 with some jokes that he made on his way into the operating room, reportedly, where he told the operating physician, I hope you're a Republican, and he was reported to have said to his wife, the First Lady, Nancy Reagan, Honey, I just forgot to duck. And when he came out of the hospital, and he was a man of advanced age as well at that time, Reagan's posture and response to this altogether seemed so heroic, so stoic, so manful, and commendable and admirable, that it helped his legislative program in the Congress that year.