Posted on 09/24/2025 5:30:26 PM PDT by Borges
Sara Jane Moore, the would-be assassin of President Gerald Ford, died Wednesday at a nursing facility in Franklin. She was 95.
Moore’s death came two days after the 50th anniversary of her attempt to kill Ford outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco in 1975. Her actions followed Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme’s attempt to assassinate Ford just 17 days earlier in Sacramento. The two events were unconnected.
Moore was sentenced to life in prison. She attempted to escape in 1979, but was captured after a few hours. She was released on parole in 2007.
In 2022, she moved to Bellevue and then, after a fall, spent her remaining years in rehabilitation facilities in Williamson County. She was married five times and had four children.
In a 2009 interview, Moore said her aim back in the ’70s was to overthrow the government.
“It was a time that people don’t remember. You know we had a war … the Vietnam War, you became, I became immersed in it. We were saying the country needed to change,” she said on NBC’s Today show. “The only way it was going to change was a violent revolution. I genuinely thought that [shooting Ford] might trigger that new revolution in this country.”
In 2024, she discussed the assassination attempt on Ford with the Banner while watching coverage of an attempt on then-candidate Donald Trump’s life.
“When you psych yourself up to do something like that … it’s sort of like being in a play,” Moore said when describing her lack of fear at trying to kill Ford. “You know, you rehearse and rehearse and then when the time comes, you just do it.”
Unlike Fromme, a member of the Manson family cult, Moore had been radicalized by the revolutionary politics of the day and the Patricia Hearst kidnapping by the Symbionese Liberation Army. She was arrested by police on a gun charge the day before her attempt, and booked for having a .44 caliber handgun and 113 rounds of ammunition. The gun was confiscated, a fact which proved crucial the next day as authorities said the sight on the .38 caliber handgun she fired at Ford was faulty. She fired one shot at Ford before being tackled by Oliver Sipple, a former Marine.
My dad was born in 1932. The last surviving Civil War general, Adelbert Ames died in 1933. I know that’s way off topic for the thread, but that little piece of trivia always reminds me that objects in the rear view mirror truly are closer than they appear.
“””””that little piece of trivia always reminds me that objects in the rear view mirror truly are closer than they appear.””””
I like that, when George Burns was known by everyone and had just died at age 100, I would mention to people that Christopher Columbus was only five George Burns ago.
“I would mention to people that Christopher Columbus was only five George Burns ago.”
President Tyler was born when President Washington was still alive. Tyler’s grandson just died this year.
Mom born in 1920 in NY. Dad in 1917, also NY. It amazes me to think that it was quite possible they met or saw people who had seen Lincoln in the flesh.
the article contained information that she “attempted to escape and was apprehended a few hours later.” She didn’t attempt to escape. She did escape and was arrested a few hours later.
Think of how many of us knew people from the 1800s, just about any of us born before 1980.
Gerald Ford died in Dec 2006.
The democrats released her 1 year later.
So she’s no longer a threat.
Sipple sank into deep depression and died in his 40’s alone from alcohol abuse. He had been dead for days when his body was finally discovered sitting in an armchair in his apartment. Milk said that it was too good of an opportunity to show a gay man as a hero. Sipple did not want to be outed. Milk threw him under the bus and ruined his life.
Because of the media firestorm, all Sipple got from Ford for saving his life was a perfunctory and brief “thank you” letter. Milk was hoping for an Oval office visit or a Rose Garden award ceremony. Milk was an ass for what he did to Sipple. He ruined his life for NOTHING.
Tragic.
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