The Strange and Unmotivated Assassination Attempts on President Gerald Ford in 1975

On September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of the Manson Family cult, stood within feet of President Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California. She pointed a pistol at him and attempted to fire, but the weapon failed to discharge. Less than three weeks later, in San Francisco, another woman—Sara Jane Moore, an accountant—managed to fire her weapon at Ford but missed before a bystander tackled her.

These two assassination attempts on Ford, one of America’s least controversial presidents, remain perplexing. Neither Fromme nor Moore harbored strong personal animosity toward Ford. According to Fromme’s biographer, her motives were entirely unrelated to Ford himself. "She had no personal feelings about [Ford] one way or another… She felt he was destroying the redwoods," the biographer stated.

Moore’s motivations were similarly ambiguous, though tinged with political radicalism. The Washington Post described her as a "suburban Republican matron," an FBI informant, and someone "enthralled" by San Francisco’s "radical activists and their Marxist rhetoric." At her sentencing hearing, Moore stated,

"I finally understood and joined those who have only destruction and violence for a means of making change… and came to understand that violence can sometimes be constructive."

Ford’s presidency began under unusual circumstances. He was appointed vice president by Richard Nixon in December 1973 after Spiro Agnew resigned amid corruption charges. Ford assumed the presidency in August 1974 following Nixon’s resignation and immediately granted Nixon a "full, free, and absolute pardon… for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed."

Despite Nixon’s unpopularity, Ford faced criticism for the pardon, yet neither of his would-be assassins expressed strong personal opposition to him. Historian Kevin Starr described the 1970s as "the goofiest decade of the century for California… in terms of its sheer ominous weirdness."

These assassination attempts, like the recent alleged attack by Cole Tomas Allen at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, defy simple explanations. Allen’s biography and manifesto offer some insight into his actions, but they fail to provide a clear or satisfying rationale for the seemingly senseless violence.

The twin attempts on Ford’s life half a century ago suggest that history—and the people who shape it—often resist neat narratives. When confronted with inexplicable acts, society seeks meaning, but sometimes, the answers remain elusive.