Oliver Wellington "Billy" Sipple (November 20, 1941 – c. January 1989)[a] was an American man known for intervening to prevent an assassination attempt against U.S. President Gerald Ford on September 22, 1975.

A decorated U.S. Marine and disabled Vietnam War veteran, he grappled with Sara Jane Moore as she fired a pistol at Ford in San Francisco, causing her to miss.

Shrapnel wounds suffered in December 1968 caused him to finish out his second tour of duty in a Philadelphia veterans' hospital, from which he was released in March 1970.

[4][5] Sipple was active in local causes, including the historic political campaigns of openly gay Board of Supervisors candidate Milk.

On September 22, 1975, Sipple was part of a crowd of about 3,000 people who had gathered outside San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel to see President Ford.

[11] The day after the incident, San Francisco Chronicle columnist Herb Caen received two phone messages identifying Sipple as gay.

[12] Milk wanted to portray Sipple as a "gay hero" to help "break the stereotype of homosexuals [as] timid, weak and unheroic figures";[5][6][8] he told a friend, "It's too good an opportunity.

[7] Later, when Sipple hid in a friend's apartment to avoid reporters, they turned to Milk, arguably the most visible voice for the gay community.

[8] Sipple sued the Chronicle,[9] filing a $15-million invasion of privacy suit against Caen, seven named newspapers, and a number of unnamed publishers.

On February 2, 1989, an acquaintance, Wayne Friday, found Sipple dead in his San Francisco apartment, with a bottle of Jack Daniel's next to him and the television still on.

In a 2001 interview with columnist Deb Price, Ford disputed the claim that he had treated Sipple differently because of his sexual orientation, saying,[15] As far as I was concerned, I had done the right thing and the matter was ended.

I don't know where anyone got the crazy idea I was prejudiced and wanted to exclude gays.Issues arising from the press's reporting of Sipple's private life are referred to in the motion picture Absence of Malice and in an episode of LA Law.

A number of law review articles, books, commentary pieces have discussed "the perplexing ethical dimensions of the case".