When Pendleton called 'present,' two shots rang out within seconds. Hamilton fell, hit above the right hip; the ball tore through his diaphragm, liver, and lodged in his spine. But whether Hamilton fired first and deliberately missed, or Burr shot first without warning, remains genuinely contested — and the answer depends entirely on what you think of Burr.
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At 56:20 · chapter starts 56:20
At the signal, two shots fire within seconds. Burr is untouched; Hamilton collapses, hit just above his right hip. The ball ricochets off his rib, tears through his diaphragm and liver, and lodges in his spine. As Burr moves toward him, Van Ness rushes in, opens an umbrella to hide Burr from approaching oarsmen, and hustles him to the boats. Back on the ledge, Hosack finds Hamilton barely conscious — long enough to say 'this is a mortal wound, doctor' before falling insensible. On the boat back across the Hudson, Hamilton revives enough to warn Hosack: 'Take care of that pistol, it is undischarged and still cocked.' Pendleton later claimed Hamilton aimed above Burr's head and never intentionally fired; Van Ness insisted Hamilton fired first and missed. A shattered cedar branch twelve feet above Burr's head, found by Pendleton the next day, supports the deliberate-miss theory. The truth, as Dominic admits, may be unknowable. [1] — Dominic Sandbrook "When Pendleton called 'present,' two shots rang out within seconds. Hamilton fell, hit above the right hip; the ball tore through his diaph…" 56:20 [2] — Dominic Sandbrook "As Hamilton was carried back across the Hudson, he told Doctor Hosack: 'Take care of that pistol, it is undischarged and still cocked.' Thi…" 1:00:50
As Hamilton was carried back across the Hudson, he told Doctor Hosack: 'Take care of that pistol, it is undischarged and still cocked.' This moment is central to the historical debate. Hamilton either didn't realize he had accidentally fired the gun in shock — or he genuinely never pulled the trigger at all.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
When the scandal broke, Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall conducted what became known as a 'shredding party,' destroying a day's worth of documents. The full truth of Iran-Contra may never be known because of what was fed through that shredder.
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