Speaker 1: The Greyhound bus ticket cost about a hundred and seventeen dollars.
Speaker 1: It bought twenty five year old John Hinckley Junior a
Speaker 1: trip from California to Washington, d C. In March of
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one. The bus passed through Las Vegas, Cheyenne, Chicago, Cleveland,
Speaker 1: and other cities during the four day journey. Hinckley spent
Speaker 1: much of the trip slouched in his bus seat, watching
Speaker 1: the scenery go by outside his window. The failed songwriter
Speaker 1: also passed the time on the bus reading The Catcher
Speaker 1: in the Rhye by J. D. Sovinger. The famous novel
Speaker 1: had been in the news a lot at the time
Speaker 1: because of its connection to a grisly murder. John Lennon
Speaker 1: is dead. The former Beatle, who was forty, was returning
Speaker 1: home from a recording studio with his wife, Yoko Ono,
Speaker 1: when he was murdered. Police have a suspect in custody
Speaker 1: whom they describe only as a local screwball. His attacker
Speaker 1: made no attempt to flee. Police say he is marked
Speaker 1: David Chapman, twenty five, who came to New York a
Speaker 1: week ago. As we saw in season one of The Thread,
Speaker 1: police found Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman reading The Catcher
Speaker 1: in the Rye just minutes after shooting the rock star.
Speaker 1: John Hinckley had a lot in common with Chapman, and
Speaker 1: much more than just his love of the Salinger novel.
Speaker 1: Hinckley was also a pudgy, twenty five year old loner,
Speaker 1: one who battled depression for years. He too found himself
Speaker 1: drawn towards darker fantasies to stalking his favorite celebrity. He
Speaker 1: also felt a need to leave his mark upon the world,
Speaker 1: and he too would pull the trigger when the time came.
Speaker 1: John Hinckley's Greyhound bus fair proved to be more than
Speaker 1: just his passage across the country. It was his ticket
Speaker 1: to a date with destiny. You see, John Hinckley was
Speaker 1: on his way to shoot the President of the United States.
Speaker 1: He just didn't know it yet. Why Lord, why must
Speaker 1: I learn to testify when all alone to bees just
Speaker 1: the catcher and the right. History contains many sliding doors,
Speaker 1: fateful moments that seem unrelated but that are actually connected.
Speaker 1: Every season on the Thread we take a six degrees
Speaker 1: of separation approach to sharing some of history's greatest interconnected stories.
Speaker 1: We explore how these stories hinge on the past and
Speaker 1: influence the future. In this special bonus episode, We're Gonna
Speaker 1: pull on a meta thread. We'll explore some of the
Speaker 1: surprising connections between this past season of The Thread on
Speaker 1: the insanity defense and accused killers like John Hinckley, and
Speaker 1: our first season of The Thread about the murder of
Speaker 1: John Lennon and some of the events that led to it.
Speaker 1: Lennon's death made its own ways in history, and one
Speaker 1: of those was in the life of John Hinckley Jr.
Speaker 1: The man who took Greyhound bus across the country and
Speaker 1: tried to kill President Ronald Reagan. But this tale really
Speaker 1: starts with the book Hinckley was reading on that bus ride.
Speaker 1: Why Lord, Why must I learn to testify? When all
Speaker 1: alone wna Be is just the Catcher and the Rock.
Speaker 1: The author J. D. Salinger almost didn't live long enough
Speaker 1: to write The Catcher in the Rye and the novels
Speaker 1: beloved protagonist, the teenage rebel Holden Caulfield, could easily have
Speaker 1: been relegated to the pages of a single story of
Speaker 1: The New Yorker, but fate had a far more powerful
Speaker 1: ending in store Salinger's life. Like those of so many
Speaker 1: Americans was up ended in December ninety yesterday desembus some
Speaker 1: nineteen forty one, a date which will live in infamy.
Speaker 1: Salinger was drafted after Pearl Harbor and assigned to the
Speaker 1: fourth Infantry Division. In January four he left for England,
Speaker 1: where he joined tens of thousands of American soldiers preparing
Speaker 1: for the Allied invasion of Europe. When D Day came,
Speaker 1: Sergeant Salinger crowded into a landing craft with thirty men,
Speaker 1: ladies and gentlemen. We may be approaching a fateful hour,
Speaker 1: all night long bulletness of Parian from Berlin, claiming that
Speaker 1: D Day is here, claiming that the invasion of Western
Speaker 1: Europe has begun. Salinger landed with the second Wave on
Speaker 1: Utah Beach just after six thirty in the morning on
Speaker 1: June six. Salinger wrote that when he stormed the beach
Speaker 1: of Normandy on D Day, he had with him on
Speaker 1: his person six chapters of The Catcher on the Rye.
