In high school I read “Helter Sketler” and was astounded at the level of coldness and insanity that can happen when a cultish figure can dominate the minds of others. I read it while taking the bus to and from school, back before reading and riding would make me yack. One of those caught up in the madness of Charles Manson was ‘Squeaky’ Fromme. I recall the CBS Evening News the day the assassination attempt on President Ford was made by Fromme. The lunacy in her life had continued beyond the days of being with Manson. I must say that in totality of the life she has lived I am not in favor of ‘Squeaky’ Fromme being released from prison. Do people change? Can people change? Well yes. But all the changes in the world can not sometimes erase the madness that seems to dwell in some. I may seem harsh here, but I think this is one woman who made seriously bad choices, and as such closed the book on her future at the time she acted on those choices. While I understand that Fromme did not take part in those horrible killings as detailed in the gripping book, she was however arrested in connection with another homicide, though the charges were dropped for lack of evidence. Her role with ‘the family’ was very disturbing.
Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, the Charles Manson cult follower who tried to kill President Ford, is scheduled to be released from prison next week.
Fromme, now 60, took aim at the president with a semi-automatic .45-caliber pistol Sept. 5, 1975. There were four bullets in the gun’s magazine, but none in the chamber and an alert Secret Service agent grabbed the gun from Fromme.
Fromme was a devoted member of the demonic Manson “Family.” At the time of the assassination attempt, Manson and several of his followers were serving life terms for killing nine people in his grisly Helter Skelter plot to start a race war.
She told her defense attorney that she targeted Ford because she wanted to garner attention for a new trial for Manson.
Seventeen days after Fromme’s assassination attempt, another Manson “Family” member, Sara Jane Moore, also tried to kill the president. Moore was released from prison earlier this year.
CAFFEINATED POLITICS 
Sara Jane Moore was not a Manson Family member. Never was.
Thanks for writing and making that point. I appreciate the clarification.
Since you are the journalist who wrote the book about Sara Moore I would find your thoughts about the release of Fromme interesting, if you care to share.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Sure. Thanks for asking.
I Interviewed Pres. Ford in 2003 when I first began writing “Taking Aim at the President: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Shot at Gerald Ford.” One of my questions to him was should someone who shoots at a U.S. president with the intent to kill ever be paroled?
His answer, and I quote:
“Anyone who attempts to assassinate a president should be treated the same whether they are successful or not. The fact that they may not have succeeded is irrelevant. The intent is the same.”
I agree with him. It was fortunate Sara Jane’s gun was faulty. She missed Ford’s head by six inches. If she had used her own gun, a .44 Charter Arms Revolver, history would be different.
Most people don’t have the facts of this case. So much of what is out there is total misinformation and it gets repeated over and over again. Even my own paper, the SF Chronicle, where I wrote for a while, who wrote a feature article and a book review on “Taking Aim.” They printed misinformation on this event just this week! Go figure.
No, neither Fromme nor Moore should have been released even though sentencing at the time allowed this to happen. We need to change that.
Whether or not you are fan of the current president, an assassination is a very bad thing for our country. It puts us at risk when we suffer such an event and our government becomes unstable.
Sara Jane went to kill Ford and meant it. She took a loaded gun, aimed and fired. After her first shot everyone around her, including Oliver Sipple, became aware of what was going on. Remember, no one was looking anywhere except towards the door where Ford was going to come out. No one was looking at Sara Jane.
After the explosion of her first shot, everyone ran in panic. Except Oliver Sipple, who was a Marine. He reacted as a Marine would. Stop the shooter. Before Moore could correct her aim, he grabbed at her arm. Just then, SFPD officer Tim Hettrich grabbed her hands and twisted her thumb back as she would not let go. Finally Gary Yauger, the Secret Service agent on the case grabbed the gun from Hettrich.
Fromme had no such intentions. According to my sources, she never pointed the gun at Ford and never pulled the trigger. She waved it around to get attention, period. Again, tons of misinformation.
Fromme gets lots of publicity because she was/is a Manson woman. She is uninteresting and has no thoughts of her own. Not that I’m comparing two worthy people, but Fromme was a druggie, a groupie and had no convictions of hers that were meaningful.
I don’t agree with what Moore did at all, but at least she had a mind of her own and was following her convictions, as misguided as they were/are
Fromme and Moore were incarcarated at Terminal Island Federal prison at the time and I met Fromme.
All this blather about her intelligence is news to me. I found her unrealistic and totally brainwashed. She seemed to spend all her time at the fence seperating the woman from the men.
When Fromme was offered a Parole hearing, her terms were to be released in California so that she could be near Charlie. The terms of her Parole at the time forbid her from going back to California. So, she turned down the opportunity. I don’t know what the restrictions will be this time or if she will be paroled.
So, I hope this helps.
Many thanks for the comment.
I added it, along with a link to your book site, in a follow-up blog posting.
Have a nice weekend.
I read about Squeaky Fromme being released from prison and it occurred to me that there really is “Six Degrees of Separation”, or something like that, at work in the world. In the early 70’s my husband was going to law school at night and the guest speaker at one of his criminal law classes was Vincent Bugliosi, the author of “Helter Skelter.” I was fortunate enough to be able to attend that class and listen to him speak.
Coincidentally a few years later in dental hygiene school my classmates and I often went to Terminal Island Prison to work on the inmates (a story in itself.) One of my friends had Squeaky Fromme as a patient. Squeaky was concerned about keeping her teeth white and told my friend that she brushed her teeth with Comet cleanser. My friend initially was going to tell her that was a bad idea, then she checked herself with the thought “This person hung out with mass murderers. If she wants to brush her teeth with Comet, so what?” Another classmate had Sara Jane Moore as a patient. She, however, did not brush with Comet.
I didn’t have the opportunity to interact with these well-known women, but I did have as a patient in a practice in No. Calif. one of the worst pedophiles in recent history, Father Oliver O’Grady. He was a little milquetoast kind of guy who wouldn’t look me in the eye. You never know…..Thanks for the post–I’m going to add you to my blogroll. Have a great weekend!