John Hinckley Jr.

Early Life & Upbringing

John Hinckley Jr. was born May 29th, 1955, to his father John Hinckley Sr., founder of Vanderbilt Energy Corporation, and his mother Jo Ann Hinckley, a stay-at-home wife and homemaker. Although his father’s wealth gave Hinckley a great deal of privilege, he offered little emotional support, leaving Hinckley’s emotional needs to his mother. Hinckley was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma, but by the age of four, he and his parents had moved to the University Park neighborhood in Dallas, Taxes, an area known for its affluent residence as well as their high esteem.

Through his school years, Hinckley’s father held high expectations for his son, ones that seemed impossible to reach. His mother was also emotionally withdrawn, leaving Hinckley to fend for himself in the complicated family dynamic. High school was a social nightmare for a young Hinckley. With social stigma from peers, Hinckley became more and more reclusive; he rarely spent time with friends, opting to spend hours alone. By the time he left University Park High, fellow students had begun to refer to Hinckley as a “non-guy”, someone who almost didn’t exist in society. After high school, Hinckley enrolled in Texas Tech University, though his academic performance was lackluster. His enrollment was intermittent; from 1974 to 1980, he would enroll and drop out multiple times. This constant failure left Hinckley feeling lost and frustrated, prompting him to look for fulfillment elsewhere.

     In 1975, Hinckley left his family home for Los Angeles in hopes of finding a music career as a songwriter. However, he would not find success and quickly became disillusioned with the city. He would frequently write to his parents about his hardships, asking for final assistance. During his time in LA, Hinckley also wrote his parents about a new girlfriend, Lynn Collins, who turned out to be a complete fabrication, a character manifested from the women from John’s favorite movie, Taxi Driver.

By the end of 1976, Hinckley’s disillusionment brought him back to his family home in Colorado, and his hopes and dreams of a music career shattered. By 1980, Hinckley began to shift. His emotional troubles deepened, and he began to purchase firearms before becoming increasingly fixated on historical acts of violence.

Assassination Attempt 

Hinckley took months to plan his assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. He truly believed that this brave, historic act would get her attention, though it is pure historical significance. Hinckley’s actions, in no short terms, were highly inspired by Bickle’s actions in Taxi Driver, where the protagonist plots his political assassination.

The morning of March 30, 1981, Hinckley traveled to Washington D.C with a .22-caliber Röhm RG-14 revolver hidden in his jacket; he had spent months practicing with the firearm. Hinckley arrived at the Hilton Hotel by 9:30 AM and positioned himself among the crowd of onlookers waiting for the president’s arrival. After hours of waiting, around 2:30 PM, Reagan and the Secret Service exited the hotel, crossing the sidewalk to his motorcade. Hinckley, only a mere 20 feet from the president, acted quickly and fired six rounds.

The first round stuck Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, who stood in front of the president. The second struck press James Brady in the temple; the wound would take his life four days later. The third round hit police officer Thomas Delahanty in the neck, leaving him with lasting complications for the rest of his life. The fourth shot ricocheted off the pavement, striking Reagan in the chest. The fifth and sixth shots did not hit a target.

The assassination attempt had a surprising effect on the population. While, at first, the nation was horrified, Reagan’s calm demeanor and strength in the face of the danger blustered his popularity. His speedy recovery and ability to joke over the matter were resented deeply by the public. Instead of demising his status, the attempt only led to an outpouring of support for Reagan; some political scholars claim that the shooting may have played a large factor in Reagan’s re-election in 1984.

Impact on Insanity Defense Reform 

Hinckley's trial was perceived by the public as an abuse of the insanity defense, stating that they believed it allowed a person who had committed a tyrannical act to go free. The outcome of the trial had led to significant changes in this examination and its handling in the U.S. judicial system.

Just weeks after the verdict was issued, Congress held multiple hearings to discuss the role of 'insanity' in the court room. Senator Arlen Specter proposed a bill that stated that the defense would have to prove mental illness, rather than the prosecution having to argue that the perpetrator was sane. Reagan supported this change, arguing that proving someone's sanity should not have been as difficult as it had been through Hinckley's trial. Because of much outcry from the public, many states ended up reforming their own defense laws in relation to the insanity verdict. By the mid-1980s, two-thirds of the U.S. had shifted their burden of proof in these cases; states like Utah went even further, completely redacting the defense as valid. Other states took up a "guilty, but mentally ill" verdict, where a defendant would receive treatment for their illness while facing the punishment for their crime.

Federally, Congress enacted the Insanity Defense Reform Act of 1984, which heavily narrowed the scope of the insanity defense. This would require a defense team to prove that their defendant was suffering from severe mental illness or defect that made them incompetent to understanding the nature of their actions on the world around them. The act also deemed defendant claims of their own inability invalid.

Life After Release

In the years following his release from psychiatric care in 2016, after over 41 years of inpatient treatment, Hinckley was determined to build a new life away from his criminal past. While he remained under certain restrictions, such as media limitations and strict no-contact orders from Foster, Hinckley has sought to pursue his original passions. In recent years, he has focused on creating music and has expressed interest in opening a record shop in Williamsburg, where he currently resides. Though he has managed to maintain a fairly low profile, he has continued to sell his original art pieces online, as well as produce ordinal folk music on his YouTube channel.

As of recent, he has attempted to gather a somewhat cultic following through his "John Hinckley Community Church", where he flaunts an official flag as well as a list of supporters on his website (find the link below). "The John Hinckley Community is a refuge from this wicked world. We are a place where you can feel safe and cherished. The world will laugh at you and mock you and disown you. But the John Hinckley Community will embrace you and give you all the love you need."

"He died so that our love could live."