Good piece, however, as the author of “Taking Aim At The President: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Shot at Gerald Ford,” I must correct a few of the common and continued factual errors in your piece. Unfortunately, this kind of misinformation has been around for years as the government did not want the public to know how close Ford came to actually being assassinated.

What I’m about to correct in no way diminishes Oliver Sipple heroic “lunge” and saving the life of the President of the United States, no matter what you felt about Ford.

Here are the facts of the case as documented in court transcripts, the Secret Service, FBI and SF Police Department.

Indeed, Sipple was standing near Sara Jane Moore, but at the moment Ford stepped out of the St. Francis Hotel, all eyes were on Ford, not the person standing next to you.

When Moore fired the first time, her bullet missed Ford’s head by six inches as the sight was off on her gun. She had just bought it in haste that morning as her own .44 was confiscated the day before.

Of course, after that blast, everyone scurried away, except for Oliver Sipple, a former Marine and one who jumped into action. He is the only person–a non-official–who went towards the blast, not away from it.

As Moore went to correct her aim, Sipple grabbed at her arm and did indeed deflect a second, deadly shot.

Sipple saved Ford’s life and was dismissed like so much trash. What really infuriates me is to read many news posts that describe him as a “bystander!” Does not the person who save the president’s life deserve a name? www.huffingtonpost.com/geri-spieler

So, thank you for bring an important part of the story out. Sipple is a hero and deserves to be remembered as one. He got a lousy deal. Yet, now that Moore is out, more and more people are learning of Sipple’s life, his heroics and what happened after the fact.

on a lighter note, did he really look like Dick Miller?