No Other Bio Like It

One decision kept President Ronald Reagan from dying March 30, 1981, when John Hinckley took shots toward the president. I've written a story about the man whose quick thinking changed the fate of the world that day.

Jerry Parr was in charge of President Reagan's Secret Service protection from the time Reagan was inaugurated only a matter of days before the assassination attempt.      Jerry and his team had done their usual, careful preparation for Reagan's visit to the Washington, D.C. Hilton Hotel where he was scheduled to give a speech. When he had finished and they had escorted him through the hotel's back exit toward the presidential limousine, Hinckley emerged from the crowd of onlookers and unloaded six shots in Reagan's direction. Jerry immediately shoved Reagan head first into the back seat of the limo and crawled in beside him. The door slammed as the limo sped toward the White House. Within seconds, Reagan complained of chest pain and began to spit up red, frothy blood. Jerry recognized this as a sign of a lung injury. He changed routes from the White House to George Washington Hospital, a few blocks away. That decision is recognized and acknowledged as the move that saved Reagan's life, according to Reagan's personal physician. Surgeons found a bullet lodged in Reagan's lung, a short distance from his heart. He recovered and re-entered his new status as president of the United States, a job he had held only a few short weeks. 

     The rest of the story is that Jerry, as a nine-year-old, went to the Miami Tower Theatre repeatedly to watch a film called "The Code of the Secret Service". He whispered to his father that he wanted to be a Secret Service agent like the star, Brass Bancroft, played by Ronald Reagan. Forty years later, Jerry is the one whose quick thinking saved his childhood hero's life. 

My story of Jerry includes his troubled childhood in Miami, his life as a lineman with electrical companies, and his journey into the Secret Service. He rose rapidly and was appointed to presidential protection when Jimmy Carter was president, just prior to Reagan. Jerry, age 82, resides in Washington, D.C. 

My story of Jerry includes his troubled childhood in Miami, his life as a lineman with electrical companies, and his journey into the Secret Service. He rose rapidly and was appointed to presidential protection when Jimmy Carter was president, just prior to Reagan. Jerry, age 82, resides in Washington, D.C. 

Will a publisher buy this story? Hope so!