Introducing: Rip Current

California, September 1975. Within a span of 17 days and less than 90 miles, two women, working separately, tried to assassinate the president of the United States, Gerald R. Ford. These are the only two times we know of that a woman has tried to assassinate an American president. 

The first, Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, was already infamous as a prominent follower of cult leader Charles Manson.

The second, Sara Jane Moore, was a 45 year-old housewife who infiltrated San Francisco's violent radical underground  working undercover for the FBI.

The story of one strange and violent Summer, this season on RIP CURRENT.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
This summer, a lone gunman on a rooftop reminded us
that American presidents have long been the targets of assassins.
Nearly fifty years ago, President Gerald Ford faced two attempts
on his life in less than three weeks. September fifth,
nineteen seventy five, Sacramento, California, in a crowd outside the

(00:26):
Capitol Building, a woman pulls a gun on President Ford.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
President Gerald R. Ford came stunningly close to being the
victim of an assassin.

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Today, a woman dressed in a long red skirt pointed
a forty five caliber pistol at the President.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
And I saw a woman start to go down and
her arm go back, and I saw the gun. September
twenty second, San Francisco, on the steps of the Saint
Francis Hotel, another woman tries to kill the president.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
A woman fired a shot at President Ford in San
Francisco this afternoon. She was right at the front of
the robe and forty feet away.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
When he walked out.

Speaker 1 (01:04):
President waved of the crowds and they had cheered him,
and that's when it happened. I yelled the she's got
a gun. In two hundred and fifty years of US history.
These are the only two times we know of that
a woman has tried to assassinate a sitting president.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
The two events were separated by seventeen days, in less
than ninety miles, and the two assassins had never met.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
One was the protege of infamous cult leader Charles Manson.
She is twenty six year old Lynette Alice from nickname Squeaky.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
I always felt like Glynnette was kind of his right
hand woman, all her good curson, a very good person.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
The other a middle aged housewife, an aspiring radical working
undercover for the FBI in the violent Revolutionary Underground, identified
by police Sarah Jane.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Because she didn't look like a radical, she could enter
into these areas that other people couldn't.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
A spy. Basically, I was the person in the intent
was exactly as I stated in court, to wilfully and
know any assassinate Gerald R. Four, the President of the
United States.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
This season on the podcast Rip Current, we ask why
these women. She was a gentle quiet I thought, he's
loving girl. Why did they want to kill President Ford?

Speaker 1 (02:33):
Being the appointee of President Nixon.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
It's understandable to me that in their minds he should
also be the object of their hatred, and why this time,
this place. One does not have to condone everything in
hate Ashbury to know that it exists. Back then, there
were lots of communes, There were lots of guru varieties.
Manson told his followers that this would be a blood

(02:56):
bath in the streets of every American city. What starts
as a hippie love called transmographied into a violent criminal enterprise.
Five persons, including actress Sharon tape Or found dead. And
realize that we're dealing with very violent underground groups. Our
corporate enemies of the people will be shot on at
any time and at any play. The goals were anarchy,

(03:20):
a lot of anarchy. The revolutionary groups would get their
power the bloodiest and most massive gun battle in the
history of Los Angeles.

Speaker 1 (03:27):
Random violence, political violence.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
There was just no let up as to the fasts insect,
the praise U find the life of the people.

Speaker 1 (03:36):
These people aren't just a bunch of nuts. They're perfectly
willing to die for what they're doing. Someplace else that
would have been like a big deal, but not in California.
The story of one strange and violent summer this season
on Rip Current.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Listen to RIP Current September fifth, on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen into your favorite shows.