{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}} {{Use American English|date=October 2023}} {{Short description|American Secret Service agent (1930–2015)}} {{Infobox person | name = Jerry Parr | image = Jerry Parr 2013.jpg | image_size = | caption = Parr in 2013 | birth_date = {{Birth date|1930|9|16}} | birth_place = Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2015|10|9|1930|9|16}} | death_place = Washington, D.C., U.S. | education = Vanderbilt University<br />Loyola University | alma_mater = | occupation = Secret Service agent | known_for = Saving President Reagan during the 1981 assassination attempt | children = 3 | spouse = {{marriage|Carolyn Parr|1959}} }}

'''Jerry S. Parr''' (September 16, 1930 – October 9, 2015) was a United States Secret Service agent who is best known for defending President Ronald Reagan during the attempt on the president's life on March 30, 1981, in Washington, D.C. Parr pushed Reagan into the presidential limousine and made the critical decision to divert the presidential motorcade to George Washington University Hospital instead of returning to the White House. He was honored for his actions that day with U.S. Congress commendations, and is widely credited with helping to save the president's life.<ref>Wilber, Del Quentin (2011). ''Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan''. Macmillan. {{ISBN|0-8050-9346-X}}.</ref><ref name="Newsweek">{{cite news|title=At The Edge Of Death|url=http://www.newsweek.com/id/89689|work=Newsweek|date=October 4, 1999|accessdate=2008-08-13 }}</ref><ref name="wpost">{{cite news|author=Sue Anne Pressley|title=When History, Destiny Converged|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/29/AR2006032902595_pf.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=March 30, 2006|accessdate=2008-08-13}}</ref>

==Early life== Jerry Studstill Parr was born in Montgomery, Alabama, on September 16, 1930, and he grew up in the Miami area.<ref name=":1" /> Parr received his B.A. in English and Philosophy from Vanderbilt University in 1962. In 1987, he received his M.S. in pastoral counseling from Loyola University in Maryland.<ref name="ITSS">{{cite web|url=http://inthesecretservice.com/jerrys-ministries|title=In The Secret Service|publisher=Tyndale House Publishers|accessdate=October 10, 2015|date=2013-07-30}}</ref>

An ordained minister,<ref name="CNN">{{cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/09/politics/secret-service-jerry-parr-dies/index.html|title=Jerry Parr, agent who helped wounded Reagan, dies - CNNPolitics|author=Steve Almasy|website=CNN|date=10 October 2015 |accessdate=20 August 2017}}</ref> in 1987, Parr was awarded an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from Eureka College.<ref name="ITSS" />

==Career with the Secret Service== Parr's interest in joining the Secret Service originated as a boy after watching ''Code of the Secret Service'' (1939) starring Ronald Reagan as agent "Brass" Bancroft.{{r|wilber2011}}{{rp|18}}<ref name="SoulsofSteel">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9wCVdNzaJY0C&q=%22Code+of+the+Secret+Service%22&pg=PT181|title=Souls of Steel: How to Build Character in Ourselves and Our Kids|author=Pat Williams|author2=Jim Denney|publisher=FaithWords/Hachette Book Group USA|location=New York City|date=February 2008|isbn=978-0-446-51129-2}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdCLMpSY5qkC&q=%22code+of+the+secret+service%22&pg=PA18|title=Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronald Reagan|author=Del Quentin Wilber|publisher=Henry Holt and Company|location=New York City|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8050-9346-9|pages=18–20, 224|author-link=Del Quentin Wilber}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Ysi2TV3DNYC&q=%22code+of+the+secret+service%22&pg=PA173|title=The Hardball Handbook: How to Win at Life|author=Chris Matthews|publisher=Random House|location=New York City|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8129-7597-0|pages=173–174|author-link=Chris Matthews}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AEal3OUTTkYC&q=%22code+of+the+secret+service%22+jerry+parr&pg=PT174|title=Reagan's War: The Epic Story of His Forty-Year Struggle and Final Triumph Over Communism|author=Peter Schweizer|publisher=Anchor Books/Random House|location=New York City|year=2002|isbn=978-1-4000-7556-0|author-link=Peter Schweizer}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=When Character was King: A Story of Ronald Reagan|author=Peggy Noonan|publisher=Viking Penguin|location=New York City|year=2001|isbn=0-670-88235-6|page=195|author-link=Peggy Noonan}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGgIP1yJiT4C&q=%22Code+of+the+Secret+Service%22&pg=PA192|title=The Greatest Presidential Stories Never Told: 100 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder, and Stupefy|publisher=The History Channel/HarperCollins|location=New York City|author=Rick Beyer|year=2007|isbn=978-0-06-076018-2|page=192}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595099848/Secret-Service-secrets-revealed.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023022803/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/595099848/Secret-Service-secrets-revealed.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 23, 2012|title=Secret Service secrets revealed|work=Deseret News|date=October 22, 2004|author=Scott D. Pierce}}</ref> He was working as a lineman for Florida Power and Light in 1962 when he was interviewed by a visiting recruiter for the Secret Service. When asked if he was able to assume the risks of the job, Parr replied it was probably no more dangerous than what he had been doing for the power company.<ref name=":0" /> He joined the Secret Service at age 32, the oldest rookie in his class.<ref name="ITSS" /> His first protection assignment was John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson at the funeral of Eleanor Roosevelt. After Kennedy was assassinated, Parr was assigned to protect Marina Oswald, and Marguerite Oswald, the widow, and the mother, respectively, of Lee Harvey Oswald until completion of Marina's testimony before the Warren Commission.

