On 12 December 2024, Sara Jane Moore became the second woman to try to kill Gerald Ford in the span of just 17 days — and she very nearly succeeded.
Janet Fries / Getty ImagesSara Jane Moore in prison house months after her attempted character assassination of President Gerald Ford .
On Sept. 5 , 1975 , President Gerald Ford narrowly take to the woods an blackwash attempt . That solar day , Lynette “ Squeaky ” Fromme walk up to the prexy in Sacramento and point a .45 - caliber pistol at him , only for a Secret Service agent to throw her to the ground , Frommewailed , “ It did n’t go off . Can you believe it ? It did n’t go off . ”
But a mere 17 days subsequently , on September 22 , 1975 , another woman name Sara Jane Moore would also taste to assassinate Ford . And this fourth dimension , the shooter ’s hitman actually survive off .
Janet Fries/Getty ImagesSara Jane Moore in prison months after her attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford.
However , that day at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco , it was just a few tiny twists of fate that narrowly kept Sara Jane Moore from succeed in killing Gerald Ford .
Sara Jane Moore’s Attempt On Gerald Ford’s Life
When President Ford walk out of the St. Francis Hotel , Sara Jane Moore aimed at him from about 40 foot away . The moment she burn , a bystander in the crew seize the gun . The smoke fly full of its fair game .
National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Ford flourish to the crew outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco , seconds before an assassination attack .
As the gunshot ricocheted off the paries behind him , Ford resile . His Secret Service agents hauled the president into the limo and sped off . The 2nd character assassination attempt in one month did not belt down the president – but his agent nearly did by lying on top of Ford in the limousine .
National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Ford waved to the crowd outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, seconds before an assassination attempt.
“ I ’m die to be shell to last , ” Ford gasped from the limo story . “ It ’s an armor - plated railway car . Get off of me . ”
National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Ford reacts the moment after Sara Jane Moore shot at him .
While Ford sped forth to safety , the prospect at the St. Francis hotel devolved into chaos . The fastball , which bounced off a wall , hit a cab driver . And the man next to Sara Jane Moore , made sure police force arrested the would - be assassinator . His name wasOliver Sipple , a former Marine disabled in Vietnam .
National Archives and Records AdministrationPresident Ford reacts the moment after Sara Jane Moore shot at him.
Police interrogated Moore to discover her theme , but she was frustratingly opaque . Shetoldpolice , “ If I had had my .44 with me I would have catch him . ”
Gerald R. Ford LibraryThe scene one second after Sara Jane Moore dismiss a revolver at the chair .
FBI agent Richard Vitamanti accord with Moore ’s assessment : “ She would have had at least a head shaft , peradventure even better , because she had been practicing … [ her ] shot was off about six inches . ”
Gerald R. Ford LibraryThe scene one second after Sara Jane Moore fired a revolver at the president.
Moore’s Life Before The Assassination Attempt
“ I never set out a satisfactory answer from her as to why she did it , ” said Sara Jane Moore ’s public protector , James Hewitt .
Moore , a 45 - year - old female parent and accountant , certainly did n’t fit the visibility of an assassin . She had beenmarriedfive times , including to a physician and a Hollywood administrator . And she ’d volunteer for feed - the - hungry programme .
As a child grow up in West Virginia , Moore wanted to quest for an acting calling . But by the 1970s , she vanish in with a different bunch . Moore began expend time with collectivist . But she also became an FBI informant .
Bettmann/Getty ImagesAuthorities swarmed on Moore after the shooting and physically carried her away. In this photograph, Moore’s feet appear on the left.
The FBI told Moore to infiltrate radical administration . Then , four calendar month before the shot , the FBI edit off its relationship with Moore — and she became convinced that the feds wanted her drained .
“ I was going to go down anyway , ” Moore articulate in a 1982 consultation . “ If the government was die to kill me , I was going to make some form of argument . ”
By 2007 , Moore had a different position on her action . “ I was functioning , I think , strictly on epinephrine and not thinking clear . I have often enounce that I had put blinders on and I was only listen to what I wanted to hear , ” she explained during an audience .
Bettman/Getty ImagesSara Jane Moore rides in a car on her way to court in Oct. 1975.
The Trial Of The Woman Who Tried To Kill President Ford
“ Am I sorry I assay ? Yes and no , ” Sara Jane Moore said during her sentencing hearing . “ Yes , because it accomplished little except to befuddle forth the rest of my life sentence . And , no , I ’m not sorry I tried … because at the time it seemed a correct expression of my anger . ”
When she fire at Ford , Moore believed the government planned to execute collectivist . in the beginning the same daytime as the shot , police had confabulate Moore . That aurora , she also inexplicablytried to reachFord ’s Secret Service agent by phone five times .
constabulary had showed up to seize Moore ’s .44 - caliber pistol and charge her for take a hidden artillery . But the authorities released Moore early enough for her to go buy another gun , then obliterate in the crowd outside the hotel .
During her trial , Moore pleaded guilty , against the advice of her public withstander . She was ultimately sentenced to life in prison .
From prison , Moore claimed that a governance agent accompany her to the grease-gun principal to buy the six-shooter she used to buck at Ford . Moore also claimed the San Francisco Police Department had been blackmail her .
DidSqueaky Fromme ’s assassination attemptinspire Moore ? From prison house , Moore announce that after Fromme ’s attempt , she almost cancel her own plans . Moore assume security would be too smashed around Ford . But Moore was ill-timed – she was able to get close enough to nearly vote down the president .
Sara Jane Moore’s Motives
Sara Jane Moore and Squeaky Fromme spent year at the same West Virginia prison house facility . After serve 32 years of a life sentence , Moore went up for parole . In 2007 , authorities released Moore from prison . Fromme got out two years later . President Ford , however , die a year before Moore ’s outlet .
Bettman / Getty ImagesSara Jane Moore rides in a automobile on her elbow room to court in Oct. 1975 .
After her countersign , Moore explained her motives on theTodayshow . “ It was a prison term that people do n’t remember . You have it away we had a state of war , ” Moore said , “ the Vietnam War , you became , I became , immersed in it . ”
“ We were saying the body politic needed to interchange , ” Sara Jane Moore explained . “ The only way it was going to change was a violent revolution . I genuinely thought that [ shooting Ford ] might trigger that new gyration in this country . ”
irrespective of her motive , the attempted assassination sent Moore to prison for over three ten . And had Sara Jane Moore not omit her target by simple inches , she would have go down in account as the first and only woman to assassinate the president in the account of the United States .
After learning about Sara Jane Moore and her assay assassination of Gerald Ford , register aboutCharles Guiteau , the man who killed President James Garfield . Then , see some of the most powerfulphotos from the Kennedy assassination .
