April 4, 1957
HERBERT NORMAN: Cairo – The Canadian ambassador in Cairo, E. Herbert Norman, committed suicide today by throwing himself out of a fifth-floor window at the residence of the Swedish ambassador, Karl Eng, who was not at home at the time, according to police. Norman had earlier sat at Eng’s desk and written two letters, one to his wife and the other to the Swedish ambassador. To his wife, he reportedly wrote: «I have no hopes in life. I kiss your feet.» He then asked her forgiveness for what he was about to do. In the other letter, Norman apologized to Eng for committing suicide in his home. On March 15, Canadian Foreign Minister Lester Pearson had said that the Canadian government would lodge a protest in Washington over a report by a Congressional committee that it said made false claims about its ambassador’s political affiliations. Pearson said that an investigation of Norman, conducted in 1951, had cleared him of all accusations of being a communist. The United States State Department had concurred, rejecting the committee’s claims.