Speaker 1: This is Kin Slowinski, author of J. D. Salinger, A
Speaker 1: life no one else had copies. In other words, if
Speaker 1: something were to happen to Salinger, Holden would die. Salinger
Speaker 1: lived through D Day and he carried these six chapters
Speaker 1: throughout the war as if, I think, as if there
Speaker 1: were sort of talisman, as if he derive strength from them.
Speaker 1: The Catcher in the Rye would also survive the war,
Speaker 1: but its survival and publication meant that others would die,
Speaker 1: most famously John Lennon and nearly Donald Reagan too. Okay,
Speaker 1: flash forward thirty five years to the streets of New
Speaker 1: York City. Salinger's great novel has found its way into
Speaker 1: the hands of the person that news reports will soon
Speaker 1: refer to as the local screw ball. On December, Mark
Speaker 1: David Chapman was a very confused person. He was literally
Speaker 1: living inside of a paperback novel J D. Salingers a
Speaker 1: catching a Rye. This is Mark David Chapman speaking to
Speaker 1: CNN's Larry King. He's talking about himself in the third person.
Speaker 1: He was vacillating between suicide, between catching the first taxi home,
Speaker 1: between killing uh as you said an icon. In his mind,
Speaker 1: Chapman believed that he had become a living version of
Speaker 1: the novel's protagonist. He had come to New York the
Speaker 1: scene of the novel, in part because he felt like
Speaker 1: he was destined to become Holden Caulfield. Chapman was also
Speaker 1: tired of being a nobody. He wanted to do something
Speaker 1: that would make himself famous and draw attention to his
Speaker 1: favorite novel. Chapman got a hotel room and then uh
Speaker 1: I left the hotel room, bought a copy of The
Speaker 1: Catcher in the Rye, signed it to Holding Caufield from
Speaker 1: Holding Caufield, and wrote underneath that this is my statement.
Speaker 1: But Chapman was still vacillating. He was looking for a sign,
Speaker 1: a sign that he was meant to be doing what
Speaker 1: he was in New York to do, that he was
Speaker 1: meant to go down in history as the killer of
Speaker 1: John Lennon. Then he found it on page on the
Speaker 1: book read it was Monday and all and pretty near Christmas,
Speaker 1: and all the stores were open. Chapman couldn't believe it.
Speaker 1: It was Monday, near Christmas and he was in New
Speaker 1: York with new hope. Chapman pursued his mission, with The
Speaker 1: Catcher in the Rye in hand. He waited for Lenin
Speaker 1: outside the musician's apartment building near Central Park. Later, Chapman
Speaker 1: fired five hollow point bullets and his childhood hero. Then
Speaker 1: he returned to his book. This is Lennen biographer Tim Riley.
Speaker 1: The report sorry that he starts reading this novel as
Speaker 1: the chaos erupted around him. So the police cars arrived.
Speaker 1: People point out, this is the gunman right here. He's
Speaker 1: standing there reading this novel. It's bizarre. Years later, Chapman
Speaker 1: described the scene to see an End's Larry King. It
Speaker 1: was like the film strip broke. I took the Catch
Speaker 1: in the Ryo out of my pocket. I paced, I
Speaker 1: tried to read it. I I just couldn't wait, Larry
Speaker 1: until those police got there. I was just devastated. John Hinkle, Jr.
Speaker 1: Was born just nineteen days after Mark David Chapman in
Speaker 1: the year nineteen fifty. He was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma,
Speaker 1: just one miles north of Chapman's birthplace in Fort Worth, Texas.
Speaker 1: He was also a loner who kept to himself. He
Speaker 1: too had a vivid fantasy life. Hinkley was infatuated with
Speaker 1: the teenage actress Jodie Foster. He her long love letters.
Speaker 1: He called her on the phone, conversations he tape recorded,
Speaker 1: who is there? Hell? Oh, no, Luke, I really. Hinckley
Speaker 1: became obsessed with winning the love of Jodie Foster, and
Speaker 1: that quest took on a new urgency when Hinkley's favorite musician,
Speaker 1: John Lennon, was gunned down on New York sidewalk in December,
Speaker 1: an unspeakable tragedy confirmed to us by ABC News in
Speaker 1: New York City. John Lennon shot twice and looked back.
Speaker 1: Rushed the Roseveld Hospital, dead on arrival. Three weeks after
Speaker 1: Lennon died, John Hinckley spent New Year's Eve alone. He
Speaker 1: was extremely depressed. He drank peach brandy and ranted into
Speaker 1: a tape recorder. The audio from those tapes was never
Speaker 1: made public, but some of the statements Hinkley made on
Speaker 1: them were in them. He drew a direct line between
Speaker 1: John Lennon's death in his own situation. I just want
Speaker 1: to say goodbye to the old year, which was nothing.
