Thirty-nine years ago today, the nation was gripped by a life or death health crisis. Ronald Reagan had been shot and seriously wounded, and the country waited anxiously to see if our 70-year-old president would survive surgery to remove an explosive bullet that had lodged a mere inch from his heart. Thanks to the incredible skill of surgeons at the George Washington University Hospital, to which Reagan had been rushed because of an alert Secret Service agent who saw the president coughing up frothy red blood, he made it. But not exactly with flying colors.

The nation was not told so at the time, but Reagan developed a post-operative infection, which nearly killed him. Senior White House aides kept that information from the public for fear that the stock market would tumble and/or the Soviets would somehow take advantage. Reagan eventually fully recovered, though wife Nancy Reagan would later tell people, “Ronnie almost died.”