Suburban Fury (2024) Movie Script

1
[recording humming]
[tape clicks]
[anticipatory music]
[Sara Jane] 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.
[phone dialing]
[line clicks]
[light music]
-[line ringing]
-[line clicks]
[line disconnects]
-[engine rumbling]
-[anticipatory music]
[man] 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.
[tape clicks]
-[siren wailing]
-[pensive music]
[shot firing]
[bystander gasps]
[man] Hey! Oh my God.
My God, my God.
There's been a shot.
There's been a shot.
[bystanders clamoring]
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.
[Sara] 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.
There's a change that's come
over America
A change that's great to see

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.
-[audience applauding]
-[audience cheering]
Trust is not having to guess
-what a candidate means.
-[shot firing]
[crowd exclaims]
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.
[man] Neither the cherry bombs
of a misguided prankster,
nor all the memories of recent
years
can keep the people and their
presidents apart.
-Place to be
-[tape clicks]
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--
[camera man] We're rolling.
[director] 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--
[director] I thought that was
wonderful.
Let's cut there and try it
again, please.
[reflective music]
[Sara] 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.
[director] Your husband was in
the film industry.
Who was he?
[Sara] 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.
-[crowd clamoring]
-[siren wailing]
[man] Back, back, back!
[Sara] 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--
-[director] 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!"
[reporter] 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.
[reporter] 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.
[exotic music]
[Sara] 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?"
[electronic music]
[man] 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-
[tape clicks]
[Sara] 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.
[electronic music]
[crowd chanting indistinctly]
[man] The President of the
United States!
[Ford] Tonight, I again,
proudly accept your nomination
for president of the United
States.
[crowd cheering]
[tape clicks]
[Sara] I went to a party once
after an opening at a gallery.
The galleries love me
because I not only react
viscerally to things,
but I'm not afraid to say, "Oh,
look at that.
That's marvelous."
Anyway, I'm at this party and
these people are doing this,
"Oh, yes, I'm an artist and I'm
having
a showing next month at ABC
Gallery."
"I'm a poet.
And my third book of poetry is
about to..."
And everybody's telling all
these,
"I'm a musician," or something.
And somebody said to me, "What
are you?"
And I said, "I'm a creative
appreciator."
And they looked at me funny and
I said, "I buy.
Without me, you couldn't exist."
[traffic whizzing]
[soft music]
[tape clicks]
[man] Moore read from a
statement
during her sentencing today.
She asked, "How did I go from a
relatively normal,
middle aged suburbanite to a
would be assassin?"
She declared that she finally
understood
and joined those who only had
violence and destruction
as a means of making change.
And that she came to understand
how violence could sometimes be
constructive.
"I did not want to kill
anyone," she stated.
"But there comes a time when
the only way
you can make a statement is to
pick up a gun."
[unsettling music]
[man] I did not threaten the
life of the president.
In the context of a speech that
I made,
I stated very emphatically that
we would kill anyone
that stands in the way of our
freedom.
[Sara] "You're gonna go
to the Panthers office in
Oakland.
Oh, you're not gonna drive into
Oakland
to the Panther's office."
And I said, "Yeah."
I was impressed with what they
were trying to do.
You know, this is a point at
which I were trying
to set up free medical clinics
in Oakland.
So, I drove down there and
pulled up
and I said, "You know, there is
this government program
where you can get funding."
And she said, "Oh no, we would
never apply."
And I said, "Well, why not?"
And she said, "We would never
ask for help
from a government that we are
dedicated to overthrowing."
And that struck me speechless.
I was stunned.
It was so far, I even imagining
that you could overthrow the
American government.
And yet these people really,
truly wanted that.
[newscaster] Good evening.
At five minutes after two this
afternoon,
Vice President Agnew resigned.
He was the second man in
history
to quit the nation's second
highest office,
but the first to do so under a
cloud of scandal.
[man] Raise your right hand,
Mr. Ford.
Place your hand on the Bible
and repeat after me.
I, Gerald R. Ford do solemnly
swear...
I, Gerald R. Ford do solemnly
swear...
That I will support
and defend the Constitution of
the United States.
That I will support and defend
-the Constitution
-[Sara] He did not want me
-of the United States.
-[Sara] to go to work.
Against all enemies,
foreign and domestic.
-Against all enemies
-[Sara] And Dr. Carmel
-foreign and domestic.
-[Sara] was very insistent.
That I will well
and faithfully discharge...
That I will well
and faithfully discharge...
-Duties of the office
-[Sara] I just told him
The duties of the office.
On which I'm about to enter.
-Of the office
-[Sara] not to come home.
I'm about to enter.
So help me God.
So help me God.
And he came home anyway,
and I said, "Get out."
And he got out.
And I called a locksmith and
changed the locks on the house
and he couldn't get back in.
[crowd applauding]
And I think my son probably,
when we divorced, it probably
impacted
more than I realize.
[anticipatory music]
[girl] Mom, Dad, I'm okay.
I'm with a combat unit that's
armed with automatic weapons,
and these people aren't just a
bunch of nuts.
They're perfectly willing to
die for what they're doing.
[reporter] Patricia Hearst is
19
and a sophomore at Berkeley.
She and her fiance were in her
apartment in this building
near the campus last night when
a woman
and two armed men burst in,
beat and bound her fiance and a
neighbor,
dragged Patricia down the
stairs,
threw her into the trunk of a
car and drove off,
firing a volley of shots
around the neighborhood as they
left.
The neighbors were terrified.
[Hearst] I'm kept blindfolded
usually
so that I can't identify
anyone.
My hands are often tied, but
generally they're not.
And I'm not gagged or anything,
and I'm comfortable.
[Cinque] My name is Cinque.
I hold the rank of General
Field Marshall
in the United Federated forces
of the Symbionese Liberation
Army.
The SLA has arrested the
subject for the crimes
that her mother and father
have by their actions committed
against we,
the American people,
and the oppressed people of the
world.
Randolph A. Hearst is the
corporate chairman
of the Fascist Media Empire
of the Ultra Right Hearst
Corporation,
which is one of the largest
propaganda institutions
of this present military
dictatorship
of a militarily armed corporate
state
that we now live under in this
nation.
[man] The United Federated
forces
of this Symbionese Liberation
Army,
armed with Cyanide loaded
weapons,
served an arrest wired upon
Patricia Campbell Hearst.
All communications in this
court must be published
in full in all newspapers and
all other forms of the media.
Failure to do so will endanger
the safety of the prisoner.
And in capital letters under
that is,
"Death to the fascist insect
that preys upon the life of the
people."
[bell tolling]
[Sara] Who are these people?
What is this?
Where did they get the name the
Symbionese Liberation Army?
What is that?
Who are they?
[director] And Randolph Hearst
was your friend, correct?
[Sara] I didn't know him in the
sense
that I'd call up and, "Randy,
let's have dinner."
We moved in...
There were some overlapping
things,
some balls, some fundraisers,
the museum openings,
the shows and things like that.
[director] And how did you feel
about the kidnapping?
[Sara] I thought that was
wrong.
You know, I always used say,
"You wanna kidnap somebody,
kidnap Randy Hearst.
You don't go out and kidnap
other people's kids."
[reporter] How many agents
working, Mr. Bates,
now on this case?
Well, at the moment I have
anywhere from 65 to 75.
Last weekend I had as many as
125.
If something happens and I need
500, I'll put 500 on it.
If I need a thousand,
I'll get a thousand in here
very quickly.
Okay, at one point I asked
the FBI why they had recruited
me
because I was the world's most
unlikely person.
And they said I had a good name
on the streets,
and I didn't really understand
what that meant.
And also, at one time,
I talked to some people on the
left also saying,
I was in many ways the very kind
of person they were fighting,
the kind of from the class they
were trying
to overthrow and all that
madness.
And they said, "Yes,
but you have a good name on the
streets."
Part of my having a good name
on the streets
was innocence and stupidity.
[gentle music]
[man] In advance
of my 16 month relationship
with Moore,
I chose a cover identity to
assist
in developing and operating
her.
To Moore I would be known as
Bertram Worthington,
graduate of Yale University
with interests in the fine
arts,
the economy and current
political events.
This persona was created to
establish commonalities
and shared meanings with Moore,
and to hasten and deepen the
connection between us.
[reporter] Who exactly was your
contact at the FBI?
Oh the poor man is getting more
publicity.
It's Bertram Worthington,
I think I keep telling people
that.
Bert Worthington.
[Ford] I've talked to him about
it many times,
and on every occasion he has
said and reiterated,
reemphasized that he had-
no part whatsoever in the
coverup.
And that's the only area where
there is
any valid evidence that he was
involved.
He certainly wasn't involved in
the planning
and the execution of the
break-in.
[bell ringing]
[Hearst] Mom, Dad,
I wanna get out of here,
but the only way I'm going to
is if we do it their way.
And I just hope that you'll do
what they say, Dad,
and just do it quickly.
[door bangs]
[gentle music]
[reporter] This reporter's
known Sara Jane Moore
for more than a year and a
half.
She is a nice, quiet,
40-year-old,
middle class white divorcee
with a small child leading a
nice, quiet middle class life
until one day in March of 1974
when Patty Hearst had been
kidnapped,
Sara Jane Moore walked into the
Hearst Corporation offices
off the street and volunteered
to help.
[music continues]
[engine rumbling]
[horn honking]
[Sara] Then suddenly they come
up
with this ransom, not asking
for money for themselves,
but asking that the poor be
fed.
It gave a whole different
feeling about the group.
Maybe they're not crazies.
Maybe they are righteous.
[reporter] Over time, Sara Jane
Moore struck up
a close relationship with Mr.
and Mrs. Hearst,
acting as a kind of liaison
with the various minority
groups who made up the
coalition,
administering people in need.
She was bookkeeper and public
relations lady,
which is how many of the press
got to know her and spent many
a weekend
with her child at the Hearst
Mansion in Hillsborough,
joining that long vigil with
the family,
waiting for phone calls and
messages from the kidnappers.
[Sara] Someone came to me
inside the warehouse
where the food distribution was
actually taking place.
He said, "You see the FBI?"
I said "Like 10 times a day."
And he asked me if I would give
the FBI a message,
that he knew some of the SLA
people
and he wanted to get them some
information.
And what he said to me, oh, I
need to keep my voice on.
What he said to me was
that if he helped Randy find
his daughter,
he felt that Randy would help
his son get an education.
[director] Who?
Who was asking this?
Oh.
[director] Was it Popeye
Jackson?
Yes, it was Popeye.
[engine rumbling]
-[thunder rumbling]
-[rain pattering]
[Sara] He had done a lot of
time.
I don't remember how many
years, 19 years, 14 years.
Anyway, a lot of time, he'd
done heavy time.
Some of the people in the SLA
were people he had been in
prison with.
So, I guess he felt a
relationship to them as
comrades.
[buzzer buzzing]
He was trying to organize the
prisoners into a union,
to force them to be paid
better,
to negotiate with prison
officials.
The audacity of even thinking
things like that.
[thunder rumbling]
[Hearst] I've become conscious
and can never go back
to the life we led before.
But love doesn't mean the same
thing to me anymore.
My love is expanded as a result
of my experiences
to embrace all people,
from my comrades here in prison
and on the streets.
I gave them some information
that Popeye asked me to give
them.
I answered a couple of
questions,
and the man had an envelope of
money.
And I said, "What is this?"
Oh, he said something about,
"Well, we think the information
you have given us is worth
about..."
And I said, "What are you
talking about?"
I said, "No.
No, no, I do not want any money
for any information I give you.
I refuse."
[Bertram] I picked up Moore
near the Hearst corporate
offices
and thanked her for reaching
out to us.
She was visibly nervous and
insisted
that we remain in the car and
not go to a restaurant.
[Sara] It's sort of interesting
how I became an accountant.
I started out at the regular
office.
[Bertram] I encouraged her
to keep working with us and
provided her
with a list of movement study
groups that she could attend.
I instructed Moore how to write
a report,
that she should always write
the report in the third person
and to include herself as one
of the people being reported
on.
I advised Moore what to do if
she was followed,
that being a woman she should
go to a store window
and use it as a mirror.
This way she could see if the
person was always in sight,
and if she felt frightened or
was in danger,
she should go to a place that
she normally went to,
like the grocery store, or just
to go home.
[scanner beeping]
I explained to Moore that this
was a war.
I confided in her that the next
few years
would be the most critical in
our country's history,
and that the left could use the
ideas from the first
and second American revolutions
to arouse people and spark a
new revolution.
[pensive music]
[Sara] They never said to me
not to say anything to anyone
about them wanting me to work
for them.
And so I went to someone.
I went to a man that I knew
there at the examiner,
and he said, "Don't do it."
And I said, "Well, why not?"
They say that I can stop
anytime I want to.
And they said, "They did say
that."
And he said, "No, no, they'll
have you
for the rest of your life.
They will have you for the rest
of your life.
Don't do it."
-[bell tolling]
-[birds chirping]
I had some talent.
Actor Studio was a big thing
then
and I had an audition with
Actor Studio.
And I did well at the audition.
I'd been the star of my senior
class play
without any particular effort
to get the part.
I could, I guess, portray
emotion or something.
[Lee Strasberg] The very word
acting has nothing to do with
memory.
It has to do with what we do,
how we behave on the stage,
how we make whatever we're
doing real.
[whistle blows]
[shots firing]
When we sleep, we not only have
to lie there,
we have to create sleep, which
is a sensory reality.
When we wake up,
we don't really know it's dark
in the place and so on.
All these things you have to
create
because the stage is gonna be
pretty light,
so you're not gonna get it from
the stage itself.
You're gonna get it only from
the way
in which we commonly say your
imagination creates it.
But the imagination is nothing
more than all these real
things taking place
unconsciously.
When they don't happen, the
imagination doesn't work,
the inspiration doesn't work,
and the actor is left only with
the lines,
and with what Stanislavski
calls the muscles of the
tongue.
[Sara] I'm not gonna tell you
that.
No, I'm not, I'm sorry.
I'm not going to tell you my
code name or my number.
I gave my word, and when I give
my word,
it isn't who I give it to and
it wasn't
that I gave my word for a week
that I won't say this for a
week.
I gave my word and I don't care
if it's 50 years.
I gave my word.
[anticipatory music]
[man] Many people have asked me
how I can come back from
Vietnam and how I can change,
how I can be diametrically
opposite
of what I was when I went over,
which was the all American boy
and God, country, apple pie.
And so you can't attribute it
to communists in the peace
movement.
You can't attribute it to
intellectuals.
There was no thought
involvement.
The first time I began to
oppose the war
is when I saw an old man shot
down and it's that simple.
[protestors chanting
indistinctly]
[Sara] I had met somebody in a
restaurant.
When I wrote the report I said,
we met and what we talked
about.
And they came back with, they
wanted the details,
and I said, "I don't
understand."
And they wanted the details
that they were interested in,
but everything we talked about,
the weather,
and they wanted in detail what
we ate.
And I said, "Why?"
And they said, "We want to know
this man better
than his own brother knows him,
so that we will be able to
predict how he will react."
[protestors chanting
indistinctly]
[reporter] They were stopping
and checking cars
about a half mile down from the
main gate
at San Quentin this morning,
because of the number of people
expected
to show up in support of Popeye
Jackson.
He is president of the United
Prisoners Union,
faced a parole violation
hearing here today,
stemming from his arrest on
narcotics charges last August.
He was acquitted of those
charges,
but apparently could be
imprisoned nonetheless.
I feel optimistic, confident.
When I got here, all these
people out here, man,
supporting me, and got a lot of
witnesses inside.
So, it's arbitrary what they're
doing and I have no,
I don't feel upset about the
outcome.
I feel entirely confident in
what's gonna happen.
[pensive music]
[engine rumbling]
[Sara] I became pretty close to
Popeye.
It was after a meeting.
I don't remember the exact
reason.
He had some papers to look at
something I don't remember.
I think partly I wanted him to
see the house.
He'd been bugging me about
where I lived.
[Popeye] The pig that's in the
visiting room
might not like you the way you
carry yourself,
the way you comb your hair.
So you go inside and take in
what they call the receive and
release.
Then they tell you to strip.
Okay, just strip to the bare
nudity,
run your hand through your
hair,
look in your ear, open your
mouth, raise your arm,
bend over, spread your cheeks,
turn around and raise your
testicles.
Turn around and raise your
right foot.
Turn around and raise your left
foot.
[Sara] He came in and he said,
"Wow, this is a mansion."
And I looked at the house. I
thought, this is not a mansion,
but maybe to him it looked like
a mansion.
It was certainly a nice house.
I think I puzzled him a little
bit.
And I think in a grudging way,
he accepted me as a human
being.
[Hearst] I have been given the
choice of one,
being released in a safe area,
or two, joining the forces
of the Symbionese Liberation
Army
and fighting for my freedom and
the freedom
of all oppressed people.
I have chosen to stay and
fight.
[tape clicks]
[Bertram] I picked up Moore on
the corner of Mission and 7th,
and proceeded to Filbert Street
where we parked.
[Sara] I wasn't surprised.
She'd been through many weeks
of being
with these people and listening
to them.
[Bertram] She wanted to talk
about the Hibernia Bank
robbery.
[Sara] She wasn't being
threatened or anything.
She was really a part of it.
She was getting...
[Bertram] And Patty's sudden
conversion
and identification with the
SLA.
[Sara] I thought it was very
smart of the SLA
to use her in that way.
[dramatic music]
[Bertram] She stated that Patty
was stupid and foolish,
and that she was not the
brightest bulb
on the string like her father.
She further stated that she was
not surprised, however.
She expressed admiration for
the SLA,
calling them charismatic,
compelling people.
She was especially impressed
with the way
that they were able to make
Patty
a real part of the robbery.
[pensive music]
[reporter] Three court
appointed psychiatrists are
due
to give their opinion on Patty
Hearst next Tuesday.
Dr. Margaret Thaler Singer is
an expert on schizophrenia,
psychosomatic disorders and
brainwashing.
Do you honestly believe that a
person can be brainwashed?
That's hard to really pin down.
There are many persuasion
techniques used
that have been used for many
centuries
by one person on another or by
groups upon each other.
[Sara] I liked Bert.
A woman on the left describe
him
as looking like a seedy Yale-y,
as in, I don't know.
He wore a tweed jacket with
leather on the sleeves
and it was a little bit
raggedy,
but hey, that woman didn't
understand fashion,
that you will wear that Yale-y
tweed jacket till you die.
We talked whatever you talk
about at lunch,
the food, the restaurants,
we ought to go try this place.
We talked politics, but not
radical politics.
We talked normal politics.
And never, ever in the
slightest way
did he made any kind of
innuendo.
And all men do eventually.
I mean, I don't know if he
found me attractive.
He never, and I found him
attractive but--
[air whooshing]
[reporter] On Compton Avenue
here
with officers with weapons,
loaded weapons.
Now more officers are moving
right
into the position where we
were.
So they must be getting ready.
There's no doubt about that in
my mind.
[shots firing]
[unsettling music]
[reporter] An explosive gun
battle in Los Angeles tonight,
may have blown the Symbionese
Liberation Army apart.
-[music continues]
-[fire crackling]
[Cinque] In closing, I wish to
say to Mr. Hearst
and Mrs. Hearst that I,
as well as the forces under my
command
for the authority of the core
of the people
are not savage killers and mad
men.
And we do hold a high moral
value to life.
We value life very deeply
and with all the spirit that we
as human beings can bring forth
in our hearts.
But speaking as a father,
I am quite willing to lose both
of my children
if by that action, I can save
thousands of white, Black,
yellow, and red children from a
life of suffering,
exploitation, and murder.
And I am also, along with the
loyal men and women
of many races who love the
people quite willing
to give our lives to free the
people at any cost.
And if as you and others
so naively believe that we will
lose,
let it be known that even in
death we will win.
For the very ashes of the
fascist nation
will mark our very graves.
[siren wailing]
[Sara] They didn't care whether
Patty Hearst was in there or
not.
They truly did not.
And I think at that point, the
FBI lost me a little.
[rain pattering]
[engine rumbling]
[Ford] My fellow Americans,
our long national nightmare is
over.
I have not campaigned either
for the presidency
or the vice presidency.
I have not subscribed to any
partisan platform.
I am indebted to no man
and only to one woman, my dear
wife.
Well, criticism in the radical
movement,
or even in the not radical
movement,
just in the left in general,
criticism and self-criticism
were a ritual part of every
meeting,
every learning session, every
anything.
It was one did it and they go
together.
It was always criticism and
self-criticism.
It might be a dialogue.
You might, for instance, say
something to me
about my upper class values or
something like that.
And I would reply, I would
first defend
and then I would criticize
myself and I would say,
I cannot control where I was
born.
I can't change the past.
I can't change how I was raised.
And yes, occasionally that part
of me does show forward,
but I'm trying very hard to
correct that
and to feel more what the
struggle of other people is.
[Bertram] I spoke with Moore on
the telephone this morning.
During the course of our
conversation,
I gathered that Moore had been
asking questions
about ideological issues during
a meeting
of the Bay Area Revolutionary
Union.
I emphasized to her
that she shouldn't ask too many
questions,
and that if she had any
questions she should ask me,
not the group leaders.
I explained that she should be
further along
in understanding such concepts
if she was participating in the
movement
to the extent that she was.
[Popeye] I wanna talk about the
atrocity
that took place in Los Angeles.
I'm really angry, so people
will have to bear with me.
I wanna deal with the
beginning.
It takes the actions of SLA
to feed poor people in this
state.
Throughout the state, the
United States of North
America.
It is gonna take many more SLAs
to come along and deal with the
fascist elements
in this fascist, racist country
that we are confronted with
as so-called American citizens.
[director] Wouldn't the left be
very upset
with Popeye if they knew he was
trading information
about the SLA for his son?
Well, they probably would have,
but how were they gonna, I
wasn't gonna tell 'em.
You say the left would've
gotten angry if they had known
that he was trading information
about the SLA.
Well, of course they would have.
But how would they have learned?
I certainly wasn't gonna tell
'em.
Most crime, according to the
statistics,
is the work of a limited number
of hardened criminals.
We must take the criminal out
of circulation.
We must make crime hazardous
and very costly.
[train rumbling]
[Sara] I don't remember why I
was going over there.
People were puzzled by it
because I did not fall into the
pattern of Popeye's women.
And I don't know whether that,
whether he was that attractive
as a man
or whether it was the
attraction of power.
[shutter flashing]
I don't know.
He never lacked for women.
[light music]
He had taken his car to the
police to show them
that somebody had tried to kill
him and they ignored him.
The car had bullet holes in it,
and he got very depressed and
he got very angry.
And he said he didn't wanna be
an American.
And I come back with,
"You are the very finest kind
of American.
You were trying to change
things."
And I really felt that way.
[director] So I understand that
you considered Popeye
your political mentor, is that
correct?
[Sara] Not like Burt was, but
yeah, a mentor in understanding
and learning how to deal with
the people
that I was having to deal with
when I was with Popeye,
a whole different world and
different rules.
[director] Did he know that you
were that informant for the
FBI?
[Sara] No, he did not.
He did, in terms of what he was
asking me to tell the FBI.
He did not know about any of
the rest of it.
I was at Popeye's place one
time
and these two men from the
Tribal Thumb were there also.
And one of them reached into
the washing machine
and pulled out something
that I said looked like a
miniature pillow which of
course,
and said something about it and
I thought, so?
And I don't think I was aware...
I knew that what I was being
shown was probably cocaine.
It was a white powder in a
small thing.
I said it would look like a
little pillow.
And that's what it looked like,
a little miniature pillow.
It was in a little plastic
thing.
And I don't know why I was
being shown it.
I think I was being shown it
for them to show off
or to see if I would react or
what.
And they showed it to me and
put it back down.
So, I was aware that both the
Tribal Thumb
and Popeye were in some way
involved in drugs.
[water splashing]
[Ford] I, Gerald R. Ford,
President of the United States
have granted a full free
and absolute pardon unto
Richard Nixon
for all offenses against the
United States,
which he, Richard Nixon, has
committed,
or may have committed, or taken
part in during the period
from July 20, 1969 through
August 9, 1974.
[Bertram] March 11th, 1975,
Moore became upset while
listening
to an agent describing his
prowess
in writing anonymous letters
to people of interest in the
movement.
These letters were meant to
have been written
by the mistresses or lovers of
the potential targets.
[Sara] I met a young man on the
squad,
and he was so proud of what he
did.
[Bertram] Moore considered this
to be character assassination
and took exception to it.
[Sara] Write letter to the wives
of--
[Bertram] I explained to her
that such tactics
had been extremely effective
in neutralizing up and coming
leaders
before they realized their
potential.
[Sara] Either the man or the
woman for being unfaithful.
And he was so proud of the work
he was doing.
And it was character
assassination, it was lies.
-[shots firing]
-[birds chirping]
[police dispatchers chattering]
[man] From what I understand
though,
someone shot at him in a car
or so he was coming out a
doorway
or something like that,
but this happened to him and-
How did this affect his life?
The fact that there were all
these assassins?
Well, he always said,
and they'll be the point to
that effect at the funeral,
that he knew what he was
involved in and every...
For Black people,
he knows that we always get
killed off.
Anytime that we try to buck the
system, we die.
Hallelu, hallelu
Hallelujah
In mourning the death of Popeye
Jackson,
a man who had 19 years of his
life stolen from him
by the prison system.
[audience applauding]
Only the ruling class,
those who exploit and oppress
the people,
those who ceaselessly tried
to divide the people against
themselves
to frighten and confuse us
and to crush us gains from his
murder.
Popeye Jackson was murdered
under suspicious circumstances.
We cannot discount the
possibility
that these acts were carried
out by the enemy
to destroy the prison movement
and discredit guerilla forces.
[upbeat band music fades]
[siren wailing]
I did not go to Popeye's
funeral, so I have no idea.
I don't remember why I didn't
go,
I just know I didn't go.
[siren wailing]
[Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr.]
COINTELPRO is the name
for the effort by the bureau to
destroy people
and to destroy organizations,
or as they use the words,
disrupt and neutralize.
The bureau went so far as to
mail anonymous letters
to Dr. King and his wife,
which were mailed shortly
before he was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize,
and finishes with this
suggestion.
"King, there is only one thing
left for you to do.
You know what it is.
You are done."
That was taken by Dr. King to
mean
a suggestion for suicide, was
it not?
That's our understanding.
Is there any dispute that the
letter
did in fact come from the FBI?
We've heard no dispute of that.
[unsettling music]
[Bertram] During the month of
September, 1975,
the FBI's West Coast office
interviewed individuals
with intimate knowledge of
Moore.
[music continues]
John Ahlberg, Moore's third
husband
was contacted in Los Angeles
and stated that his marriage
to Moore was extremely
embarrassing for him to talk
about,
and something he would rather
forget about altogether.
He described Moore as a
nymphomaniac
who had frequent sex with many
different men before,
during and after their
marriage.
Ahlberg indicated that he never
actually lived with
or supported this individual,
and stated that Moore was just
another woman
he could take out to dinner and
have sex with.
Moore's mother, Ruth Kahn,
was interviewed in Charleston,
West Virginia.
She reported that her daughter
had abandoned three children
to her care after the breakup
of an early marriage,
and that her daughter used
several aliases
to avoid paying child support,
one of which was Sara Jane
Moore.
She has broken all ties with
the family.
Until I have definite proof,
such as fingerprints or a
statement from her,
I cannot say that Sara Jane
Moore is my daughter,
even though the circumstances
seem
to indicate that she is my
daughter.
As the mother of Sara Jane
Kahn, I must be sure.
[unsettling music]
[reporter] This is her home in
the Mission District of San
Francisco,
where she lived in a
neighborhood for about four
months
and apparently not very many
people knew her.
Rick Davis was there tonight.
[Rick Davis] You're right, Tom.
Not very many people did know
who Sara Jane Moore was.
I spoke with one neighbor who
had known
her only because a child,
one of her children had played
with a child that Sara Jane
Moore had,
apparently about nine or 10
years old.
She said that she seemed
to stay away from people as
much as possible.
The only friends that she knew
she had was a couple named
the Halversons who had refused
to testify
during the SLA examinations and
trials in San Francisco.
[engine rumbling]
[Ford] After a great deal of
soul searching,
I have made a decision,
which I would now like to
announce to the American
people.
But the man that I am selecting
as nominee
for vice president is a person
whose long record
of accomplishment is well
known.
So I now announce officially
that I will send the name
of Nelson Rockefeller to the
Congress
of the United States for
confirmation.
[audience cheering]
[reporter] Nelson Rockefeller
will,
along with Gerald Ford become
the first team
of president and vice president
ever to serve this country
who have not been elected by
the people.
[man 1] By taking and putting
down a gas attack from
helicopters
and then having sharp shooters
on the walls, our own men.
[man 2] Well, this is one of
those things.
You can't have sharp shooters
picking off the prisoners
without maybe having a few
accidents.
Remember that the FBI recruited
me
because of the Patty Hearst
kidnapping,
and that was their main emphasis
was to get Patty Hearst back.
And in the course of being
there,
I got involved in these other
organizations
and I included the memo reports
only because every evening I
reported what I did that day.
[director] Do you think though,
that that could have caused him
harm?
Could have caused who harm?
[director] People who were you
were reporting on,
even though it was for
extensively for Patty Hearst,
you were also giving--
But the things I was reporting
on were public events.
There wasn't anything secret
about anything I was reporting
about.
[director] Names and people who
were attending
the meetings and things like
that?
Well, sure, but you put the
names of the people
that were gonna speak up there
on your poster "come in here,
Joe Blow and Susie Chang and so
and so speak"
so what is the secret about
that?
Saying that I was there and Joe
Blow and Susie Chang
and Tom Lee spoke.
[director] So none of the
information
that you were reporting was
important to the FBI?
I don't know.
You would have to ask them.
[Bertram] The following letter
was obtained prior
to its publication in The
Berkeley Barb.
It reads, "Sally Moore began
working
with the Vietnam Veterans
against the war in October in
1974."
Shortly thereafter,
it was related that she was an
FBI informer.
[Sara] These are the men that
went out and fought the war.
[Bertram] We discovered that not
only did she work for the FBI,
but she had infiltrated many
organizations
in the Bay Area.
Since our investigation
started,
Sally Moore has since
circulated herself
through many groups and
organizations.
We have found that she has
continually asked questions
that would provide information
about individuals, actions, and
demonstrations.
And that she has repeatedly
tried to position herself close
to leadership and in jobs that
provide her access
to names and information on
individuals.
In the past 10 months, Sally
Moore has created divisiveness
and mistrust in many
organizations
by her personal actions and
rumor mongering.
Sally Moore is a dangerous
individual
and a security risk to all
movement organizations.
[machine beeping]
[protestors chanting
indistinctly]
[Sara] I took part in in that
march
from San Francisco to Modesto.
We marched, what?
130 miles in five or six days.
Tremendous support from
throughout the country,
the boycotts against the wines,
the yellow wine, the grapes,
and the lettuce.
It's very effective.
We see victory, victory's in
sight.
[Sara] You know what Cesar
Chavez wanted
was to be recognized as a
normal union
in the country that had unions,
the AFLCIO.
He wanted his union to be a
part of that.
He wasn't trying to destroy the
country or anything else.
He was trying to join society.
He was trying to say, we are as
important.
We are as valuable as everybody
else,
and we wanna be part of this
country.
We wanna be part of the society.
[crowd cheering]
[man] It's a dark day in our
nation
when high level authorities
will seek to use every method
to silence dissent.
Men do not easily assume the
task
of opposing their government's
policy.
There comes a time when silence
is betrayal.
[Sara] The man I called Tom was
my first actual target
that was assigned to me.
And he was about to immerse me
more deeply in his
organization.
And I just, I couldn't.
I just, I couldn't do it any
longer and I just said,
"There's somethin' I need to
tell you."
He said, "What?"
And I said, "I'm a pig."
And he said, "San Francisco
Police?"
And I said, "No."
He said, "Who?"
And I said, "FBI."
I felt I had to tell him
because I thought that I was
putting him
and his organization in danger.
And he had talked to his group
and they thought I was sincere,
and they were not going to tell
anyone else.
And remember, I'm already a
blown source.
[director] You're not a blown
source because you talked to
Tom
and he decided not to tell
anybody, right?
But I had already reported to
the FBI that I had told Tom.
Every single night of my life,
I sat down and wrote a report
of what I did that day,
of who I talked to, of what I
had for lunch,
of what I had for dinner.
Everything, so-- Okay--
They did know, because I
reported to them.
Tom was not gonna go tell
anybody else but to the FBI,
I was a blown source because
they knew I had told somebody.
[director] Doesn't a blown
source mean that the left
knows?
No.
The left did know, Tom's group
knew.
About- Well, I don't,
no other group knew.
[director] You never were asked
questions by other groups?
Later, later.
You won't even let me get
through the story.
[director] Let's talk about
later if you can just--
No, it's a sequence.
I can't jump later, "Jump here."
It's a sequence.
Like, you don't jump off the
slope of a mountain
until you've learned to ski.
[director] Take me through it,
please.
Well, I'm trying to.
[director] We got like minutes
of light here, that's all.
[Sara] Well, then shut up and
let me have my minute.
-[light electronic music]
-[engine rumbling]
[phone dings]
[line beeping]
[line ringing]
[phone ringing]
[line clicks]
[Sara] Yes?
[man] Fuck, you wanna do this
shit?
[indistinct yelling]
[Sara] I have no idea.
Voices on the phone.
The FBI did call me one time
and said they were obligated to
warn me
and they gave me specifics
about a meeting
that had been held where people
were deciding
what they ought to do with me,
whether they just ought to,
if you will, pardon the
expression,
beat the shit out of me or
whether they ought to kill me.
[Bertram] I received a report
from Moore stating
that she had contacted The Los
Angeles Times
and that she was being flown to
Los Angeles
to speak to her reporter named
Ellen Hume.
She planned to discuss her role
as an informant with the FBI,
as well as what she believed
to be illegal practices by the
FBI.
She believes that if she goes
public with this information,
it will help to validate her
conversion to radical politics,
as well as preserving her
safety.
[Sara] I went up in secret.
I don't...
Well, this was an informant
talking to them.
Everyone knew that used
informants.
But how many times you actually
talk to an informant
who was reasonably intelligent
and isn't gonna lie through
their teeth?
The photographer took a picture
of me like,
how these windows are and
there's a silhouette,
and that's the picture that
they're going to use.
[man] I think we're gonna
prepare ourselves
for the fight that we expected
in the beginning.
[reporter] Two FBI agents drove
onto the reservation
to arrest someone for stealing
a pair of cowboy boots.
[dog barks]
There was a gunfight with a
handful of Indian radicals.
The Indians say the agent
started it.
The FBI says its men were just
mowed down.
[soft music]
[Sara] They called me almost
immediately and were very firm.
They said, "You can say
anything you want
to, to anybody you want to.
However, we know people on the
paper slightly higher
than that reporter,
and if we do not like what is
written,
it will not be printed."
And it was not printed.
And that was the case with both
The New York Times
and The Los Angeles Times.
They said they could not
guarantee my safety
if I went public about my
association with them.
Yes, I consider that very much
a threat.
And that is when Mr. Bates made
me his lecture.
I don't remember his exact
words,
but the sense of it was
that I was taking my safety
into my own hands
to talk to people like that.
[director] That's a threat from
you.
[Sara] I said it was a threat.
I said they threatened me.
I said they threatened me.
Why does nobody believe me?
[director] No, because that way
he's saying it is,
-it's a veiled--
-[Sara] I didn't think
it was very veiled.
I thought it was pretty brutal
and out there.
[music continues]
[Henry Kissinger] All of the
matters to which you refer
have been developed by
well-established procedures
in the government that have
been consistently tightened,
approved by the president and
briefed
to the appropriate committees.
This doesn't make them right.
-I'm just trying to explain-
-[man] No,
it makes it all the more
appalling to me, Mr. Secretary.
[crowd cheering]
[man 1] I was implying that
what we were doing,
what the boys were doing in
Chile
met with the approval all of
the CIA.
[man 2] How did you know that?
[man 1] I told him in passing
that we had made contacts with
Mr. Kissinger's office,
and the White House.
And that we were trying to tell
them
that if and when Allende was
elected,
which he was gonna be,
everybody knew,
we would probably lose our
properties worth $150 million.
And that is the whole purpose
of anything that we in the
Washington office did,
was to try to protect our
investment.
[tape clicks]
[Sara] At a certain point when
you begin to accept
that you're probably not going
to live
or that you're not going to be
free,
when that finally sinks in,
it actually becomes a kind of
freedom
because you're nervous, but the
actual fear goes away.
You're not...
And I had decided that I was
not gonna hide out,
I was not gonna skulk around
corners.
If you're gonna do it to me,
you're gonna do it right out in
the open.
[man] Anarchy.
The breakdown of law and order,
a chaotic reign of terror, mob
rule and rioting,
the collapse of government
authority.
-[bugs chirping]
-[pensive music]
[Sara] Dave was a neighbor, and
Dave was a gun nut.
[engine rumbling]
And he was genuinely concerned.
And so he took me there.
I don't know whether he had
built it.
I don't know if he worked on
it.
There were other people there.
It was a gun range that people
used.
It was apparently a semi-secret
gun range
that people that I guess were
into guns,
maybe the John Birch Society
or whatever that they had set
up.
Some of them were survivalists
and had camps and homes up in
the hills
where they were gonna retreat
when this revolution started.
I'm not sure that he wasn't
Posse Comitatus.
Posse Comitatus, you don't know
Posse Comitatus?
Honey, that is so extreme right
wing,
you don't even know about it.
[reporter] This is the way Sara
Jane Moore got her guns.
On the morning of the day she
shot at the president,
she returned to Danville
and Mark Fernwood sold her a
.38.
Fernwood spoke with Harold Dow
today,
but declined to exhibit his
weapons collection.
Second one she bought just
morning, Monday morning.
And she told me that was for a
friend of hers.
