James Brady

James Brady is one of those figures whose story hits you harder the more you think about it. He was a sharp, well-liked White House Press Secretary — the kind of guy who could work a briefing room with real wit — and then on March 30, 1981, a bullet meant for Reagan changed everything. He survived, but lived the rest of his life with a severe brain injury that left him partially paralyzed. What he did next is the part that really gets me: instead of retreating, he and his wife Sarah turned their pain into the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, signed into law in 1993. The Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996 felt genuinely earned. He passed in 2014, and his death was ruled a homicide — a final, quiet punctuation mark on a life permanently altered by gun violence. A reminder that legacy is often built from the wreckage of what you never chose.

Name (English)

James Brady

Name (Japanese)

ジェイムズ・ブレイディ

Reading

じぇいむず・ぶれいでぃ

Born

August 29, 1940 – August 3, 2014

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Virgo / Dragon

Origin

Centralia, Illinois, United States

Occupation

politician / press agent / political scientist

University

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Awards & achievements

• 1996 Presidential Medal of Freedom
• 1983 Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
• 1989 Presidential Citizens Medal

Motto

Private

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%82%A7%E3%82%A4%E3%83%A0%E3%82%BA%E3%83%BB%E3%83%96%E3%83%AC%E3%82%A4%E3%83%87%E3%82%A3

Tags

• Illinois
• politician
• press agent
• political scientist

Last updated

2026-06-02

Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.