Housewife Assassin - by Geri Spieler (Paperback)

About the Book

Author and investigative journalist Geri Spieler chronicles the life and dives into the mind of would-be assassin Sara Jane Moore, the only woman in American history to fire a bullet at a US President, and the only one arrested for committing this level of crime to be released from prison. After thirty years of contact while Moore was behind bars, Spieler paints a vivid personality assessment of this suburban housewife turned revolutionary and FBI informant who was far from the profile of a skilled assassin yet was still able to shoot at Ford on September 22, 1975.

Book Synopsis

United States History award-winner from the International Book Awards, Best Nonfiction True Crime award from BookFest, and Five Stars from Reader's Favorite among other accolades.

Spieler offers a portrait of an erratic, unstable woman with a protean capacity to shift identities, with the 1960s and '70s as a dramatic backdrop. Fans of true crime accounts or contemporary history will savor this. --Publishers Weekly

President Gerald Ford suffered two attempts on his life during his term in office: one by a young woman in Charles Manson's Family, Lynette Squeaky Fromme, and the other by a far more unlikely candidate--an average middle-aged mother of five--Sara Jane Moore. After thirty years in contact with Moore in prison, journalist Geri Spieler deconstructs her life in Housewife Assassin, tracing the path from Moore's small-town upbringing in West Virginia to that fateful moment when she tried to assassinate the president.

Throughout Moore's dodgy life she hid her identity and misled those around her. Through the turbulent 60s and 70s, she married five times, abandoned children, faked amnesia, befriended Patty Hearst's father, became a revolutionary, and worked as an FBI informant turned double agent feeding information to the underground radicals, all before the assassination attempt.

From Spieler's insider correspondence and independent research, including interviews with President Ford himself, she confirms details (the gunshot missed the President's head by six inches) and debunks others (Sara Jane did not shoot wild as the press had reported) to deliver a compelling profile of a society lady turned elusive assassin.

Review Quotes

Spieler offers a portrait of an erratic, unstable woman with a protean capacity to shift identities, with the 1960s and '70s as a dramatic backdrop. Fans of true crime accounts or contemporary history will savor this. --Publishers Weekly

President Gerald Ford suffered two attempts on his life during his term in office: one by a young woman in Charles Manson's Family, Lynette Squeaky Fromme, and the other by a far more unlikely candidate--an average middle-aged mother of five--Sara Jane Moore. After thirty years in contact with Moore in prison, journalist Geri Spieler deconstructs her life in Taking Aim at the President, tracing the path from Moore's small-town upbringing in West Virginia to that fateful moment when she tried to assassinate the president. Throughout Moore's dodgy life she hid her identity and misled those around her. Through the turbulent 60s and 70s, she married five times, abandoned children, faked amnesia, befriended Patty Hearst's father, became a revolutionary, and worked as an FBI informant turned double agent feeding information to the underground radicals, all before the assassination attempt. From Spieler's insider correspondence and independent research, including interviews with President Ford himself, she confirms details (the gunshot missed the President's head by six inches) and debunks others (Sara Jane did not shoot wild as the press had reported) to deliver a compelling profile of a society lady turned elusive assassin.

About the Author

Geri Spieler is an investigative journalist and award-winning speaker who has written articles for the Los Angeles Times, Forbes, Huffington Post, Westways, and was a featured correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle. She founded and edited Electronic Commerce News, a technology journal published by Phillips Business Information, which led to a six-year assignment as a Research Director and Analyst for the Gartner Group. She is president of the California Writers Club, a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, the Authors Guild, Women's National Book Association, the Internet Society, and Book Critics Circle. She lives in Northern California with her husband, her pet chickens and her fruit trees.