This episode takes place on March 30, 1981.
In the assassination attempt, alongside President Reagan, White House Press Secretary James Brady, Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, and police officer Thomas Delahanty were also wounded. All three survived, but Brady suffered brain damage and was permanently disabled. His death in 2014 was considered a homicide because it was ultimately caused by this injury.
Since the incident, Jodie Foster has only commented on John Hinckley, Jr on three occasions: a press conference a few days after the attack, an article she wrote for Esquire magazine in 1982 after his sentencing, and during an interview with Charlie Rose on 60 Minutes II in 1999. She has ended or canceled several interviews if the event was mentioned, or if she felt that an interviewer was going to bring Hinckley up.
In the immediate aftermath of the assassination, no formal invocation of presidential succession took place, although Secretary of State Alexander Haig stated that he was "in control here" while Vice President George H. W. Bush returned to Washington from Fort Worth, Texas.
Within five minutes of the assassination attempt, members of the Cabinet began gathering in the White House Situation Room. The Cabinet and the Secret Service were initially unsure whether the shooting was part of a larger attack by terrorists or a foreign intelligence service such as the KGB. Tensions with the Soviet Union were high due to the Solidarity movement in Communist Poland. The Cabinet was also concerned that the Soviets would take advantage of the unstable situation to launch a nuclear attack. After the shooting the American military detected two Soviet ballistic missile submarines patrolling unusually close to the East Coast of the United States, allowing their missiles to reach Washington D.C. two minutes faster than usual. Secretary of State Alexander Haig, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, and National Security Adviser Richard Allen discussed various issues, including the location of the nuclear football, the submarine presence, a possible Soviet invasion against the 1981 warning strike in Poland, and the presidential line of succession. Although normally no tape recorders are allowed in the Situation Room, these meetings were recorded with the participants' knowledge by Allen, and the five hours of tapes have since been made public.