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Larry Speakes, who was plunged, through a tragic 1981 assassination attempt, into the brightest of national spotlights, as chief spokesman for President Ronald Reagan, died Friday in Cleveland, Miss. He was 74.

A representative of a funeral home said Mr. Speakes had Alzheimers disease.

(Harry Naltchayan/The Washington Post) - Larry Speakes, seen here in 1982, became the acting White House press secretary after the assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in March 1981.

A look at those who died last year.

When Reagan press secretary James Brady was severely wounded in the attempt on the president, Mr. Speakes was thrust into the eye of the storm. Over six years, a long tenure in his sensitive post, he was credited with 2,000 news media briefings.

Aware that a wrong word could have catastrophic consequences, he provided information on some of the most significant events of the era, including the historic meetings between Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

Mr. Speakes also commanded the podium in the West Wing amid a growing furor over administration plans to trade arms to Iran in return for support of the Nicaraguan contras.

Unlike most presidential spokesmen, Mr. Speakes was officially a deputy press secretary, in deference to Brady.

Criticism and controversy came with the job, and he received his share, during and after his tenure. On his departure, he also received a Presidential Citizens Medal from Reagan.

An uproar broke out after he had left the White House with the revelation in his memoirs that he had put words in the presidents mouth. As disclosed in Mr. Speakess memoir, a fabricated quotation was offered to the news media at the 1985 summit between Reagan and Gorbachev. It went: There is much that divides us, but I believe the world breathes easier because we are talking here together.

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Larry Speakes, former Reagan deputy press secretary, dies at 74