Edwin O. Reischauer - Illness and Death

Illness and Death

In 1964, while serving as Ambassador to Japan, Reischauer was stabbed in an assassination attempt. His attacker was captured and deemed by authorities to be mentally disturbed – he apparently acted alone and had no connection to any group or cause. In the aftermath of the violence, Japan's Minister of Public Safety was compelled to resign.

Reischauer received a blood transfusion and recovered from his wound, but the transfusion infected him with hepatitis. He never fully recovered, and though he continued to work and lead an active life, he died of the complications of hepatitis 26 years later.

Read more about this topic:  Edwin O. Reischauer

Famous quotes containing the words illness and, illness and/or death:

    “... how I understand that love of living, of being in this wonderful, astounding world even if one can look at it only through the prison bars of illness and suffering! Plus je vois, the more I am thrilled by the spectacle.”
    —Edith Wharton (1862–1937)

    “Man is not merely the sum of his masks. Behind the shifting face of personality is a hard nugget of self, a genetic gift.... The self is malleable but elastic, snapping back to its original shape like a rubber band. Mental illness is no myth, as some have claimed. It is a disturbance in our sense of possession of a stable inner self that survives its personae.”
    —Camille Paglia (b. 1947)

    “Sinks to the deep abyss where Satan crawls
    Where horrid Death and Despair lies.”
    —Thomas Traherne (1636–1674)