Video: '1972 George Wallace Assassination Attempt'

(Monday, May 15, 1972, 4:04 p.m. EDT) — Alabama Governor George Wallace was shot five times by Arthur Bremer this afternoon while campaigning at the Laurel Shopping Center in Laurel, Maryland, at a time when he was receiving high ratings in national opinion polls.

Wallace was hit in the abdomen and chest, and one of the bullets lodged in Wallace’s spinal column. A five-hour operation was needed that evening, and Wallace had to receive several units of blood in order to survive.

Video: 'CBS evening news may 15 1972 coverage of Wallace assassination attempt.'

Three others who were wounded in the shooting also survived.

The shooting left Wallace paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. After the shooting, Wallace won primaries in Maryland and Michigan, but his near assassination effectively ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Video: 'George Wallace Shot, May 15 1972. Archive Film.'

Bremer’s diary, An Assassin’s Diary, published after his arrest, shows he was motivated in the assassination attempt by a desire for fame, not by political ideology. He had considered President Nixon an earlier target.

He was convicted at trial. On Aug. 4, 1972, Bremer was sentenced to 63 years in prison (53 years after an appeal), later reduced to 53 years. Bremer served 35 years and was released on parole on November 9, 2007, after serving 35 years of a 53-year sentence for attempted murder.

Video: 'The Attempted Assassination of Gov. George C. Wallace'