1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. Hello everyone, Molly Konger here. You've probably 2 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 1: noticed this episode showed up on your feed on an 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:19,360 Speaker 1: unusual day. If you're a diehard listener of another show 4 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:21,959 Speaker 1: on the network, it could happen here. You may have 5 00:00:21,960 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: also noticed that this isn't exactly a brand new episode. 6 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,080 Speaker 1: But I'm not here this week. I'm not thinking about 7 00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:31,880 Speaker 1: were Little Guys at all right now. I'm on my honeymoon. 8 00:00:33,320 --> 00:00:35,600 Speaker 1: The show feed will run old episodes this week and 9 00:00:35,760 --> 00:00:38,600 Speaker 1: next week, so there will be something on your feed 10 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,360 Speaker 1: on the usual day, but I wanted to drop in 11 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:44,920 Speaker 1: a little something extra this week too. This episode is 12 00:00:44,960 --> 00:00:47,640 Speaker 1: one that originally aired last summer on It could Happen here, 13 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:49,720 Speaker 1: so some of you may have heard it already, and 14 00:00:49,800 --> 00:00:51,680 Speaker 1: there are a few references to the fact that it's 15 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:55,960 Speaker 1: August of twenty twenty four. I didn't change those lines, 16 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: but I have slightly edited and re recorded the episode 17 00:00:59,040 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: so my talented audio engineer Rory could give this the 18 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:06,200 Speaker 1: full weird little guy's audio feel. So if you missed 19 00:01:06,200 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: it last summer, I hope you'll enjoy this story about 20 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,920 Speaker 1: the very weird little guy who shot a segregationist Because 21 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:26,120 Speaker 1: it turned out shooting Richard Nixon was too hard. Remember 22 00:01:26,120 --> 00:01:30,080 Speaker 1: that time Donald Trump got shot? I kind of don't. 23 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,160 Speaker 1: It feels like it was one hundred years ago or 24 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:37,960 Speaker 1: in a dream. I barely remember who I was during 25 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:40,880 Speaker 1: those tense few days where it seemed possible Trump would 26 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:44,839 Speaker 1: ride that momentum to victory, imagining posters of that photo 27 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: of Trump with blood dripping down his face, fist raised. 28 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 1: And then it kind of didn't matter at all anymore. 29 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:56,639 Speaker 1: We all forgot. The shooter wasn't a Biden sleeper agent 30 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,040 Speaker 1: sent to take down the opposition. He was just some 31 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:02,320 Speaker 1: kid with a rifle and the kind of uniquely American 32 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:06,360 Speaker 1: desire to cause chaos with it. And that was really 33 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: hard for a lot of people to swallow. What do 34 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:12,600 Speaker 1: you mean it doesn't seem like he was politically motivated. 35 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,400 Speaker 1: He shot the former president. He shot him while he 36 00:02:16,440 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: was on stage at a rally for his campaign to 37 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:25,520 Speaker 1: retake the presidency. Everything about the situation was political. How 38 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: could the shooter have had any other motivation? But he 39 00:02:30,120 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 1: wouldn't be the first guy to take a shot at 40 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: a president or a presidential candidate for what seems like 41 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 1: no reason at all. Far from it, As it turns out, 42 00:02:42,960 --> 00:02:45,200 Speaker 1: while I was doing the research for the first episode 43 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,760 Speaker 1: of Wee Little Guys, I got lost on some side quests. 44 00:02:49,520 --> 00:02:52,800 Speaker 1: That's always happening to me. But as I breathed past 45 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: a quick mention of George Wallace, the four term governor 46 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:58,680 Speaker 1: of Alabama who is perhaps best remembered for his rallying 47 00:02:58,680 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: cry of segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. You know, 48 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: the one I remembered that he had gotten shot while 49 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: he was running for president too. During the primary in 50 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:15,160 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy two, George Wallace was paralyzed after surviving an 51 00:03:15,160 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 1: attempted assassination on the campaign trail. Surely, whoever shot a 52 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,600 Speaker 1: man like George Wallace did it out of a deep 53 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:28,680 Speaker 1: ideological commitment to something right. Maybe it was a civil 54 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: rights activist who opposed Wallace's views on race, or a 55 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:35,680 Speaker 1: McGovern voter concerned about Wallace's attempt to gain the Democratic 56 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,640 Speaker 1: Party nomination after he'd won five states as a third 57 00:03:38,680 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: party candidate in nineteen sixty eight. Or maybe it was 58 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:44,720 Speaker 1: a diehard Nixon supporter who saw Wallace as a spoiler, 59 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: siphoning conservative votes away from Nixon. But that's not what happened. 