On the morning of Sept. 5, 1975, an impassioned young woman in a red hooded robe traveled to Sacramento to plead with President Gerald R. Ford on behalf of California’s redwood trees. Rather than a peaceful protest, however, the young woman had something else in mind. Armed with a loaded .45 caliber pistol, she pushed her way to the front of the crowd and pointed the gun at the president from an arm’s length away.
The president walked away from the encounter unharmed and the young woman was arrested, but her story would prove to be far more interesting than an attempted assassination. As her arrest records soon revealed, the young woman had experience with crime and with one of the most infamous criminals of the period: Charles Manson.
Her name was Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme. Here’s how she went from an all-American girl-next-door to a devoted member of one of the most notorious cults in American history and finally to serving a life sentence for trying to assassinate a sitting U.S. president.
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