Killing Reagan Read Free Page B

are a great number of scripted lines that he has written himself or with his speechwriters to help him score points, Reagan has concocted a simple statement to deride Carter. After the president launches into a detailed and very dry explanation about Reagan’s opposition to national health care, Reagan pauses at his lectern. It is obvious that Carter is showing off his intellect in a way that is meant to make Reagan look old, slow, and out of touch. The president’s words were specifically chosen to ensure that Reagan’s scripted lines could not rescue him and to make it obvious to one and all that Jimmy Carter is the more intelligent of the two.
    What follows is Reagan at his best. In four simple words that will be remembered for decades, he succeeds in making President Carter look foolish. They are words that Reagan came up with during the long hours of practice debates but which he has kept to himself, knowing that for maximum effectiveness the line must sound completely spontaneous.
    Slowly shaking his head, Reagan turns to Carter and says, “There you go again.”
    The auditorium erupts in laughter. Reagan’s tone is that of a disappointed parent, saddened by a child who has failed to live up to expectations. The words mean nothing and everything. One short sentence captures the mood of a nation that no longer wants detailed policy explanations as to why the economy has collapsed and Americans are being held hostage in a foreign country.
    The time for words has passed. Now is the time for action.
    The election may be seven days away, but for James Earl “Jimmy” Carter Jr. of Plains, Georgia, it is over. The only man who does not know that is Carter himself. “Both sides felt good about the debate. We’ll see whose basic strategy is best when the returns come in next Tuesday,” he will write in his diary.
    *   *   *
    Reagan finishes the debate with a flourish. “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” he says earnestly into the television camera, wrapping up with an emotional appeal to the American people. “Is it easier for you to go and buy things in the stores than it was four years ago? Is there more or less unemployment in the country than there was four years ago? Is America as respected throughout the world as it was? Do you feel that our security is as safe, that we’re as strong as we were four years ago? And if you answer all of those questions yes, why then, I think your choice is very obvious as to who you’ll vote for.”
    So obvious, in fact, that the election is a landslide. Ronald Reagan receives 489 electoral votes; Jimmy Carter receives just 49. 12
    On January 20, 1981, Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the fortieth president of the United States.
    John Hinckley Jr. has a new target.

 
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    U NIVERSAL S TUDIOS
    H OLLYWOOD , C ALIFORNIA
    S EPTEMBER 1950
    D AYTIME
    The chimpanzee wears a white jumpsuit as she climbs high into the branches of a eucalyptus tree in the front yard of 712 Colonial Street. 1 “Peggy” is five years old. She was born in the jungles of Liberia and lured into captivity with a bundle of bananas. Since coming to Hollywood, Peggy has been taught to understand 502 voice commands, ride a tricycle, do backflips on cue, and put on a necktie. She has become one of the motion picture industry’s top animal performers, commanding a thousand dollars per week in salary. Now, as the cameras roll, she is starring in her first title role. The film is a screwball comedy entitled Bedtime for Bonzo .

    Ronald Reagan and Peggy the chimp on the set of Bedtime for Bonzo , 1950
    â€œAction!” cries director Fred de Cordova. 2 Peggy instantly obeys trainer Henry Craig’s instruction to do what comes naturally for her: climb a tree.
    One would think the act will not be quite as easy for her costar. Thirty-nine-year-old Ronald Reagan balances precariously on the top step of an eight-foot