On January 8, 1992, about 8:20 p.m JST, while attending a banquet hosted by the Prime Minister of Japan, Kiichi Miyazawa, U.S. President George H. W. Bush fainted after vomiting in Miyazawa's lap.
History
On January 8, 1992, Bush was attending a state event for 135 diplomats held at the home of the Japanese Prime Minister, near the end of the President's 12-day trade-oriented trip through Asia. Earlier that day Bush had played a doublestennis match in which the Emperor of JapanAkihito and his son the Crown Prince Naruhito beat Bush and his partner, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan.
Effects of the incident
The incident was widely reported, coming just weeks before the New Hampshire Primary, and quickly became fodder for the nation's comedians. Footage of the President vomiting was broadcast on the ABC network. The incident was parodied by Saturday Night Live with a mock documentary, with Barbara Bush trying to escape by crawling across the table, echoing the assassination of John F. Kennedy when Jacqueline Kennedy crawled across the rear of the limousine. Shortly after the incident, an Idaho man, James Edward Smith, called CNN posing as the president's physician and claimed that Bush had died. A CNN employee entered the information into a centralized computer used by both CNN and sister networkCNN Headline News, and Headline News nearly aired it before it could be verified. Smith was subsequently questioned by the Secret Service and hospitalized at a private mental health facility for evaluation. In Japan, even several years later, Bush was remembered for this event. According to the Encyclopedia of political communication, "The incident caused a wave of late night television jokes and ridicule in the international community, even coining Busshu-suru which literally means 'to do the Bush thing'." In 1993, the incident was spoofed in the comedy film Hot Shots! Part Deux. According to a 2007 listicle published by USA Today, the incident was one of the top "25 memorable public meltdowns that had us talking and laughing or cringing over the past quarter-century."
