>Date: Sat, 27 Feb 1999 00:16:13 -0800 >To:Wes >From:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Alex Constantine) >Subject:Sarah Jane Moore: "I Spied for the FBI" > >Sarah Jane Moore: "I Spied for the FBI" > > "When I was getting ready to go public regarding my spying activities a >journalist attempting to verify some facts was told by the FBI that if the >story appeared I would be in danger. > >"This warning was repeated to me by the FBI with the additional suggestion >that I should leave town. Charles Bates told me that of course they couldn't >stop me from talking but that I was placing myself in danger if the story >appeared. He stated that at any rate he was not going to allow the FBI to be >embarrassed." > > >- S.J.Moore > >--------------------------------------------------------------------------- >WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO SARAH JANE MOORE ? > >"How in two years did I change from a relatively normal middle aged >suburbanite to a would be assassin?" >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >This is a question from a seven page statement by Sarah Jane Moore in 1975. >When I ask around to see if anyone remembered who she was, I got mixed >responses. My children were sure Sarah Jane was a cookie like Mrs. Fields. >Someone said she was an F.B.I. agent. > >Some never heard of her and most people remember her as the woman who tried >to knock off President Ford. And she was an agent and she did try to shoot >Ford with a hand gun. > >I was given this statement by someone who had been in prison with Sarah >Jane. The women who gave me the papers was in prison for demonstrating >against the war in Vietnam. > >Sarah was often referred to as a poor demented woman. Here is a portion of >what she wrote about that period of her life. >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >"The impression is being deliberately fostered that I am a poor demented >woman who went off her rocker and in a moment of madness fired a shot at >Gerald Ford. The success of the F.B.I. is people like me...for whom the >American dream has worked (then) we find out that for a majority of >Americans it is not only a myth but that our very comfort and success is >dependent on the oppression and repression even the blood of others...Gerald >Ford's life is no more valuable than...an American soldier killed in >Vietnam...when any government uses assassination...it must expect that tool >to be turned back against it. > >"I am not...insane...well qualified psychiatrists who examined me...agreed I >was under pressure and my judgement was "somewhat imparied". > >"My attorney...urged my complete and honest cooperation with both the >defense and prosecution psychiatrists. I agreed since (I did not want) to >spend the rest of my life in prison...No one has been charged with, nor is >on trial for the assassination plots against Castro, Allende, or other >foreign leaders. > >"I did indeed willfully and knowingly attempt to murder Gerald R. Ford, the >president of the United States, by use of a handgun...I have spent >time...seriously considering...the rights I waive with a guilty plea and the >consequencies of that plea. (She allowed time to reconsider her plea of >guilty.) > >"I looked at my sister prisoners and wondered if this opportunity to review >my plea and consider the consequences would have been offered if my skin was >black or my name (was latina)instead of Moore...I thought about all the >money sent by the government to have doctors flown in from all over the >country to examine me at length and contrasted that with the struggle of the >other women at County Jail simply to get to see a psychiatric nurse. > >"I am as frightened as I have ever been in my entire life, but I am at peace >with myself, ( with the plea of guilty)." In answer to questions ask by a >probation officer, Sarah had this to say: > >"Would I counsel anyone else to attempt such an assissination? No. > >"Do I think assassination a valid political tool? Yes, (but) it has been >more often and most effectively used against rather than by progressive >forces. > >"Am I sorry I tried? yes and no. > >"Yes because it accomplished little except to throw away the rest of my >life...No, because at the time it seems a correct expression of my anger >and, if successful, the assassination combined with the public disclosures >of this government's own activities in this area just might have triggered >the kind of chaos that could have started the upheaval of change. > >"How in two years did I change from a relatively normal middle aged >suburbanite to a would be assassin? ...I think I was relatively normal. Many >of the people around me were almost as disatisfied as I with the system and >were also looking for answers. They worked in the same causes as I...In the >peace movement...the farm workers...the Black Panther Party then trying to >bring good medical care to the people by establishing free medical >clinics...new awareness of the prison system. > >"...the kidnapping of Patty Hearst brought me...to the attention of the >F.B.I. as I met and began to work again with those I had briefly met or hear >about during those fashionable liberal do gooder actions of a few years >before. > >"But, this time I was faced with the reality, the very raw truth, of those >things only spoken about before. Instead of polite and articulate (people) I >met the people they spoke of the angry; no, the enraged black and brown >people we oppress and close out of our system. > >"The FBI directed me to people and organizations seriously working for >radical change whose dreams I found I shared whose dedication I envied and >whose goal socialism seemed not only necessary but possible. > >"My natural inclination was toward the theorists, mostly well educated white >people like myself who studied and wrote but eschewed violent action. > >"But the original reason the