Suburban Fury

I think I was in a fugue state.

A fugue state in music is a pattern.

And I think that I was in a pattern

that I was not gonna be able to change.

The pattern was there.

The plan had been written and I was following it.

I don't think there's anything I could have done,

even if I had consciously, to have changed it.

We were on remote control by that time.

You've learned your lines and you're on stage,

and you're gonna do it without thinking.

Oh, I thought I would be successful.

I also thought I'd be killed.

At approximately 6:15 this morning,

I received a call from Moore on my private number.

She stated, "You'll never guess what happened

to me last night."

I replied, "I know what happened to you last night."

I told her, "I want you to do something.

Put your son in the car.

Get in the car, and drive away."

This was the last contact I had with Moore.

Hey! Oh my God.

My God, my God.

There's been a shot.

There's been a shot.

We're being pushed back by the police.

Somebody has fired a shot here.

We don't know if anybody's been hit.

My God.

Somebody fired a shot.

You would have to ask the Secret Service

what they are getting out of surveilling me,

or whatever it is they're doing, and why they're doing it.

I just have to accept that it's a part of my life.

It's the part that I'm not yet free.

I just simply do as I'm told,

most of the time.

President Ford has restored my faith

in the United States government.

Ford makes me feel

like America's going in the right direction.

I think that's one thing.

I think the world is more at peace.

The economy is picking up.

He came on the scene

when it was at a very low ebb,

and I think that we've come a far away.

Trust is not having to guess

what a candidate means.

Trust is leveling with the people

before the election about what you're going to do

after the election.

It's not enough for anyone to say, "Trust me."

Trust must be earned.

Neither the cherry bombs of a misguided prankster,

nor all the memories of recent years

can keep the people and their presidents apart.

Sara Moore, the suspect,

was moved to the federal courthouse

in downtown San Francisco where she is to be arraigned.

We expect momentarily on charges of attempting

to murder the president.

It's a federal offense, subject to life imprisonment.

She's being held on $1,000,000 bail.

John's recovered his breath, I think sufficiently now.

John, what do you have to tell us?

Tomorrow afternoon there will be a hearing

in the same U.S. district court

on whether or not this woman, Sara Jane Moore,

should have a psychiatric examination.

The U.S. attorney has asked

that she be sent to Springfield, Missouri to be examined

to see if she's competent.

Okay, at the time all--

We're rolling.

Action.

At the time all this was happening,

it wasn't that I was two Sally Moores,

it's that I was three Sally Moores.

That may be difficult for people to understand,

but if people will relate it to their own life,

because almost everybody is two people.

You're the person you are over here

at home with your family, with your friends, with whatever,

and you're this other person at work,

perhaps this driven person doing that.

Sometimes those are quite different.

So, adding a third person is not that hard.

Oh, and I've lost this.

I'm gonna have to stop and read this because my--

I thought that was wonderful.

Let's cut there and try it again, please.

I have certainly never expected

or demanded physical fidelity of a man.

I think men that are faithful,

it's more often lack of opportunity.

These are strong, vital men.

They're important men, and they all have egos.

Your husband was in the film industry.

Who was he?

My husband was in the film industry,

and I think we will leave it at that.

You know, we'd been married for several years.

We'd bought a house.

And eight or nine years later, I got pregnant.

Back, back, back!

He did not want the child.

He was too old.

His life was set.

I wanted the child.

The man you love, you want his child.

He kept talking about "Well you can hide out

in The Valley as well as anywhere else."

and I said, "Hide out? Why would I be hiding out?

I'm not hiding out."

He said, "In common with many people

in the motion picture industry,

you work to keep your private life private."

And at the minute he said,

"Well, if you leave, where are you going?"

And I said, "San Francisco."

The next memory I have is I had been picked up

and was being bodily carried across

the street here to the hotel.

Somebody was kind of beating on me,

and I don't think that he was aware at all.

I think he was angry.

I don't think he was aware at all

that he was wailing away at a human being.

They carried me across the street into the hotel,

into the room, and in this room?

Yes.

Well, was this where the...

- Is this-- - Yes, this is the room.

Okay, okay.

And threw me on the floor.

I had on slacks, which wasn't real common for women then,

but it's what I had on.

And they pulled my pants down

and then the man yelled, "It's a woman!"

You were really intending

to kill the president,

not draw attention to yourself or any issue?

You were intending to kill Gerald Ford?

Yes.

Yeah, yeah.

There was no...

I really, I don't know why that's so difficult

for people to believe.

Moore is 46.

Although she will not talk

about her background or family,

it is known she is from a prominent West Virginia clan.

Her 9-year-old son, Frederick is the only family member

she will discuss.

She's serving a life term

in the federal prison at Terminal Island.

She says she has not adjusted well to prison life,

but on our stroll through the yard,

she pointed out the buildings prisoners like most

to live in for view and for comfort,

much as she might point out the most desirable homes

in her old well-to-do neighborhood in Danville,

before her marriage to a prominent physician there broke up.

One of the things my husband

had admired when he had visited me at my flat in the city...

He said, "Oh, you take The Wall Street Journal."

And I said, "Well, of course."

You know, like, doesn't everyone?

And he said, "You read it?"

I said, "I wouldn't pay for it if I didn't read it."

So now it's time to renew

my Wall Street Journal subscription.

And he said, "Why would you renew it?

What do you need with The Wall Street Journal?"

And I thought, "Wait a minute, this, one of the things

that this man admired about me was the reading and things,

and now he suddenly,

"What do you need with The Wall Street Journal?"

We are men.

We are not beast,

and we do not intend to be driven or beaten as such.

The entire prison populace has set forth to change forever

the ruthless brutalization and disregard-

I never did get to know him that well.

He was apparently well respected.

He was a board certified hematologist in oncology.

I think we both were looking for an acceptable mate,

the right looks, the right financial standing.

And I had a son and I thought

this son should be part of a marriage.

It was in one way, fairly cold-blooded on both our parts.

The President of the United States!

Tonight, I again,

proudly accept your nomination

for president of the United States.

I went to a party once

after an opening at a gallery.

The galleries love me