Oliver Sipple
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Oliver "Billy" Sipple (November 20, 1941 - February 2, 1989) was a Vietnam War veteran, who saved the life of U.S. President Gerald Ford during an assassination attempt in San Francisco on September 22, 1975.
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[edit] Early life
Sipple was born in Detroit, Michigan. He served in the Marines and saw action in Vietnam. Shrapnel wounds suffered in December 1968 caused him to finish out his tour of duty in a Philadelphia veterans hospital, from which he was released in March 1970. He later spent six months in San Francisco's VA hospital, and was frequently being readmitted into the hospital in 1975. Listed as being 100 percent disabled on psychological grounds, he was unable to hold a job and was receiving disabilty pay. He lived, with a merchant seaman roommate, in a fourth-floor walk-up apartment located in San Francisco's Mission District. Sipple was active in local causes, including the political campaigns of openly gay City Council candidate Harvey Milk.
[edit] Ford assassination attempt
Sipple was part of a crowd of about three thousand people who had gathered outside San Francisco's Saint Francis Hotel to see President Ford on September 22.
Ford, just emerging from the building, was vulnerable despite heavy security protection. Sipple noticed a woman next to him had pulled and levelled a .38-caliber pistol as Ford headed to his limousine. Reacting instinctively, Sipple lunged at the woman, Sara Jane Moore, just as her fingers squeezed the trigger. It was enough of a jar, however, to deflect her aim and cause the bullet to veer five feet wide of its mark. Had it not been for Sipple's action, the bullet could have struck the president in the head.
[edit] Events following the assassination attempt
The police and the Secret Service immediately commended Sipple for his action at the scene, while Ford thanked him in a letter. Unfortunately, Sipple became not only an instant hero but an instant victim as well. The media not only hailed and celebrated his deed, they also disclosed his private life. Though he was known to be a homosexual by various fellow members of San Francisco's gay community, Sipple had not publicly "come out of the closet." His sexual identity was something he had always kept a secret from his family. He asked the press reporters to leave him alone, making it clear that neither his mother nor his employer had knowledge of his sexual orientation.
Despite his wishes, gay activist and politican Harvey Milk, publicly proclaimed Sipple and said his act "will help break the stereotype of homosexuals." Gay liberation groups petitioned local media to give Sipple his due as a gay hero. Then columnist Herb Caen published the private side of the ex-Marine's story in the San Francisco Chronicle. Six other papers ran the column as well. After discovering her son's secret, Sipple's mother reacted to the public harassment she began to endure by cutting off contact with him.
Sipple filed a $15 million invasion-of-privacy suit against Caen, the seven newspapers that published his disclosures, and fifty "John Doe" publishers for invading his privacy. A San Francisco superior court judge dismissed the suit by Sipple, who continued his legal battle until May 1984, when a state court of appeals upheld the original dismissal.
Sipple's mental and physical health sharply declined over the years. He drank heavily, was fitted with a pacemaker, became paranoid and suicidal. His weight increased to 298 pounds. On February 2, 1989, he was found dead in his bed, with a half-gallon bottle of bourbon at his side. The forty-seven-year-old Sipple had been dead for two weeks.
Sipple's funeral was attended by about 30 people. President Ford and his wife did not attend, choosing to send a letter of sympathy to his family and friends instead. He was laid to rest in Golden Gate National Cemetery south of San Francisco.
In a 2001 interview with columnist Deb Price, Ford disputed the claim that Sipple was treated differently because of his sexual orientation, saying, "As far as I was concerned, I had done the right thing and the matter was ended. I didn't learn until sometime later — I can't remember when — he was gay. I don't know where anyone got the crazy idea I was prejudiced and wanted to exclude gays." [1]
