Oliver Sipple

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Oliver "Billy" Sipple (November 20 1941 - February 2 1989) was a member of the United States Marine Corps who fought in the Vietnam War, and was honorably discharged in 1970. He is known for saving the life of U.S. President Gerald Ford during an assassination attempt in San Francisco on September 22 1975.

Early life

Sipple was born in Detroit, Michigan. Following his service in the Vietnam War, he went to San Francisco to start a new life and made new friends. There, he became active in local causes, including the political campaigns of openly gay Board of Supervisors candidate Harvey Milk.

Ford assassination attempt

Sipple was a bystander as President Ford went to speak at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco on September 22. According to what he told friends, he just wanted to catch a glimpse of the President that day.

As he was listening to President Ford, would-be assassin Sara Jane Moore produced a gun and pointed it at the President. Sipple grabbed the gun and wrestled her. Moore was able to fire one shot, which did not hit the President. Sipple was regarded as a hero by many, including the President himself.

Events following the assassination attempt

President Ford wrote a thank-you note to Sipple three days later, but never invited him to the White House or gave him a commendation. The newspaper San Francisco Chronicle ran a story speculating that Sipple was homosexual. "It was [Harvey] Milk, according to the respected journalist Randy Shilts, in his biography The Mayor of Castro Street, who outed Sipple by an item dropped in Herb Caen's gossip column" [link]. This severely affected Sipple's family life, as his mother died in 1979 with doubts of her son's sexuality. His father never spoke to him again. Sipple later declared:

My sexual orientation has nothing at all to do with saving the President's life, just as the color of my eyes or my race has nothing to do with what happened in front of the St. Francis Hotel.

Sipple sued the newspaper, but his case was dismissed. He then became an alcoholic, and fought obesity. He had been turned away by a Veteran's Administration hospital a few weeks before passing away. He was found dead on February 2 1989, but it was speculated he had been dead for about two weeks before he was found. At the time of his death, Sipple weighed more than 300 pounds (136 kg). Sipple's funeral was attended by only 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." [link]

See also

• List of U.S. Presidential assassination attempts

External links

• http://maximum.lambda.net/sipple.html
• http://www.outsports.com/usattacked/sipplebingham20010919.htm
• http://www.randomhouse.com/features/americancentury/imperialpres.html
• http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/bios3/sipp1.html

 

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