THE DAY THE U.S. STOOD STILL.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

First they said someone tried to shoot the president but missed him. Then they said the president had been wounded, but only slightly.

In reality, on March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan came very close to dying, and his Cabinet members and top aides were locked in a power struggle that effectively created a power vacuum and brought the United States near the brink of a nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union.

Those events are dramatized for the first time in ``The Day Reagan Was Shot,'' premiering at 9 p.m. Sunday on Showtime, with Richard Crenna in the title role.

Points of view

In fact, it is the first complete account of all angles of the 24-hour period, according to Cyrus Nowrasteh, the Camarillo-based writer-director. He latched onto the story idea after reading one book about it and became even more intrigued by each subsequent account, many of which had ``Rashomon''-like conflicting recollections of the events and conversations.

He then turned to the Reagan Library in Simi Valley and other resources for documents, such as Secret Service agents' debriefings that had been opened under earlier Freedom of Information Act requests.

Tidbits about the shooting and its aftermath emerged over the years, but no one apparently attempted to compile all the aspects of that historic day, encompassing the doctors' heroics at George Washington University Hospital and the contentious actions of many in the administration, most notably Secretary of State Alexander Haig, who wrongly declared on national television the he was ``in control here.'' (House Speaker Tip O'Neill would have been next in line after the traveling Vice President George Bush, had his services been needed.)

``I was reading a book on Reagan that seemed to indicate that there was a lot more that went down that day than people were aware of,'' Nowrasteh said. ``I realized there was a whole slew of information, but nobody had put it all together.''

Had it been a movie ...

Crenna noted there are many points in the movie that, had it been a work of complete fiction, he would have questioned as incredulous: gunman John Hinckley shaking hands with Reagan as he enters that Washington hotel, a short time before he shoots the exiting president; a Defense Department simulation that day of incoming missiles that prompts Haig to suspect a Soviet attack and brace for retaliation; the inability to locate the president's nuclear code briefcase, or ``football''; and the appearance in the tightly secured hospital of a stranger at Reagan's bedside.

There were bitter arguments between the California ``troika'' at the hospital with Reagan - chief of staff James Baker, chief counsel Ed Meese and deputy chief of staff Michael Deaver - and Haig over who was holding the White House reins while Reagan was in surgery and Vice President George Bush was airborne over Texas and out of touch. When Bush finally returned to Washington, he was most concerned with the public and world perception of an incapacitated president, so he refused to seek presidential powers from Congress, leaving the nation in the hands of a gravely ill man, first under general anesthesia and then in a stupor caused by pain medication.

``The tag line of the show is some quote by Haig that says if people really knew what happened that day they'd jump out of their skins, and that's true,'' said Richard Dreyfuss, who plays Haig. ``We assume that the people who are running things know what they're doing up to a point. And to find out how ghastly a mistake that is, it can be sobering.''

Devil in the details

Crenna said Nowrasteh was meticulous in his research, piecing together various accounts and pinning down the players' points of view to make an educated guess at their choice of words in conversation.

``(Defense Secretary Casper) Weinberger and Haig have completely different interpretations of what was going on,'' said Nowrasteh, explaining that he sought corroboration in other books. ``I made a conscious effort not to contact any members of the administration because I didn't want them to stymie my efforts.''

National Security Adviser Richard Allen, one of a dozen or so decision makers who gathered in the White House Situation Room that day, apparently was disturbed about the TV film, possibly more so because ``JFK'' director Oliver Stone is one of its executive producers.

On March 30, the 20th anniversary of the shooting, Allen announced on CNN that he had tape-recorded five hours of the proceedings in the ``Sit Room'' and was releasing excerpts, apparently trying to debunk the still unfilmed movie. The evidence wound up substantiating Nowrasteh's script and brought other previously unpublished details to light, such as a discussion about calling up the ``Kneecap Bird,'' the plane from which the executive branch would operate during a nuclear attack.

Taking charge

Haig's very public mistake about government succession led to his departure from public life a year later. Dreyfuss said Haig was not the only one to blame for the day's calamity.

``Everyone's got blood on their hands,'' he said. ``This was a story of this particularly interesting fall from grace. Everyone in these rooms had such falls. Everyone in these rooms betrayed their friends, climbed over the backs of others, distorted, cheated, stole. And tried to do noble things.''

Regardless of the bungling and power grabs, the movie is an endearing portrait of the president himself.

Nowrasteh points to Reagan's insistence on walking into the hospital unassisted as a sign that, even as he was struggling for breath, he understood the importance of his office.

``As someone who didn't like Ronald Reagan's policies, I cannot help but admire him through this event,'' Dreyfuss said. ``You cannot help but think well of his grace under pressure, his humor, his wit, his courage.''

``THE DAY REAGAN WAS SHOT''

What: Movie about 1981 assassination attempt and the behind-the-scenes power struggle among Al Haig and others.

The stars: Richard Dreyfuss, Richard Crenna, Holland Taylor, Colm Feore.

Where: Showtime.

When: 9 p.m. Sunday.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) First lady Nancy Reagan (Holland Taylor) comforts her husband, President Ronald Reagan (Richard Crenna), after the shooting that almost killed him, in ``The Day Reagan Was Shot.''

(2) John Hinckley (Christian Lloyd) draws down on the president in Sunday's Showtime movie.