James Brady

James Brady
Official portrait, 1986
17th White House Press Secretary
In office
January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989[1]
On leave: March 30, 1981 – January 20, 1989
PresidentRonald Reagan
Preceded byJody Powell
Succeeded byLarry Speakes (acting)
Personal details
Born
James Scott Brady

(1940-08-29)August 29, 1940
Centralia, Illinois, U.S.
DiedAugust 4, 2014(2014-08-04) (aged 73)
Alexandria, Virginia, U.S.
Cause of deathGunshot wound
Political partyRepublican
Spouses
Sue Beh
(m. 1960; div. 1967)
(m. 1972)
EducationUniversity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (BA)
NicknameBear[1]
^* Brady formally retained the title of Press Secretary until the end of the Reagan Administration on January 20, 1989, but he did not brief the press after he was shot in the 1981 assassination attempt.

James Scott Brady (August 29, 1940 – August 4, 2014) was an American public official who served as assistant to the U.S. president and the 17th White House Press Secretary, serving under President Ronald Reagan. In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded Brady during Hinckley’s attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, which occurred two months and ten days after Reagan's inauguration.

Brady's death in 2014 was eventually ruled a homicide, caused by the gunshot wound he received 33 years earlier on March 30, 1981.[2]

  1. ^ Purdum, Todd S. (August 4, 2014). "Remembering James S. Brady". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
  2. ^ Peter Herman (August 8, 2014). "James Brady's death ruled homicide by Virginia medical examiner". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 8, 2014.