[gunshots] john hinckley jr. today after being institutionalized for more than three decades, he is pretty much a free man. it was a rainy spring monday in washington, dc, just a few months after ronald reagan was elected president. del wilber: march 30, 1981 is 70 days into reagan's first term and it's a nothing day. he's given a speech at the washington hilton. troy roberts: a nothing day that was about to turn into a day no one would ever forget. los angeles times reporter del wilber interviewed well over 100 people for his book "rawhide down." rawhide, the secret service codename for president reagan. we're going to convince this city that the power begins and ends with the people. [applause] del wilber: he gives a speech. he's walking out. it's 2:27 pm. judy woodruff: i was part of the press pool, which is the small group of reporters who follow along in the motorcade. troy roberts: pbs newshour anchor and managing editor judy woodruff was the white house correspondent for nbc news. he came out the door and

andrea canning: now an unprecedented look into the mind and new life of the gunman, john hinckley jr. out in his first nationally televised interview.

federal judge concluded that hinckley's mental illness was in full remission and granted his unconditional release. it was a new chapter in the life of john w. hinckley jr. who four decades after shooting an american president appeared at peace with his past. that's all for this edition of "dateline." i'm andrea canning. thank you for watching. >>> good morning. we begin this hour with a look at one of the most influential and controversial figures in the world today, elon musk. it was just over a year ago the spacex and tesla ceo completed his acquisition of twitter. since then, he's had no shortage of battles, we spoke about it with walter isaacson, his biographer. >> talk about writing at elon musk during a volatile time of his life publicly. talk about the challenges and awards as an author you got out of that. >> first of all, he has been volatile his whole life. as a kid, 2018, he's going just as crazy at times as you see him in the past couple of years. when i started this book, when we first started talking about it, he was the guy bringing us into electric vehicles and the only person who could send people into orbit in the u.s. i thought, good