Sara Jane Moore, Woman who tried to assassinate Ford Speaks Out

Sara Jane Moore, the only woman to ever fire a gun at a U.S. President when attempting to assassinate President Ford in San Francisco in 1975, came out in public this morning (Thursday, May 28/09) and apologized.

Sara Jane Moore Today Show Interview

Sara Jane Moore, now 80 years old, appeared in an interview on the Today Show earlier today and tried to explain what it has been like since she was released from prison in 2007.

Moore, who is still on parole with strict conditions regarding her movement and daily life, has to let her parole officer know where she is at all times and has to get permission to travel.

Moore is also very aware that the general public doesn’t think she should have been paroled after trying to kill a U.S. President, but says she realizes that what she did was wrong.

Sara Jane Moore: “Ask That Your Law Be Changed”

“We have a Constitution, and we have laws. Regardless of who you are, there were conditions to be met for me to be paroled, and I met those conditions. If people object to that, write your congressman and ask that your law be changed.”

Sara Jane Moore tried to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford on September 22, 1975, outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco.

Moore was about 40 feet away from President Ford when she fired a single shot at him with a.38 caliber revolver. The bullet missed the President because a bystander grabbed Moore’s arm and then pulled her to the ground, using his hand to keep the pistol from firing a second time.

Moore pleaded guilty to attempted assassination and was sentenced to life in prison. In 1979, she escaped from the Alderson Federal Prison Camp in Alderson, West Virginia where she was being held, but was recaptured only hours later. After her return, she was transferred to a more secure facility, and she served the remainder of her term at the federal women’s prison in Dublin, California.