June 18, 2013

Crime History: Augusta Golf Club gate-crasher holds White House staffers hostage

BY: SCOTT MCCABE OCTOBER 21, 2012 | 8:00 PM
Leave a comment

On this day, Oct. 22, in 1983, an armed man crashed a truck through the front gates at the Augusta National Golf Course in Georgia, held two White House staffers hostage and demanded to speak with President Reagan, who was playing golf there at the time.

Charles R. Harris, 45, walked into the pro shop and fired a shot into the floor, demanding to speak to the president about American workers losing their jobs to foreigners.

Reagan, who was on the 16th hole with Secretary of State George Schultz, called the pro shop several times -- but Harris hung up.

Harris released his hostages one by one, then surrendered several hours later. He was charged with threatening the president and kidnapping. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He died in 2007.

- Scott McCabe

View article comments Leave a comment

More from washingtonexaminer.com

From the Weekly Standard

  • Frack to the Future

    Williston, N.D.

    Read More...
  • Downsize Ike

    The beleaguered Eisenhower Memorial Commission holds its next public gathering later this month, and before its members duck-walk into the hearing room, huddled in a hoplite phalanx against a...

    Read More...
  • The Lesson of Kermit Gosnell

    What was the lesson of the Kermit Gosnell trial? Since the Philadelphia doctor was convicted last month of murdering three born-alive infants, two competing viewpoints have emerged.

    Read More...