This Day in History: 8 January 2020
8 January 1992
28 years ago, today, President George H.W. Bush vomited on the Prime Minister of Japan,Kiichi Miyazawa. This occurred when Bush attended a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister, in honour of his state visit. Bush was 67 at the time, and even played doubles tennis with the Emperor of Japan and his son that morning. However, during the dinner, Bush fell ill; he leaned forward, fell to his side, and vomited into the lap of the Prime Minister. Bush then fainted, causing his wife, Barbara, his aides and members of the Secret Service to attend to him, but was revived shortly, before quickly leaving and apologising.
It was then later stated by doctors that the President had suffered acute gastroenteritis and felt fine after taking an anti-nausea drug. This event received massive attention in the US, with Saturday Night Live creating a parody out of it, while CNN also received a call from an Idaho man claiming to be Bush's physician and that he had died. This man, James Edward Smith, was subsequently questioned by the Secret Service and hospitalised by a private mental health facility for evaluation. The President's challenger, Bill Clinton, also likely benefitted, as this reinforced his relative youth and vitality to the public, which Bush did not have.
This event also entered the Japanese lexicon, as the phrase "bushuru" roughly translates to "to pull a Bush", which became a popular slang term for vomiting.
To watch a video of the incident, click here. To read more about the embarrassing occurrence, click here for more information.
Very funny!
ReplyDelete