Everyone Loves Reagan – Even John Hinckley?
(Editor’s Note: An extended version of Reagan – The Movie is now playing in theaters nationwide.)
With apologies to Everyone Loves Raymond … Everyone loves Reagan. Yes, the 40th president, Ronald Reagan.
I’ll quote a venerable source on the subject of Ronald Reagan: the late Walter Cronkite, the legendary news anchor known as “the most trusted man in America.”
Cronkite marveled of Reagan: QUOTE “I never thought I’d see anyone that well-liked. Nobody hates Reagan. It’s amazing!”
Cronkite was a liberal Democrat, but he was reporting the facts. Just the facts. Or as he put it, “And that’s the way it is.”
What Cronkite saw with Reagan was undeniable. Reagan was elected in 1980 by winning 44 of 50 states against an incumbent president. In 1984, he cruised to reelection with 49 of 50 states and sweeping the Electoral College 525-13. There were millions of Democrats who voted for the Republican. Reagan peacefully won the Cold War and left office with the highest approval of any president since Eisenhower.
It certainly seemed like everyone loved Reagan. Even those who didn’t vote for him liked him. The only exception (one would assume) would be John Hinckley, the fellow who on March 30, 1981 tried to kill Reagan.
Or then again, maybe not. Actually, it turns out that even Hinckley liked Reagan. Yes, you heard that right.
Hinckley, who was released from custody in 2022 after decades in confinement at a mental institution, just sat for a fascinating interview with Mark Joseph, producer of the 2024 movie Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid as the 40th president. The movie was based on one of my books on Reagan, The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism. Mark and I spent two decades trying to get the script to the big screen. When Quaid agreed to play Reagan, we were finally on our way.
I met Quaid on the movie set in Guthrie, Oklahoma in the summer of 2021. Among the scenes that stood that week was the reenactment of the shooting of Reagan. I remember distinctly how hot it was that day, as well as the shock of seeing a moment like that come alive.
But also eye-opening to watch is Hinckley’s interview with Mark Joseph this summer 2026.
“I always had great respect for him,” said Hinckley of Reagan. “Even when I did what I did, I liked him.”
He liked him. Even when he did what he did. That is, shoot Reagan!
Hinckley explained to Mark Joseph that his parents were Republicans and his father “just loved Reagan” and was thrilled the night Reagan was elected in 1980. Hinckley even told Joseph he would have personally voted for Reagan in 1984!
If he wasn’t confined to a mental institution.
Then why did Hinckley shoot Reagan? Well, no hard feelings to Reagan, I guess, but Hinckley was trying to get the attention of his love obsession, actress Jodie Foster. He certainly succeeded.
Hinckley today seems to realize how warped that was. QUOTE “I wanted to have a union with Jodie Foster and live the rest of my life with her and all these things that, of course, were delusional,” Hinckley told Mark Joseph. “But I was believing those things at the time.” UNQUOTE
To get her attention, he aimed to do something very dramatic—like shoot the sitting president, whoever he happened to be at the time (prior to Reagan, he had thought about shooting Jimmy Carter).
“As fate turns out,” said Hinckley, “it was Reagan.”
Reagan survived, as has Hinckley.
Now, 45 years after this bizarre, near tragic moment in U.S. history, Hinckley is telling us things we never knew before, making a weird moment even weirder. Including the fact that, yes, even John Hinckley liked Reagan.
And let me close with a coda and a plug: If YOU liked Reagan, and especially if you liked the 2024 Reagan movie with Dennis Quaid, you don’t want to miss to the release of the new, extended director’s cut of the Reagan movie, out in theaters right now, released this month. Check it out and search for a theatre near you at www.Reagan.movie.
For American Radio Journal, I’m Paul Kengor. Thanks for listening.
