Damn History #84 | November 2024

As I wrote in my book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist, Douglas M. Kelley, M.D., had learned plenty about destructive heads of state and politicians by the late 1940s. A former U.S. Army psychiatrist, he had conducted psychiatric evaluations of the top German political and military leaders after World War II. Upon his return to the States, he spoke out against Senator Theodore Bilbo, Congressman John E. Rankin, and Governor Eugene Talmadge, among others, who advocated white supremacy to manipulate constituents and attain political power.

By 1948 Kelley was convinced the U.S. needed formal medical screenings to stop malign people from gaining political office. He argued for mandatory psychiatric evaluations of office seekers, and he gave two reasons: people with abnormal drives can make life unbearable for others, and politicians suffer from the same mental disorders as everyone else. Psychiatric tests, Kelley maintained, “would uncover incipient Hitlers.”

His proposal gained no traction, in part because psychiatric tests are subject to misinterpretation and abuse. Is it time to reconsider Kelley’s idea?

Here in Damn History you'll find, as usual, recommendations on good and popularly accessible historical reading, with tips on writing and updates on my own work.

 — Jack El-Hai

Follow me on X at @Jack_ElHai

Contact me at [email protected]

Personal Notes

Read about a case in which Jacob Moreno, the psychiatrist who invented psychodrama therapy, put on the theater stage a patient infatuated with an imaginary lover. This is my newest longform nonfiction narrative.

Here’s an interesting preview of the forthcoming movie Nuremberg, adapted from my book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist.

For a bountiful collection of my popular-history book, audiobook, article, documentary, and podcast recommendations, search X for the hashtag #popularhistory.

Recent Popular History from All Over

You may find some of these articles behind a paywall if you’ve exceeded the publisher’s allowance of free views.

Before the January 6 insurrection, there was the November 25 arson campaign.

Meet the rock band that entertained Vietnam troops in places where Bob Hope didn’t go.

A dentist-grandmother explained how teeth teach history.

Was the Electoral College a pro-slavery idea?

The history of horror in America began with a haunted castle.

An ambitious sculpture built for JFK’s grave vanished in the 1970s.

A history writer describes old fire escapes as “a hacky bit of afterthought.”

Have you heard of Project Cyclops? In 1961, the U.S. government tried to influence the behavior of hurricanes.

Old movies may carry the future of cinema.

An amateur solved a cold art theft case that had stumped police for 43 years.

“Our deepest trauma leads to our most profound joy.” Paul Kix writes of the link between a shark attack and a terrorist bombing.

Resources

“Live long enough as a memoirist and someday, someone will state the facts of your life as if they know them better than you do,” writes Heidi Croot in a nice essay about personal history.

For writers and others, a lesson in finding a true path.

Here are eight great investigative journalism books, mostly dealing with historical topics. And they’re not all as long as The Power Broker.

Writers of historical fiction use archives to rewrite the past.

As a reader or writer, you’d make your life easier by using an RSS reader. “RSS isn’t just good for the news! It’s good for everything!”

You can hear a waltz by Frederic Chopin recently discovered after 200 years.

“A footnote is like running downstairs to answer the doorbell during the first night of marriage.” – John Barrymore

Housekeeping

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About me: I'm a writer whose beat is history. I've contributed hundreds of articles to such publications as Smithsonian, The Atlantic, The Washington Post Magazine, Wired, Scientific American, Discover, GQ, Longreads.com, and many others. My books include The Lost Brothers: A Family’s Decades-Long Search, The Lobotomist: A Maverick Medical Genius and His Tragic Quest to Rid the World of Mental Illness, Non-Stop: A Turbulent History of Northwest Airlines, and The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Goering, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WW2.

I often give presentations to groups of writers, readers, and others. Please feel free to get in touch.