America fell in love with the innocence of a kid who just was honest, saying, I did the best I could, and I had no formal training.
I remember that during the period leading up to independence in Angola in 1975, I was the only correspondent there at all for three months.
Death is really a great blessing for humanity, without it there could be no real progress. People who lived for ever would not only hamper and discourage the young, but they would themselves lack sufficient stimulus to be creative.