James Brady – August 29, 1940

You gotta play the hand that’s dealt you. There may be pain in that hand, but you play it. And I’ve played it. – James Brady

James Scott Brady was born to Dorothy (Davidson) and Harold Brady in Centralia, Illinois. He appears to have been an only child.

The Bradys lived at 111 East Broadway in Centralia in 1950. Harold Brady was the chief clerk for a railroad, while Dorothy was a private secretary at a real estate firm. Other occupations in the neighborhood were chiefly service type (cashier, saleslady) or railroad (switchman and foreman.)

There were only 30 lines on this census page and 20% of those were listed as “not at home.” Almost everyone who was at home was from Illinois, with one each from Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.

Later life

Brady worked in staff, campaign, and special assistant-type positions for various politicians including Everett Dirkson, Phyllis Schlafly, William Roth, and 1980 presidential candidate John Connally. After Connally withdrew, Brady began working for the Reagan-Bush campaign and eventually became spokesperson for the Office of the President-Elect, and then White House Press Secretary.

Just 69 days into this job, Brady was shot in the head by John Hinckley who was trying to assassinate President Reagan to impress Jodie Foster, an actress he was obsessed with. The bullet entered above Brady’s left eye and went under his brain where it exploded. The media reported that Brady had died, but he was saved during a long operation at George Washington University Hospital.

The wound left Brady with slurred speech and partial paralysis. He had deficits in memory and thinking, such as failing to recognize people. He was unable to work, but the Reagan administration kept him on as press secretary for the entire time of the administration. Others performed the job on an acting or deputy basis.

Brady and his wife Sarah ran the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence which resulted in the Brady Handgun Violence Protection Act, known as the Brady Bill.

He died in August 2014. Four days after his death, the medical examiner ruled that the cause of his death was homicide due to the shooting in 1981.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Brady

Other happenings on August 29, 1940:

• Germany formally apologized to Ireland for the Wexford bombing.
• Northwest of Ireland, the German submarine U-100 sank four cargo ships from Allied Convoy OA-204 and damaged a fifth
• Born: Bennie Maupin, jazz multireedist, in Detroit, Michigan
• Johnny Paris, rock musician and leader of Johnny and the Hurricanes, in Walbridge, Ohio (d. 2006)
• Wim Ruska, Olympic gold medalist in judo, in Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 2015)

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Sources

• Wikipedia.org
• Ancestry.com
• Onthisday.com
• Picryl.com
• Youtube.com