Jump to content

Killing Reagan

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Boomerbrocomcast (talk | contribs) at 05:32, 22 October 2015 (Additional response/criticism from key players in the story described. Sourced to Reagan officials and biographers.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Killing Reagan
AuthorBill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard
LanguageEnglish
SubjectAttempted Assassination of Ronald Reagan
PublisherHenry Holt and Co.
Publication date
September 22, 2015
Publication placeUnited States
Media typeHardcover
Pages336
ISBN978-1627792417

Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency is a book written by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard about the attempted assassination of U.S President Ronald Reagan.[1][2] The Book is the fifth in the Killing series, following Killing Lincoln, Killing Kennedy, Killing Jesus, and Killing Patton. The book was released on September 22, 2015.[2]

Plot

On March 30, 1981 after delivering a speech at the Washington Hilton Hotel, 40th President of the United States Ronald Reagan is shot by John Hinckley, Jr.. Facing near death, Reagan's life is in the balance of doctors at the George Washington University Hospital. At the White House however, the power of the president is in chaos as Reagan's cabinet is being lead by Alexander Haig.

Adaptation

On September 26, 2015, about a week after the book's release National Geographic announced that a television film adaptation is in the works without a specific release date or cast.[3]

Criticism

Following the release of Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency, Reagan biographers Craig Shirley, Steven Hayward, Paul Kengor and Kiron Skinner, along with a handful of former Reagan aides, immediately began a broadside to challenge the book on its factual inaccuracies and historical fabrications.[4] Those four Reagan Biographers, who have written 19 biographies on Ronald Reagan between them, penned an op-ed for The Washington Post that highlighted some of the major historical inaccuracies and outright fabrications used in O'Reilly's book.[5] Additional criticisms surfaced from officials that actually served in the Reagan Administration, who were present at the events discussed in the book, yet dispute what actually happened. AB Culvahouse, who was Counsel to the President from 1987 to 1989, calls one of the key anecdotes of O'Reilly's book describing a meeting focused on President Reagan's fitness to hold office "a debunked myth."[6]

In response, Bill O'Reilly took to the airwaves on October 19, 2015, ducking the criticism and calling his critics "zealots and jealous people."[7] He also called the criticisms "comical," to which Reagan Historian Craig Shirley responded "So far, I've written four books on Ronald Reagan, written dozens of articles, given dozens of lectures, am a trustee of Eureka College, taught a course there [titled] Reagan 101, and have lectured at the Reagan Library and the Reagan Ranch. [I]t is fair to say we probably know a little bit more about Ronald Reagan than Bill O'Reilly. We certainly know the facts of Ronald Reagan."[8]

The following day, Ed Meese, who served as Counselor to the President (1981-1985) and as U.S. Attorney General (1985-1988) penned a joint op-ed with Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation Executive Director John Heubusch detailed even more inaccuracies in O'Reilly's book, saying "we believe that 'Killing Reagan' does a real disservice to our 40th president and to history itself."[9] The same day, President Reagan's Assistant for Political and Intergovernmental Affairs also penned an op-ed for The Washington Times disputing O'Reilly's key thesis as another discredited "senility myth" about Ronald Reagan.[10]

Even more criticisms came from reporters at the Washington Post, who looked into O'Reilly's claim to have "double-sourced everything" in his book.[11] On October 19, 2015, about a month after the book was published, O'Reilly's researcher first reached out to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to obtain a document that O'Reilly himself called a "key part of the book."[12] On October 21, 2015, it was reported that the fact-checker that O'Reilly and Dugard commissioned to research and fact-check the manuscript for "Killing Reagan" bailed on the project after realizing that the authors were “distorting” material, in her opinion.[13] She went on to pen an op-ed for National Review in which she said of O'Reilly's book: "Why the authors want to present this distorted ‘witch and wimp’ view of Nancy [Reagan] and the 40th president is puzzling, especially since an alternative view of the effect of Reagan’s near-death experience is so readily available."[14]

References

  1. ^ "Bill O'Reilly pens his next book: 'Killing Reagan'". Washington Times. Retrieved 30 May 2015. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b "Bill O'Reilly to 'kill' again with his new book on Reagan". CNN Money. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  3. ^ "National Geographic Channel adapting 'Killing Reagan' as a TV Movie". UPI.com. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  4. ^ "Killing Bill: Reagan aides assail O'Reilly's book, 'Total B.S.'". Washington Examiner. https://plus.google.com/113090232486023267414. Retrieved 2015-10-22. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Kengor, Craig Shirley, Kiron K. Skinner, Paul; Hayward, Steven F. (2015-10-16). "What Bill O'Reilly's new book on Ronald Reagan gets wrong about Ronald Reagan". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-10-22.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "A. B. Culvahouse: Bill O'Reilly's 'Killing Reagan' revives debunked myth". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
  7. ^ "O'Reilly Fires Back at Killing Reagan Critics: They Don't Want Us Telling Truth". www.mediaite.com. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
  8. ^ "Reagan experts to O'Reilly: You don't know what you're talking about". Washington Examiner. https://plus.google.com/113090232486023267414. Retrieved 2015-10-22. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
  9. ^ "O'Reilly's "Killing Reagan": Fiction, Posing as Biography | RealClearPolitics". www.realclearpolitics.com. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
  10. ^ "FRANK DONATELLI: Another Ronald Reagan senility myth". The Washingtion Times. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
  11. ^ Weinstein, Jamie (2015-09-29). "O'Reilly Responds To Critics Of 'Killing Reagan': 'We Just Portrayed Him As A Man,' Not 'As God'". The Daily Caller. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
  12. ^ Wemple, Erik (2015-10-20). "O'Reilly's 'Killing Reagan' co-author still fishing for key 1987 memo". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
  13. ^ Wemple, Erik (2015-10-21). "After reading manuscript, scholar bailed on 'Killing Reagan' project". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2015-10-22.
  14. ^ "Killing the Reagan Legacy". National Review Online. http://www.nationalreview.com. Retrieved 2015-10-22. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Killing_Reagan&oldid=686924028"