Althouse: "Nixon and John F. Kennedy clandestinely filled their medicine cabinets with psychotropic drugs..."

October 30, 2015

"Nixon and John F. Kennedy clandestinely filled their medicine cabinets with psychotropic drugs..."

"... recently uncovered documents reveal. In fact, Kennedy aide and historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. suggested in his journals that several modern presidents were mentally unbalanced; he recorded top aides arguing whether President Lyndon Johnson was clinically paranoid or a manic-depressive, and fretted that there was no constitutional 'procedure for dealing with nuts.'"

From a Politico article titled "Could America Elect a Mentally Ill President?/Yes. In fact, we probably already did."

35 comments:

pm317 said...: Damn. Obama is the old norm then.; 10/30/15, 6:22 PM
D. B. Light said...: I have long referred to Nixon, Kennedy, and Johnson as "Our Three Psycho Presidents".; 10/30/15, 6:30 PM
mccullough said...: We can probably deduce the medications by the side effects. Nixon profusely sweated and Kennedy was priapistic.; 10/30/15, 6:49 PM
Michael K said...: Kennedy was being "treated" by a quack who give him IV amphetamines.

Nixon was almost admitted to our hospital for his venous problem and we heaved a sigh of relief when he went to Long Beach Memorial where he was operated on by an older surgeon whose son was a politician. He did an obsolete operation that is fairly mutilating on him and we all looked knowingly at each other. I know physicians who knew him well when he was living in San Clemente and nobody saw anything abnormal about him.

Johnson was weird. There is a recent book out about Lady Bird and how abusive he was.; 10/30/15, 6:55 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: @Michael K

Nixon was almost admitted to our hospital for his venous problem and we heaved a sigh of relief when he went to Long Beach Memorial where he was operated on by an older surgeon whose son was a politician

Great story. That son grew up to be California Attorney General Dan Lungren, who ran for Governor in 1998, but got trounced by Gray Davis.; 10/30/15, 7:04 PM
Michael said...: The father of one of my friends growing up referred to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., as "Arthur S**t-slinger." I've never known quite what to think about that....; 10/30/15, 7:14 PM
William said...: Greenspan knew all the modern presidents. He said that the only one who struck him as completely sane and normal was Gerald Ford. Greenspan attributed that to the fact that Ford had become president by a fluke........It is speculated that Wilson had some kind of organic mental problems prior to his stroke. It's a matter of record that while in Paris negotiating the peace to end all peace, he kept compulsively rearranging the furniture decor in his apartments.......Ludendorff was, in effect, the military dictator of Germany towards the end of WWI. He sent many young men to their deaths, including his beloved stepchildren. Sometimes he would sit at his desk and just sob. His associates felt that he had had some kind of nervous breakdown. He nonetheless kept sending young men to their pointless deaths. Just kept working through his depression. An inspiring story of how it is possible for a world leader to work through his mental problems.; 10/30/15, 7:23 PM
madAsHell said...: What about Bill Clinton and his bimbo erections?
I suppose he gets a pass...cuz wuz da first black Prezzident.; 10/30/15, 7:33 PM
Scott said...: Schlesinger "...fretted that there was no constitutional 'procedure for dealing with nuts."

Impeachment. If a president was truly incapacitated with mental illness and it was obvious, Congress ought to be able to act quickly. Unlikely to happen, but not entirely impossible.; 10/30/15, 7:36 PM
pm317 said...: Bimbo erections were pre-viagra. If it had been now, we could say he was addicted to viagra.; 10/30/15, 7:44 PM
WPS234 said...: The method for "dealing with nuts" is now found in the 25th Amendment, section 4.; 10/30/15, 7:46 PM
Etienne said...: The really bad thing was that Johnson had Kennedy killed, and got away with it.

Johnson's mistress told the story many years ago. The truth is, though, everyone wanted Kennedy dead. So whoever did the deed, was doing them all a favor.

Plus it sold millions of TV hours and magazines.; 10/30/15, 7:54 PM
rehajm said...: Mental illness is a requirement. America rejects the sane ones.; 10/30/15, 8:08 PM
clint said...: Does anyone really believe that our last three Presidents rigorously obeyed federal drug laws while in office?; 10/30/15, 8:11 PM
Michael K said...: "That son grew up to be California Attorney General Dan Lungren"

Oh, I know. I just didn't want to be the one to say it. The story is in my memoir book.

Nixon was a cold fish and told some friends of mine that "You doctors are going to get screwed" back in 1977. He was right.

The best account of the Kennedy assassination is in Epstein's book. He has another one I might read.; 10/30/15, 8:23 PM
richard mcenroe said...: They didn't inhale. They guzzled, popped, snorted, blew AND inhaled. Finally the last 55 years make sense.

