In 1983 Barrett published '' Gambling With History : Reagan in the White House '' , based on " unusual access to internal deliberations " for a period of two years . Revelations included Richard Darman 's successful attempt to stall the invocation of Section 4 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution when President Reagan was receiving treatment following the 1981 assassination attempt on him . The book also revealed what became known as " Debategate " - the theft of papers by the Reagan campaign from the Carter campaign during the 1980 presidential election
1981 assassination attempt on him
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan
Laurence I. Barrett