Valerie Solanas
Attempted Assassin
Valerie Solanas shot the artist Andy Warhol in a fit of crazed anger on June 3, 1968. A radical feminist and sometime acquaintance of Warhol, Solanas had previously written the S.C.U.M. Manifesto, an outlandish tract which begins "Life in this society being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of society being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and destroy the male sex." Warhol recovered and Solanas was sentenced to three years in jail for assault. She later spent time in various mental hospitals. Solanas was the subject of the 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol.Related figures include Mark David Chapman (assassin of John Lennon) and John Hinckley, Jr. (who shot Ronald Reagan).
Four Good Links
The Sad Life of Valerie Solanas
A recap of the entire affair and comments on I Shot Andy Warhol
Chance Truths: Valerie Solanas
Tells her story and includes excerpts from her manifesto
Valerie Solanas Timeline
From birth to death, hitting the key points along the way
The S.C.U.M. Manifesto
Full text of Solanas's 1967 screed
Vital Stats
Birth
Birthplace
Death
26 April 1988
(emphysema, age 52)
Best Known As
The woman who shot Andy Warhol
