“Success in life comes not from holding a good hand, but in playing a poor hand well.”                                                     Denis Waitley

 July 1972 – Harvard University – Boston, Massachusetts: It was a sweltering mid-July day with the temperature forecasted to reach 95 degrees. Charles Krauthammer, a 22-year-old second-year medical student and a classmate skipped their morning classes to play tennis. On their way back across campus, they decided to cool off with a quick swim in the university pool.

Unbeknownst to Krauthammer, someone had re-positioned the diving board over shallower water. When he dove in, he struck his head on the bottom, fracturing a cervical vertebra and severely damaging his spinal cord. Lying helpless on the floor of the pool, he knew immediately what he had done, but his friend thought he was clowning.

Finally realizing Krauthammer was in trouble, the friend dove in and pulled him out of the pool. The irony on that fateful day was the two books in the backpack that Krauthammer left by the side of the pool: The Anatomy of the Spinal Cord and Man’s Fate by Andre Malraux.

Born in 1950 in New York City to Orthodox Jewish parents, Krauthammer was educated in Hebrew schools. At 20, he graduated with honors from McGill University in Montreal with political science and economics degrees. He was accepted to Harvard Medical School and received a three-year political science scholarship to Oxford University. Krauthammer chose Oxford, but a year later had a change of heart and transferred to Harvard.

While Krauthammer was in intensive care, the Harvard associate dean of students, Herman Lisco, visited him. When the dean asked what he could do for him, the medical student responded, “I’m determined not to allow this injury to change the course of my life. I want to stay in school and graduate with my class.” Rather than share that no one with quadriplegia had ever graduated from Harvard Medical School, Lisco smiled and promised to do everything he could.

True to his word, Lisco had medical school professors come to Krauthammer’s bedside and provide lectures. He arranged for Krauthammer to take his medical school exams orally and persuaded skeptical attending physicians to allow Krauthammer to care for patients from his wheelchair. Through the dean’s heroic efforts, Krauthammer joined his class for their third year of medical school.

In 1975, Krauthammer graduated on time with his medical school class and then completed a three-year psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, serving as the chief resident in his third year. After finishing his residency, Krauthammer found a job that satisfied his love for both medicine and political science. He joined President Jimmy Carter’s administration in Washington, D.C., doing psychiatry research.

In 1980, Krauthammer worked as a speechwriter for Vice President Walter Mondale. A year later, he became the editor for The New Republic magazine, where he won the National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism. Krauthammer began writing a political column each Wednesday for the Washington Post and in 1987 won the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Commentary. His career and influence skyrocketed. Krauthammer’s weekly column was syndicated in more than 400 newspapers worldwide.

Later, he wrote for Time Magazine and joined the PBS political roundtable Inside Washington. In 1990, Krauthammer became a regular political commentator on Fox News Special Report with Brett Baier. He appeared frequently on other channels sharing his political views. He authored seven books, including Things That Matter, which sold three million copies and was number one on the New York Times bestseller list for eight weeks.

Many of the millions of viewers who watched Krauthammer on national news programs did not know that he was paralyzed. They were so interested in his views on government and politics that they failed to notice his wheelchair or that he never used his hands to make his point.

Whether he was writing about the war in Afghanistan, sharing his opinion on stem cell research, or commenting on the president’s latest policy, Charles Krauthammer’s columns and books influenced U.S. political views and foreign policy for more than 30 years. He died at age 68 in 2018 after a long battle with colon cancer.

Was it fate that caused Charles Krauthammer to strike his head on the bottom of the pool in July 1972? He never talked about the circumstances of that day. Through brilliance and determination, he didn’t allow a tragedy to alter the course of his life and career and he never let his disability define him or stand in the way of his dreams. “Every life has its tragic moments,” according to Krauthammer. “What distinguishes us is whether we bounce back. I leave this life with no regrets. It was a wonderful life.”