History’s Most Famous Suicides, From Artists To Politicians

The Famous Suicide Of Ernest Hemingway

Hemingway was born in July 1899 in Oak Park, Ill. He started his writing career working for his high school paper and after he graduated he took a job as a reporter for the Kansas City Star.

He took a quick hiatus to fight overseas in World War I and briefly returned back to the United States afterward. Hemingway soon went back to Europe as a foreign correspondent for the Star and became part of the famous Lost Generation.

It was during this time that Hemingway began to launch his literary career. Over the course of his life, Hemingway penned countless classics such as The Sun Also Rises, The Old Man and the Sea, and A Farewell To Arms.

He began to experience many health problems due to previous injuries he sustained while on assignment and he developed depression. As his health continued to deteriorate, Hemingway finally retired and moved to Idaho.

It is there where the author would take his life in one of the most famous suicides.

On the morning of July 2, 1961, Hemingway got out of his bed, making sure not to wake his sleeping wife, Mary. Then he entered the storage room where he kept his guns, removed a double-barreled shotgun, and went downstairs.

In the foyer, Hemingway put the gun to his forehead and pulled the trigger. Initially, his wife Mary said that his death was an accident and that the gun went off while he was cleaning it, but after a few months, she admitted that her husband’s death had been on purpose.