on march 30, 1981, a would-be assassin fired six shots at president ronald reagan outside the washington hilton hotel two miles from the white house. "washington post" reporter, del quentin wilber, author of "rawhide down: the near-assassination of ronald reagan" met us on the sidewalk where the shooting took place, to tell his story of that day. >> ronald reagan was leaving this hotel after delivering a speech to the afl-cio. reagan, a long-time union man himself was kind of excited to , give this speech. he actually rewrote it by hand. [applause] ♪ ♪ >> at 2:25, 2:26, 2:27, he emerges from this entrance behind this area, this is new, they built this after the shooting. it's a bunker, and if you look inside over here, you'll see the entrance, the door, a steel door, where the president emerged and left. they built this actually this entrance especially for the president. when they built this hotel in the 1960's, they built this wonderful grand ballroom and they knew that for v.i.p.'s, they would want their own security entrance so they built , it right here, ease of access for limousines. what

president ronald reagan is speaking at a union convention at the hilton hotel in washington, d.c. rapher, shelly feelman, is outside covering the event. >> i was standing just about where i am now. that's the wall of the hilton hotel. >> feelman has been doing presidential coverage since he was unexpectedly thrown into it working for nbc news, 1963. >> my first day on the job, it was supposed to be really quiet, easy. and there was a veteran crew, and we were sitting in a restaurant. and they said, well, you know, it's an easy day today. we'll probably be going home early. and then they turned on the tv, and they announced that president kennedy was assassinated. the next thing i knew, i was on a plane heading for dallas. >> two days later while covering lee harvey oswald's jail transfer in dallas, feelman watches as jack ruby shoots and kills oswald. >> that was my initiation into into the news business. >> 17 years later, feelman is again expecting an easy day. >> i said, well, we're going to get the president coming out. and it's going to be a piece of cake. i -- i would never u

when reagan was president, the secret service did not want anyone near him when he left the washington hilton. his own staff, all republicans, obviously, overruled the secret service. they don't in fact have authority, but the secret service caved as they usually do, and said no, let people and to see reagan as he came out of the washington hilton. sure enough, someone was able to get within 15 feet of reagan totally unscreened for weapons, and that is how reagan almost lost his life, because of his own white house staff. host: kevin is up next. go ahead. caller: the man just asked a question and you turned around and said, is this another conspiracy theory. i would like to ask you real quick, what is the definition of a conspiracy? guest: to say that i am trying to get rid of obama people just has nothing to do with any evidence or the subject. i don't know what that means. we are talking about rep. carter: today we welcome joe clancy. his first appearance before our subcommittee. director clancy, welcome. thank you for your willingness to serve dhs and our nation. fiscal year 2016 budget of

i can tell you that last night at the washington hilton and around the country, thousands of people did get to hear secretary clinton speak. she did open her remarks with a reference to her pantsuit and what color it was. i was thinking that in some ways she was making a reference to all of this that we are talking about. some will read something into it that isn't there. i think it's a subtle way of addressing this. what was not subtle was her remarks about middle class and growing the middle class and the support in that room and the enthusiasm and the overwhelming passion that people have for her to run and that same group of people is not the group of people that is paying attention to this story. this might be as inside baseball as we can get. >> ron, last word? >> that's so typical of what we get from both political parties now. if hillary clinton had her way according to stacy, she would be allowed to give a speech where she talks about her bold tested themes and safe issues but they won't address something very simple like why mrs. clinton is someone who fought for rights of wom

when reagan was president, the secret service did not want anyone near him when he left the washington hilton. his own staff, all republicans, obviously, overruled the secret service. they don't in fact have authority, but the secret service caved as they usually do, and said no, let people and to see reagan as he came out of the washington hilton. sure enough, someone was able to get within 15 feet of reagan totally unscreened for weapons, and that is how reagan almost lost his life, because of his own white house staff. host: kevin is up next. go ahead. caller: the man just asked a question and you turned around and said, is this another conspiracy theory. i would like to ask you real quick, what is the definition of a conspiracy? guest: to say that i am trying to get rid of obama people just has nothing to do with any evidence or the subject. i don't know what that means. we are talking about the security of the president. we are talking about some sort of political issue, whatsoever. host: let's go to another kevin staten island, new york. caller: good morning, c-span. thank you for takin