60 00:03:51,000 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: When Arthur Bremer shot George Wallace four times in the 61 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 1: chest and stomach on May fifteenth, nineteen seventy two. It 62 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: had nothing at all to do with Wallace's policy positions, 63 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: or honestly, even really anything to do with George Wallace. 64 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 1: Rehmer had been planning for months to assassinate Richard Nixon, 65 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:16,120 Speaker 1: but it turned out that was too hard. He just 66 00:04:16,200 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: wanted to shoot somebody important. I hesitate to draw too 67 00:04:21,080 --> 00:04:23,680 Speaker 1: many comparisons to the Trump shooter because there's a lot 68 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 1: we still don't know and may never know. But it 69 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:29,480 Speaker 1: has come out that Thomas Crooks was equally interested in 70 00:04:29,560 --> 00:04:32,520 Speaker 1: shooting Joe Biden. Trump just happened to have had a 71 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,600 Speaker 1: campaign rally close to his home in Pennsylvania with weak 72 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,360 Speaker 1: perimeter security. Crooks had also looked into how to get 73 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: close to FBI Director Christopher Ray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, 74 00:04:42,600 --> 00:04:49,239 Speaker 1: and inexplicably Kate Middleton. Yes, that Kate Middleton, the Princess 75 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:53,480 Speaker 1: of Wales. If Biden had been campaigning in western Pennsylvania, 76 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:57,200 Speaker 1: or if Richard Nixon's security had been less vigilant, Crooks 77 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: may have shot Biden and Remer may have killed Nixon. 78 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:03,880 Speaker 1: It doesn't seem like it really mattered to either of 79 00:05:03,920 --> 00:05:07,080 Speaker 1: them who they shot, as long as they shot a 80 00:05:07,160 --> 00:05:12,640 Speaker 1: guy running for president. One of the funny things about 81 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:17,039 Speaker 1: history is realizing we've always been what we are now. 82 00:05:17,680 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 1: There's truly nothing new under the sun. Within hours of 83 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: the attempt on George Wallace's life, before there was any 84 00:05:24,600 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 1: clear information at all, Nixon was demanding that the White 85 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:32,039 Speaker 1: House Deputy Director of Communications, Kenneth Clawson, put out a 86 00:05:32,040 --> 00:05:34,800 Speaker 1: statement that the shooter was a supporter of George McGovern, 87 00:05:35,120 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: the front runner and the Democratic primary Nixon would go 88 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: on to defeat McGovern later that year. Just say we've 89 00:05:42,760 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 1: got unmistakable evidence, Dixon said, Of course, they didn't have 90 00:05:47,800 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: any evidence of any kind, and when they did get 91 00:05:50,560 --> 00:05:52,960 Speaker 1: that evidence, it certainly didn't show the shooter working on 92 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:56,040 Speaker 1: the McGovern campaign. But that was the rumor Nixon hoped 93 00:05:56,040 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: to spread in those early hours. Rumors ball and put 94 00:06:02,480 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: it on the right and right away you can get there. 95 00:06:06,560 --> 00:06:14,000 Speaker 1: You put it to must get out before they fit 96 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: them on the right way. It's a bit fuzzy, but 97 00:06:20,080 --> 00:06:22,000 Speaker 1: you can hear Nixon saying that they need to act 98 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,160 Speaker 1: quickly to pin this on the left. Rumors are going 99 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:29,840 Speaker 1: to spread, and they want theirs to spread first and fastest. 100 00:06:30,760 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what's true, It matters what people believe. Unfortunately, 101 00:06:36,800 --> 00:06:39,680 Speaker 1: we don't have thousands of hours of secret tape recordings 102 00:06:39,720 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: inside the offices of today's Republicans, but we did see 103 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:46,520 Speaker 1: something similar in the immediate aftermath of the Trump shooting. 104 00:06:47,480 --> 00:06:50,719 Speaker 1: He's a Biden voter, he's a Democrat, he's a radical leftist, 105 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,800 Speaker 1: he's Antifa. We can already tell. We just know it's obvious. 106 00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,480 Speaker 1: We have proof. The fact that there was no proof 107 00:06:57,520 --> 00:07:01,960 Speaker 1: of anything on day one, it doesn't matter. It matters 108 00:07:02,000 --> 00:07:05,719 Speaker 1: even less that no proof ever materialized. You just have 109 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:08,240 Speaker 1: to get the room or out first. You have to 110 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: make an impression while the cement is wet and sometime 111 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: little stick. One thing that is not on the Nixon tapes, though, 112 00:07:17,200 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: is a conversation that allegedly occurred that afternoon in May 113 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:23,400 Speaker 1: of nineteen seventy two that was reported by Seymour Hirsch 114 00:07:23,720 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: twenty years later in nineteen ninety two. Despite a Supreme 115 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: Court ruling in the seventies the tapes belonged to the 116 00:07:30,480 --> 00:07:34,120 Speaker 1: National Archives, the full volume of the Nixon tapes were 117 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: not made available to the public until two thousand and seven. Now, 118 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: whatever you think of his later career, Seymour Hirsh wasn't 119 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: a making stuff up kind of guy back then, So 120 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,280 Speaker 1: I don't think he's fabricating any part of this story. 