They all tried to kill presidents

The upcoming release of John Hinckley Jr., the man who shot President Ronald Reagan, will create a first in American history: There will soon be three would-be presidential assassins free. Timothy P. McCarthy, a historian of American politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, said the coincidence of Hinckley, Sara Jane Moore and Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme all being free from custody comes at a tense time in American politics. Their presence is a reminder of an earlier, turbulent era. "The political rhetoric in this historic presidential election is reaching a heated, at times violent, fever pitch," he said. But McCarthy also noted, "Sometimes the impulse to punish is mediated by the impulse to forgive or to heal."