Dr. Craig Harmon, a medical student in Washington, D.C., in 1981, won't ever forget his shock at seeing a wounded Ronald Reagan stumble out of the presidential limousine toward the emergency room more than 23 years ago.
The memories came flooding back after the former president's death Saturday.
All Harmon, who practices internal medicine at the Salt Lake Clinic, knew that day as he waited at George Washington University Medical Center was that someone from the White House was headed to the hospital.
"No one knew what kind of injury it was or whether it was the president," Harmon recalled. "It was a little bit of shock to see Ronald Reagan there, climbing out of the car. (He) takes about two steps and starts to collapse."
Reagan had been felled by a would-be assassin's bullet as he was leaving a Washington, D.C., hotel after giving a speech. The presidential limousine had been headed back to the White House when a Secret Service agent saw blood and realized Reagan had been hit.
Harmon watched as the president was placed on a stretcher and taken into the trauma room, where doctors found he had virtually no blood pressure.
"He was very quickly bleeding to death," Harmon said. "Most people don't know how close to death he was."
As a third-year medical student, Harmon said he knew his place and stayed about 20 feet away.
"I was just a little transfixed," he said. "I thought, 'This is an amazing moment in history.' "
Harmon spoke briefly with Nancy Reagan as he directed the first lady and a number of White House officials to a meditation room at the hospital during the president's surgery.
"I just expressed sadness . . . and that our prayers were with them," he said.
The first lady, Harmon said, "was very gracious and thanked me." He said both Reagans personally expressed their gratitude to the hospital staff at the end of the president's nearly two-week stay.
Harmon's mother in the Indian Hills area of Salt Lake City caught a brief glimpse of her son when he was accosted by television reporters as he entered a hospital press conference wearing his white doctor's coat.
"I knew as a medical student, I was going to get into trouble," he said, so all he told the anxious reporters was that the hospital's official spokesman was on his way with information on the president's condition.
Harmon said he was saddened by Reagan's death because of "the connection I had with the presidency, having been there and observed." He said he fears younger Americans won't remember the legacy left by the nation's 40th president.
His experience with Reagan, he said, "made me a true believer." Until then, Harmon said he'd thought Reagan was too conservative.
"I think I became a stronger advocate," he said. "I really warmed up and was impressed."
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