"Up came this .45 that she had strapped to her ankle:"Agent recalls the moment he saved President Ford's Life in Sacramento

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(FOX40.COM) — As the video of the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump Saturday evening replays on television screens across America, it conjures up the vivid images of an assassination attempt on another president 49 years ago here in Sacramento. 

For former secret service agent Larry Buendorf, these moments from September 5, 1975 are not mere snapshots of history but lived experience. 

“You try to put it into slow motion, and there’s no slow motion about it,” Buendorf recalled over the phone. 

President Gerald Ford was supposed to be led by motorcade to the California State Capitol for a speech that day, according to Buendorf. 

“He walked out of the hotel that morning, saw it was a beautiful day. It’s always beautiful in Sacramento. He walked out and said, ‘I think I’ll walk,’” Buendorf said. “That wasn’t in the plan.” 

They quickly established a perimeter of the sidewalk. Buendorf was right at President Ford’s left shoulder, as the president shook people’s hands. Among the crowd was a member of the Manson family, Lynette “Squeaky Fromme.” 

“She was dressed completely in red. When she stood up, according to Ford, he noticed that right away,” City Historian with the Center for Sacramento History Marcia Eymann said. 

Buendorf recalled Fromme having a .45 caliber pistol strapped to her ankle. The former secret service agent stepped in front of the president and reached to grab the gun.

“I hit it, took it out of her hands, pushed her back in the crowd, and of course as we’re trained to do, they covered the president and evacuated,” Buendorf said. 

As Eymann took us through the Sacramento Bee’s images of that day, she notes how President Ford still made it to the Capitol for his speech. 

“They invited the president who needed a campaign stop, as he was running for president again,” Eymann said. 

Both President Ford and President Trump pressed on in an election year after attempts were made on their lives. 

“It’s part of being president, it’s part of being a commander in chief, that you continue to move forward,” Eymann said. 

This was not the only assassination attempt President Ford experienced. Seventeen days later, another attempt was made by a different woman in San Francisco, according to the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum.

“He talked to reporters and he said, ‘I don’t think anyone is president to cower in the face of a limited number of people who want to take the law into their own hands,’” Dr. Mirelle Luecke, Supervisory Curator of the library and museum quoted President Ford.

“‘The American people want a dialogue between them and their president and other public officials.’”

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Kristin Vartan

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