The Brazilian photographer was a few steps away from the president killed in the USA in 1981

The attack that injured Donald Trump in Pennsylvania is reminiscent of other bloody events involving American politicians in front of the cameras. Being an eyewitness to a historic event is a privilege for a journalist.

Minas Gerais Sebastião Salgado was in the right place, at the right time: Washington, March 30, 1981, 2:25 p.m. Camera at the ready, the photographer captured the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan, who had occupied the White House for only two months.

Employee of the Magnum agency, the Brazilian took photos for an article on the 100 days of government. At 37, he immortalized the moment when John Hinckley Jr. shot the Republican president six times. One of the bullets ricocheted off the body of a car and hit the politician in the chest, who underwent surgery and survived.

The troubled teen wanted to attract the attention of actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an obsession since seeing her in ‘Taxi Driver.’ In the film, she played a 12-year-old prostitute protected by a driver who assaulted a U.S. presidential candidate.

The photos taken by Sebastião Salgado were sold to newspapers and magazines in the four corners of the planet. With the money he made his first trip to Africa to begin the project that made him famous and recognized: recording isolated peoples and the beauty of wild nature. Today, at 80 years old, he is an esteemed environmental activist.

Source: Terra