The Neurosis That Has Possessed Us”
Political Repression in the Cold War Medical Profession
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9090653 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Merlin Chowkwanyun (0000-0003-4174-7322, Columbia University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 73 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 255-273 |
| Publication date | 2018-07-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-5045 • E-ISSN: 1468-4373 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jhmas/jry015 |
| PMID | 29718289 |
| OpenAlex | W2801873331 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 8 |
Political repression played a central role in shaping the political complexion of the American medical profession, the policies it advocated, and those allowed to function comfortably in it. Previous work on the impact of McCarthyism and medicine focuses heavily on the mid-century failure of national health insurance (NHI) and medical reform organizations that suffered from McCarthyist attacks. The focus is national and birds-eye but says less about the impact on the day-to-day life of physicians caught in a McCarthyist web; and how exactly the machinery of political repression within the medical profession worked on the ground. This study shifts orientation by using the abrupt dismissal of three Los Angeles physicians from their jobs as a starting point for exploring these dynamics. I argue that the rise of the medical profession and the repressive state at mid-century, frequently studied apart, worked hand-in-hand, with institutions from each playing symbiotic and mutually reinforcing roles. I also explore tactics of resistance - rhetorical and organizational - to medical repression by physicians who came under attack.
Cold war · Neurosis · Political repression · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Psychological repression · Biochemistry · Chemistry · Historical Psychiatry and Medical Practices · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Medical History and Research · Psychology
Many are the crimes
The American Medical Association, Health Insurance Association of America, and Creation of the Corporate Health Care System
The Federal Loyalty-Security Program
The Tenney Committee
Medical Practice Embattled
The International Student Movement
Medical McCarthyism”
Paul Robeson, a Biography
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |