Oliver Sipple

Radiolab

WNYC Studios

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Natural Sciences, Science

4.6 • 44.5K Ratings

🗓️ 5 June 2026

⏱️ 63 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One morning, Oliver Sipple went out for a walk. A couple hours later, to his own surprise, he saved the life of the President of the United States. In a story we reported back in 2017, we explain how in the days that followed, Sipple’s split-second act of heroism turned into a rationale for making his personal life into political opportunity. What happens next makes us wonder what a moment, or a movement, or a whole society can demand of one person. And how much is too much? Through newly unearthed archival tape, we hear Sipple himself grapple with some of the most vexing topics of his day and ours - privacy, identity, the freedom of the press - not to mention the bonds of family and friendship. Special thanks to Jerry Pritikin, Michael Yamashita, Stan Smith, Duffy Jennings; Ann Dolan, Megan Filly and Ginale Harris at the Superior Court of San Francisco; Leah Gracik, Karyn Hunt, Jesse Hamlin, The San Francisco Bay Area Television Archive, Mike Amico, Jennifer Vanasco and Joey Plaster.EPISODE CREDITS: Reported by - Reported by Latif Nasser and Tracie HunteProduced by - Produced by Matt Kielty, Annie McEwen, Latif Nasser and Tracie Hunte. Sign up for our newsletter!! It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Signup (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)! Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today. Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Simons Foundation and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Latif. Today we have a story about someone attempting a crime so big and so brazen
0:07.5	that if they had pulled it off, it would no doubt have changed the world. But they didn't pull it off
0:15.2	because one random guy stopped it. And instead of changing the whole world, it just changed the world for this one guy.
0:24.5	The story took place in the 1970s.
0:26.6	We originally reported it back in 2017.
0:29.2	But people keep attempting this same crime as of this taping literally twice in the last month.
0:35.5	I'm being vague on purpose, just so I don't spoil the surprise,
0:38.7	but it'll all make sense in a second.
0:40.8	Here we go.
0:41.4	Wait, you're listening.
0:42.9	Okay.
0:44.3	All right.
0:45.5	Okay.
0:46.8	All right.
0:48.2	You're listening to Radio Lab.
0:51.2	Radio Lab.
0:51.8	From W-N-Y- C. See? Yeah. Rewind. Just a quick note. This story contains some profanities. Here and near. Here in there. A couple. So just know that before we get going. Hey, I'm Chad Aboumrod. I'm Robert Krollwich. This is Radio Lab. And today we are going to start. Okay, so let's start with our producer Latif Nasser. Yeah. Well, let's just go back to San Francisco on a particular day at a particular time. And a particular woman. Hello. Hi. Is this Sarah Jane? Yes, it is. A woman named... Sarah Jane Moore.
1:27.6	Sarah Jane.
1:28.5	Okay.
1:29.0	So this is San Francisco. The particular date was September 22nd. The particular time... Nineteen 75. It's a Monday morning. It was a nice day? Oh, yeah. I don't remember anything different, so I assume it was a nice day. Okay, all right, sure, sure. I was kind of, you know, in my own head.
1:45.2	So Sarah Jane on this
1:47.0	Monday morning, she wakes up early, drops her nine-year-old off at school, runs a few errands,
	...

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