Why didn't he get an award earlier than this? Sometimes (as I found in US History) that people like Abe Licoln and Martin Luther King are considered ordinary people unless they are killed. They might be considered important to people in their day, but only if they die an early and noble death do they get recognized so well by later generations.
And I guess that's sort of the case here. Only when he misses death by a few inches does he get recognized. Oh well, better late than never
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