On September 5, 1975, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, a member of the Manson Family cult, attempted to assassinate United States president Gerald Ford in Sacramento, California.

Fromme, who was standing a little more than an arm's length from Ford, pointed a M1911 pistol at him in the public grounds of the California State Capitol building and without chambering a round in the gun, unsuccessfully attempted to fire.

The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, later received the M1911 pistol used in the assassination attempt as a gift, and the gun was put on display.

Lynette Fromme, who was nicknamed "Squeaky" by George Spahn,[1] was a follower of cultist Charles Manson, leader of the group convicted of murdering actress Sharon Tate and eight others in Los Angeles, California, in 1969.

[2] Fromme lived at 1725 P Street in Sacramento (38°34′16″N 121°29′09″W / 38.571142°N 121.485807°W / 38.571142; -121.485807) in an attic apartment with Sandra Good, a close friend who also was a long-time member of the Manson Family.

[5][6][7] Four years later in 1975, Fromme wanted to confront President Ford on the environmental pollution his campaign brought forth and its effects on ATWA (air, trees, water, animals).

[9] Ford saw California's electoral votes as critical to his success in the 1976 United States presidential election and accepted the invitation to speak at the Host Breakfast.

[14] At about the same time, Fromme came to believe that California's giant coastal redwoods, the tallest trees in the world, were in danger of falling because of automobile smog reaching their rural location.

[15] After returning from San Francisco, Fromme watched a news report from her P Street apartment and learned some details of Ford's plans to visit Sacramento.

"[21] Harold E. "Zeke"/"Manny" Boro,[23] born 1909, was a retired federal government engineering draftsman who, at ages 65 to 66, hung around the Manson family and supplied them with money as a "sugar daddy".

[6] Twenty-six-year-old Fromme was positioned two feet (60 cm) from Ford, behind the first row of the crowd, and reached into her robe, drawing the Colt .45 pistol from her leg holster.

[25] Five years later in 1980, from Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, Fromme claimed that she purposely ejected the top round from the pistol's magazine onto the floor of her P Street apartment, because she "was not determined to kill the guy.

[6] As she shouted, "It wouldn't go off,"[8] Secret Service agent Larry Buendorf grabbed the gun, forced it from Fromme's hand, and brought her to the ground.

[36] On September 20, 1975, United States federal judge Thomas J. MacBride set November 4, 1975, for the start of the trial against Fromme for attempting to assassinate a U.S.

[6] On November 4, the prosecutors were ready to present about 1,000 items of evidence seized from Fromme's car and apartment just after the assassination attempt, including .45-caliber ammunition in the box she took from Boro and the book, The Modern Handgun.

She moved to Marcy, New York, to live in a house that "looks like an old metal Quonset hut from the World War II era" with Robert Valdner, another convict, who had killed his brother-in-law and was released from prison in 1992.