Sarah Brady | |
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 Brady in 1984 | |
| Born | Sarah Jane Kemp February 6, 1942 |
| Died | April 3, 2015 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Gun control advocate |
| Years active | 1986–2015 |
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Sarah Jane Brady (née Kemp; February 6, 1942 – April 3, 2015) was a prominent advocate for gun control in the United States. Her husband, James Brady, was press secretary to U.S. president Ronald Reagan and was left permanently disabled as a result of an assassination attempt on Reagan.
She was born Sarah Jane Kemp in Kirksville, Missouri [1] to L. Stanley Kemp, a high school teacher and later FBI agent, and Frances (née Stufflebean) Kemp, a former teacher and homemaker. She had a younger brother, Bill. [2] She was raised in Alexandria, Virginia, [3] where she graduated from Francis C. Hammond High School in 1959. [1]
She graduated from the College of William & Mary in 1964. From 1964 to 1968 she was a public school teacher in Virginia. [3] She married James Brady in Alexandria on July 21, 1973. [4] On December 29, 1978, their only child, James "Scott" Brady Jr., was born. [5]
From 1968 to 1970 she worked as assistant to the campaign director for the National Republican Congressional Committee. She then worked as an administrative aide, first for Mike McKevitt (R-CO) and then for Joseph J. Maraziti (R-NJ). From 1974 to 1978, she worked as director of administration and coordinator of field services for the Republican National Committee. [3]
Her husband sustained a permanently disabling head wound during the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, which occurred on March 30, 1981. [6] James Brady remained as Press Secretary for the remainder of Reagan's administration, primarily in a titular role. [7]
Alongside her husband, Sarah Brady became "one of the nation's leading crusaders for gun control". [8] They later became active in the lobbying organization Handgun Control, Inc. that would eventually be renamed the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. [9] She was chairwoman of the Brady Campaign from 2000 until her death in 2015. [10]
In 1994, she and her husband received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards. [11] In 1994, she and her husband received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement. [12]
Sarah Brady died at the age of 73 on April 3, 2015, in Alexandria, Virginia, from pneumonia. [13] Her husband James had died at the same age in the previous year, on August 4, 2014. [14]
| External videos | |
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 Booknotes interview with Brady on A Good Fight, May 5, 2002., C-SPAN |
In 2002, Sarah Brady published her autobiography, A Good Fight. [15] According to Library Journal, it is more about her personal battles and her determination and courage than about gun control. [16]
In April 2002, Court TV announced a planned television movie adaptation of the book, to be produced in conjunction with Hearst Entertainment. [17] At the book's launch, Bill Clinton praised her for having "given the gift of life to countless thousands and thousands of Americans". [18]
The book gives an "intimate" look at her public and personal life, including a "detailed, suspenseful account" of the efforts to pass the Brady Bill, according to Publishers Weekly , which suggested that "fans of [Katharine] Graham's Personal History may enjoy this story of a determined woman in a male-dominated Washington." [19]
Kirkus Reviews called it "spirited," portraying Brady as a "scrapper" who never gives up, despite her husband's injury, her son's medical problems, and her own battle with smoking and lung cancer. [20]
Nancy Reagan was an American film actress who was the first lady of the United States from 1981 to 1989, as the second wife of President Ronald Reagan, the 40th president of the United States.
Theodore Bevry Olson is an American lawyer who served as the 42nd solicitor general of the United States from 2001 until 2004. Previously, Olson served as the United States Assistant Attorney General of the Office of Legal Counsel (1981–1984) under President Ronald Reagan. He remains a practicing attorney at the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
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James Scott Brady was an American public official who served as assistant to the U.S. president and the 17th White House Press Secretary, serving under President Ronald Reagan. In 1981, John Hinckley Jr. shot and wounded Brady during Hinckley’s attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, which occurred two months and ten days after Reagan's inauguration.
The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, often referred to as the Brady Act, the Brady Bill or the Brady Handgun Bill, is an Act of the United States Congress that mandated federal background checks on firearm purchasers in the United States. It also imposed a five-day waiting period on purchases until the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) was implemented in 1998. Introduced by U.S. representative Chuck Schumer of New York, the Brady Act was a landmark legislative enactment during the Clinton administration. The act was appended to the end of Section 922 of title 18, United States Code. The intention of the act was to prevent persons with previous serious convictions from purchasing firearms.
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On March 30, 1981, Ronald Reagan, the president of the United States, was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as Reagan was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton hotel. Hinckley believed the attack would impress the actress Jodie Foster, with whom he had developed an erotomanic obsession after viewing her in the 1976 film Taxi Driver.
Gabrielle Dee Giffords is an American retired politician and gun control activist. She served as a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Arizona's 8th congressional district from January 2007 until January 2012, when she resigned because of a severe brain injury suffered during an assassination attempt. A member of the Democratic Party, she was the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to the U.S. Congress.
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Without Warning: The James Brady Story is a 1991 American television film directed by Michael Toshiyuki Uno and starring Beau Bridges as James Brady, the White House Press Secretary who was shot during the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. The film is based on Mollie Dickenson's 1987 biography about Brady titled Thumbs Up.
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