However, Wallace was shot five times by
Arthur Bremer while campaigning in
Laurel, Maryland, on May 15, 1972, at a time when he was receiving high ratings in the opinion polls. Bremer was seen at a Wallace rally in
Wheaton, Maryland, earlier that day and two days earlier at a rally in
Dearborn, Michigan. Wallace was hit in the abdomen and chest, and as one of the bullets lodged in Wallace's
spinal column, Wallace was left
paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life. A five-hour operation was needed that evening and Wallace received several pints of blood to survive. Three others were wounded in the shooting and also survived. Bremer's diary,
An Assassin's Diary, published after his arrest shows the
assassination attempt was motivated by a desire for fame, not by politics, and that President Nixon had been an earlier target. Bremer was sentenced to sixty-three years in prison on August 4, 1972, later reduced to fifty-three years two months later. Bremer served thirty-five years and was released on parole on November 9, 2007. Wallace forgave Bremer 23 years later, in August 1995, and wrote to him, but Bremer never replied. Bremer's actions inspired the screenplay (1972)
[40] for the 1976 movie
Taxi Driver which in turn inspired the
assassination attempt on the life of President
Ronald Reagan by
John Hinckley, Jr. in 1981. The 1975 film
Nashville also featured a character, played by
David Hayward, of whom many believe was based on Bremer.