4 Acts of Political Violence in California That Sent Shockwaves Across the US

For San Francisco Rep. Nancy Pelosi, last Saturday’s attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump appeared to hit particularly close to home.

“As one whose family has been the victim of political violence, I know firsthand that political violence of any kind has no place in our society,” the former House speaker posted on social media platform X shortly after the incident.

The attempt on Trump’s life comes less than two years after a man pursuing the former House speaker broke into Pelosi’s San Francisco home, bludgeoning her husband over the head with a hammer.

The United States has a long history of political violence, with a number of tragic incidents in San Francisco and elsewhere in California that have sent major shockwaves across the nation. The double assassinations of former San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and former Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978 especially left an indelible mark on the city’s political landscape.

“It’s part of our city’s DNA,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who has received multiple death threats for his pro-LGBTQ positions, told Politico. “San Francisco understands what happens when politics veer into violence.”

Here are four major incidents of political violence in California’s recent history.

Robert F. Kennedy Assassination: June 5, 1968, Los Angeles

A day after winning the California presidential primary, U.S. Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, a New York Democrat, addressed his supporters at a campaign event in a ballroom at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. As he exited the event through a hotel kitchen, he was shot three times by Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian-Jordanian man, who later said Kennedy’s support for Israel spurred his actions. Five other people were also wounded in the attack. Kennedy died at a nearby hospital the following day — June 6. In April 1969, Sirhan was convicted of first-degree murder.

Dual assassination attempts on President Gerald Ford: September 1975, Sacramento and San Francisco

In September 1975, as he campaigned for reelection, President Gerald Ford survived two assassination attempts, both of which occurred in California within just weeks of each other. Miraculously, he was not harmed in either attempt on his life.

In the first incident, on Sept. 5, Ford was walking toward the state Capitol in Sacramento to meet with Gov. Jerry Brown when Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, a disciple of Charles Manson, pushed through the crowd, drew a semi-automatic pistol and pointed it at Ford at close range, and unsuccessfully attempted to fire. Following the incident, Ford continued on to his meeting with Brown. Fromme was sentenced to 34 years in prison and released in 2009.

Just 17 days later, Sara Jane Moore confronted Ford outside the St. Francis hotel in San Francisco. She fired one shot but missed. A bystander grabbed her arm as a second shot was attempted. Moore was sentenced to life in prison for the attempt and released on parole in 2007.

Ford subsequently wore a bulletproof vest during public appearances but continued his vigorous campaign schedule.

Mirelle Luecke, curator of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library and Museum, said Ford at the time told reporters: ‘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. The American people want a dialogue between them and their president and other public officials.’”

But in the end, Ford still lost his reelection bid that November — to Jimmy Carter.

Harvey Milk/George Moscone assassinations: Nov. 27, 1978, San Francisco

On the morning of Nov. 27, 1978, Dan White, a disgruntled former San Francisco supervisor, snuck into San Francisco City Hall through a basement window, avoiding the recently installed metal detectors. Despite resigning weeks earlier, White sought to be reinstated and confronted Mayor George Moscone about the issue in his office. When Moscone refused to grant his request, White shot him four times, killing him instantly. He then walked down the hall to the office of Supervisor Harvey Milk, who had opposed his reappointment and fatally shot him five times.

The first openly gay elected official in California, Milk became a prominent political activist in the fight for gay rights, helping to pass a San Francisco ordinance prohibiting anti-gay discrimination in housing and employment. Many of Milk’s supporters attributed White’s relatively light sentence — of seven years — to ingrained homophobic bias.

White was released from prison after just five years, and less than two years later, after moving back to San Francisco, he took his own life.

Attack on Paul Pelosi: Oct. 28, 2022, San Francisco

Early in the morning of Oct. 28, 2022, David DePape, a far-right conspiracy theorist, broke into Nancy and Paul Pelosi’s home in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights neighborhood by shattering a sliding glass door, with the intent of kidnapping and interrogating the then-House speaker. He found Paul Pelosi home alone, asking him, “Where’s Nancy?”

Pelosi managed to call 911 after DePape demanded to wait with him for his wife to return. When two San Francisco police officers confronted both men in the front doorway, DePape suddenly turned and struck Pelosi multiple times in the head with a hammer, fracturing his skull, before officers rushed in to restrain him.

DePape was tried and found guilty in both federal and state court and sentenced to 30 years in federal prison for one count of attempted kidnapping of a federal officer and one count of assault on the immediate family member of a federal official.

KQED’s Matthew Green and The Associated Press contributed to this story.