121 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:50,800 Speaker 1: He's still alive and has a sub stack at eighty 122 00:07:50,800 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 1: seven years old, so I don't want any beef with Seymour. 123 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: He said a decade's long career as an investigative journalist 124 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,080 Speaker 1: and a Pulitzer for exposing the cover up of the 125 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:03,320 Speaker 1: Malai massacre. So I don't think he's patting the truth here. 126 00:08:04,520 --> 00:08:07,200 Speaker 1: But in his nineteen ninety two New Yorker piece Nixon's 127 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: last cover up, the Tapes he wants the Archives to suppress, 128 00:08:11,280 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: Hirsch wrote that the unreleased tapes from the afternoon of 129 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:19,040 Speaker 1: the Wallace shooting contained recordings of Nixon directing I Howard Hunt, 130 00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:21,680 Speaker 1: the retired CIA officer who head at Nixon's White House, 131 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 1: plumbers to break into Arthur Bremer's apartment before the FBI 132 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: could search it and plant McGovern campaign literature. Hunt's own 133 00:08:45,440 --> 00:08:50,040 Speaker 1: autobiography admits only that at Nixon's direction, Nixon advisor Charles 134 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,760 Speaker 1: Coulson did ask Hunt to quote take a look around 135 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:58,120 Speaker 1: Bremer's apartment. Given that this is all taking place just 136 00:08:58,160 --> 00:09:01,480 Speaker 1: a month before Hunt did in fact play a key 137 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:05,520 Speaker 1: role in the Watergate break in, this isn't exactly unbelievable. 138 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:10,240 Speaker 1: I can absolutely believe that Richard Nixon asked E. Howard 139 00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:12,640 Speaker 1: Hunt to break into a building for some nefarious purpose, 140 00:09:12,679 --> 00:09:17,440 Speaker 1: because we know that happened at least once. And one 141 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:20,240 Speaker 1: thing the varying accounts do seem to agree on is 142 00:09:20,280 --> 00:09:23,480 Speaker 1: that Hunt was unable to complete the assignment because the 143 00:09:23,520 --> 00:09:26,480 Speaker 1: FBI had already sealed off Bremmer's apartment in Milwaukee before 144 00:09:26,520 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: he got there. Hirsh's article in nineteen ninety two claims 145 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,680 Speaker 1: that the tapes contain recordings of Coulson breaking the news 146 00:09:33,679 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: to Nixon that Hunt had arrived too late and the 147 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: apartment was already under police guard, and that the recording 148 00:09:39,320 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: captures Nixon berating Coulson for not doing more to slow 149 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:47,400 Speaker 1: down the FBI. Again, this is all very believable if 150 00:09:47,400 --> 00:09:51,240 Speaker 1: you have even a passing knowledge of Richard Nixon, and 151 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,040 Speaker 1: Colson himself was the one who related this account to 152 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: Seymour Hirsh in nineteen ninety two. The problem is we 153 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:01,800 Speaker 1: have something now that Seymour Hirsch didn't have in nineteen 154 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:06,600 Speaker 1: ninety two, and that's those tapes. Fifteen years after Hirsch's 155 00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:10,559 Speaker 1: article was published, researchers scoured the newly released recordings for 156 00:10:11,120 --> 00:10:14,760 Speaker 1: proof of this version of events, and it isn't there. 157 00:10:16,559 --> 00:10:20,560 Speaker 1: It's entirely possible that Coulson was recalling conversations that did 158 00:10:20,600 --> 00:10:24,160 Speaker 1: occur but outside the presence of the tape machine, or 159 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:27,360 Speaker 1: maybe he's misremembering how much of this was actually spoken 160 00:10:27,400 --> 00:10:32,360 Speaker 1: aloud and what was simply understood. It's not out of 161 00:10:32,360 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: the realm of possibility that Coulson is recalling something Nixon 162 00:10:35,200 --> 00:10:40,319 Speaker 1: definitely wanted. It's just not on the tapes. Absence of 163 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: proof isn't proof of absence. But we do have a 164 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,480 Speaker 1: pretty complete record of Nixon's conversations on the afternoon of 165 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 1: May fifteenth, nineteen seventy two. There are famously eighteen missing 166 00:10:51,600 --> 00:10:54,600 Speaker 1: minutes in those tapes, but those are from a different 167 00:10:54,600 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: afternoon in nineteen seventy two. On May fifteenth, though, Nixon 168 00:11:00,360 --> 00:11:02,679 Speaker 1: had just gotten out of a budget meeting around four pm, 169 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: shortly after the shooting, and that's when he first got 170 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: the news. His first phone call was to his own wife, 171 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:13,760 Speaker 1: Pat and then he called George Wallace's wife, Cornelia. He 172 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: then asked Secretary of the Treasury John Connolly to call 173 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:20,839 Speaker 1: Ted Kennedy to offer him full Secret Service protection. And 174 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,800 Speaker 1: presumably this is because he believed Ted Kennedy would be 175 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:27,440 Speaker 1: McGovern's vice presidential pick. But I guess if people are 