This feature documentary is a portrait of Herbert Norman, the Canadian ambassador to Egypt who leapt to his death in 1957. During his remarkable career, Norman had been a trusted aide of General MacArthur in post-war Japan and later played a key role in the Suez crisis. But for years, a US Senate subcommittee probed his past while the FBI accumulated a huge file on him, refusing to accept an RCMP investigation that cleared him of being a communist spy. Interviews with key players and dramatizations help reconstruct Herbert Norman's life.
This feature documentary is a portrait of Herbert Norman, the Canadian ambassador to Egypt who leapt to his death in 1957. During his remarkable career, Norman had been a trusted aide of General MacArthur in post-war Japan and later played a key role in the Suez crisis. But for years, a US Senate subcommittee probed his past while the FBI accumulated a huge file on him, refusing to accept an RCMP investigation that cleared him of being a communist spy. Interviews with key players and dramatizations help reconstruct Herbert Norman's life.
Herman Norman ended his life in 1959. Although he had been cleared by the RCMP of any wrongdoing, he was continually accused of being a communist spy by the U.S. This documentary takes the viewer through significant world events, from the stock market crash in 1929 to the Cold War. The film can lead students into discussions, debates and research essays about Norman’s life, McCarthyism, and the far-reaching implications of being associated with communism in this era.
The Man Who Might Have Been: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Herbert Norman, John Kramer, provided by the National Film Board of Canada