And when she came by, she again
appeared perfectly normal.
She chatted about other things,
interior decoration,
which she used to do,
and she seemed to be in good
spirits.
[engine rumbling]
[Sara] Anybody walking in off
the street, he wouldn't sell a
gun to.
Do well nobody'd know to walk
in off the street
'cause they wouldn't know where
his place was.
I had no idea what guns should
cost or anything.
He says $135, I'll pay $135.
I'm not comparison shopping.
I needed something, he could
supply it, I bought it.
I was in the military for
awhile.
I was in the Army and I had to
go to a camp for training.
We had the gas training,
we had the crawling under the
barbed wire
with live fire over us.
[shot firing]
We had some camouflage
training.
We carried packs, we did
bivouacs.
[shot firing]
We did fire, we did learn to
handle guns,
but we were never issued
weapons
-[shot firing]
-like the men are that we had
to take care of.
It was so exciting to be a
woman and to be doing this.
We wanted more actual military
training than we got.
I think the men thought of it
as us playing little games or
something.
We wanted to be serious about it
but no one was taking women
seriously
in the military at that time.
[group cheering indistinctly]
[Shulamith Firestone] I don't
think anything will replace it
except sisterhood among women.
That there'll be a great
alliance.
Women will discover each other
as human beings.
[reporter] Will they turn to
women instead of men then?
As friends, as sisters, as
rebels,
as fighters in a revolution
that they all wish they all
share?
-Yes.
-[reporter] But if they want
more,
just answering to their nature
as a woman,
if they want love?
Well, there's nothing to say
that the nature of women,
the true nature of women needs
love anymore than any other.
We don't know what love is.
It's just a phony word.
It has no real definition.
I think that whole concept has
to be thrown out
and redefined and it won't be
redefined
until after the revolution.
[pensive music]
[Sara] At this point, I had an
unwelcome house guest,
a woman who was a known member
of the Tribal Thumb,
had come to me and had said
that she needed a place to stay
for a few days.
And could she? And I said,
well, yes she could.
She'd have to sleep on the
couch, but yes she could.
And I knew I didn't have a
choice,
that I was not going to say no.
I had a lot of respect for the
Tribal Thumb.
Not good respect,
but I wasn't gonna mess with
'em.
[soft intriguing music]
-[water splashing]
-[seagulls squawking]
[Sara] They tried to talk me
into buying some land in
Mendocino
and I went up there to look at
the land
and spend a couple of days in a
tent up there.
I don't know whether they were
trying to recruit me
or whether they were getting
ready to blow me away.
I think they figured out that I
had figured out
that they had killed Popeye.
I think I know why,
but I'm not gonna.
Yeah, but what I tell you,
I'm telling the truth and the
things
that I'm not telling you,
I have reasons for not telling
you.
The whole thing is too wild.
So, I'm not gonna say it.
[tape rewinding]
[Bertram] September 2nd, 1975.
Although we formally stated
that Moore
was no longer working with the
FBI,
I continued to contact her on a
regular basis.
She spoke with me often
and continued to write daily
reports.
She stated that this recent
period had been very chaotic
and that everyone was giving
her advice.
She stated that just the
thought of meeting
with me and talking to me kept
her thinking straight.
At one meeting she stated
that she would like to go to
China.
I informed her we could arrange
that.
She asked, "At the invitation
of the Chinese government?"
I stated we could arrange that.
Despite Moore being advised to
leave the movement,
and given that she has
continued to maintain her
contacts
and even make new important
ones,
I recommend reformalizing
Moore's status
as a potential security
informant.
[reporter] According to
published reports in
Washington D.C.,
a young Army WAC was found
unconscious
on a sidewalk near the White
House in 1950.
The WAC identified
as Sara Khan reportedly
suffered from amnesia.
The Army says it has no
military record
of a WAC named Sara Kahn, but
will double check.
Sara Jane Khan is the maiden
name of Sara Jane Moore,
charged with attempted
assassination
of President Ford in San
Francisco on Monday.
There were also reports from
San Francisco today
that Mrs. Moore was working as
a government informer
just 24 hours before she fired
at the president.
-[bulb flashing]
-[wind whistling]
[reporter] The city of Saigon
was renamed today.
The victorious communists
who forced the city's surrender
said the capital
of South Vietnam henceforth
will be known
as Ho Chi Minh City.
Viet Cong headquarters...
[Sara] I had moved to what Bert
called Washington Control,
which meant that he was no
longer directing my actions,
that what I was being requested
to do was coming directly from
Washington.
And he said to me at one point,
they don't know you're a woman.
And there is, and again, the
feminist in me,
and this is part of the
struggle with women.
For the first time in my life,
I felt fully engaged in
something and where no...
As I said, they did not know I
was a woman.
[crowd chattering]
[man 1] Don't point it at me.
[group laughs]
Mitch, can you roll that over?
[indistinct]
Isn't it true too that the
effort
not only involved designing a
gun
that could strike a human
target
without knowledge of the person
who'd been struck,
but also the toxin itself would
not appear in the autopsy?
[man 2] Well, there was an
attempt to make-
-[man 1] Or the dart?
-[man 2] Yes.
So that there was no way of
perceiving
that the the target was hit.
[man 1] As a murder instrument,
that's about as efficient as
you can get, isn't it?
[man 2] It is a weapon, a very
serious weapon.
[group chattering]
One time in one group, we were
sitting there planning
what our next action ought to
be.
And somebody said, "You know
what we ought to do?
We ought to kill a pig."
And I said, "Okay, which one
and when?"
And there was dead silence.
[machine flat lining]
[machine beeping]
[Bertram] On the morning of
August 25th, 1975,
I received a gift from Moore
while I was recovering
from a heart attack at the San
Francisco General Hospital.
It was a hardcover edition of
Breach of Faith, The Fall of
Richard Nixon.
Moore and I had discussed the
book before it came out.
I arranged for the book to be
returned
with a note explaining to her
that I could not accept gifts.
[Sara] It shook me up a little
bit
because I had thought that we
had developed a friendship,
and I suddenly realized that
that was probably deliberate on
their part
to have me connected to him
emotionally,
but to him, it was just a job.
[director] Did it hurt at all
to have that book returned?
Well, I just explained.
[director] You know, if it hurt
your feelings?
Oh, I don't think it hurt my
feelings like that.
As I say, it was a wake up call
because I realized that they
had deliberately,
I think they deliberately beget
you emotionally involved
with your control and so that
you depend on them
for a certain amount
of your emotional well-being or
something.
And to him, it was just a job.
[bugs chirping]
[somber music]
[Sara] There was a musician, a
composer musician,
and I was asked if I could
drive him
around for two or three days.
He was playing in a bar
where he played rock music or
whatever people wanted.
And I said, "You've had some
training."
I said, "You've had some
classical training."
And he immediately began to
play a concerto.
I was asked to take some papers
or something to him, to his
flat,
and he came to the door,
and I went into an absolutely
empty room.
And then I went into another
room
where the only furniture was a
piano.
And then [exclaims].
Oh, God, I remember those days.
I don't know how I stayed sane.
Oh yeah, this, yeah, this was
an assault.
And then we just behaved like
it had never happened.
I chauffeured him around to the
doctor,
to the Department of
Transportation.
He had to have his piano tuned.
I took him to the tuner or
something to,
in terms of organizing, in
terms...
He also, he hadn't been out of
prison very long.
And as I was driving him around
the three days
I was driving him around,
he kept talking about that
somebody ought to assassin--
that I think he was saying he
ought,
that he was going to
assassinate the president.
And I said "No, no.
You are too valuable to the
movement as a musician.
It should be somebody like me
that nobody's gonna miss."
[music continues]
[reporter] When Patty Hearst
renounced her family
and joined the SLA, the People
in Need program ended,
and Sara Jane Moore took some
odd jobs,
but the whole experience had
changed her life.