176 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,200 Speaker 1: getting assassinated, you need to account for all your Kennedy's. 177 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,240 Speaker 1: It's actually kind of wild to dig into those tapes 178 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:36,800 Speaker 1: and see where Everwend's heads were on that afternoon in 179 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,560 Speaker 1: the Oval office. A recording from around seven pm, so 180 00:11:40,679 --> 00:11:44,280 Speaker 1: three hours after the shooting, captures speculation that the shooting 181 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: may have been a false flag by Wallace's own people, 182 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:51,200 Speaker 1: but the idea was quickly dismissed. He wouldn't have had 183 00:11:51,240 --> 00:11:53,560 Speaker 1: his own people shoot him in the stomach. They would 184 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:55,960 Speaker 1: have gone for something less likely to end up killing him, 185 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,520 Speaker 1: like shooting him in the foot, which is a conversation 186 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,319 Speaker 1: we all heard immediately after the Trump shooting. Isn't it right? 187 00:12:03,400 --> 00:12:06,200 Speaker 1: Maybe this is a stunt, but why would he have 188 00:12:06,240 --> 00:12:10,040 Speaker 1: them shoot at his head? That's so risky. And this 189 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,319 Speaker 1: recording to captures top Nix and aids hoping that whoever 190 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:16,480 Speaker 1: did this was a left wing nut and not a 191 00:12:16,559 --> 00:12:22,120 Speaker 1: right wing nut. It could be one of his own 192 00:12:22,160 --> 00:12:26,000 Speaker 1: people too. They wouldn't shoot that man, and they would 193 00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:29,960 Speaker 1: have shot him in the foot or something. I haven't 194 00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: it wouldn't be It is not one of those other 195 00:12:31,679 --> 00:12:35,760 Speaker 1: people shoot him in the stot did to kill him? Oh, 196 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:37,679 Speaker 1: I think the guy. The guy has to be a 197 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: nut of some kind. I just don't be the left 198 00:12:39,640 --> 00:12:45,319 Speaker 1: wing nut, not a right wing So Nixon tried to 199 00:12:45,320 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: put a thumb on the scale after the fact, but 200 00:12:48,200 --> 00:12:51,440 Speaker 1: the exact nature of his meddling will forever be up 201 00:12:51,440 --> 00:12:56,199 Speaker 1: for debate, and the Nixon tapes aren't the only unique 202 00:12:56,280 --> 00:13:00,120 Speaker 1: primary source for what went down that day. In the 203 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: early months of nineteen seventy two, as Arthur Bremmer prepared 204 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:06,319 Speaker 1: to shoot Nixon, gave up on shooting Nixon and ultimately 205 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:11,000 Speaker 1: shot George Wallace, he kept a diary, and in nineteen 206 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:16,760 Speaker 1: seventy three, Harper's Magazine Press published that diary. I couldn't 207 00:13:16,800 --> 00:13:19,400 Speaker 1: find a physical copy of that original bound book for 208 00:13:19,640 --> 00:13:22,200 Speaker 1: less than a small fortune, but I did find an 209 00:13:22,200 --> 00:13:24,960 Speaker 1: original scan of Bremer's diary that was produced in court 210 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:30,520 Speaker 1: as evidence. The diary is a strange and fascinating document. 211 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:34,800 Speaker 1: Only the latter half was published. He'd thrown away the 212 00:13:34,840 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: first hundred and forty eight pages, a fact he notes 213 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 1: on the first page of the version that we do have. 214 00:13:40,720 --> 00:13:43,840 Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty a construction worker named Sherman Griffin found 215 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:46,160 Speaker 1: the first one hundred and forty eight pages wrapped in 216 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,280 Speaker 1: plastic inside of a backpack under the twenty seventh Street 217 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:53,760 Speaker 1: Viaduct in Milwaukee from prison. Arthur Bremmer actually tried to 218 00:13:53,800 --> 00:13:57,000 Speaker 1: sue Griffin for ownership of the document, saying it would 219 00:13:57,000 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: only be used to embarrass him, but in nineteen eighty 220 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:02,960 Speaker 1: one a court ruled that Griffin could keep it. Find 221 00:14:02,960 --> 00:14:06,960 Speaker 1: your skeepers. But the portion that we do have, that 222 00:14:07,200 --> 00:14:11,280 Speaker 1: latter half of the diary is a lot of things. 223 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:16,000 Speaker 1: It's full of spelling errors and disorganized thinking, and sexual 224 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:20,080 Speaker 1: fantasy and mundane rambling stream of consciousness of a guy 225 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 1: going about his day to day life as he tries 226 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:26,040 Speaker 1: to figure out how to assassinate the president. A few 227 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:28,280 Speaker 1: months after it was published, The New York Review published 228 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:31,640 Speaker 1: an essay by A. Gourvadal speculating that Brehmer hadn't written 229 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:34,920 Speaker 1: the diary at all. As a literary critic, it was 230 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:38,080 Speaker 1: Vidal's professional opinion that Brehmer could not have written such 231 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:42,560 Speaker 1: a document, though it was riddled with spelling errors. Vidal 232 00:14:42,560 --> 00:14:45,600 Speaker 1: writes that they come and go, almost as though the 233 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: writer is remembering, as he writes that he's supposed to 234 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: be a twenty one year old bus boy of mediocre intelligence. 