Ancestry of
John Hinckley, Jr.
Shot President Ronald Reagan
Who is John Hinckley Jr.?
John Hinckley Jr. is the would-be assassin of President Ronald Reagan. On March 30, 1981, only two months after being sworn in as President, Ronald Reagan was shot in an attempted assassination by John Hinckley Jr. Hinckley’s motivation is said to have been some sort of deranged attempt to impress actress Jodie Foster. Although President Reagan would recover from his wounds and go on to serve two terms as President, his press secretary James Brady would die from his wounds 33 years later in 2014. Brady’s death would be ruled a homicide caused by his gunshot would from Hinckley. John Hinckley was declared not guilty by reason of insanity and remained locked up in a psychiatric facility until September 2016 when he was released into the care of his elderly mother.
Famous Kin
In addition to being a descendant of Mayflower passengers John Howland and John Tilley, John Hinckley Jr. is also the great-grandson of Francis Edward Hinckley. Francis Hinckley is one of the co-founders of the University of Chicago. John Hinckley Jr. is also a cousin to former First Lady Nancy Reagan, wife of the president he shot. Although there is no known family connection between John Hinckley Jr. and President Ronald Reagan, he does have a number of other U.S. Presidents in his family tree that include Barack Obama, George Washington, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Warren G. Harding, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Gerald Ford, Calvin Coolidge, Richard Nixon, Howard Taft, and both Presidents Bush.
John Hinckley Jr. has a number of celebrities in his family tree. One of the most surprising is his connection to Jodie Foster, the object of his obsession that led to his assassination attempt on President Reagan. Other celebrities in his family tree include actor Alec Baldwin, director Howard Hawks, actor Humphrey Bogart, actress Kyra Sedgwick, actor Kevin Bacon, actress Shirley Temple, actor Christopher Lloyd, TV chef Julia Child, actor Ted Danson, composer Cole Porter, comedian Chevy Chase, songwriter Harry Chapin, and numerous others. He also has a royal connection through his kinship to the late Princess Diana.
Some of the most recently added connections of famous kin for John Hinckley, Jr.
Porter Goss
1st Director of the C.I.A.
19th and last Dir. of Central Intelligence
10th cousin
via John Howland
Endicott Peabody
62nd Governor of Massachusetts
17th cousin 1 time removed
via Sir John Throckmorton
Alfred Ely Beach
Co-founder & Editor, Scientific American
7th cousin 2 times removed
via Thomas Parke
Alfred Ely Beach
Co-founder & Editor, Scientific American
6th cousin 4 times removed
via John Leonard
Alfred Ely Beach
Co-founder & Editor, Scientific American
7th cousin 2 times removed
via Thomas Wheeler
Samuel P. Colt
Founder of U.S. Rubber Co. (now Uniroyal)
7th cousin 5 times removed
via Nathaniel Foote
View entire list of famous kin for John Hinckley, Jr.
Please note: The ancestor reports on this website have been compiled from thousands of different sources, many over 100 years old. These sources are attached to each ancestor so that you can personally judge their reliability. As with any good genealogical research, if you discover a link to your own family tree, consider it a starting point for further research. It is always preferable to locate primary records where possible. FamousKin.com cannot and does not guarantee the accuracy and reliability of these sources.