Before Saturday’s shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, the last time there was an assassination attempt on a president or former president was in 1981. On March 30, Ronald Reagan was headed to his limousine after addressing the AFL-CIO at the Washington, D.C., Hilton Hotel when John Hinckley opened fire. Tim McCarthy, the Secret Service agent who took a bullet in the chest protecting Reagan that day, had been dreading yesterday’s news.
“Well, I’m sorry to say, but it was probably going to happen,” he said on Sunday morning. “I was hoping against hope it wouldn’t happen, but here we are back here again.”
Reagan was gravely injured. James Brady, the White House press secretary, was shot in the head, leaving him partially paralyzed and........