Secret Service agent who saved Reagan dies at age 85
Hero got president to hospital for surgery after assassination attempt
WASHINGTON— Jerry Parr, the Secret Service agent credited with saving Ronald Reagan’s life during a 1981 assassination attempt, has died in Washington at the age of 85.
His wife, Carolyn Parr, said the cause of death was congestive heart failure.
Reagan was 70 days into his first term when he was shot by John W. Hinckley Jr. while leaving the Washington Hilton Hotel after a speech. At the sound of gunfire, Parr shoved him into the back of the presidential limousine and shouted “take off!” to the driver.
As the limo raced on Parr’s orders to the White House, the agent inspected Reagan and found no visible wounds. Moments later, the president began complaining of chest pain and the agent noticed blood on Reagan’s lips.
Parr redirected the limo to George Washington University Hospital where the president collapsed just steps inside the trauma centre’s doors. Doctors determined Reagan was suffering massive internal bleeding. The president went on to lose more than half of his blood before surgery halted the hemorrhaging. Reagan’s doctors credited Parr’s actions for saving his life.
“If Jerry Parr took the president to the White House, Ronald Reagan would have died,” said Joseph Giordano, who was the top trauma surgeon at George Washington University Hospital where Reagan was treated.
“There is no doubt in my mind. Jerry Parr is a hero.”
In a 2011 interview, Parr said the attempt on Reagan’s life was “my best day and my worst day.” He blamed complacency among security agents for allowing Hinckley to get so close to the president and fire all six rounds from his revolver before being subdued.
Three others were wounded. White House press secretary Jim Brady, who suffered a grievous head wound, died in 2014 from complications from his injury.
Jerry Studstill Parr was born Sept. 16, 1930, in Montgomery, Ala., the only child of Oliver Parr, a cash register repairman and Patricia Studstill, a beautician. After the family moved to Miami, his parents divorced.
His course in life was set when his father took him to see the 1939 film The Code of the Secret Service, starring Ronald Reagan as a dashing lieutenant in the force who smashes a counterfeiting ring. Though Reagan judged the film the worst he ever made, it left a lasting impression on the 9-year-old Parr.
After a stint in the U.S. air force and 13 years working as a lineman for an electric company, Parr joined the Secret Service in 1962. When president John F. Kennedy was slain, he was dispatched to Dallas for several weeks to guard the wife and mother of assassin Lee Harvey Oswald.
In 1964, he moved to Washington and served in the vice-presidential details for Hubert Humphrey, Spiro Agnew and Walter Mondale. He was with Agnew when he resigned in 1973 after pleading no contest to charges of tax evasion while governor of Maryland.
For six months beginning in October 1973, Parr guarded president Gerald Ford. He wasn’t present during the two attempts on Ford’s life.
Parr left the White House in 1982 when he was promoted to assistant director of protective research. He retired in 1985, became a pastor and co-authored a 2013 memoir, In the Secret Service, with his wife.
The assassination attempt cemented a bond between the Reagans and Parr. After his retirement, he visited the Oval Office, where the wisecracking Reagan said: “You aren’t going to throw me over the couch are you?”
His survivors include his wife and their three daughters.