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We open this episode looking back at the hostage release just after President Ronald Reagan was sworn into office in January of 1981. It was a moment of deep relief for the entire country and former President Jimmy Carter deserves much credit for the the tireless way he worked to insure it would happen just as he was leaving office. President Reagan made it a point to allow Carter to fly to Germany to greet the hostages. 

Then we move on to March 30, 1981, a date which shook the city of Washington D.C. and the entire nation. It was a day I remember vividly, for when I got home from school the television was running nonstop with coverage of the assassination attempt on the life of President Ronald Reagan. 

Reagan had just completed his speech at the Washington Hilton to the AFL-CIO and was headed back to the Presidential Limousine when shots rang out. John Hinkley Jr, a deranged young man, in love with actress Jodi Foster, shot four times gravely wounding White House Press Secretary James Brady, also hitting Thomas J. Delahanty a D.C. Policeman, and Timothy McCarthy one of Reagan's Secret Service Agents and also hitting the President. What ensued was both our government's finest hour and several moments of chaos. 

In this episode, we tell that story and let you relive the moment as it happens, in real time, as we see the White House Pressroom give confused answers to questions, as the Vice President is being flown back from a trip to Houston , Texas. We also see the forceful presence of a main character of our show's past re-emerge in General Alexander Haig who would step up to calm the nation and end up committing political suicide instead.

 It is a fascinating story at crisis point moment that would change the Reagan Presidency and the Reagan - Bush relationship, from two former foes working together for the betterment of the nation, with some level of apprehension, to relationship that would blossom into a full friendship between the two leaders of our country. 

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