"It's three o'clock in the morning. The phone rings..."
"Dave's not here, man."; 10/30/15, 8:42 PM
Rae said...: Is this an attempt to get ahead of something hitting the press?; 10/30/15, 8:47 PM
Skipper said...: This is the strategy to ban firearms. Create a registry of crazies who are to be denied guns and then put everybody on it. Voila.; 10/30/15, 8:59 PM
Sebastian said...: What, the Narcissist-in-Chief is not at the top of the list?

The hour is late, but it would still be interesting for an inquisitive MSM reporter to find out the dealer(s) from whom that particular junkie got his dope.

Inquisitive, MSM -- oxymoron, I know.; 10/30/15, 9:17 PM
rcommal said...: If every one could be president, every one already would have been. < Manifest; 10/30/15, 9:43 PM
Drago said...: "Nixon and John F. Kennedy clandestinely filled their medicine cabinets with psychotropic drugs..."

Well, I for one am pleased that they had the decency to fill their cabinets clandestinely and not out in the open.

It is important to keep up appearances.; 10/30/15, 9:52 PM
Big Mike said...: If Lyndon Johnson was paranoid, he had reason to be that way. He inherited a cabinet that was openly contemptuous of him.; 10/30/15, 10:00 PM
traditionalguy said...: The only President I have seen with a serious case of Toxic Narcissism was LBJ. That man was a murderous snake, squared.The mind set requires a total control over image and the ease to "get rid of" any player that does not play the part assigned to them in the mind of the narcissist. And they are very, very charming. That is their part of the role playing.

An approach to politics is that it is the ultimate role playing, with a supporting cast of millions of dead and dying all around them. FDR, Churchill, Stalin, and Hillary Clinton are all examples.

The damage done to Americans by the damned LBJ and his henchmen is incalculable to this day.; 10/30/15, 10:06 PM
khematite said...: Surprised to find, despite the large photo of Barry Goldwater at the top of the Politico article, no mention of Ralph Ginzburg's Fact Magazine article "The Unconscious of a Conservative: A special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater."

Published in the middle of the 1964 presidential campaign, the article reported a survey of psychiatrists, a number of whom asserted that Goldwater was psychologically unfit to be president. Goldwater ultimately sued Ginzburg and was awarded $75,001 in damages.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-personality-analyst/201003/the-fact-magazine-libel-trial-the-supreme-court; 10/30/15, 11:05 PM
Beach Brutus said...: The best book on the Kennedy assignation is "Reclaiming History" by Vincent Bugulosi.; 10/30/15, 11:17 PM
Laslo Spatula said...: Everything we need to know about Kennedy was there in the Zapruder Film.

Commie Pink, literally flying out of his head.

Don't get me going on his wife's dress that day.

I am Laslo.; 10/31/15, 12:54 AM
gnossos said...: I was in Chicago recently and attended a performance of "Assassination Theater." http://www.assassinationtheater.com

It was an interesting experience and I'd recommend anyone interested in the Kennedy assassination to consider the author's research and conclusions.

I'll admit, although I was convinced that Levin's research was accurate and valuable, I still favored Charles McCarry's explanation in his fictionalized "The Tears of Autumn."; 10/31/15, 1:35 AM
Achilles said...: Rae said...
"Is this an attempt to get ahead of something hitting the press?"

That Hillary is an alcoholic?; 10/31/15, 2:48 AM
hoyden said...: What do they mean by "probably already did"? The inmates are running the asylum.; 10/31/15, 5:17 AM
virgil xenophon said...: skipper@ 8:59pm, 10/30/

Even if the authors of this article or those in the medical profession have nothing but the interests of a mentally healthy public in mind, you CAN BE SURE that the leftist statists/fascists CERTAINLY WILL utilize such lists, etc. IIRC the State of Conn has ALREADY used lists of veterans using psych care at the VA in Conn to send state troopers INTO THEIR VERY HOMES in the dead of night to seize/search for legal weapons..; 10/31/15, 5:47 AM
William said...: JFK had the most fun with his drugs. If that's how sour Nixon looked like when he was on drugs, imagine how dour he would have been without drugs.; 10/31/15, 10:37 AM
Ctmom4 said...: I have long believed this. I am no presidential historian, but, Lincoln, Teddy, Wilson, Nixon, LBJ, Kennedy, Clinton, the current raging narcissist- a whole boatload of pathologies right there. I think Ford was probably normal, Truman maybe, Ike.; 10/31/15, 11:38 AM
Ctmom4 said...: Hillary makes Nixon look well adjusted.; 10/31/15, 11:39 AM
David said...: At the time of Kennedy's death, one of his mistresses was Mary Pinchot, whom he had known since the late 1930's. She was in turn a friend of Timothy Leary, and a user and advocate of LSD. There are allegations (plausible but not provable) that Kennedy and Mary Pinchot took LSD together at the White House.; 10/31/15, 1:06 PM
MacMacConnell said...: Are there any Kennedy men that didn't abuse drugs? (and women); 10/31/15, 2:05 PM