Paula Zahn interviewed John Barletta last night, one the of the secret agents who protected President Reagan. It fell to Barletta to notify Reagan that he should no longer ride. Scroll down.
cnn.com
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ZAHN: And I'm now joined (AUDIO GAP) longer than any other Secret Service member, and he eventually became very close to the president. Mr. Barletta, good of you to join us. Welcome.
JOHN BARLETTA, FORMER SECRET SERVICE AGENT AND LONG-TIME FRIEND OF REAGAN: Thank you very much.
ZAHN: Take us back to the day that you were on detail with Mrs. Reagan and she found out about the shooting.
BARLETTA: Well, we hadn't known that there was a shooting. When Mrs. Reagan got back to the White House, George Opfer (ph) and Joe Sullivan (ph) were with her, and I was on the first lady's detail that day. And George said to her that, There's been a commotion. The president's on the way back here, but we don't know what's happened and -- which raised her curiosity very, very much. And then a couple of minutes went by, and then we got word that the limousine is going to St. Elizabeth's Hospital.
And when Mrs. Reagan was told that, she said, Well, if there's nothing wrong with him, then why are they going to the hospital? And we just couldn't tell her because we didn't know. Nobody knew. And Mrs. Reagan said, I want you to take me to the hospital to be with my husband. And they tried to talk her out of it. There was so much confusion going on, and we didn't know if this was a conspiracy and what else was involved, and we wanted to keep everything sterile. But she looked at us and said, Either you take me in the car or I'm walking.
ZAHN: And she probably would have walked.
BARLETTA: Yes, she would have.
ZAHN: Knowing the devotion to her husband. What was the scene like, once you got to the hospital.
BARLETTA: Well, when she got to the hospital, Mr. Deaver greeted her and said, They're going to be operating on him. And -- Why? And Mr. Deaver said to her, He's been shot. And the look on her face said it all. I won't forget that look. And she says, I must see him. Well, the doctors are working on him. They couldn't find that bullet that had squashed down to the size of a dime, and they didn't want her to go in. And she just looked at them and said, You don't understand. He has to know I'm here. And she was absolutely right. And she went to him and grabbed his hand, and that's when he said, "Honey, I forgot to duck."
ZAHN: The self-deprecating humor...
BARLETTA: Yes.
ZAHN: ... never left him, did it.
BARLETTA: Never, ever. No.
ZAHN: We mentioned in the introduction that you served the Reagans not only when they were in the White House, but after the president went into retirement. You were with him in Los Angeles. You were with him at the ranch. You developed a close relationship with the president, didn't you.
BARLETTA: I did. We're not there to be his friend, we're there to protect his life. But you can't be around Ronald Reagan, especially the way I was, that you don't become a friend. And we had some wonderful rides out in front, just talking. And it was a unique situation, which I was so lucky to be involved in.
ZAHN: I heard an amazingly touching story about you. You two long enjoyed these rides, and after Mr. Reagan's diagnosis of Alzheimer's, I understand it got to the point where you didn't think it was safe for him to be on a horse anymore. Tell us what happened next.
BARLETTA: Well, people ask me, what was my worst time, and they expect me to say March 30, the assassination attempt. And it wasn't. It was the day I told him he couldn't ride anymore. As the disease progressed, I noticed he was having trouble saddling. He wasn't mounting properly. And one thing led to another. Then as it got more, he just was making rookie mistakes up there.
President Reagan is a consummate rider. The horse he rode, El Alamein (ph), a lesser rider could not have ridden that horse. And now I'm getting worried. And it came to the point where I went to Mrs. Reagan and I said, Ma'am, I can't protect him from himself. He's making too many mistakes up there that I can't correct, and I think he should stop riding.
Now, this was the love of his life -- well, the No. 2 love. Mrs. Reagan was first. And she looked at me and she said, John, you have to tell him. And I said, Mrs. Reagan, I can't do that. And she touched me and said, John, he'll take it better coming from you. Well, I didn't want to do that, but she called me up in the Secret Service command post and she just said, It's time, John.
So I went down. I knocked on the door and went in, and he was sitting in the chair by the fireplace, reading a book, like he always does. And I just said, Sir, we had a tough time today and it's getting worse. And we're not having fun out there anymore, and maybe you shouldn't ride anymore. And I was in tears. He got up off his chair and put his hands on my shoulder, and he looked at me and he said, It's OK, John. I know. So in his worst hour, he was trying to make me feel better.
ZAHN: What a beautiful story!
BARLETTA: If you understood the love that he had for horses, it was just amazing. And we never rode again. Most importantly, we never even talked about it anymore. So that was -- that was good.
ZAHN: Very tough thing for you to have to broach with the president. John Barletta, thank you for sharing some of your memories of the president with us tonight.
BARLETTA: Thank you for having me, Paula.
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