Speaker 1: Why media productions. Remember this is just a football game.
Speaker 1: Come out of who wins, aw loses? An unspeakable tragedy.
Speaker 1: John Lennon, shot twice in the back, rushed the Roseveld hospital,
Speaker 1: dead on arrival. The death of a man who sang
Speaker 1: and played the guitar overshadows the news from Poland around
Speaker 1: in Washington tonight. John Lennon is dead. Don't let it
Speaker 1: kept mark. David Chapman was a nobody until he was
Speaker 1: on every channel. It was December eight, a chilly winter
Speaker 1: evening on Manhattan's Upper west Side. Chapman wore a fur hat,
Speaker 1: a silk scarf, and a black three quarter lights coat.
Speaker 1: He stood on the sidewalk, arms extended holding a Charter
Speaker 1: Arms thirty eight caliber handgun. He squeezed the trigger again
Speaker 1: and again. He fired five hollow point bullets, and his
Speaker 1: childhood hero, John Lennon. The Assistant District Attorney said, Chapman
Speaker 1: committed a deliberate, premeditated execution of John Lennon in a cool, calm,
Speaker 1: calculated manner. His attacker made no attempt to flee. He
Speaker 1: was arrested at the Dakota Police say he is marked.
Speaker 1: David Chapman The reports are that he starts reading this
Speaker 1: novel as the chaos erupts around him. So the police
Speaker 1: cars arrived, people point out, this is the gunman right here.
Speaker 1: He's standing there reading this novel. It's bizarre. The strangeness
Speaker 1: of the acts stood out to everyone at the time,
Speaker 1: from the police, to the media, to even Chapman himself.
Speaker 1: Years later, he described the scene in an interview with
Speaker 1: Larry King and then afterwards, it was like the film
Speaker 1: strip broke. Took the Catch in the Ryo out of
Speaker 1: my pocket. I paced, I tried to read it. I
Speaker 1: I just couldn't wait, Larry, until those police got there.
Speaker 1: I was just devastated. The police put Chapman in the
Speaker 1: backseat of a patrol car. He gazed out the window
Speaker 1: and saw officers place a blood soaked body into another car.
Speaker 1: There wasn't time to call an ambulance. John Lennon was
Speaker 1: pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. The two police
Speaker 1: officers who drove Chapman from the scene turned to look
Speaker 1: back at the killer. Chapman smiled and said, I am
Speaker 1: the catcher and the rye. I'm Sean Braswell, and this
Speaker 1: is the thread. A podcast from AZSI media where we
Speaker 1: examine the interlocking lives and events of history. We turned
Speaker 1: back the clock, one story at a time to reveal
Speaker 1: how various strands are woven together to create a historic figure,
Speaker 1: big idea, or an unthinkable tread j D. This season,
Speaker 1: we start with the death of rock star John Lennon
Speaker 1: and over the course of five episodes, actually connected back
Speaker 1: to communist leader Vladimir Lenin. Along the way, we meet
Speaker 1: some of the twentieth centuries greatest artists and writers. We
Speaker 1: explore how each of their stories hinge on the past
Speaker 1: and influence the future. People are trapped in history, and
Speaker 1: history is trapped in them. That's what the writer James
Speaker 1: Baldwin once said. Mark David Chapman may have pulled the trigger,
Speaker 1: but trapped in history. Lenin and his death are forever
Speaker 1: linked with the classic American novel and Chapman's possession that
Speaker 1: December Day, The Catcher and the Rye. What on earth
Speaker 1: would make someone kill their own hero in cold blood?
Speaker 1: Why did Chapman pull the trigger? Trying to understand what
Speaker 1: motivated the guy, what took him there? Why he spent
Speaker 1: three days in New York. Tim Riley is a professor
Speaker 1: of journalism at Emerson College, a music historian and the
Speaker 1: author or of Lenin The Man, The Myth, the Music.
Speaker 1: And I've meditated on this for years. I don't feel
Speaker 1: like I've ever gotten a good understanding of what's going
Speaker 1: on there. Let's pick up the thread at the beginning.
Speaker 1: Is a turbulent year for the United States. Fifty two
Speaker 1: American citizens are held hostage in Iran for over a year.
