Angels Protected Reagan & Pope Shot w/n Days in ‘81

It may be said 1981 finally forced the world to get dead serious about protecting its leaders, considering President Reagan & Pope John Paul II were shot within days of one another yet perhaps miraculously survived their life-threatening wounds...thanks, in part, to the fast work of their protectors.

Lest we forget, yesterday, May 13, marked the anniversary of the Mahmet Ali Agca shooting His Holiness several times in a crowded St. Peters Square while on March 30 that year John Hinckley had shot Mr. Reagan after a speaking engagement outside the busy Washington Hilton Hotel. Both are alive today thanks to “progressive” out of jail cards in the USA, Italy & Vatican City. Both were certifiable nut jobs who took advantage of “soft” opportunities. Agca hated all "crusading" Popes & esp Mother Mary & Fatima loving ones like John Paul II. Hinkley simply wanted to impress actress Jody Foster.

So, who are the people who protect, e.g., our presidents then & now? I have some insights to share on that score. And, not just because these two events served as backdrops for my latest political conspiracy novels & the extraordinary efforts to protect Mr. Reagan & the Pope: “Michael’s Original Sin” published last year & “Michael’s Mortal Sin” to be published later this year. The reason I bring them up on this unpleasant anniversary is not just that I’m now working on the latter, but my pleasant memories of two Secret Service friends who I’d argue are good examples of the dedicated men & women risking their lives daily – not unlike Agent Tim McCarthy who threw himself in front of Mr. Reagan as Hinckley’s 6 bullets flew & took one of them in the chest. My friends, now retired, had protected several presidents & of both parties through rain, sleet & gloom of night. (Still recall their being summoned back to the WH in the middle of carving a Thanksgiving Turkey because of a security breach.) Of course, there are a few questionable apples in the Service & there’s been scandals. But, in big & small ways, it’s no secret our Secret Service on the whole was elite in 1981, but even more so now.

Davd Soul