March 1981 - March 30, 1981 (Monday)

March 30, 1981 (Monday)

  • Reagan assassination attempt: At 2:25 pm, U.S. President Ronald Reagan was shot in the chest as he walked out of the Washington Hilton Hotel to his limousine. John Hinckley, Jr. fired six shots from a Röhm RG-14 .22 caliber pistol, striking Press Secretary James Brady and Washington D.C. police officer Thomas Delahanty with the first two bullets, Secret Service Agent Tim McCarthy with the fourth, and the presidential limousine with the last two shots. The sixth bullet ricocheted off of the limo and struck Reagan. Reagan was rushed into surgery at 3:24 pm and remained in the hospital for two weeks.
  • Indiana University won the 1981 NCAA men's basketball championship, defeating the University of North Carolina 63-50 after the NCAA elected against postponing the matchup. Virginia defeated L.S.U. 78-74 to win third place in the consolation game, which was discontinued after 1981. The Academy Awards, scheduled for the same night, were postponed to the nexst day.
  • Died: DeWitt Wallace, 91, co-founder of Reader's Digest magazine; and Sherman Edwards, 61, American musical songwriter; and Edith Wilson, gospel singer who also portrayed Aunt Jemima in television commercials.

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Famous quotes containing the word march:

    ‘Oh beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly,
    Play the Dead March as you carry me along;
    Take me to the green valley, there lay the sod o’er me,
    For I’m a young cowboy and I know I’ve done wrong.
    —Unknown. As I Walked Out in the Streets of Laredo (l. 5–8)