Arthur Herman Bremer was born August 21, 1950, to Sylvia and William Bremer, who lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The fourth of five children, Bremer was raised in a dysfunctional family; his mother had long-standing emotional problems, and his father was a well-meaning but passive alcoholic. Bremer developed into an emotionally troubled young man who, after a disappointing first relationship with a teenaged female, decided to assassinate Richard Nixon. When that failed, Bremer attempted to kill presidential hopeful, Governor George Wallace.
At South Division High School, Bremer had few friends. Except for a brief time on the second-string football team, he did not engage in sports, and he did not date at all. He was perceived as having average intelligence, although later I.Q. tests indicated he was in the "bright-normal" range. After graduating from high school, Bremer held various menial jobs, including janitor at Story Elementary School, and for a year he attended the Milwaukee Technical College where he studied psychology, writing, art, and photography. He left little impression on his teachers and fellow students.
A brief, failed relationship with fifteen-year-old Joan Pembrick in late 1971 may have been a catalyst for Bremer's fantasies about finding fame as a political assassin. On June 13, 1972, the same day he realized he could not see Pembrick any more, Bremer bought a .38 caliber pistol. As his trial later revealed, Bremer kept a diary during the months that led up to his attack on Governor Wallace. The diary indicated that Bremer had read books on famous assassins Booth, Oswald, and Sirhan.
In March of 1972, Bremer decided to kill President Nixon. With this in mind, he went to Canada, where Nixon was making a state visit. Bremer tried to stay in the Ottawa hotel where the press were located, but the hotel was full. In fact, all his attempts to get close to the president failed. By May, he was back in Milwaukee and had decided to kill George Wallace.
On May 15, 1972, Wallace, then governor of Alabama, was scheduled to give a speech at an open-air rally in a Laurel, Maryland, shopping center. Wallace, who had concerns about an assassination attempt, spoke at a bullet-proof podium, but because of the hot weather, the governor chose not to wear his bullet-proof vest. After the speech, he took off his coat, rolled up his sleeves, and walked toward the uniformly receptive and applauding crowd. Bremer was dressed in red, white, and blue and was wearing Wallace pins. He was clapping and calling out, "Over here."
When Wallace approached and stretched out his hand, Bremer fired. He shot the governor four times, in the midsection, the right arm, shoulder, and chest. A female bystander and two security men were also wounded. All Bremer's victims survived, but Governor Wallace was paralyzed from the waist down and for the rest of his life was restricted to a wheelchair.
At the arraignment on May 30, 1972, Bremer pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Maryland law includes the "diminished responsibility" clause in these kinds of crimes. Thus, the prosecution had to prove that Bremer had the "substantial capacity" to appreciate right from wrong and could be held responsible for his actions. His diary was read in its entirety; it suggested the Bremer was antisocial and psychopathic but not psychotic. Psychological test results left psychiatrists in disagreement, though. Curiously, Bremer's unusual responses to the Rorschach tests resembled Sirhan's responses and may have been manipulated by Bremer intentionally. In any event, the court found Bremer guilty on all counts, and he was sentenced to 63 years in the Maryland State Penitentiary.
Shortly after this sentencing, Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana proposed a bill that would make illegal the production and sale of small handguns in the United States. The concern was for cheap, easily concealed weapons which do not have hunting uses. The attempt on George Wallace's life added momentum to Bayh's bill. The bill against the "Saturday night special" passed the Senate easily but never got to the House for a vote. The fact that Congress did not act on this matter moved the issue into the courts where various cases attempted to hold gun manufacturers responsible for crimes committed with their products.
This is the complete article, containing 698 words
(approx. 2 pages at 300 words per page).