235 00:14:53,240 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 1: He also doubts Brehmer was well read enough to make 236 00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,840 Speaker 1: references to Soljhanitson's Day in the Life of von Denisovitch 237 00:14:59,400 --> 00:15:02,480 Speaker 1: or quip A he crossed the Great Lakes, call me Ishmael. 238 00:15:04,080 --> 00:15:10,280 Speaker 1: Both Denisovich and Ishmael are misspelled, but that could be intentional, right, No, 239 00:15:10,520 --> 00:15:13,760 Speaker 1: Gore Vidal believes, or perhaps would like you to think 240 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,400 Speaker 1: he believes. You know, it's hard to say that the 241 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: diary was falsified in its entirety by E. Howard Hunt 242 00:15:22,200 --> 00:15:26,800 Speaker 1: Nixon Spook. Hunt was a prolific writer, giving Thedal a 243 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,080 Speaker 1: large volume of material for comparison, and he claims there 244 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:34,880 Speaker 1: are similarities in the writing styles. Again, just as Hirsch's 245 00:15:34,880 --> 00:15:37,240 Speaker 1: claims about the Secret Tapes in nineteen ninety two were 246 00:15:37,240 --> 00:15:39,680 Speaker 1: called into question when we got the tapes in two 247 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:44,040 Speaker 1: thousand and seven, Vidal's essay was published in nineteen seventy three, 248 00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:47,240 Speaker 1: seven years before the first half of the diary was found. 249 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: So even if you're inclined to believe Hunt was crafty 250 00:15:50,320 --> 00:15:52,960 Speaker 1: enough to construct this elaborate plot with a fake diary 251 00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: and a patsy shooter, it's a real stretch to think 252 00:15:56,400 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: that he would write one hundred and forty eight pages, 253 00:15:58,200 --> 00:16:00,120 Speaker 1: wrap them in plastic, hide them in a backpack, and 254 00:16:00,120 --> 00:16:02,120 Speaker 1: tuck that backpack into a nook in a bridge in 255 00:16:02,200 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: Milwaukee to be discovered by a construction worker years later. 256 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:10,040 Speaker 1: But it's also possible that Gorvittal was just doing a 257 00:16:10,080 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 1: bit that were not clever enough to understand. But the 258 00:16:15,120 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: legacy of that diary lives on in some surprising ways. 259 00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 1: In those early confusing days after the Trump shooting, before 260 00:16:24,080 --> 00:16:26,960 Speaker 1: we all forgot what ever happened, I did see a 261 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: lot of people point out that the last time at 262 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 1: president took a bullet, it wasn't over politics at all. 263 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,040 Speaker 1: John Hinckley Junior shot Reagan to impress Jody Foster. Remember, 264 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,840 Speaker 1: And Okay, here's where I have to admit something kind 265 00:16:40,880 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: of embarrassing. I've always just accepted that statement at face value. 266 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:50,760 Speaker 1: It makes no sense at all. But he wasn't acting rationally, 267 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:53,600 Speaker 1: so it's not something that seemed like I needed to 268 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 1: make sense of. He shot Ronald Reagan to impress Jody Foster. 269 00:16:57,560 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: I guess he just thought she'd find that impressive. No 270 00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:02,760 Speaker 1: need to interrogate that further. A lot of women might 271 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:05,800 Speaker 1: find it impressive if he shot Ronald Reagan, so there's 272 00:17:05,840 --> 00:17:07,120 Speaker 1: not a lot of follow up to do on that. 273 00:17:09,200 --> 00:17:12,120 Speaker 1: The thing is, i'd never seen the movie Taxi Driver. 274 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: I truly never pieced together that he thought shooting the 275 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,560 Speaker 1: president would impress Jody Foster because she had starred as 276 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,760 Speaker 1: a child sex worker in the movie Taxi Driver, in 277 00:17:22,800 --> 00:17:25,800 Speaker 1: which the protagonist Travis Bickle plans to shoot a presidential 278 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:30,320 Speaker 1: candidate named Charles Palatine. Hinkley shot Reagan to impress Jody 279 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:34,800 Speaker 1: Foster makes a lot more sense with that added cultural context, 280 00:17:34,840 --> 00:17:37,399 Speaker 1: And I fear I may have been the last person 281 00:17:37,400 --> 00:17:42,000 Speaker 1: in America to realize that. So maybe everybody else already 282 00:17:42,040 --> 00:17:46,879 Speaker 1: knows this part too. Taxi Driver owes a lot to 283 00:17:47,040 --> 00:18:05,640 Speaker 1: Arthur Bremer, the guy who shot George Wallace. Screenwriter Paul 284 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,160 Speaker 1: Schrader has always denied basing any part of the movie 285 00:18:09,160 --> 00:18:13,600 Speaker 1: on Bremer's diary. In a nineteen seventy six interview, Schrader 286 00:18:13,640 --> 00:18:16,679 Speaker 1: says he was inspired by the shooting itself, but that 287 00:18:16,720 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: the script was actually finished before the diaries were published, 288 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,720 Speaker 1: telling Richard Thompson for a film comment, I want to 289 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,480 Speaker 1: emphasize that the script was written before any of the 290 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: diary was published. After I read the diary, I was 291 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:32,920 Speaker 1: very tempted to take some of the good stuff from 292 00:18:32,960 --> 00:18:36,160 Speaker 1: it and add it to taxi Driver, but I decided 293 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:39,879 Speaker 1: not to because of legal ramifications. Bremmer is sitting there 294 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:41,880 Speaker 1: in jail with nothing better to do than sue us, 295 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:44,680 Speaker 