Forty-seven years ago today, on November 8, 1978 (October 8, 1978 in the lunar calendar), American illustrator Rockwell passed away. November 8, 1978. American illustrator Norman Rockwell has died at his home in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. He was 84. Rockwell was alienated by some because of his optimistic character. The 317 cover illustrations he created for the Saturday Evening Post vividly depict the happy times (Thanksgiving meal, children fishing, children confiding secrets to friendly police). These illustrations please the public but offend colleagues. Rockwell was born in New York on February 3, 1894. At the age of 21, he created his first Post cover illustration of a boy pushing a toddler in frustration past a group of his buddies in sportswear preparing to play ball. "I subconsciously decided that if this wasn't an ideal world, it should be, so I only painted the ideal aspects of such a world..." Rockwell said. Rockwell's mural "The Four Freedoms" painted during World War II was copied into a poster by the War Information Agency and widely distributed. "Rose the Riveter" painted on the cover of the Post in 1943 became synonymous with "fighting to defend America's homeland." In 1977, he was awarded the "Presidential Medal of Freedom", the highest national award in peacetime by U.S. President Ford. Many of Rockwell's works have been introduced to China readers.