the hospital. Hinckley was later allowed supervised visits in 2004 and 2005. Court hearings were held in September 2005 on whether he could have expanded privileges to leave the hospital. Some of the testimony during the hearings centered on whether Hinckley is capable of having a normal relationship with a woman and, if not, whether that would have any bearing on what danger he would pose to society.
On December 30, 2005, a federal judge ruled that Hinckley would be allowed visits, supervised by his parents, to their home outside of Washington, D.C. The judge ruled that Mr. Hinckley could have up to three visits of three nights and then four visits of four nights, each depending on the successful completion of the last. All of the experts testifying at Mr. Hinckley's 2005 conditional release hearing, including the government experts, agreed that his depression and psychotic disorder are in full remission and that he should have some expanded conditions of release.
After requesting further freedoms including 2 week visits with his parents as well as a month long visit, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman denied that request on Tuesday, June 6, 2007, but not because Hinckley wasn't ready.
"The reasons the court has reached this decision rest with the hospital, not with Mr. Hinckley," Friedman said, adding that Hinckley's prior visits have been uneventful and his family has done all that has been asked of them. "Unfortunately, the hospital has not taken the steps it must take before any such transition can begin."
References
- ^ a b The American Experience - John Hinckley Jr by Julie Wolf. Retrieved 5 March 2006.
- ^ Taxi Driver: Its Influence on John Hinckley, Jr.
- ^ Letter written to Jodie Foster by John Hinckley Jr., March 30, 1981
- ^ Here in Reality - John Hinckley Retrieved 6 April 2007.
- ^ Bush's Son Was To Dine With Suspect's Brother, by Arthur Wiese and Margaret Downing, The Houston Post, March 31, 1981
- ^ The Gun: A Saturday Night Special From Miami, by Pete Earley, Washington Post, March 31, 1981. Retrieved 28 February, 2007.
- ^ Guns Traced in 16 Minutes to Pawn Shop in Dallas, Charles Mohr, New York Times, April 1, 1981. Retrieved February 28, 2007.
- ^ The Exploding Bullets, by Pete Barley and Charles Babcock, Washington Post, 4 Apr, 1981. Retrieved 28 February, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e The Trial of John W. Hinckley, Jr. by Doug Linder. 2001 Retrieved 10 March 2007.
- ^ Vincent J. Fuller; Star Attorney Defended Hinckley, Hoffa, Tyson by Matt Schudel. The Washington Post. 29 July 2006. Retrieved 6 April 2007.
- ^ The John Hinckley Trial & Its Effect on the Insanity Defense by Kimberly Collins, Gabe Hinkebein, and Staci Schorgl
- ^ Hinckley Hails 'Historical' Shooting To Win Love by Stuart Taylor Jr. New York Times. 9 July 1982. Retrieved 21 March 2007.
- ^ Life at St. Elizabeths by Denise Noe. Crime Library. Courtroom Television Network, LLC. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
External links
- The Trial of John Hinckley Jr. - University of Missouri at Kansas City Law School
- The American Experience - John Hinckley Jr. by Julie Wolf.
- Crime Library - The John Hinckley Case by Denise Noe.
- The Hinckley Double - New York Times
- Listen To The 80's hit song John Hinckley Jr. (What Has Jodie Foster Done To You?) by Ism
- The Day Hinckley Shot Reagan