She'd seen the other people,
she'd been around the street,
talked to people she'd never
known before
from various social classes,
minorities,
about things she'd never talked
about before with anyone.
Later on, she took to spending
a lot of time in various
Berkeley coffee houses,
talking to young people.
Later on, I saw her at
a demonstration outside one of
the hotels.
I think it was during President
Rockefeller's,
Vice President Rockefeller's
visit.
She was with one of the local
prison aid groups.
I haven't seen her in some
months.
She's called me a few times
and I haven't had a chance to
talk to her
because you get busy and
thinking about it now,
I wish very much I had talked
to her.
[Sara] If Ford was assassinated,
Rockefeller would've ascended
to the presidency.
And all of a sudden people
would say,
"Wait a minute, wait a minute.
There's something wrong here."
Rockefeller was never elected
to the office of vice president.
He was appointed.
Ford was never elected to the
office of president.
He was appointed.
We're supposed to elect our
leaders
and people would say, "Wait a
minute,
there's something wrong with
this."
And we'll begin to see
that what we had was not a
government,
but was a phony cabal, if you
will,
of people manipulating things
to make them work their way.
[indistinct singing]
[man] When a limousine can
parade openly
through the streets of Dallas,
there's a change that's come
over America.
After a decade of tension,
the people and their president
are back together again.
[indistinct singing]
[tape clicks]
[crowd chattering]
[Sara] I had a plan.
I knew how the crowd would
react.
I'd seen crowds react before.
I knew that when it happened,
that they would scatter,
and I was gonna scatter right
along with them,
get the cable car out on the
corner, ride it up to the top,
and go into Blum's in the
Fairmont Hotel,
and sit down and have a dish of
ice cream.
Strawberry, probably.
Chocolate strawberry.
I like ice cream.
I'd have probably gotten
whatever they suggested.
[pensive music]
[detective] At 2:25 p.m. we
arrested Patty Hearst
at 625 Morse, M-O-R-S-E,
in the Outer Mission District.
[Ford] We're focusing as I
think we should,
on the record that I have built
over 21 months
as president of the United
States.
We think the record of peace
and prosperity
and trust is a record that is
appealing
to the majority of Americans.
[Sara] I was gonna go down to
Stanford because Ford
was there and I wasn't going
down there to assassinate.
I was gonna go down to see what
the security was like.
I think I was looking for an
excuse to say,
ah, there's no way that, you
know?
Yeah, he was going to visit
California three times,
and he was there once and then
Squeaky
did her thing in Sacramento.
And I remember saying,
oh, the security of around him
will be so tight,
nobody will be able to get
someone.
So, we're driving back and we
get to the Mission District
and we see a lot of cop cars,
and we're kind of a little bit,
mm?
And then we saw a fire truck.
So we thought that there'd been
a fire somewhere,
and this is why we're seeing
all the cop cars.
So then we turned down Guerrero
Street,
and all of a sudden here came
all these police cars
and they actually skidded
so that they blocked the street
in front of my...
And I'm looking around to see
who they're after,
what they're doing.
And suddenly realized it was I.
And so I'm just sitting there
in the car
and a policeman gets out full
crouch down
and tells me to get out of the
car.
And I get out of the car and he
said, "Do you have a gun?
Do you have your gun?"
And I said, "Yes, I do."
And he said, "Where is it?"
And I said, "It's in my purse."
And he said, "Get it."
Now, I had visions that if I
opened
that purse and reached in and
got the gun,
that they were gonna blow me
away,
whether they would have or not.
So I just took the whole purse
and threw it at him.
By our procedure, we ran a
check of the woman,
found that she had no prior
criminal record.
Consequently, the gun was taken
from her
and booked as property, and
she was cited and released.
She was to what I consider
falls into the stereotype
of a middle class citizen,
and you probably wouldn't look
twice at her
if she was walking down the
street
or suspect her of anything.
Tom, what about the earlier
investigation of her
that was carried out by
authorities there?
John, there's some confusion
about that tonight, quite
frankly.
The Secret Service now has
issued this statement.
They said that Sara Moore was
brought to the attention
of the Secret Service on
September 20th.
That would be last Saturday
by the San Francisco Police
Department.
She was interviewed, they say
yesterday.
That's the 21st by the Secret
Service.
And as a result of that
interview,
she was not of sufficient
protective interest
to warrant surveillance during
the presidential visit.
[unsettling music]
[Sara] One of the agents had
been a neighbor of mine in
Danville,
and he said, "I couldn't
believe it
when your name came up on the
list,
because we're neighbors.
And we understand you have been
so helpful to us in the past."
[Bertram] Close to midnight, on
September 21st,
I received a call from the
Secret Service
about an interview they were
conducting with Moore.
They stated she was upset and
on the verge of tears.
They asked Moore if she was
planning
on shooting the president.
And she replied, no, stating
that the only person she had
thought about offing
was her FBI control.
The agents described Moore
as an aging woman who wanted to
be in groups
and involved in undercover work
to get attention and
self-satisfaction.
[Sara] They asked me some
questions,
all of which I answered
honestly.
No, they did not [laughs].
They asked me, was I going to
Stanford to shoot Ford,
and I said, no.
And he said, "Well, we're gonna
have to watch you."
"Well, for how long?
What are you talking about?
Six months, a year or what?"
He said, "For the rest of your
life."
[reporter speaking in Spanish]
[patriotic triumphant music]
[Ford] It's taken us many years
to open this door
to useful cooperation and space
between our two countries,
and I'm confident that the day
is not far off.
When space, missions made
possible
by this first joint effort will
be more or less commonplace.
And may I say, in signing off,
here's to a soft landing.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. President.
[music ends]
[soft music]
[Sara] How would it be possible
to do this?
And so, you start thinking
about how it would be
possible.
And some things you know
would be totally impossible,
and other things, well, this is
how it could be done.
You got a problem,
you go to bed and sleep on it.
You wake up in the morning with
a solution.
So somewhere in the night,
your subconscious has figured
out
the problem and given you a
solution.
[music continues]
We knew it was gonna happen.
It was only a matter of when it
happened.
[man] The life and death
struggle will begin.
It has begun.
How this struggle will end
will depend on how completely
the masses shake free and put
up militant resistance.
Fascism will be our punishment
tomorrow
if we let pass the hour of
socialism.
[alarm blaring]
-[button clicks]
-[anticipatory music]
[Ford] We can and we will--
[Sara] Well, I knew I had to get
a gun.
[Ford] To find a better way.
[Sara] They had said I could
pick up
the gun at the property room.
[Ford] There was an error made--
[Sara] So I did call down to the
property room and they said,
"Nobody's here today.
Everybody's out because the
president's in town,
everybody's out doing, there's
nobody here.
You'll have to come tomorrow."
I called Mark to see if he had
a gun,
and he thought awhile and he
said, "Yes."
He said, "I have one."
She seemed very friendly, very
calm.
There's nothing about her
demeanor
that would've in any way
indicated
that she had such a terrible
thing on her mind.
[reporter] Mark Fernwood wants
to make it clear,
he is not a member of any left
wing radical group.
He's a conservative and an
anti-communist,
and he's against gun controls.
Rick Davis, NBC News, Danville,
California.
[Sara] I went to the payphone
and I called Burt
on his private number.
And I said, "You will never
guess
what happened to me last.."
He said, "I know what happened
to you last night."
And then he said, "I want you
to do something."
And I said, "What do you mean?"
He said, "I want you to go get
in your car right now,
put your son in the car, get in
the car and drive away."
I said, "What?"
He said, "That's what you need
to do.
You need to just get in the car
and drive."
[pensive music]
[Sara] I'm in the car driving
back towards San Francisco,
and I am loading, driving the
car and loading the weapon,
and alongside me pulls up a big
18 wheeler
and he's way up here.
