Sara Jane Moore, would-be assassin of President Gerald Ford, dead at 95

Sara Jane Moore, known for her attempt to assassinate President Gerald Ford in 1975, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 95, according to reports.

Moore died in a nursing home in Franklin, Tennessee, as reported by the Nashville Banner. She relocated to Tennessee in 2022 following her release from prison in 2007.

On September 22, 1975, the 45-year-old native of West Virginia attempted to shoot Ford twice outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, as outlined by The New York Times.

Moore’s first shot, fired with a .38 caliber pistol, missed Ford by mere inches, and her second attempt was thwarted when Marine Oliver Sipple tackled her. The ricochet of the second shot injured a nearby cab driver, but Ford remained unharmed.

“If I had had my .44, I would have caught him,” Moore reportedly told San Francisco police after her arrest, according to the Times.

Just two weeks after her arrest, Moore disclosed to The New York Times that she had been an FBI informant. She had reported on the activities of various leftist groups where she volunteered, including “People-In-Need”, a food distribution initiative aimed at securing the release of kidnapped heiress Patricia Hearst.

Moore stated that in 1974, she was exposed to leftist ideology through FBI agents aiming to help her infiltrate those circles, according to the Times.

The FBI confirmed through the Times that Moore was indeed an informant.

This assassination attempt occurred just 17 days after Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a member of the notorious Manson family, had similarly tried to kill Ford in Sacramento, California, although she did not fire her weapon.

In a 2015 interview with CNN, Moore stated that the idea of assassinating Ford gained traction because “everybody was talking about it.”

Moore believed there would be a revolution triggered by the assassination of Ford, who was the only modern U.S. president not elected by popular vote, she explained in her interview with CNN.

She also dismissed claims that her lengthy imprisonment had changed her mindset, insisting she has “always been a good citizen.”

In revealing footage from the Banner, Moore reflects on her assassination attempt while viewing the live coverage of an attempted attack on then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.

“It’s been so long ago, and I’ve consciously avoided thinking about it,” Moore said from her hospital bed. “It occurred, so it occurred.”

“And I moved on with my life after that. It cost me a little bit—well, a lot. You know, I spent 34 years in prison,” she lamented.