Save a President Lose Your Life

i was doing some early morning gas station stops and caught the repeat of this fascinating Radiolab program on Oliver Sipple, a closeted combat vet, who stopped the second attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford in 1975. Though I was a little kid when these events occurred, I had never heard about Sipple’s story until this program.



Within a two-week period in 1975, two different women attempted to assassinate President Ford (Secret Service, even after JFK, apparently still didn’t have their collective shit together). A week after Lynnette Fromme’s attempt, Sarah Jane Moore pulled a gun on the President and barely missed shooting him in the head. As she attempted to get her second shot in (before the sluggish SS got to her), Oliver Sipple, a former Vietnam vet and combat Marine, was standing next to Moore and wrestled her to the ground preventing a second shot.

The interesting part is that Sipple was a gay man from Detroit who had moved to San Francisco after his military service and led a double life: being openly gay to the local community but “closeted” by distance away from his family on the pre-Internet age.

Well, saving a president’s life will get you international notoriety whether you want it or not. Sipple’ private gay life was exposed by the press, exploited by Harvey Mill (who he knew personally) and LGBT activists who wanted to promote his sexuality and veteran status for political purposes (despite his wanting to remain discreet).

All that to say, Sipple’s life is a prime example of why, other than politically hostile and active closeted Republican or religious figures, I generally hate gays and lesbians who deliberately out someone against their wishes. Sipple’s whole life went to hell because of his heroic act, in an age when there was only beginning to arise a semblance of gay acceptance by the general public. I’m addition to the various medical and mental issues he dealt with as a Vietnam Vet, he had his private life broadcast against his wishes. He tragically died in his forties. Imagine your life being so upturned you actually regret having saved soneone’s life!

Oliver Sipple | Radiolab | WNYC Studios