I'm down here in my little...
And this guy looks down at me
and stares at me
as I'm in the car driving with
one hand
and trying to load my weapon
with the other hand.
There were so many times that
day that would've stopped it.
It was like following a script
or something
that any little thing would've
turned it off.
And for some reason, everything
just flowed
along just as smoothly.
I wasn't hung up in traffic,
and I had dressed that morning
so that I looked like any other
suburban matron
so I wouldn't stand out in the
crowd.
I didn't have any problem
parking.
Got out, walked across the
street.
I put the gun in my purse and
got in the crowd,
and I had planned to be back a
little bit
because I knew what people do
in crowds
when something happens, they
scatter.
At one point I thought he came
out
and I actually pulled the
pistol
out of the purse and this was
shiny.
I mean, the sun glinted off of
it
and realized it was not Ford,
and put the gun back in the
purse.
I was pushed up on the ropes,
and I had to make a decision
because I'm up there
and I'm gonna be visible if I
do this.
And at one point I tried
to move back in the crowd a
little bit
and it was too crowded.
And then someone came up
against my back
as men sometimes do in crowded
situations,
taking advantage of the
situation.
And I turned around with all of
my socialization
and conditioning to slap the
man's face,
immediately realized that he
was gay,
and so turned back around.
I was aiming for a headshot
because I felt he was probably
wearing body armor.
[anticipatory music]
[crowd clamoring]
[shot firing]
[crowd screaming]
[siren wailing]
[engine rumbling]
[man] Gee, I'm sorry.
I'm so nervous.
Excuse me.
My sexual orientation has
nothing at all
to do with saving the
president's life.
I'm first and foremost a human
being
who enjoys and respects life.
I feel that a person--
-[attorney] Person's worth.
-[man] Worth is determined
by how he or she responds to
the world,
not on how or what or with whom
a private life is shared.
[soft music]
[Sara] There's a sort of an
interesting little side story
here.
Mark and I are talking guns and
he's explaining things
and he said it was a
policeman's dress weapon
and that the policeman had sold
it to him.
He did not tell me why the
policeman
had sold this dress weapon to
him.
But anyway, the reason the
policeman
had sold his dress weapon
was as the sights were out of
alignment.
[bystanders clamoring]
[horn honking]
[sullen music]
[Sara] I had two thoughts in
mind.
One was to drive to Southern
California
where my son's father was,
and one was to drive to
Arizona.
And depending on what time it
was,
I'd have picked my son up at
school
because I think this was early
enough in the day
that I could have picked him up
at school
and then I would've driven away.
Sara Jane Moore is told The Los
Angeles Times
in a jailhouse interview that
despite the gunfire,
she aimed at President Ford,
she's glad he did not die.
Mrs. Moore, who has been on the
fringe of radical politics,
called Last Monday's
assassination attempt,
"An ultimate protest against
the system.
I did not want to kill
somebody.
But there comes a point when
the only
way you can make a statement is
to pick up a gun."
There's no simple way to
characterize her mental state.
Certainly she's a very bright
person
who is quite alert and oriented
to what's going on
and has a very complex
motivation.
But I think she, there is
evidence that she's had
a number of emotional problems
over the years
and she's had a number of
hospitalizations
for emotional problems over the
years.
[camera flashing]
Honesty compels me to say
that it was an out that was
offered to me.
Let it be that you were crazy.
That's your your route to
freedom.
Go ahead and go off.
Be crazy.
Go away for six months.
We'll treat you when the
publicity dies down,
we'll bring you back and handle
it quietly.
[reporter] Have you had
psychiatric care
since you've been in the
prison?
No, and I don't need it.
[reporter] Do you consider
yourself a dangerous woman?
I hope so.
[reporter] And that left the
most disturbing question of
all.
How did she convert to
terrorism?
Was it a conscious act of will
or did the months of strain
and revolutionary rhetoric
wrench
the mind of Patty Hearst full
around
so that Black became white,
wrong meant right,
and terrorism an act of
goodness.
-[door slams]
-[anticipatory music]
[Sara] I am not now insane in
either the legal or medical
sense.
Six distinguished doctors have
so agreed.
I knew what I was doing.
I knew it was illegal, had
control of my actions,
and had made a conscious
and deliberate decision to act
as I did.
I have no more desire than
anyone else
to spend the rest of my life in
prison
if there is any reasonably
honest
and honorable way I can avoid
it.
But there comes a point
when we each have to answer to
ourselves,
and it is with our own
conscience we must make peace.
No one has been charged with,
nor is on trial for the
assassination plots against
Castro,
Allende, Lumumba, and other
foreign leaders,
nor for the actual
assassinations in this country
of Fred Hampton, George Jackson,
and the Attica brothers to name
only a few
of the many comrades murdered
by the police.
When any government uses
assassination,
whether political leaders abroad
or its own citizens to put down
dissent
or hide its own repressive
actions,
it must expect that tool to be
turned back against itself.
This court entered a not guilty
plea on my behalf.
Now I am ready to answer for my
own acts.
I did indeed, willfully, and
knowingly attempt
to murder Gerald R. Ford,
President of the United States
by use
of a handgun and would now like
to enter a guilty plea.
[engine rumbling]
[pensive music]
[reporter] Federal Judge Samuel
Conti's voice seemed
to crackle with anger.
"Your crime was a crime against
this whole nation.
You are a product of our
violent time.
It is the judgment of this
court that you be incarcerated
for the maximum term
imprisonment for life."
[train exhaust hissing]
[man] And Valium and Mellaril
and Equity and Librium and--
[bystanders chattering]
[woman] Stand clear the doors
are closing.
[doors banging]
[soft music]
[Sara] I did talk to him from
jail.
I think it was the evening
that the guilty plea was
accepted.
He was crying and that's why
they had put the call through
and he said,
"Mom, mom, why did you say
that?
Why didn't you lie?"
And I had one of the few chances
that parents ever get in life
to say something meaningful to
a child.
And I said to him,
"You don't only tell the truth
when it helps you.
You also have to tell the truth
when it can hurt you."
[Bertram] Inside Moore's
apartment, were children's toys,
a portrait of Marx, a squash
racket,
a French telephone on the
nightstand
and a cheap bottle of Cribari
Champagne in the refrigerator.
In her desk drawer in a manila
envelope
lay an advertisement for
herself
from a local dating service.
It stated, "I enjoy opera,
theater,
needle work, backpacking,
entertaining, a lovely home,
my art collection, my wonderful
little son,
and pleasant work.
I'm looking for a well-educated
man
who can be comfortable in any
atmosphere,
who can laugh and be
enthusiastic
with a sense of curiosity and
wonder at the world."
[object ticking]
[anticipatory music]
[engine rumbling]
[bugs chirping]
-[bystanders chattering]
-[traffic whizzing]
[anticipatory music]
[plane engine whirring]
[President Ford] May God guide
this wonderful country,
it's people, and those they
have chosen to lead them.
[audience applauding]
May our third century be
illuminated by liberty
and blessed with brotherhood,
so that we and all who come
after us
may be the humble servants of
thy peace.
Amen.
Goodnight.
[bell tolls]
[newscaster] Sara Jane Moore,
who tried to kill President
Ford in 1975
was back in prison today after
a desperate short escape.
Mrs. Moore, who is 48, climbed
a 12 foot high fence
for what proved to be only
a few hours of freedom last
night.
[music continues]
-[dogs barking]
-[birds chirping]
[Sara] I loved every minute of
it.
I loved every minute of it.
It was the first I have seen
the stars
since I came to prison.
I was walking on streets.
We walked by.
There were people in coffee
shops.
I needed it.
Whatever it comes down on me,
it helped.
[soft music]
[music fades]