Assassin Who Fired at President Gerald Ford in 1975 Dies at 95

Sara Jane Moore, the woman who tried to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco in 1975, has died at the age of 95. Moore passed away on September 24, 2025, at a nursing facility in Franklin, Tennessee, marking the end of a controversial chapter in American history.

On September 22, 1975, Moore stood approximately 40 feet away from President Ford as he emerged from a speech to the World Affairs Council. Armed with a .38 caliber revolver she purchased hastily that day, she fired two shots. The first narrowly missed the president’s head, striking a wall above the hotel doorway. Before she could fire a second shot, Oliver Sipple, a bystander and former Marine, lunged to grab her arm, causing the bullet to ricochet and wound a nearby taxi driver, who survived his injury.

Despite being evaluated earlier that year by the Secret Service and having been arrested just a day before for an illegal handgun charge, Moore was released. She pleaded guilty to attempted assassination and was sentenced to life imprisonment, ultimately serving 32 years before being granted parole in 2007.

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Moore later revealed that her motivation was to incite a violent revolution to change the United States. Her assassination attempt followed closely after another attack on Ford by Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, an associate of cult leader Charles Manson, making 1975 a tense and unsettling year for presidential security.

Her death sheds light on an era marked by political and social upheaval. President Ford survived both assassination attempts and continued his public service. Sara Jane Moore’s life remains a stark reminder of the volatility of that period and the ever-present need for vigilance in protecting public figures.