Sue Niederer

Who is Sue Niederer?

Sue Sapir-Niederer is an American political activist.

Niederer's son was Second Lieutenant Seth Dvorin, a 24-year-old U.S. Army soldier in the 10th Mountain Division who was killed on February 3, 2004, during the occupation of Iraq. Dvorin, who had just returned to Iraq after spending two weeks with his family, was killed after locating an improvised explosive device. Since Dvorin's death, Niederer has campaigned against the reelection of George W. Bush and continued American military presence in Iraq. Niederer came to national prominence after she was arrested for disrupting a speech by First Lady Laura Bush in September 2004. Later criminal charges of "defiant trespass" against Niederer were dropped.

Niederer lives in Pennington, New Jersey. She entered a Bush-Cheney rally of about 700 at a firehouse in Hamilton Township on September 16, 2004. Niederer had a ticket to the rally, as required, and carried a T-shirt in her purse which read "President Bush You Killed My Son," with a picture of her son. During the Bush's speech, Niederer shouted "Why did my son have to die?" and "When are yours going to serve?".

Bush supporters began a loud chant of "Four more years," quickly drowning Niederer out. Reports indicated that such a response to disruption was planned; one campaign volunteers was quoted as saying, "If anybody acts up, I just start chanting, 'Four more years!'" Some Bush supporters directly confronted Niederer, including one audience member who yelled, "Your son chose to fight in that war."