Over the next 23 years, Parr conducted 15 foreign and 65 domestic protective surveys for various presidents and vice presidents, and worked with security, intelligence and law enforcement professionals in all 50 states and in 37 countries.<ref name="wpost" /> From 1969 to 1978, he worked for the Foreign Dignitary Division as a mid-level supervisor on the Humphrey, Agnew and Ford details, and directed security for 56 foreign heads of state, including Queen Elizabeth II of Britain, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, King Juan Carlos of Spain and Pope John Paul II.<ref name="Newsweek" /><ref name="ITSS" />

From 1978 to 1979, he was Special Agent in Charge of the Vice Presidential Protective Division, where he directed security for Vice President Mondale. In 1979, Parr moved to the Presidential Protective Division, where he was Special Agent in Charge and Head of the White House Detail.<ref name="ITSS"/> There, he directed security for Presidents Carter and Reagan. In 1982, he became Assistant Director of Protective Research, and in 1985, Parr retired from the Secret Service. Parr's story is told in his autobiography, ''In the Secret Service: The True Story Of The Man who Saved President Reagan'' (Tyndale House Publishing), co-authored by his wife Carolyn Parr.

==Ronald Reagan assassination attempt== [[File:President Ronald Reagan moments before he was shot in an assassination attempt 1981.jpg|thumb|US President Ronald Reagan waves just before he is shot outside a Washington hotel on March 30, 1981. From left are From left to right are Rick Ahearn, publicist for Reagan; Parr, in raincoat, who pushed Reagan into the limousine; press secretary James Brady, who was seriously wounded; Reagan; Michael Deaver, Reagan's aide; police Sergeant Herbert Granger; Washington policeman Thomas Delahanty, who was shot in the neck; and Secret Service agent Tim McCarthy, who was shot in the chest.]]

{{main|Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan}} On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on President Ronald Reagan as he exited the Washington Hilton Hotel after giving a speech, firing six bullets in 1.7 seconds.<ref name="wilber2011">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdCLMpSY5qkC&pg=PP1|title=Rawhide Down: The Near Assassination of Ronad Reagan|author=Wilber, Del Quentin|publisher=Macmillan|year=2011|isbn=978-0-8050-9346-9}}</ref> Parr quickly pushed Reagan into the limousine, and as a result, one of the bullets overshot the president. Parr's prompt reaction had saved Reagan from being hit in the head.<sup>[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-wilber2011-13|[13]]]:224</sup> However, the final bullet ricocheted off the armored side of the limousine and hit the president in the left underarm, grazing a rib and lodging in his lung, causing it to partially collapse, and stopping less than an inch (25&nbsp;mm) from his heart.<sup>[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-king010330-32|[32]]][[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-reagan.com-17|[17]]][[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-trial-20|[20]]]</sup>

Carolyn, Parr's wife, had been standing directly across the street when the shooting occurred. Parr had called to invite her to come watch the president's exit and get a fun glimpse of her husband in action.{{r|wilber2011}}{{rp|164}}

After the Secret Service first announced "shots fired" over its radio network at 2:27&nbsp;p.m., Reagan—codename "Rawhide"—was taken away by the agents in the limousine ("Stagecoach").<sup>[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-ss19810330-36|[36]]]</sup>{{r|wilber2011}}{{rp|66}} At first, no one knew that he had been shot, and Parr stated that "Rawhide is OK...we're going to Crown" (the White House), as he preferred its medical facilities to an unsecured hospital.<sup>[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-woodward20110311-37|[37]]][[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-ss19810330-36|[36]]]</sup>

Reagan was in great pain from the bullet that struck his rib, and he believed that the rib had cracked when Parr pushed him into the limousine. When the agent checked him for gunshot wounds, however, Reagan coughed up bright, frothy blood.<sup>[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-king010330-32|[32]]]</sup> Although the president believed that he had cut his lip,<sup>[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-woodward20110311-37|[37]]]</sup> Parr believed that the cracked rib had punctured Reagan's lung and ordered the motorcade to divert to nearby George Washington University Hospital, which the Secret Service periodically inspected for use.<sup>[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-ssreport19810504-23|[23]]]</sup> Although Reagan came close to death, the medical team's quick action—and Parr's decision to drive to the hospital instead of the White House—likely saved the president's life.<sup>[[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan#cite note-king010330-32|[32]]]</sup>