Speaker 1: Total misery, total death. John Lennon is dead. The world
Speaker 1: is over. Forget it. Anything that I might do in
Speaker 1: one would be solely for Jodie Foster's sake. One of
Speaker 1: my idols was murdered, and now Jody is the only
Speaker 1: one left. In another recording, Hinckley played the guitar and
Speaker 1: saying Lennon's hit song Oh Yoko, substituting the name Jody
Speaker 1: for Yoko. His love of Jodie Foster, along with John
Speaker 1: Lennon's untimely death, was about to lead Hinckley to attempt
Speaker 1: his own historic murder. Almost four months later, after his
Speaker 1: epic greyhound bus ride, John Hinckley checked into a hotel
Speaker 1: in Washington, d C. In his suitcase, he carried his
Speaker 1: copy of The Catcher in the Rye as well as
Speaker 1: a biography of John Lennon. He had started to fantasize
Speaker 1: about something new, a way to draw attention to himself
Speaker 1: and demonstrate to Foster how much he loved her. Hinkley
Speaker 1: had read in the newspaper that President Reagan was giving
Speaker 1: a speech across town that day. So that morning, March thirtieth,
Speaker 1: Hinckley stood in his Washington hotel room. He loaded his
Speaker 1: gun and stashed it in his jacket pocket. He placed
Speaker 1: a John Lennon penn into another pocket. He then left
Speaker 1: the hotel. He, like Mark David Chapman, was about to
Speaker 1: leave his mark on history. There were shots fired to
Speaker 1: justice President Reagan E. Merchanty from the Washington Hilton Hotel
Speaker 1: Today after delivering a speech, Ronald Reagan had a life
Speaker 1: threatening gunshot wound, but he survived. After Reagan's near death
Speaker 1: and John Lennon's murder, The Catcher in the Ride kept
Speaker 1: turning up at crime scenes. In nine, Robert John Bardo
Speaker 1: had a copy of it on him when he murdered
Speaker 1: the actress Rebecca Schaefer, so they container I did. Throughout
Speaker 1: the eighties, Kinselwinski again become the symbol of now just
Speaker 1: only disaffected youth, which to what it had been for
Speaker 1: us before that, but it's crazy disaffected youth. Mark David
Speaker 1: Chapman was his seck individual. Chapman's defense lawyers were confident
Speaker 1: he would be found not guilty by reason of insanity,
Speaker 1: but Chapman insisted on pleading guilty. He claimed he killed
Speaker 1: Lennon to promote the reading of The Catcher in the Rye.
Speaker 1: When the judge asked if he had anything to say
Speaker 1: at his sentencing hearing in Chapman stood and read a
Speaker 1: passage from the book. He was sentenced to twenty years
Speaker 1: to life, and he remains incarcerated in a maximum security
Speaker 1: prison in New York State. John Hinckley Jr. Did plead
Speaker 1: insanity at his trial, which lasted seven weeks. The jury's
Speaker 1: verdict in that case shocked many across the country. John W.
Speaker 1: Hinkley Jr. Has been found not guilty by reason of
Speaker 1: insanity on all thirteen counts. Hinckley was sentenced to be
Speaker 1: confined to a psychiatric hospital in Washington, d c. Where
Speaker 1: he would remain until he was released in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 1: The real legacy of Hinckley's trial, however, came in the
Speaker 1: changes to the law that followed, including efforts in many
Speaker 1: states to narrow or abolish insanity plea laws. The U. S.
Speaker 1: Supreme Court will hear challenge to one of those laws
Speaker 1: this October. And such is the way that history so
Speaker 1: often works. One thing leads to another like a series
Speaker 1: of domino slowly falling. J. D. Salinger survives the war
Speaker 1: he finishes writing The Catcher in the Rye. The novel
Speaker 1: finds its way into the hands of a disturbed young
Speaker 1: man named Mark David Chapman. Chapman murders his hero John Lennon,
Speaker 1: an equally disturbed fan of Lenin's, decides to leave his
Speaker 1: own mark on the world. Five months later, John Hinckley Jr.
Speaker 1: Nearly kills the President of the United States and the
Speaker 1: public outrage over his acquittal on grounds of insanity, changes
Speaker 1: how decades of criminal defendants will be treated, and the
Speaker 1: dominoes keep falling and will continue to fall. The Thread
Speaker 1: is produced by Robert Coulos, Sophia Perpetua and me Sean braswell.
Speaker 1: Chris Hoff engineered our show. This episode features the song
Speaker 1: Catcher in the Rye by Sammy Walker. To learn more
Speaker 1: about The Thread, visit aussi dot com, Slash the thread
Speaker 1: all one word, and make sure to subscribe to the
Speaker 1: Thread on Apple podcasts, follow us on I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: or listen wherever you get your podcasts. Check us out
Speaker 1: at ausi dot com or on Twitter and Facebook. If
Speaker 1: you love surprising, engaging stories from history, look no further
Speaker 1: than the flashback section of ausi dot com. That's o
Speaker 1: z y dot com.