Sarah Jane Moore
Call her a copy cat. Just 17 days after Squeaky Fromme attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford, Sarah Jane Moore gave it a go. On September 22, 1975, in a crowd across the street from San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel, Moore fired a .38 caliber revolver at the president's head. She missed by a mere six inches. At her sentencing she said, "Am I sorry I tried? Yes and no. Yes, because it accomplished little except to throw away the rest of my life. And, no, I'm not sorry I tried, because at the time it seemed like a correct expression of my anger."
Moore, a suburban mom turned radical revolutionary, pled guilty to attempted assassination and was sentenced to life in prison. On December 31, 2007, after serving 32 years in prison, she was released under a federal law that makes parole mandatory for inmates who have served at least 30 years of a life sentence without getting into trouble. After being released from prison, she said, "I definitely think that it was wrong. I think I was misled. I think I was mistaken. I think I made a serious error." Moore then added, "I think if I hadn't done it someone else would have."