Speaker 1: The US boycott's the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow. Back home,
Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan, a former actor and California governor, is elected
Speaker 1: President of the United States. The year's top film is
Speaker 1: The Empire Strikes Back, and a former Beatle living in
Speaker 1: New York records his first album in five years. Saturday,
Speaker 1: December six, two days before the death of John Lennon,
Speaker 1: a heavy set man from Honolulu named Mark David Chapman
Speaker 1: arrives at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Chapman brings with
Speaker 1: him over two thousand dollars in cash, a handgun, and
Speaker 1: five hollow point bullets. He takes a cab to the Dakota,
Speaker 1: a famous Gothic style apartment building overlooking Central Park. Some
Speaker 1: of the world's most famous people called this home, including
Speaker 1: Gilda Radner, Leonard Bernstein, Lauren Bacall, and of course John Lennon. Sunday,
Speaker 1: December seven, Mark David Chapman spends all day outside the Dakota.
Speaker 1: Wasn't uncommon for people to wait at the entrance to
Speaker 1: the Dakota because many of celebrities lived there. Lennon typically
Speaker 1: would sign a few autographs friends knew where he lived.
Speaker 1: The Chapman sees no sign of the rock star that day.
Speaker 1: In the evening, Chapman treats himself to an expensive dinner
Speaker 1: and an escort at his hotel. The escort happens to
Speaker 1: wear a green dress, just like the prostitute who visits
Speaker 1: Holden Caulfield, the main character in The Catcher in the
Speaker 1: Rye synchronicity, Chapman observes to himself. Monday December eight, Mark
Speaker 1: David Chapman wakes up at nine a m. Before leaving
Speaker 1: his hotel room, he sets out a strange assortment of
Speaker 1: personal items, a bible, his passport, phoe does of himself,
Speaker 1: and a small Wizard of Oz poster. Chapman then turns
Speaker 1: to look into the mirror, brandishes his firearm and proclaims,
Speaker 1: the Catcher in the Rye of my generation. I left
Speaker 1: the hotel room, bought a copy of The Catcher in
Speaker 1: the Rye, signed it to Holding Caufield from Holding Caufield,
Speaker 1: and wrote underneath that this is my statement. Chapman stands
Speaker 1: once more by the door of the Dakota with the
Speaker 1: other regulars, hoping to catch a glimpse of celebrity. He
Speaker 1: peruses his copy of Catcher as he waits. On page
Speaker 1: he finds the line it was a Monday in all
Speaker 1: and pretty near Christmas, and all the stores were open
Speaker 1: a Monday near Christmas. Synchronicity again. Today is the day.
Speaker 1: Chapman gets so engrossed in his book that he fails
Speaker 1: to notice a taxi pull up. A thin man in
Speaker 1: a tan jacket gets out and bounds through the Dakota gate.
Speaker 1: It's Lenin. Did you see him, the dorman says to Chapman,
Speaker 1: stun Chapman responds, guess I missed my chance. He checks
Speaker 1: out Lennon's daily habits. It's clear by now, because he's
Speaker 1: there when Lennon leaves in the morning of December eighth,
Speaker 1: and he's there when Lennon returns. Chapman sees John Lennon
Speaker 1: and Yoko Ono emerged from the Dakota en route to
Speaker 1: the recording studio. Chapman walks up to Lennon, his gun
Speaker 1: in his coat pocket, and he asked Lenon for his autograph.
Speaker 1: A nearby photographer snaps a photo of the moment. Then
Speaker 1: Lennon gets into his limo and leaves, and we have
Speaker 1: a picture of him signing this kid's album cover of
Speaker 1: Double Fantasy. And he signs this album cover, and when
Speaker 1: he gets home that night, that same kid is waiting
Speaker 1: for him. Around PM, Lennon returns to the Dakota, and
Speaker 1: this time Chapman does what he came to do. Chapman
Speaker 1: shoots Lennon from behind, and the bullets explode in his chest.
Speaker 1: The voice that touched millions is silenced in an instant.
Speaker 1: Chapman and Lennon are taken from the Dakota in their
Speaker 1: separate patrol cars. Can you imagine how Lennon feels dying
Speaker 1: in the back of his cop car. I just I
Speaker 1: have a hit album, I've just figured out how to
Speaker 1: do this life. I'm finally doing it on my own terms,
Speaker 1: and somebody guns me down. So what brought Lennon to
Speaker 1: his death the doorstep of the Dakota that night. Let's
Speaker 1: rewind Lennon was one of the most famous people on
Speaker 1: the planet back in that fame was taking a hard toll,
Speaker 1: especially on his first marriage to Cynthia and their young
Speaker 1: son Julian. There are periods where the only thing that
Speaker 1: is going well in Lennon's life are the the kinds
Speaker 1: of songs that are tumbling out of him. It's kind
Speaker 1: of unbelievable to see what's going on in his life,
Speaker 1: failing marriage, failing as a father, feeling guilty, having lots
Speaker 1: of affairs, taking lots of drugs, really not a happy person.
