John Hinckley encyclopedia topics

Biography

John Hinckley, Jr. was born on May 29, 1955, in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and grew up in Texas. 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 had played a child prostitute in the film. 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 President Jimmy Carter 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 alleged assassin, whom he saw as a role model.

Just prior to Hinckley's failed attempt on Reagan's life, he wrote to Foster:

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.

Bush-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 Jr.'s older brother, Scott Hinckley, and Vice President Bush's son Neil Bush had a dinner appointment scheduled for the next day.

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. 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 .22 caliber Röhm RG-14 revolver six times at Reagan as he left the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. after addressing an AFL-CIO conference. The gun, which cost $24.99, was manufactured by Röhm Gesellschaft, a West German company, and assembled in Miami by its American subsidiary, R.G. Industries, Inc. ATF agents determined that the gun was bought at Rocky's Pawn Shop in Dallas, Texas. It was loaded with six Devastator rounds, which have lead azide-filled centers within lacquer-sealed aluminum tips designed to explode on impact, though all failed to do so.

Hinckley wounded press secretary James Brady, police officer Thomas Delahanty, and Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy. He did not directly hit Reagan, but the president was seriously wounded when a bullet ricocheted from the bulletproof glass of the presidential limousine and hit him in the chest. Hinckley did not attempt to flee and was arrested at the scene. All of the shooting victims survived, although Brady, who was hit in the right side of the head, endured a long recuperation period and remained paralyzed on the left side of his body.

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.

Hinckley was confined at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. When reporters asked Hinckley's attorney Vincent J. Fuller to elaborate about his successful defense against the federal prosecutors he said, "Another day, another dollar.

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. 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. Hinckley's parents wrote a book in 1985, Breaking Points, about their son's mental condition.

As further fallout from the verdict, federal and some state rules of evidence excluded testimony of an expert witness' conclusions on "ultimate" issues drawn by expert witnesses, including that of psychologist and psychiatrist expert witnesses on the issue of whether a criminal defendant is legally "insane". However, such is not the majority rule among the states today.

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.

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 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”.

He was allowed to leave the hospital for supervised visits with his parents in 1999, and longer unsupervised releases in 2000. 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 who testified at Mr. Hinckley's 2005 conditional release hearing, including the government experts, agreed that his depression and psychotic disorder were 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."

Cultural references

Hinckley is one of the assassins portrayed in Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's musical Assassins, in which he sings a pop 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.

The 1980s hardcore punk 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 Lincoln, then 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."

Hardcore punk band The Crucifucks released a song on their self titled LP in 1985 entitled "Hinckley had a Vision", in which singer and lyricist Doc Corbin Dart fantasized about killing then-President Reagan by "Chop(ping) off his head" and "mail(ing) it to them (Christians) in a garbage bag".

Hardcore punk band JFA (Jodie Foster's Army) derived their name from the assassination attempt, citing Hinckley's militant devotion.

Hardcore punk band Caustic Christ released a song called "Doesn't Anyone Want to Impress Jodie Foster Anymore?" on their album Lycanthropy. The song refers to Hinckley's love for Jodie Foster was strong enough to try to kill President Reagan and how they hope someone would want to impress Jodie Foster by trying to assassinate President George H. W. Bush.

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.

In The Onion's satirical recap of the 20th Century, Our Dumb Century there is an article titled "Hinckley, Foster to Wed" which notes "Actress 'Very Impressed' by Lone-Nut Gunman's Attempt on President's Life."

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.

In the Seinfeld episode "The Pitch," Jerry Seinfeld remarks, "Give my best to Hinckley," after having an odd conversation with "Crazy" Joe Davola.

In an episode of "Gilmore Girls", Luke Danes says, "and they told me to start writing letters to Jodie Foster!".

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.

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. Later, Stan returns to past to make "Taxi Driver" himself. When Stan's version of the film fails to inspire Hinckley, Stan attempts the assassination himself.

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."

In the song Civilization's Dying, the punk band The Zero Boys say "but the pope, and the president, and the big rockstar that made a lot of money, they know it ain't no fun, to get shot with a gun." This is a reference to the assassination attempt of John Paul II, the assassination attempt of Reagan, and the assassination of John Lennon.

In Se7en, Brad Pitt's character Det. David Mills, says "Voices made me do it. My dog made me do it. Jodie Foster told me to do it." when talking about the motives behind insane criminals deeds.

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!"

On the TV series The Greatest American Hero, the last name of central character Ralph Hinkley (spelled without a c but pronounced the same) was changed to Hanley (without in-story explanation) following the assassination attempt.

In episode 19 of the second season of NewsRadio, Dave Nelson (Dave Foley) is typing a memo to Lisa Miller (Maura Tierney). Bill McNeal (Phil Hartman) enters and asks, "How's the memo to Lisa Coming along?" Foley: "Just finishing up page 24." Hartman: "Wow, that's bound to get her attention." Foley: "That's what John Hinckley thought."

In Conspiracy Theory, the characters Jerry Fletcher and Alice Sutton refer to Hinckley in conversation:

Jerry: "[L]one gunmen assassins, they always have three names. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, Mark David Chapman..."

Alice: "John Hinckley. He shot Reagan. He only has two names."

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."

James Earl Ray, the man who killed Martin Luther King Jr., also has been known to have been called by his middle name)

In the Law & Order episode "Star Struck", a soap opera star is brutally assaulted by a mentally unstable fan and his defense attorney pleads insanity. At a meeting with District Attorney Adam Schiff and ADA Ben Stone, the attorney references Hinckley, saying "Ghost of John Hinckley, is that it? Shoots the President of the United States and gets away with it?"

In the Family Guy episode "Back to the Woods," Stewie says "This is more uncomfortable than having James Brady at a cocktail party", which leads to a flashback of Hinckley at a cocktail party reliving the story or "randomly firing his handgun into a crowd of people" when Brady wheels over to them to inquire about the joke.