The Reagan Assassination and John Hinkley Jr.

SPEAKER_1 (0:01)

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SPEAKER_2 (0:31)

This is Believe, one network, every topic, everywhere.

Welcome, you sexy people. Take your seats, pull out your papers, your pens, pick your poison. Because I think this episode is going to have a little bit of everything, right? Give me, if you had to give me five words, doesn't have to be a sentence or anything, give me five words that are going to describe what this episode is going to cover. Excite me, arouse me for this.

Adam (1:08)

Insanity, assassination. Unfortunately, it's two words, but taxi driver.

SPEAKER_2 (1:18)

No, I'll let you do one title. I'll give you the...

Adam (1:21)

Nazis. Well, I need two, because also Jodie Foster.

SPEAKER_2 (1:24)

OK.

Adam (1:26)

It's going to seem a little odd that we are going to be doing an episode about a potential attempted presidential assassination, and it is not the central focus of the episode. John Hinkley Jr. is somebody who, again, this weird timing that always seems to pop up when we're doing some of these episodes.

John Hinkley Jr. was the would-be assassin of Ronald Reagan in 1981 Post-inauguration, he ends up firing six shots, hits three people, fourth, including the president. And normally, when we're talking about a presidential assassination, this is somebody who has ill will towards the president, is anti-government.

SPEAKER_2 (2:14)

A sax to grind, a manifesto.

Adam (2:16)

Somebody that's trying to take down the president.

John Hinkley was motivated by trying to gain the attention and love of Jodie Foster. So, the assassination is a vehicle to trying to put together a very mentally ill human being with the Hollywood starlet, Jodie Foster.

SPEAKER_2 (2:42)

That might be one of the most insane sentences that's ever been edited on this podcast. This man tried to kill the president so Jodie Foster would love him.

Adam (2:50)

And that's just, that is the story, that's, I don't think it's really a secret when I do these teaching episodes. I enjoy to kind of look more towards a psychological kind of profile, whether it be a serial killer or whether it be a crazy true crime event or a Stanford prison experiment, anything like that.

And John Hinkley is the reason that the insanity plea had to change in this country. And for better or for worse, I have kind of some reservations about it, and we'll talk about the insanity plea quite a bit. But this is a kind of an episode to where, as I'm talking about things and as we're discussing things, kind of make mental notes on your scoreboard. Give yourself a scoreboard of somebody who would be planning to kill a president, and then somebody who is suffering from a mental illness. Because ultimately, this episode is going to come down to the question of, do you believe that John Hinkley Jr. should have been able to be found innocent by reason of insane, or not guilty by reason of insanity?

SPEAKER_2 (4:02)

I'm still trying to figure out if the Jodie Foster defense is going to work. No, what I'm saying is, if you heard someone be like, I did it so Jodie Foster would love me, I don't see how you argued that that's not insanity.

Adam (4:19)

Yeah, it's certainly a line of thinking that you could go down as far as any. You know, I hope that I get a wink or a nod or a wave from this famous star.

And if they do, it'll make my life. Now, ratchet that up to I need the love from this person, what else can I do? Well, the ultimate grand gesture to receive love from somebody is assassinating the president.

SPEAKER_2 (4:46)

We're gonna find out how that makes sense.

Adam (4:48)

It's just a slippery slope. Before we get into it, patreon.com/historicallyhigh.

Lot of fun stuff going on up there. The numbers are just getting incredible. The community is growing on there, just as it's growing with the free podcast. We love seeing you guys. Thank you so much for what you're allowing us to be able to do. We got some irons in the fire for some extra stuff, and we would love to do them and love to continue to grow this with you guys.

SPEAKER_2 (5:18)

All right, let's get Kinky with Hinkley. All right, tell me about this psychopath.

Adam (5:56)

Jonathan Warnock Hinkley Jr. That's probably a little bit too far.

SPEAKER_2 (6:01)

Psychopath, I think, might be a little harsh.