Speaker 1: Then yet turning out some incredible songs. But then it
Speaker 1: got to be format. This is Lennon reflecting on this
Speaker 1: period in his life in an interview with Archao Radio
Speaker 1: only hours before his death. It would be his last
Speaker 1: and sort of not the pleasure that it was. And
Speaker 1: that's when I felt that I had lost myself, not
Speaker 1: that I was on purpose purposely being a hypocrite or
Speaker 1: phony phony. It's a word strewn throughout The Catcher in
Speaker 1: the Rye. The main character hates phonies, the hypocrites and fakes.
Speaker 1: That he sees everywhere. Little did Lennon know that being
Speaker 1: labeled a phony would get him killed. But more on
Speaker 1: that later. John and Yoko get married and moved to
Speaker 1: New York. In the first few years of their marriage
Speaker 1: were rough. Lennon battled depression, drug addiction, and other demons.
Speaker 1: In Lennon decided to take a break from music to
Speaker 1: focus on raising his new son, Sean. Lennon forged a
Speaker 1: life for himself outside of celebrity, and he felt free
Speaker 1: in the streets of New York. He feels like New
Speaker 1: York has a different attitude towards celebrities. He feels as
Speaker 1: though he's able to walk the streets without being accosted
Speaker 1: and without drawing a crowd. New Yorkers always considered themselves
Speaker 1: way too cool to be star struck. You don't want
Speaker 1: to know how great that is. I mean, people come
Speaker 1: up to the aft board to grab or say hi,
Speaker 1: but they won't bug you. By nineteen eighty, after five
Speaker 1: years as a stay at home dad, Lennon was ready
Speaker 1: for his comeback. The world closely followed his return to
Speaker 1: the recording studio. It was a very fruitful period. Songs
Speaker 1: poured out of lenin about fatherhood, redemption, and his new
Speaker 1: stage of life. He released the album Double Fantasy with
Speaker 1: Yoko in November. The album had just reached number one
Speaker 1: in the UK the week he died up next Why Catcher?
Speaker 1: Why did a book like that speaks so much to
Speaker 1: someone like Chapman. We'll be back in a moment. While
Speaker 1: Lennon's life was coming together, Mark David Chapman's life was
Speaker 1: falling apart. As a teenager in Georgia, he went from
Speaker 1: being a burned out druggie to an obsessively devout Christian.
Speaker 1: He often heard voices, and he was a loan or
Speaker 1: a quiet type person. Maybe a little bit of instability there,
Speaker 1: so I could I could deceive how it could happen,
Speaker 1: you know. Chapman moved to Hawaii in nineteen seventy six,
Speaker 1: where he planned to end his life with what he
Speaker 1: called a last fling in Paradise. He attempted suicide and failed.
Speaker 1: Chapman was later diagnosed with a variety of psychological disorders,
Speaker 1: from schizophrenia to narcissistic personality disorder. There was never any consensus.
Speaker 1: Chapman rediscovered a book from his childhood, The Catcher in
Speaker 1: the Rye at a local library in Hawaii. Month after
Speaker 1: month he poured through its pages. Chapman would explain later,
Speaker 1: I actually became holding Caulfield in my own mind as
Speaker 1: a way of coping. By the way, case you haven't
Speaker 1: read it, The Catcher in the Rye is about a
Speaker 1: teenager Holden Caulfield, coping with the death of his brother
Speaker 1: and the few days he spends in New York before
Speaker 1: checking himself into a sanitarium. Holden fantasizes about catching children
Speaker 1: who are running through a field of rye before they
Speaker 1: fall off a cliff, saving their lives. Mark David Chapman's
Speaker 1: fantasy was much different. On one fateful day in early nine,
Speaker 1: Chapman picked up another book at the library, a recent
Speaker 1: Linen biography called One Day at a Time by Andrew Fawcett.
Speaker 1: Inside there was a photo of the rock star on
Speaker 1: the roof of the Dakota. Chapman, again, in his interview
Speaker 1: with Larry King, remember, I'm in a different state of mind,
Speaker 1: and I'm and I'm falling in on myself. I'm angry
Speaker 1: at seeing him on the Dakota, and I say to myself,
Speaker 1: that phony that bastard Chapman heard the hypocrisy and his
Speaker 1: heroes singing Imagine No Possessions. While he lived a charmed
Speaker 1: life on New York's Upper West Side, he got angrier
Speaker 1: and even more delusional. One day, as he was sitting
Speaker 1: cross legged on the carpet of his Honolulu apartment listening
Speaker 1: to the Beatles, he had a disturbing epiphany. Holden Caulfield
Speaker 1: fantasized about killing a phony and The Catcher in the Rye,
Speaker 1: but Chapman was determined to do better. He bought a
Speaker 1: gun and after that. Chapman later explained there was no
Speaker 1: power on earth that would have saved John Lennon's life.
