On this day, the American radical feminist, Valerie Solanas, attempted to murder the artist Andy Warhol. Solanas is best known for her self-published ‘SCUM Manifesto’ whose opening words are: “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 eliminate the male sex.” Solanas had played a part in Warhol’s film, “I, a man”, and had also showed him a film script of hers. Later, convinced that Warhol and the editor Maurice Girodias were coordinating to steal her work, she entered The Factory and shot Warhol three times. The first two shots missed, but the third was almost fatal and Warhol was lucky to survive after a five-hour operation.
