When I learned of the assassination attempt on former President Trump, I was in a car returning to Washington from a funeral in Richmond, Virginia.
In 2012, I was in the car heading to a wedding on Long Island when I learned of the assassination attempt on former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
In 2017, I was on the elliptical machine at a gym in Alexandria, Virginia, when I learned that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, had been assassinated during a congressional baseball practice exercise.
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When I came home from school in sixth grade, I learned of the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.
After the Reagan shooting, I didn’t realize that covering these events would become a normal part of my job. Maybe that’s why I reached into the recesses of my memory and recalled some messages from these episodes. In fact, they help me put into context what I’m reporting now.
Back in 1981, I was driving my dad’s maroon Pacer to Hamilton, Ohio for weekly trumpet lessons. We listened to a news report on the radio as legendary NBC anchor John Chancellor introduced “John Hinckley Jr.” to the world. It’s the suspected shooter.
Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci captured this photo of former President Trump after the assassination attempt. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
For some reason, one detail stood out. I remember the Chancellor said Hinckley had worked as a radio disc jockey in Colorado.
The whole thing sounds confusing. This is often the case with reports of attempted political assassinations. I remember some of the same confusion on the radio when my dad picked me up after school that same fall. I was in seventh grade at that time. A group of soldiers had just assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
The next day, no one at school talked about Sadat’s murder. But everyone at school was talking about the Reagan shooting.
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A friend from school also watched the news and commented the next day that when a news reporter learned that Reagan was actually shooting. Not just shooting.
As I said, assassinations and assassination attempts are chaotic. So you can understand the confusion Frank Reynolds (then the anchor of ABC’s World News Tonight) found himself in when the news station reported on the Reagan shooting.
It’s easy to review major breaking news events and understand after the fact what was accurate. But in reality such a scene is pure anger.
Police and Secret Service agents dive in to protect then-President Ronald Reagan during an assassination attempt outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Holden Files/Getty Images)
Reynolds even reported at one point that “the president was not hit.”
But first drafts of history are often wrong. It’s not the reporter’s fault. Just be as careful as possible with the information you know so far.
Reynolds goes through ABC’s live coverage of the Reagan assassination attempt with former ABC White House correspondent Sam Donaldson. Someone handed them a yellow note.
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Reynolds and Donaldson studied the paper as if they were deciphering a foreign code and solving algebraic problems at the same time.
“He’s hurt!?!?!” Reynolds and Donaldson said in disbelief almost in unison.
Donaldson kept his eyes on the page and put his hand to his lips. At the same time, Reynolds raised his right palm to his forehead.
President Ronald Reagan was shown a giant get well card while recuperating at George Washington Hospital after the assassination attempt on John Hinckley Jr. (Photo: © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
“Oh my God!” Reynolds said.
Reynolds seemed incredulous, then turned to someone off camera to confirm that what he had just said on the air to millions of people was accurate.
“The president was shot?” Reynolds asked tersely.
A low voice outside the camera revealed that “the situation is stable.”
Reynolds was furious now, but he was trying to hold it in.
He turned to his right and glared off the stage, surprised to see the story change exponentially in a matter of seconds.
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One can only speculate what was going through Reynolds’ mind at the time. Was this an unsuccessful assassination attempt like the one in 1975 when Squeaky Fromme held President Ford at gunpoint in a San Francisco park? Or JFK International Airport at Dealey Plaza in Dallas?
“All this information!” Reynolds roared, hands clasped around the yellow notebook paper.
Reynolds pinched the sheets so hard you could hear them crinkling in the air.
ABC News’s Sam Donaldson and Frank Reynolds cover the 1974 Nixon impeachment trial. (Photo by Ed Strickey/ABC via Getty Images)
For a nanosecond, Reynolds looked like he wanted to knock someone unconscious. He has been reporting on the president to a national audience no shooting. Now this is wrong. In fact, he may be wrong about one of the biggest events of all time: the possible assassination of a president.
Donaldson continued to stare at the table, trying to grasp the gravity of the situation.
Then, like a switch flipped, Reynolds regained his composure. His voice dropped. The edge recedes. His sweet anchor baritone returns. Reynolds then delivered the message in a smooth rhythm.
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A moment later, however, someone tried to send some message to Reynolds again off-camera. Reynolds struggled to hear the speaker over the din of the newsroom.
“Say it!” Reynolds growled like a drill sergeant, waving an accusing index finger at an unseen person.