FBI recruited me was the search for Patty >Hearst and the SLA so I stayed very much interested in and active among the >angry and dispossessed the theorist only talked about. > >"So there was working on me this combination of theory which made >understandable a possible and powerful dream and exposure to those who found >their only recource in violence. > >"There was no coordination not even any communication between these groups. >the whole left as a matter of fact seemed disorganized, strife ridden and >weak. And I realized the reason for this was the FBI whose tool I was who >clearly and correctly saw the strength and power of the idea of socialism >realized it represented a very real danger to our profit motivated corporate >state and who had declared a total, though secret, war against not only >dedicated revolutionaries but also against all progressive forces even those >working for the most acceptable "American" changes such as civil rights >because they theatened the established order. > >"I listened with horror once to a bright young agent as he bragged about his >abilities in the area of anonymous letter writing and other forms of >character assassination, not of big important leaders; but of little people >as soon as they showed any leadership potentional, the Bureau's tactic is to >cut them down or burn them out before they realize their potential. > >"I remember Worthington (my Bureau control) saying: "you don't seem to >realize that this is war!" he thought the next two or three years would be >the most crucial in our nation's history. His greatest fear at that time was >that the left would rediscover the documents and ideas from the first and >second American revolutions and use them to spark a new revolution. > >"He said that these words are as powerful today as ever and that properly >used (actually he said "cleverly" used) the people could be aroused by these >ideas and would fight again to achieve them. > >"Why is socialism so compleling an idea? Well, compare China and India >thirty years ago similarly oppressed, famine ridden; the people illiterate, >the leaders corrupt. > >"Both threw off foreign yokes...Today India is still corrupt her people >oppressed, poverty striken, famine ridden, jobless and ill housed while >China's 800 million are healthy, literate, well housed and fed, and appear >to be happy. > >"That explains my political beliefs. It does not explain why in the name of >a dream whose essence is a deep love for people and a belief in the >essential beauty and worth of each individual I picked up a gun intending to >kill another human being. > >"When I was getting ready to go public regarding my spying activities a >journalist attempting to verify some facts was told by the FBI that if the >story appeared I would be in danger. > >"This warning was repeated to me by the FBI with the additional suggestion >that I should leave town. Charles Bates told me that of course they couldn't >stop me from talking but that I was placing myself in danger if the story >appeared. He stated that at any rate he was not going to allow the FBI to be >embarrassed. If there was anything they didn't like in the story they would >simply see that it was edited out, that they had done that before, that he >had "friends" on that particular paper somewhat highter up than the reporter >level. > >"I had already had a phone call saying I was next that was just after the >murder of a friend. Now friends and foes alike vied with each other to warn >me each claiming to have heard from sources they refused to name that I was >to be "offed" or at the very least beaten. > >"Beyond a certian point pressure and threats are counter-productive. When >one is threatened to a point where one is convienced; that is , when I >finally accepted the fact that I was not going to be able to get away--that >I wasn't willing to pay the price--the realization I would probable be >killed ceased to frighten--it brought instead a sense of freedom. > >"The fear of arrest similarly disappeared. It wasn't "if" but only >"when"--again the sense of freedom. First I was trashed and discredited and >made to seem like a "kook"--with the help of the ever-cooperative press. >Then I had a well-publized trial. I was neutralized and told I could receive >a lesser sentence if I would cooperate with the courts. Tell them who else >shares my ideals and they would go easy on me. > >"I have no desire or reason to cooperate with a government to whose >destruction I am dedicated. However torturous the path--however many >mistakes are made--however weak we may be as individuals; somehow--somewhere >along the way someone will finally spark the prairie fire of a new >revolution in America. A revolution that will change the government from one >of the politicians, by the docile puppets, for the corporate interests to a >"government of the people, by the people, for the people." > >"But beyond a certian point pressure and threats are counter productive. >When one is threatened to a point where one is convinced; that is, when I >finally accepted the fact that I was not going to be able to get away that I >wasn't willing to pay the price the realization I would probably be killed >ceased to frighten it brought instead a sense of freedom. > >"The fear of arrest similarly disappeared. It wan't "if" but only >"when"again the sense of freedom. > >"When there was no longer any chance of being accepted by those people doing >(what I felt was) positive constructive work toward radical change I finally >understood and joined those who have only destruction and violence as a >means of making change and came to understand that violence can sometimes be >constructive. >"Patty Hearst had a machine gun that she shot holes in a building with while > robbing a store. Her presents in the media shook up and mock the rich. She > is now "just a plain old housewife" ---" > >ride home[Image]