After the assassination attempt, Jerry Parr was hailed as a hero.<ref name="wilber2011" /> He received congressional commendations for his actions, and was named one of four "Top Cops" in the U.S. by ''Parade'' magazine.<ref name="Jerry">{{Cite book|title=In the Secret Service: The True Story of the Man Who Saved President Reagan's Life |last=Parr |first=Jerry |publisher=Tyndale House Publishers, Incorporated |isbn=9781414378718|location=Carol Stream, Illinois|oclc=833301074|year = 2013}}</ref> He later wrote about the assassination attempt in his autobiography, calling it both the best and the worst day of his life.<ref name="ITSS" /> Parr came to believe that God had directed his life so that he could one day save the president's life, and became a pastor after retiring from the Secret Service in 1985.{{r|wilber2011}}{{rp|224}}

==Community service== Parr was very active in his church in Washington, D.C., where he was a former co-pastor, retreat leader and spiritual director. He served on the board of directors at Joseph's House, an organization for men with AIDS and co-founded Servant Leadership School.<ref name="ITSS" /> In April 1992, he drove a school bus more than 3,000 miles from Washington, D.C., to deliver supplies to an orphanage in San Salvador.<ref name="Jerry"/>

==Death== Parr died of congestive heart failure at a hospice in Washington, D.C., on October 9, 2015, aged 85.<ref name="CNN"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Wilber, Del Quentin|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-10-09/jerry-parr-secret-service-agent-who-saved-reagan-dead-at-85 |url-access=subscription |title=Jerry Parr, U.S. Agent Who Saved Reagan's Life, Dies at 85|publisher=Bloomberg.com|date=October 9, 2015|accessdate=October 10, 2015}}</ref> He was survived by Carolyn, his wife of nearly 56 years, three daughters and four granddaughters.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/jerry-parr-secret-service-agent-who-helped-save-ronald-reagan-dies-at-85/2015/10/10/dabec448-6f03-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28_story.html|title=Jerry Parr, Secret Service agent who helped save Ronald Reagan, dies at 85|last=Weil|first=Martin|date=2015-10-10|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=2018-03-03|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286}}</ref>

==Awards and honors== * Presidential Rank Award for Meritorious Executive from the U.S. Secret Service, 1984<ref name="ITSS"/> * U.S. Congress commendations for actions on March 30, 1981, during the attempt on President Reagan's life<ref name="ITSS"/> * Director's Award of Valor, U.S. Secret Service<ref name="ITSS"/> * Exceptional Service Award, U.S. Treasury Department<ref name="ITSS"/> * Honor League, New York Police Department<ref name="ITSS"/> * Commendation by the Maryland State Senate<ref name="ITSS"/> * Named as one of four "Top Cops" by ''Parade'' magazine, 1981<ref name="ITSS"/>

==Professional organizations== Parr was a member of the Association for Conflict Resolution and American Association of Pastoral Counsellors. Previously, he was the president of the Association of Former Agents of the U.S. Secret Service.<ref name="ITSS"/>

==Filmography== Parr was a film advisor for the feature film dramas ''In the Line of Fire'' (1993) and ''Contact'' (1997), and for the documentaries ''In the Line of Fire: Behind the Scenes with the Secret Service'' (1993), and ''Inside the US Secret Service'' (2004). He also served as a commentator on C-SPAN,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.c-span.org/video/?71742-1/reagan-assassination-attempt|title=Reagan Assassination Attempt|publisher=C-SPAN |date= March 30, 1983 |first1=Jerry S. |last1=Parr }}</ref> ''Larry King Live'',<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/07/15/lkl.transcript/index.html|title=Investigating the President: Should Secret Service Agents Have to Testify?|accessdate=2008-08-14|work=Larry King Live|publisher=CNN|date=July 14, 1998 }}</ref> ''Meet the Press'', Discovery Channel, History Channel, PBS, and Travel Channel.{{citation needed|date=April 2021}}

==Depiction in media== Parr was portrayed by John Robinson in the 2003 film ''The Reagans'' and by Joe Chrest in the 2016 television film ''Killing Reagan''.<ref>{{Citation |last=Lurie |first=Rod |title=Killing Reagan |date=2016-10-16 |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5059126/?ref_=nm_flmg_c_23_act |type=Biography, Crime, Drama |access-date=2023-10-12 |others=Cynthia Nixon, Tim Matheson, Joel Murray |publisher=Scott Free Productions}}</ref>

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0663320}} * Official website for the book [http://www.inthesecretservice.com In The Secret Service], inthesecretservice.com; accessed August 20, 2017. * {{cite news|author=T. R. Reid|title=Agent Tells of the Blood-and-Guts Getaway|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/28/AR2006032800924_pf.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=April 3, 1981|accessdate=2008-08-14}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parr, Jerry}} Category:1930 births Category:2015 deaths Category:Law enforcement officials from Washington, D.C. Category:People from Montgomery, Alabama Category:United States Secret Service agents Category:Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan Category:Vanderbilt University alumni Category:Loyola University Maryland alumni