1: which is why I made certain the script was registered 296 00:18:44,680 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: before the diary came out, and that nothing was changed 297 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: after the diary's publication. And it's actually kind of prescient 298 00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 1: of him, come to think of it. He's saying in 299 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:57,119 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six that Brehmer could file some kind of 300 00:18:57,200 --> 00:19:01,159 Speaker 1: nuisance lawsuit from prison, and this is years before he 301 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: tried to get half a million dollars and his diary 302 00:19:03,320 --> 00:19:07,720 Speaker 1: back from that construction worker. And look, I'm obviously not 303 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,320 Speaker 1: a film buff. Like I said, I only recently saw 304 00:19:11,320 --> 00:19:13,880 Speaker 1: a taxi driver for the first time, so I won't 305 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: say Paul Schrader isn't telling the truth. And I don't know. 306 00:19:17,800 --> 00:19:19,600 Speaker 1: Maybe if you're a film buff, you'd say there's a 307 00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,160 Speaker 1: difference between changing the script and changing the screenplay. Those 308 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:26,480 Speaker 1: are kind of different things, right, I guess that's true. 309 00:19:26,520 --> 00:19:30,280 Speaker 1: I don't know, because there are some scenes in Taxi 310 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,480 Speaker 1: Driver that, unless Scarcese and Trader had some kind of 311 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:36,840 Speaker 1: deep psychic connection to whatever forces in the universe motivated 312 00:19:36,920 --> 00:19:40,800 Speaker 1: Arthur Bremmer, they absolutely came from the Diary. You can't 313 00:19:40,840 --> 00:19:44,160 Speaker 1: tell me if they don't come from the diary, because 314 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,880 Speaker 1: when I sat down to watch the movie, I had 315 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,520 Speaker 1: just finished reading the Diary. So when I saw the 316 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:54,080 Speaker 1: scene where Travis Bickle, the titular taxi driver, pulls up 317 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 1: outside of a building with his fair Bartin Scorsese himself 318 00:19:56,960 --> 00:20:00,439 Speaker 1: in the back seat, I did that, Leonardo DiCaprio pointing 319 00:20:00,520 --> 00:20:03,280 Speaker 1: me at my TV when the camera panned to the 320 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 1: woman in the window and she's smoking a cigarette, partially 321 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:10,880 Speaker 1: obscured by the gauzy curtains, And that's a rather specific 322 00:20:11,040 --> 00:20:15,399 Speaker 1: visual image. And just a few pages into Bremer's diary, 323 00:20:15,440 --> 00:20:19,679 Speaker 1: he describes a very similar scene before he flew back 324 00:20:19,680 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: to Milwaukee to try across the border into Canada to 325 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,960 Speaker 1: shoot Richard Nixon at an event in Ottawa. He wrote 326 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:28,520 Speaker 1: this in his diary, My last night at the Howard 327 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: Johnson's in the Jamaica Area, New York City. I didn't 328 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,640 Speaker 1: sleep much. A beautiful naked lady across the parking lot 329 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:38,600 Speaker 1: of the next motel out by her window Florida ceiling, 330 00:20:38,920 --> 00:20:42,760 Speaker 1: smoking cigarettes, and I had to watch her. Her table 331 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:44,919 Speaker 1: room light was on, and a thin veil of curtain 332 00:20:45,240 --> 00:20:47,479 Speaker 1: allowed me to watch as she passionately kissed a man 333 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,400 Speaker 1: who wore clothes. I never saw them in each other's 334 00:20:50,480 --> 00:20:53,000 Speaker 1: arms more than a minute at a time. They must 335 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,439 Speaker 1: have been fighting through binoculars. I saw them gesture like 336 00:20:56,480 --> 00:21:02,280 Speaker 1: Italians and open their mouths very wide, very often. So 337 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:05,080 Speaker 1: maybe Schrader did finish the script before he read the diary, 338 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: but the diary absolutely influenced the way the film was shot. 339 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:13,240 Speaker 1: According to Andrew Rausch's book on the Films of Martin Scorsese, 340 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,280 Speaker 1: Robert de Niro prepared for the role by getting a 341 00:21:16,320 --> 00:21:19,280 Speaker 1: New York taxi license and driving around the city listening 342 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:23,800 Speaker 1: to a cassette tape of Bremer's diary. The diary is 343 00:21:24,600 --> 00:21:29,600 Speaker 1: genuinely odd. Normally, I'm firmly in the camp of please 344 00:21:29,640 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: do not read or recommend that others read the manifesto 345 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:36,680 Speaker 1: left behind by a shooter. But I really don't think 346 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,760 Speaker 1: anyone will read Arthur Bremer's diary about leaving a nude 347 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:43,200 Speaker 1: massage parlor frustrated that he's still a virgin, and feel 348 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 1: inspired by it. But I do think it's a fascinating document. 