Everyone knows who John Hinckley, Jr. is. This youngest Hinckley son is now being permitted unsupervised visits within the Washington, DC metropolitan area–away from his mental facility, after nearly killing President Reagan in 1981. But a much more interesting subject is, who is John Hinckley, Sr.?
In 1980, Hinckley Sr. was a Texas oilman who, the records show, strove mightily to get fellow Texas oilman George H.W. Bush the Republican nomination for president. The Bushes and the Hinckleys were frequent dinner companions.
But far beyond their social connection, neither Bush nor Hinckley wanted Ronald Reagan to become president, because Reagan was opposed to tax breaks for the oil industry to which Bush, Hinckley and other Texans were highly dependent.
The effort to make Bush Sr. president in 1980 failed; but he and his friend and backer Hinckley Sr. got the next best thing – the “heartbeat away from the presidency” office of Vice-President of the United States.
A couple months later, Hinckley Jr. shot Reagan, and Bush Sr. very nearly did become president at that time, after all. Curiously, only one time was it announced on the news about the connections between the Bush and Hinckley families: An almost bewildered John Chancellor on NBC Nightly News reported “the bizarre coincidence” that Vice President Bush’s son, Neil, and Scott Hinckley had dinner plans for March 31, 1981 — now cancelled, of course. [But even Chancellor failed to mention the close friendship between the assassin’s father and Vice President Bush–let alone the rest of the corporate media.]
An interesting read. I’m sure it’s all just coincidence…
Recent Comments