Dateline: Secrets Uncovered: What was in John Hinckley Jr.'s diary?

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered is all set to look into one of the biggest cases of all time, the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan's life by John Hinckley Jr.

Hinckley was a mentally ill man who allegedly did this to win over Jodie Foster, with whom he had an unhealthy obsession. He was allegedly inspired by Taxi Driver (1976), which also starred Foster, and decided to assassinate the newly elected president to gain Foster's attention.

As wild as it sounds, John Hinckley Jr. went ahead with his plan after he wrote a letter to Foster about the same. The letter read:

"Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself. ... The reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you."

The upcoming episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will have a special focus on Hinckley's diary, which contained some shocking revelations, including his admission that shooting the President was "satisfying."

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What did John Hinckley Jr. say in his diary?

John Hinckley Jr. was dangerously obsessed with Jodie Foster. After months of trying to impress her through various means, he finally decided to do something that would definitely get her attention. His fantasies ranged from hijacking a plane to taking his life in public, but he settled on assassinating Ronald Reagan.

He fired six shots at Reagan as the latter was leaving an AFL–CIO conference outside the Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Hinckley injured police officer Thomas Delahanty, Secret Service agent Timothy McCarthy, and critically wounded press secretary James Brady. Brady never fully recovered from the injury and was left paralyzed for life. One of the bullets recoiled off the presidential limousine and hit Reagan, wounding him badly.

John Hinckley Jr. was charged with 13 counts of criminal misconduct but was found not guilty on grounds of insanity. He was eventually placed under institutional psychiatric care for 35 years before he was fully released in June 2022.

After his arrest, he maintained a diary where he claimed that he was satisfied with his assassination attempt. He also commented that he 'occasionally' regretted his decision to attack the president.

In the journal, he also wrote that there were moments when he regretted the incident but added that he was satisfied with what he had accomplished. He even wrote that he had an "empty, sad feeling," before wondering where Foster was.

Many pages from the diary were not made public. Some of them will be the focus of the upcoming episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered. After decades in psychiatric care, he was deemed fit in 2016 and was released unconditionally in June 2022.

Ron Reagan, the son of the former president, expressed his concern over John's release and said:

"My worry is that his narcissistic personality disorder will be affronted by somebody, he will not get the respect or attention that he feels wed and he will act out again in some violent way."

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered will cover John Hinckley Jr.'s assassination attempt and his diary entries in detail when it airs on October 19, 2022.