349 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,200 Speaker 1: I think I learned more about what's inside the mind 350 00:21:52,240 --> 00:21:55,879 Speaker 1: of a nihilist aspiring shooter from Bremer's diary than I've 351 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:58,720 Speaker 1: learned from any self indulgent little manifesto left by a 352 00:21:58,720 --> 00:22:02,359 Speaker 1: mass shooter. After failing to get his shot at Nixon 353 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,560 Speaker 1: at the appearance in Ottawa in April, he wrote, I 354 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 1: just need a little opening in a second of time. 355 00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:12,000 Speaker 1: Nothing has happened for so long three months. The last 356 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,199 Speaker 1: person I held a conversation with in three months was 357 00:22:14,200 --> 00:22:16,639 Speaker 1: a near naked girl rubbing my erect penis, and she 358 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,400 Speaker 1: wouldn't let me put it through her failures. A few 359 00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 1: pages later, he writes that he thought about getting really drunk, 360 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,720 Speaker 1: but quote decided against it. Just wanted to pick a 361 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:31,840 Speaker 1: fight with a bartender somewhere someone and get arrested, and 362 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,960 Speaker 1: then where am I? I got something to do something 363 00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:38,679 Speaker 1: big before I ever get arrested again. He writes that 364 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:41,440 Speaker 1: he's tired of waiting. He wants to be a madman 365 00:22:41,520 --> 00:22:46,119 Speaker 1: who kills, and then abruptly transitions to saying he quote 366 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:50,080 Speaker 1: goes crazy when he hears Johnny Cash's new single, quoting 367 00:22:50,119 --> 00:22:52,639 Speaker 1: the lyrics I shot you with my thirty eight and 368 00:22:52,680 --> 00:22:56,240 Speaker 1: now I'm doing time, before noting that a baseball game 369 00:22:56,280 --> 00:23:00,199 Speaker 1: was canceled due to the rain. Honestly, the document it 370 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,800 Speaker 1: reminds me of most is a diary kept by Franklin Seacreast. 371 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:06,359 Speaker 1: I was a young man who set a synagogue on 372 00:23:06,359 --> 00:23:10,520 Speaker 1: fire in Austin in twenty twenty one. Seacrest's diary is 373 00:23:11,320 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: the similar sort of strange stream of consciousness, accounting of 374 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:19,000 Speaker 1: his frustrations with women, his daily activities interspersed with these 375 00:23:19,040 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: outbursts of violent desire. After taking two weeks away from 376 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:25,399 Speaker 1: his diary to deal with the tragedy of failing to 377 00:23:25,480 --> 00:23:30,040 Speaker 1: kill Richard Nixon, Rehmer went to see Clockwork Orange. As 378 00:23:30,040 --> 00:23:32,080 Speaker 1: he watched the movie, he decided he would kill George 379 00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:35,200 Speaker 1: Wallace instead, though he lamented that this was a second 380 00:23:35,280 --> 00:23:39,680 Speaker 1: rate target, writing, I won't even rate a TV interruption 381 00:23:39,720 --> 00:23:42,600 Speaker 1: in Russia or Europe. When the news breaks, they never 382 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: heard of Wallace. If something big and nom flares up, 383 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:47,280 Speaker 1: I'll end up at the bottom of the first page. 384 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:52,160 Speaker 1: In America, the editors will say Wallace dead. Who cares? 385 00:23:52,920 --> 00:23:55,320 Speaker 1: He won't get more than three minutes on network TV news. 386 00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:58,639 Speaker 1: I don't expect anybody to get a big, throbbing erection 387 00:23:58,760 --> 00:24:01,840 Speaker 1: from the news. You know, a storm in some country 388 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,720 Speaker 1: we never heard of, kills ten thousand people, big deal. 389 00:24:05,080 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: Past the beer and what's on TV tonight. I hope 390 00:24:08,040 --> 00:24:12,440 Speaker 1: my death makes more sense than my life. Days before 391 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,240 Speaker 1: he finally took the shot, he wrote yesterday, I even 392 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:18,879 Speaker 1: considered mc govern as a target. If I go to 393 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:22,200 Speaker 1: prison as an assassin, solitary forever, guards in my cell, 394 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:26,480 Speaker 1: et cetera, or get killed or suicided, what difference to me? 395 00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:29,720 Speaker 1: Ask me why I did it, and I'd say I 396 00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:33,280 Speaker 1: don't know, or nothing else to do, or why not, 397 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:37,399 Speaker 1: or I have to kill somebody. It bothers me that 398 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:39,479 Speaker 1: they are about thirty guys in prison now who threatened 399 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:41,479 Speaker 1: the president and we never heard a thing about him 400 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:45,360 Speaker 1: except that they're in prison. Maybe what they need is organization. 401 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,560 Speaker 1: Make the first lady a widow incorporated, chicken in every 402 00:24:49,560 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: pot and bullet in every head incorporated. They'll hold a 403 00:24:52,600 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 1: national convention every year to pick the executioner. A winner 404 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:57,879 Speaker 1: will be chosen from the best entry in forty thousand 405 00:24:57,880 --> 00:25:01,399 Speaker 1: words or less, preferably less upon the theme how to 406 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:03,840 Speaker 1: do a bang up job of getting people to notice you? 407 00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:11,879 Speaker 1: Or get it off your chest. Make your problems everybody's. 408 00:25:12,720 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: On May thirteenth, two days before the shooting, Bremer attended 409 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,520 Speaker 1: a Wallace rally in Kalamazoo, Michigan. There are photographs of 410 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:21,879 Speaker 1: Bremer at the rally that day, and he even spoke 411 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:23,920 Speaker 1: to a police officer who responded to a call about 412 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,840 Speaker 1: a suspicious vehicle parked near the venue. Bremer told the 413 00:25:27,840 --> 00:25:29,680 Speaker 1: officer he just wanted to be early to get a 