Arthur Bremer

Arthur Herman Bremer (; born August 21, 1950) is an American convicted criminal who attempted to assassinate U.S. Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace on May 15, 1972, in Laurel, Maryland, which left Wallace permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Bremer was found guilty and sentenced to 63 years (53 years after an appeal) in a Maryland prison for the shooting of Wallace and three bystanders.

After 35 years of incarceration, Bremer was released from prison on November 9, 2007.

Early life

Bremer was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the third of four sons to William and Sylvia Bremer. He was raised by his working-class parents on the south side of Milwaukee and lived in a dysfunctional household. Bremer stated "I would escape my ugly reality by pretending that I was living with a television family and there was no yelling at home or no one to hit me."

Bremer did not make friends in school, where he was shunned and ostracized. Despite his problems, he graduated from South Division High School in January 1969.

After graduating from high school, Bremer briefly attended Milwaukee Area Technical College, studying aerial photography, art, writing, and psychology, but dropped out after one semester.''Pittsburgh Post Gazette'', May 17, 1972 p.93

Life before assassination plots

Bremer was employed as a busboy at the Milwaukee Athletic Club from March 1969. In 1971, Bremer was demoted to kitchen work after customers complained that he talked to himself and that "he whistled and marched in tune with music played in the dining room."Now, Arthur Bremer is Known
. ''The New York Times'', May 22, 1972, p. 1. Angered by his demotion, Bremer complained to the program planner for the Milwaukee Commission on Community Relations. The complaint was investigated and dismissed. Bremer quit his job at the Athletic Club on February 16, 1972.

On September 1, 1970, Bremer got a part-time job working as a janitor at Story Elementary School, which he quit after almost 18 months, on January 31, 1972.

On May 22, 1971, his one known friend, Thomas Neuman, died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with an automatic pistol he believed to be unloaded.

On October 16, 1971, Bremer moved from his parents' house after an argument and moved into a three-room one-bedroom apartment near Marquette University, where he lived until May 9, 1972.

Late on the night of November 18, 1971, Bremer was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon and for parking in a no-parking zone. A court-appointed psychiatrist declared Bremer mentally ill, yet stable enough to continue to live in the community. Bremer was released after paying a $38.50 fine.

On December 8, 1971, Bremer pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. On January 13, 1972, Bremer went into the Casanova Gun Shop in Milwaukee, and bought a snub-nosed Charter Arms Undercover .38-caliber revolver for $90.

Plans to assassinate Richard Nixon

After a short relationship ended and he quit both of his jobs, on March 1, 1972, the unemployed Bremer began his ''An Assassin's Diary'' with the words "It is my personal plan to assassinate by pistol either Richard Nixon or George Wallace. I intend to shoot one or the other while he attends a campaign rally for the Wisconsin Primary." The following evening, Bremer attended an organizational meeting for Wallace at the Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee.

Although Bremer's main aim was to assassinate then-President Richard Nixon, on March 23 he attended a Wallace dinner and rally at Milwaukee's Red Carpet Airport Inn. Then on April 3, he attended a Wallace victory rally at a Holiday Inn in Milwaukee. On April 8, while preparing for a trip to Ottawa, Canada, Bremer put one of his guns, a Browning 9mm, under a mat in the trunk of his car, but it fell down so deeply into the right wheel well that he could not retrieve it. It was removed a week after Bremer's arrest when the car was dismantled.

On April 10, Bremer traveled from Milwaukee to Ottawa, which Nixon was about to visit. Three days later, dressed in a business suit, wearing sunglasses and with a revolver in his pocket, Bremer went out intending to assassinate Nixon, but could not find an opportunity to do so. Security was tight, making it impossible for Bremer to get close enough to Nixon, and he also doubted whether any bullets would go through the glass of Nixon's limousine. He later returned to Milwaukee, where he remained for most of the following three weeks.

Plans to assassinate George Wallace

On May 4, 1972, after a ten-day break from writing, Bremer realized it would be almost impossible to assassinate Nixon and decided that it was Wallace's "fate" to be his victim, even though his diary entries never showed the same level of interest or enthusiasm as they did with regard to assassinating Nixon. Bremer made this clear in his diary writing, "He allacecertainly won't be buried with the snobs in Washington. ... I won't even rate a TV interruption in Russia or/Europe when the news breaks—they never heard of Wallace." The following day, he checked out two books from the public library in Milwaukee, both detailing the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy by Sirhan Sirhan: ''Sirhan'' by Aziz Shihab and ''"R.F.K. Must Die!"'' by Robert Blair Kaiser.

Despite his lack of enthusiasm, early on the morning of May 9, 1972, Bremer took a car ferry to Ludington, Michigan, and visited the Wallace campaign headquarters in Silver Lake, Michigan, and offered to be a volunteer. The evening after that, he attended a Wallace rally in Lansing. Two nights later, he was present at a Wallace rally in Cadillac and stayed overnight at the Reid Hotel in Kalamazoo.

On the afternoon of May 13, Kalamazoo Police received an anonymous phone call saying a suspicious looking person had been sitting in a car near the National Guard Armory. When questioned, Bremer said he was waiting for the Wallace rally to begin and wanted to get a good seat. Bremer was photographed at the rally that evening, where he had a clear opportunity to shoot his target, but according to his diary, he did not do so because he might have shattered some glass and blinded some "stupid 15-year-olds" who stood nearby.

The following day, Bremer set off for Maryland and made his final diary entry.

Shooting

Bremer turned up in Wheaton, Maryland, for Wallace's noon appearance at Wheaton Plaza for a shopping center rally on May 15, 1972. He was dressed in dark glasses; patriotic red, white, and blue, wearing his new campaign button which said "Wallace in '72". He strongly applauded Wallace, in contrast with many others present, who heckled and taunted the speaker. Two tomatoes were thrown at Wallace during the rally, but both missed. Based on this reception, Wallace refused to shake hands with anyone present, denying Bremer the opportunity to carry out his plan.

At a second rally at Laurel Shopping Center, 16 miles away in Laurel, Maryland, there was minor heckling, but it did not last. About 1,000 people were present; they were mostly quiet and it was generally a friendly crowd. After he had finished speaking, Wallace shook hands with some of those present, against the advice of his Secret Service guards. At approximately 4 p.m., Bremer pushed his way forward, aimed his .38 revolver at Wallace's abdomen and opened fire, emptying the weapon before he could be subdued. He hit Wallace four times. Wallace fell back and lost a pint of blood, going into a mild state of shock. One bullet lodged in his spinal cord. The other bullets hit Wallace in the abdomen and chest