Back in 1975, a radical leftist from San Francisco named Sara Jane Moore tried to shoot Republican President Gerald Ford. Luckily, she missed and was caught. She was tried, convicted and sent to prison for life.
Eventually, many years later, she was freed on parole, but no one ever forgot who she was or what she tried to do.
She died this week at age 95.
A mother of four who lived on the fringes of radical movements, Sara Jane Moore fired shots at President Ford as he was leaving a hotel in San Francisco in 1975. She later said she had hoped to start a revolution. https://t.co/s9g4Pax8QH
— NYT Obituaries (@NYTObits) September 26, 2025
The New York Times reports:
Sara Jane Moore, Would-Be Assassin of President Ford, Dies at 95
Sara Jane Moore, the middle-aged radical and mother of four who fired two errant shots at President Gerald R. Ford outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on Sept. 22, 1975, with a vague notion of igniting a leftist revolution in America, died on Wednesday at a nursing home in Franklin, Tenn. She was 95.
Demetria Kalodimos, a reporter for The Nashville Banner who had developed a friendship with Ms. Moore, confirmed the death, which was first reported by The Banner.
Ms. Moore’s attempt to kill Mr. Ford occurred only 17 days after another would-be assassin, Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme, a follower of the cult leader Charles Manson, pointed a gun at the president in a crowd at Sacramento but was seized before she could fire.
In San Francisco, about 3,000 people were gathered near Union Square for a glimpse of the president as he left the St. Francis Hotel. Ms. Moore, 45, who had been questioned by Secret Service agents the day before but then released, was standing across the street, 40 to 50 feet away from the commander in chief. She drew a chrome-plated .38-caliber revolver and fired at the president. The shot missed, and she raised the gun for a second shot.
Oliver W. Sipple, a former Marine, deflected the gun just as she fired. The bullet narrowly missed the president, ricocheted off a wall and grazed a bystander. Pandemonium erupted as Mr. Ford, unhurt, was hustled into a limousine by Secret Service agents and sped away. Mr. Sipple and two police officers seized Ms. Moore.
Ten years ago, CNN interviewed Sara Jane Moore and host Alisyn Camerota asked her why she did it. Her answers are eerily similar to what is happening in the country today. Watch:
In many ways, it feels as though we are living through a repeat of history.