Sara Jane Moore, who tried to assassinate President Ford, dies
Sara Jane Moore, who attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975, has died at the age of 95. She passed away on Wednesday at a nursing home in Franklin, Tennessee, just two days after the 50th anniversary of her shooting attempt. Reporter Demetria Kalodimos, who had developed a friendship with Moore, confirmed her death and noted that Moore had been bedridden for the past 15 months following a fall.
Moore’s assassination attempt came just 17 days after another attempt on Ford’s life by Lynnette “Squeaky” Fromme in Sacramento, California, though the two incidents were unrelated. Wearing polka-dot slacks, Moore fired a .38-caliber revolver at the president as he left the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, where thousands had gathered near Union Square. The first shot missed, and a bystander-deflecting intervention by former Marine Oliver W. Sipple prevented a second shot from hitting Ford. Secret Service agents and police quickly apprehended Moore.
Though Moore had connections to a left-wing radical group, investigators found no evidence of a broader conspiracy. She had also worked as an FBI informant and had a complicated personal history marked by multiple marriages and struggles with mental illness. After being deemed legally sane, Moore pleaded guilty to attempted assassination in December 1975 and was sentenced to life in prison. She became eligible for parole at age 77 and was released on December 31, 2007, just days after Ford’s death.
During her prison years, Moore made headlines for escaping briefly in 1979 with another inmate from a minimum-security prison in West Virginia, only to be recaptured a few hours later. She was later transferred to a facility in Dublin, California. Reflecting on her actions in later interviews, Moore described acting on adrenaline and believing her act could inspire a revolutionary change in the country amid the Vietnam War era.
Born in Charleston, West Virginia, Moore served in the Women’s Army Corps and later worked as an accountant at RKO Studios in Hollywood. While living in San Francisco, she participated in civil rights and anti-war protests. She was married five times, including to Dr. Willard J. Carmel Jr. from 1969 to 1973, and after her prison release, she married Philip Chase, a clinical psychologist. She had five children and spent her later years in retirement communities in North Carolina and Tennessee.
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