| Gerald Ford assassination attempt in San Francisco | |
|---|---|
 Photograph taken one second after the assassination attempt. From this vantage point, Ford is standing directly behind the man wearing the spottednecktie. | |
 Interactive map of Gerald Ford assassination attempt in San Francisco | |
| Location | 37°47′18″N122°24′31″W / 37.7883°N 122.4087°W /37.7883; -122.4087 On Post Street in front ofSt. Francis Hotel inSan Francisco,California,U.S. |
| Date | September 22, 1975; 50 years ago (1975-09-22) 3:30 p.m. (PDT) |
| Target | Gerald Ford, 38thPresident of the United States |
Attack type | Attempted assassination bygunshot |
| Weapon | .38 Specialrevolver |
| Deaths | None |
| Injured | John Ludwig |
| Perpetrator | Sara Jane Moore |
| Defenders | Oliver Sipple, Timothy Hettrich,San Francisco Police Department,United States Secret Service |
InSan Francisco on September 22, 1975,Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate the 38thPresident of the United States,Gerald Ford, after he had made an address to theWorld Affairs Council.[1] Moore tried to shoot President Ford with a.38 Special revolver. Her single shot missed, and a bystander prevented another shot by grabbing her shooting arm.[2][3] Ford had survived aprevious assassination attempt 17 days earlier; after this second attempt, he wore a bulletproof trench coat while out in public. On January 15, 1976, Moore was sentenced tolife in prison for the attempt, and was released onparole on December 31, 2007.
Sara Jane Moore had been evaluated by theSecret Service earlier in 1975, but agents had concluded that she posed no danger to the president.[4] The 45-year-old was detained by police on an illegal handgun charge the day before the assassination attempt, but was released. The police confiscated her.44-caliberCharter Arms Bulldogrevolver and 113 rounds of ammunition.
On Monday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., after speaking to the World Affairs Council, Ford emerged from the Post Street (north) entrance of theSt. Francis Hotel inUnion Square, then walked toward his limousine. Before boarding the vehicle, he stopped and waved to the crowd that had gathered across the street.[5]
Sara Jane Moore was standing in the crowd about forty feet (12 m) away from Ford when she fired one shot with her.38 Special revolver. The shot missed Ford's head by five inches (13 cm) and passed through the wall above the doorway Ford had just walked out of.[6] A bystander namedOliver Sipple heard the sound of the shot and dove at Moore, grabbing her shooting arm preventing her from pulling the trigger a second time. A bullet fragment from the shot superficially wounded John Ludwig, a 42-year-old taxi driver standing inside the hotel, in the groin.[7][6][2][3] Moore had bought the gun in haste that same morning and itssights were inaccurate, which caused her to narrowly miss.[8]
San Francisco Police Capt. Timothy Hettrich grabbed Moore and wrestled the gun from her hand.[5] Many other officers immediately joined in subduing Moore. In the meantime, the president'sSecret Service team pushed Ford into his waiting limousine where the Secret Service andDonald Rumsfeld lay on top of him. The limousine raced toSan Francisco International Airport (SFO) where Ford boardedAir Force One and, after being joined by the First Lady, flew back toWashington, D.C.
Moore explained in a 2009 interview that her motive was to spark a violent revolution in order to bring change to America.[9]
Moore pleaded guilty to charges of attemptedassassination on December 12, 1975.[10] The following month, on January 15, 1976, she was sentenced tolife in prison.[11] On December 31, 2007, at the age of 77, Moore was released onparole.[12] She died on September 24, 2025.[13]
Oliver Sipple was commended at the scene by Secret Service and the San Francisco Police for his actions;[14] the media portrayed him as a national hero. Three days after the assassination attempt in San Francisco, Sipple received a letter from President Ford praising him for his heroic actions.[14]
All of the media publicity about him was not without controversy, however. Upon realizing that Sipple wasgay, the media began broadcasting this information. That became the first time that Sipple's parents and family found out that Sipple was homosexual, as he had beenhiding it from them. After learning about his sexual orientation, much of his family, including his parents,disowned him, and were subsequentlyestranged from him, but later were reconciled. Sipple died in 1989.
After President Ford was rushed to the SFO tarmac in his limousine, he quickly boardedAir Force One. Before Ford could depart on his return trip tothe nation's capital, however, the plane had to wait for his wifeBetty, theFirst Lady, who was carrying out her own schedule of events on thePeninsula.[5]
In addition to the San Francisco incident, Ford had escaped unharmed from aprevious assassination attempt inSacramento, California, which occurred 17 days earlier on September 5, 1975. In response to the two occurrences in the same month, President Ford subsequently wore abulletprooftrench coat in public, beginning in October 1975.
Ford, who had succeeded to the presidency upon the resignation ofRichard Nixon in 1974,ran for election in 1976. He lost toJimmy Carter, by 297–240 in theelectoral vote, and did not run for public office again. At age 93 in 2006, Forddied from natural causes.
.jpg)