We can’t really blame Reynolds in that moment. He just wanted to tell a good story amidst the chaos.
It is generally accepted that most people learned about the Kennedy assassination through Walter Cronkite’s appearance on CBS’s “As the World Turns.”
“The news from Dallas, Texas, is apparently official, President Kennedy passed away at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time,” Cronkite said, taking off his glasses. “Two o’clock, Eastern Standard Time. About 38 minutes ago.”
Cronkite swallowed hard and paused for a full seven seconds before speaking again.
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But it’s unclear whether that’s actually how most people learned of Kennedy’s death. That’s the “TV” version. Therefore, it is iconic. Millions of Americans listened to the radio in the afternoon. It’s interesting to pick out old radio broadcasts to see how local stations reported this.
The report from Cincinnati’s WLW-AM is particularly interesting.
And it’s confusing.
Former President John F. Kennedy, the latest victim of a successful assassination attempt, attends a press conference. (Photo: Mario Biasetti)
WLW is one of the most famous radio stations in the United States. WLW is known as “National Radio” and is known in the industry as “The Blowtorch.” The station has a powerful 50,000-watt, clear-channel signal and is said to cover 38 states at night. At one time, WLW was the most powerful radio station in the world. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt flipped a switch in the White House, increasing power to a staggering 500,000 watts. Europeans could hear the radio.
But WLW’s coverage of the Kennedy assassination was emblematic of what hundreds of stations across the country experienced after the news broke.
Watch the national NBC news program hosted by Martin Agronsky on WLW at 1:30 pm ET. Agronsky reported on Kennedy’s trip to Dallas. The national news broadcast ended and local WLW anchor Fred Bernard returned to take over the studio. He described the weather conditions and talked about the rainfall from Toledo to Dayton. Bernard then performed the overture from the Broadway musical “Li’l Abner.” I think that’s what they played on the radio back then.
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The overture only enters into a few soaring bars before quickly disappearing. Finally, you hear Bernard gently scratching the record as he lifts the needle and prepares for playback.
“We have to wait here for a while. Something might happen,” Bernard warned, as if he were reporting the weather forecast.
“Yes, there is,” said Bernard.
Then you heard the studio door creak slightly.
On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated while riding in a convertible in downtown Dallas. (Getty Images)
“I was just handed an announcement from Dallas, Texas,” Bernard said.
Then he mentioned that shots were fired at President Kennedy’s motorcade.
After trying to parse the telegram for a while, Bernard interacted with the audience.
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“I’ll tell you how it reads,” Bernard said. “‘Dallas. An unidentified sniper fired three shots.’ And the five letters “PMOUX.” Then came “Flash.” Kennedy’s name ‘FLASH’ was misspelled again, and the bottom of the headline read ‘Kennedy seriously injured.
Bernard said he would keep viewers updated. But back to the record.
“This is the overture to Lee Abner Lehman Engel and the orchestra,” Bernard said.
In such a tense moment, the most incongruous music begins to play. It’s a ridiculous barn fiddle that sounds like you’re hoeing a field.
CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite reports on the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Friday, November 22, 1963. (CBS via Getty Images)
This lasts no longer than ten seconds. The music suddenly cooled down. You can hear two people having an off-mic conversation in the studio.
“…He was shot!” someone said.
“Who? Kennedy?” another voice asked.
“Yes,” someone affirmed.
“President?” a second voice asked in disbelief.
“Yes,” another voice confirmed again.
Then things got serious.
The deep announcer’s voice began to sound.
“This is an announcement from the WLW Comex newsroom,” an announcer said, formally providing information about the shooting.
The voice said there were no casualties.
“We will update you as soon as the WLW newsroom receives news.”
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Halfway through the overture, the music started again without warning.
Ironically, the tune of the musical at this point is a satirical ditty titled “The Country Is in the Best Hands.”
The announcer returned a few minutes later. Finally, WLW switched to NBC broadcast news for full coverage. There was even live coverage from Robert McNeil from Dallas, who traveled with Kennedy. McNeil later hosted “The McNeil/Lehrer News Hour” on PBS for 22 years.
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It was chaos Saturday night in Butler, Pennsylvania. There were initial questions about whether there were actual gunshots.
I have experienced, seen, and heard many such scenes before. Even personally covered or participated in other moments like this.
They all have one thing in common. They are familiar to me. They have become familiar to me over the decades.
They are a complete mess.
