Description:

Hinckley John

John Hinckley, Incredible Letter: "I detoured to Wash. D.C. and shot Reagan" and about Jodi Foster: "One day I love her, the next day I want to kill her"

 

This chilling letter was exchanged between two would-be American assassins: John Hinckley, Jr. (born 1955) and Edward Michael Richardson (born ca. 1959). During a March 30, 1981 assassination attempt, Hinckley had wounded President Ronald Reagan in a misguided attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster. On April 7, 1981, copycat assassin Edward Michael Richardson had been arrested for carrying a pistol and vowing "to bring to completion Hinckley's reality [i.e. killing Reagan]". The two men had been connected by Richardson's sister Betty, who assumed the two had much to discuss. Their correspondence is very disturbing, but vividly illuminates one of the strangest stories in modern American history.

 

1p autograph letter signed by John Hinckley, Jr. as "John Hinckley" at lower right. Written on July 22, 1982 at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C. Written out long-hand on a single sheet of blue-ruled yellow legal paper. Near fine. 8.5" x 13.125". Ex-Forbes Collection.

 

Both Hinckley and Richardson were obsessed with Jodie Foster (born 1962), and had, independent of each other, stalked her in New Haven, Connecticut while she was a freshman at Yale University. Hinckley coldly explains what he planned to do to Jodie Foster -- and then himself -- in this letter. Richardson, who also wanted to murder Foster, was purportedly dissuaded from killing her after seeing her inspiring performance in a university play. Here, the two men correspond from the cells of their respective psychiatric hospitals, discussing their mutual loves and hates.

 

In full, with unchanged spelling and punctuation:

 

"7/22/82

 

Dear Ed,

 

Your sister Betty and I have exchanged a couple of letters. I'm glad she wrote to me and told me about you. Many months ago I remember seeing an article, maybe a Newsweek, about you and me personally knowing each other prior to March 30, '81. I never saw any other clippings about you but in February of this year my attorneys talked to Jodie and she mentioned a man threatened her following the shooting. It had to be you.

 

Because of the many revelations that came out at my trial, Jodie is now scared to death of me. My feelings about her are quite mixed; one day I love her and the next day I want to kill her. It was revealed at the trial that I was stalking Jodie the first week of March 1981 and I was actually on my way to New Haven at the end of March, when I detoured to Wash. D.C. and shot Reagan. I had planned to shoot her and then myself. One week later you were stalking her. Jodie is pretty damn lucky to be alive, isn't she? Oh, how I wish you could have gotten her when you had the chance. Now she walks around with bodyguards and gets as many threatening letters as me.

 

I'm doing okay here at St. Elizabeth's Hospital. My mail is unrestricted so write back. When do you think you might be getting out of your hospital? Tell me what you think about Jodie and me.

 

Sincerely,

John Hinckley

 

St. Elizabeths Hospital

Washington. D.C. 20032

 

- I want to read your screenplay someday."

 

Hinckley, besides entertaining the plan to kill Foster and then himself, had also contemplated a number of scenarios to impress Foster, including staging an airplane hijacking. In this letter, Hinckley doesn't elaborate on his motivations behind killing President Reagan besides proffering the terse statement: "I was actually on my way to New Haven…when I detoured to Wash. D.C. and shot Reagan."

 

In the March 30, 1981 shooting, Hinckley had wounded President Reagan (hit in the chest by a ricocheting bullet), a police officer, a secret service officer, and Press Secretary James Brady. Hinckley was charged on 13 counts and transferred from the Bureau of Prisons to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in August 1981. Hinckley's letter dates almost a year into his incarceration, and just one month after he was found not guilty by reason of insanity at his June 21, 1982 trial.

 

Hinckley and Richardson's dual obsessions with Jodie Foster and presidential assassination were worsened by the individual mental illness of each. The common thread of inspiration, though, appeared to be the 1976 film Taxi Driver, in which cab driver Robert DeNiro attempts to kill the president in order to impress a child prostitute played by Jodie Foster. Foster had been nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role.

 

Provenance: Ex-Forbes Collection. Malcolm Forbes (1919-1990), the American owner-publisher of Forbes magazine and a consummate collector, amassed one of the most substantial autograph collections of such breadth and depth that it filled a half-dozen residences on three continents. Many of his manuscripts were sold in a series of multi-million dollar sales by Christie's in the early 2000s. The Forbes name is considered to be the apex of provenance, especially when attached to an item like the above. We are honored to have been chosen by the family to sell at auction the substantial balance of the collection.

 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

 

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