In San Francisco on September 22, 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to assassinate the 38th President of the United States, Gerald Ford, after he had made an address to the World Affairs Council.

On Monday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., after speaking to the World Affairs Council, Ford emerged from the Post Street (north) entrance of the St. Francis Hotel in Union Square, then walked toward his limousine.

[6] A bystander named Oliver Sipple heard the sound of the first shot and dove at Moore, grabbing her shooting arm before she pulled the trigger a second time.

The limousine raced to San Francisco International Airport (SFO) where Ford boarded Air Force One and, after being joined by the First Lady, flew back to Washington, D.C. Moore explained in a 2009 interview that her motive was to spark a violent revolution in order to bring change to America.

[11] Oliver Sipple was commended at the scene by Secret Service and the San Francisco Police for his actions;[12] the media portrayed him as a national hero.

Before Ford could depart on his return trip to the nation's capital, however, the plane had to wait for his wife Betty, the First Lady, who was carrying out her own schedule of events on the Peninsula.

[5] In addition to the San Francisco incident, Ford had escaped unharmed from a previous assassination attempt in Sacramento, California, which occurred 17 days earlier on September 5, 1975.