Speaker 1: Holding Caulfield, the main character in The Catcher in the Rye,
Speaker 1: has violent fantasies of killing phonies, like this one passage
Speaker 1: where Holding wanders through the halls of his Little Sisters
Speaker 1: Elementary school and he sees a graffiti view scrolled across
Speaker 1: the wall. I kept wanting to kill whoever written it.
Speaker 1: I figured it was some perverty bum that sneaked into
Speaker 1: the school late at night to take a leak or
Speaker 1: something and then wrote it on the all. I kept
Speaker 1: picturing myself catching him at it, and how I'd smashed
Speaker 1: his head on the stone steps till he was good
Speaker 1: and goddamn dead and bloody. After Lennon's murder, Catcher in
Speaker 1: the Rye kept turning up at crime scenes. A copy
Speaker 1: was found in John Hinckley Jr. Hotel room after he
Speaker 1: attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan, and in nine Robert John
Speaker 1: Bardo had a copy of it on him when he
Speaker 1: murdered the actress Rebecca Schaefer. This is Ken Slowinski, author
Speaker 1: of J. D. Salinger Alife. So the country I did
Speaker 1: throughout the eighties become the symbol of not just only
Speaker 1: disuspected youth, which is what it had been for years
Speaker 1: before that, but it's crazy disuffected youth. Lennon himself would
Speaker 1: have been perplexed by the connection between his death and
Speaker 1: The Catcher and the Rye, says Tim Riley. He was
Speaker 1: a big reader of Sallenger Catching the Rye. He loved
Speaker 1: that book. We have it on record that he gobbled
Speaker 1: it down and that he really loved it. And Riley
Speaker 1: claims it helped ignite the era of Beatlemania. John Lennon
Speaker 1: and his crowd they were avid rock and roll fans,
Speaker 1: but they also saw these other sparks of subversive energy
Speaker 1: and other areas of pop culture. And you know it
Speaker 1: can't be any accident that Salinger is writing that in
Speaker 1: his character for Capturing the Rye at the same time
Speaker 1: that rock and roll begins to explode, and you can
Speaker 1: see why, Oh yeah, Lennon would definitely respond to that
Speaker 1: book in that character holding Caufield is in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways, he's like a mentor to John Lennon. Our
Speaker 1: series begins at the end of a long timeline at
Speaker 1: the gates of the Dakota for death because I don't
Speaker 1: believe in it. I think it's just getting out of
Speaker 1: wrong call and get into another. Lennon famously said this
Speaker 1: in a nineteen interview, And in a way, this is
Speaker 1: how our thread works. People get in and out of cars,
Speaker 1: travel briefly in each other's lives, and the consequences echo
Speaker 1: throughout history. We trace our thread backwards through the blood
Speaker 1: soaked beaches in Normandy and the streets of revolution in Russia,
Speaker 1: through grimy back room bars and glamorous nightclubs. Join us
Speaker 1: as we traveled through nearly a century of history and
Speaker 1: find out how it all connects. Next episode, we pick
Speaker 1: up the thread with J. D. Salinger. If The Catcher
Speaker 1: in the Rye resonates with people in dark psychological places,
Speaker 1: it's probably because the novel and its author passed through
Speaker 1: Hell itself on the way to publication. The Threat is
Speaker 1: produced by Meredith hot Nutt, Libby Coleman, and me Sean braswell.
Speaker 1: Our editors are Carlos Watson and Samir Rao. Meredith hot
Speaker 1: Knot engineered our show with mixing and sound design from
Speaker 1: James Rowland's and Chris Hoff Special thanks to Cindy carpi In,
Speaker 1: David Boyer, Tracy Moran, Seawan Culligan, Daisy Carrington, Sun, Jeeve Tandon,
Speaker 1: Jeremy Williams, Cameo, George tim Olsa, Ethan Lindsay and k A. L. W.
Speaker 1: Check us out at AUSI dot com, That's o z
Speaker 1: y dot com or on Twitter and Facebook. To learn
Speaker 1: more about the thread, visit ausy dot com, slash the
Speaker 1: thread all one word, and make sure to subscribe to
Speaker 1: the thread on Apple Podcasts. If you love surprising, engaging
Speaker 1: stories from history like this one, look no further than
Speaker 1: the flashback section of AZZI. Thanks for listening,