414 00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:32,240 Speaker 1: good spot at the rally and complied when asked to 415 00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,320 Speaker 1: move his car. His loaded thirty eight was in his 416 00:25:35,359 --> 00:25:38,520 Speaker 1: jacket pocket. He writes in his diary that he could 417 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,120 Speaker 1: have taken his shot that day, but at the last minute, 418 00:25:41,280 --> 00:25:44,159 Speaker 1: two teenage girls got between him and his target, and 419 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:46,440 Speaker 1: he thought they'd be disfigured or blinded. If he fired 420 00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: through the glass they were pressed up against, writing, I 421 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:53,360 Speaker 1: let Wallace go only to spare these two stupid, innocent, 422 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:58,520 Speaker 1: delighted kids. His final entry, the night before the shooting 423 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,960 Speaker 1: ends with got a signed from campaign headquarters here to 424 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,919 Speaker 1: shield the gun. Is there anything else to say? My 425 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,879 Speaker 1: cry upon firing will be a penny for your thoughts. 426 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:15,600 Speaker 1: On May fifteenth, nineteen seventy two, Arthur Bremmer was one 427 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:17,480 Speaker 1: of about a thousand people who showed up to hear 428 00:26:17,520 --> 00:26:20,320 Speaker 1: George Wallace speak at a shopping center in Laurel, Maryland 429 00:26:21,720 --> 00:26:24,920 Speaker 1: around four p m. Just as Wallace finished speaking, Bremer 430 00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:27,680 Speaker 1: pushed his way through the crowd, hoping to shake Wallis's hand, 431 00:26:28,080 --> 00:26:31,880 Speaker 1: and unloaded his thirty eight. He struck George Wallace four 432 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: times and wounded three others, a state trooper, a campaign volunteer, 433 00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:40,080 Speaker 1: and a Secret Service agent. He forgot to shout anything 434 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:43,919 Speaker 1: at all as he did it. He was convicted and 435 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,360 Speaker 1: sentenced to sixty three years, later reduced to fifty three 436 00:26:47,440 --> 00:26:52,040 Speaker 1: years on appeal. In nineteen ninety five, George Wallace wrote 437 00:26:52,040 --> 00:26:54,800 Speaker 1: to Bremer in prison, telling him that he forgave him 438 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: for the shooting and hoping they could correspond a bit 439 00:26:57,119 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: to get to know one another, responded, and George Wallace 440 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 1: died in nineteen ninety eight. Arthur Bremmer was denied parole 441 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,720 Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety six after arguing at his hearing that 442 00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:14,360 Speaker 1: quote shooting segregationist dinosaurs isn't as bad as harming mainstream politicians, 443 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:17,720 Speaker 1: but he was eventually paroled in two thousand and seven 444 00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:22,439 Speaker 1: after serving thirty five years. For the last eighteen years, 445 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,199 Speaker 1: Arthur Bremer has lived in Maryland under the conditions of 446 00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:29,040 Speaker 1: his supervised release. He's been on electronic monitoring, he has 447 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:32,359 Speaker 1: to submit to mental evaluations, and he's been required to 448 00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,399 Speaker 1: stay away from all elected officials and candidates for office. 449 00:27:37,040 --> 00:27:40,560 Speaker 1: His supervision actually ends this month, on May fifteenth, twenty 450 00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:45,440 Speaker 1: twenty five, the fifty third anniversary of the shooting. He'll 451 00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 1: be seventy five years old this year, and he's been 452 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,000 Speaker 1: a model parolee as far as I can tell, So 453 00:27:50,040 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 1: I doubt he'll be getting up to anything interesting once 454 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:56,600 Speaker 1: he's legally allowed to leave the state of Maryland. So 455 00:27:57,760 --> 00:28:00,840 Speaker 1: I guess he shot George Wallace for no reason at all. 456 00:28:01,800 --> 00:28:04,040 Speaker 1: And Robert de Niro's study of the diary he left 457 00:28:04,080 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: behind inspired the performance that made Hinckley shoot Reagan. There's 458 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,920 Speaker 1: nothing hard to believe at all about the idea that 459 00:28:13,119 --> 00:28:17,040 Speaker 1: Thomas Crooks wanted to shoot a president just to be remembered. 460 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:35,960 Speaker 1: Is anyone at all? Wee Little Guys in a production 461 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: of Cool Zone Media and iHeartRadio. It's researched, written and 462 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,560 Speaker 1: recorded by me Polly Coner. Our executive producers are Sophie 463 00:28:42,600 --> 00:28:45,080 Speaker 1: Lettterman and Robert Evans. The show is edited by the 464 00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:47,880 Speaker 1: wildly talented Rory Gagan. The theme music was composed by 465 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:50,440 Speaker 1: Brad Dickert. You can email me at Weird Little Guys 466 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:53,080 Speaker 1: podcast at gmail dot com. I will definitely read it, 467 00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:56,000 Speaker 1: but I probably won't answer it. It's nothing personal. You 468 00:28:56,000 --> 00:28:58,440 Speaker 1: can exchange conspiracy theories about the show with other listeners 469 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,160 Speaker 1: on the Weird Little Guy subpreddit. Just don't post anything 470 00:29:02,160 --> 00:29:03,680 Speaker 1: that's going to make you one of my Weird Little Guys.