What is it about The Catcher in the Rye that prompted two of the world’s most infamous assassination attempts? In Season 4 of The Thread we saw how the acquittal of President Ronald Reagan’s attempted assassin John Hinckley Jr. on grounds of insanity helped change the landscape of American criminal law. But Hinckley’s story also connects with Season 1 of The Thread and another early 1980s murder by a deranged 25-year-old.