Arthur Bremer

Arthur Herman Bremer (born August 21, 1950 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin ) is an American assassin who gunned down the candidate for the presidential nomination of the Democratic Party , George Wallace , on May 15, 1972 , during an election rally in Laurel, Maryland . Wallace, then governor of the state of Alabama , remained paralyzed. Bremer was sentenced to 63 years - on appeal to 53 years - imprisonment. On November 9, 2007, he was released on parole.

In his diary An Assassin's Diary , Bremer states that the main motive for his act is that he wanted to become famous.

Life

Arthur, the son of truck driver William Bremer (1913-2002) and housewife Sylvia Bremer (1915-2007), graduated from the South Division High School in his birthplace . He then studied aerial photography, art, writing and psychology at the Milwaukee Area Technical College from September 1970 . Arthur gave up studying after just one semester. He had worked as an assistant waiter at the Milwaukee Athletic Club since March 1969 . Although the restaurant manager was satisfied with Arthur's work, he was pushed into the kitchen after complaints from guests in 1971. So he took the janitorial job in a primary school and worked there until the end of January 1972.

Bremer moved out of his parents' apartment in October 1971 and lived in an apartment near Marquette University until May 9, 1972 . In November 1971 he was arrested for carrying a hidden weapon, declared mentally ill by the forensic psychiatrist, but released again - also because he had agreed to undergo psychotherapy . In mid-January 1972 Arthur Bremer bought a revolver with .38 special ammunition.

At the end of 1971 he had a brief acquaintance with a 16-year-old student. After the girl broke off her relationship with the "silly" Arthur after a few weeks, her mother called the police in early 1972 about Arthur's stalking . After Arthur Bremer was arrested for the attack, the girl expressed her surprise at the behavior of her former friend. Arthur hadn't been violent and didn't talk to her about politics, let alone Governor Wallace.

In early March 1972, the unemployed Arthur confided in his diary that he wanted to kill either Nixon or Wallace. The attack on Nixon in April 1972 came to nothing. He couldn't get close enough to the President's car.

The assassin then chose Governor Wallace as his next target in May. During a number of campaign events, he went near his victim. At that event on the afternoon of May 15, 1972 at the Laurel Shopping Center, about a thousand consistently peaceful people had come. Wallace shook hands with some of the audience after his speech, against the advice of the bodyguards. Arthur Bremer was able to approach the governor and hit the victim five times with his .38 revolver. One of the bullets got stuck in the spinal cord. Three bystanders - a bodyguard, a Secret Service officer, and an election worker - were also hit.

The forensic psychiatrist certified the assassin with a " schizoid personality disorder with some paranoid and psychopathic features". The prosecutor did not get involved in such insanity.

Wallace awarded Bremer in writing in August 1995. Until the governor's death in September 1998, the assassin did not answer the question.

Adaptations

• 1976 Bremer's diary mentioned above inspired the scriptwriter Paul Schrader to write the character Travis Bickle in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver .
• 1997 John Frankenheimer told from the life of the governor in the film Wallace with Gary Sinise in the title role.
• In his 1980 released album '' Peter Gabriel '' refers Peter Gabriel in his song Family Snapshot on the assassination.

Web links

• 6-min archive film about the attack on YouTube
• 6-min film about the election campaign event on YouTube