Faculty Bibliography

David M. Oshinsky reviews the book "Mutual Contempt: Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and the Feud That Defined a Decade" by Jeff Shesol

In February 1996, George Shultz went to visit his old boss, Ronald Reagan, at the former president's home in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles. He drank tea with Reagan and his wife, Nancy, and talked a little politics. In all, he stayed perhaps an hour. Reagan 'absolutely' did not 'show any signs of dementia or Alzheimer's,' said Dr. John Hutton, who cared for him from 1984 until the end of his presidency and remains a close family friend. Extensive mental status tests did not indicate evidence of Alzheimer's until 1993, more than four years after Reagan left office, Hutton said. Dr. Lawrence C. Mohr, one of the White House doctors in Reagan's second term, was seeing him for the first time in six months, and afterward, the doctor and the former president talked. As usual, Reagan asked about Mohr's family. But Reagan 'was distant,' he said, and seemed 'preoccupied, which was unusual, because Ronald Reagan is a person who was engaged when he would talk to you.'

In February 1996, George Shultz, the former US Secretary of State, went to visit his old boss, Ronald Reagan, in Los Angeles. He drank tea with Reagan and his wife, Nancy, and talked a little politics. In all, he stayed perhaps an hour. That night Shultz received a call from Mrs Reagan, who told him: `Something poignant happened today that you would like to know about.' At one point, Reagan had left the room briefly with a nurse. When they came back, Mrs Reagan went on: `He said to the nurse, `Who is that man sitting with Nancy on the couch? I know him. He is a very famous man.' It is almost three years since Reagan disclosed that he had Alzheimer's disease. And if, at 86, the old actor still looks the image of vigorous good health, the truth is that, behind the firm handshake and barely grey hair, he is steadily, surely ebbing away

'It was like ignoring half of it on purpose,' Dr. [Catherine Wilfert] said. Because her name was on the masthead, 'it implied that I agreed with it, when I didn't

Two members of the New England Journal of Medicine's editorial board, both internationally recognized experts on AIDS, are resigning in protest over the content and handling of articles criticizing the ethics of a number of federally funded AIDS studies in developing countries in Africa and elsewhere. The journal's attack on the experiments has led to widespread discussion, including harsh criticism of the journal itself, and focuses attention on the role of the 25-member editorial board, including the two who are resigning, Dr. David Ho, a virologist at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in Manhattan, N.Y., and Dr. Catherine M. Wilfert, a pediatrician at Duke University in Durham, N.C

Two members of the New England Journal of Medicine's editorial board, both internationally recognized experts on AIDS, are resigning in protest over the content and handling of articles criticizing the ethics of a number of federally funded AIDS studies in developing countries in Africa and elsewhere. In the trials, which involve more than 12,000 pregnant women infected with the AIDS virus in Africa, Thailand and the Dominican Republic, some women receive a drug, AZT, that has worked in studies in the United States, while others receive dummy pills. The journal's attack on the experiments has led to widespread discussion, including harsh criticism of the journal itself, and focuses attention on the role of the 25-member editorial board, including the two who are resigning, Dr. David Ho, a virologist at the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center in Manhattan, and Dr. Catherine M. Wilfert, a pediatrician at Duke University in Durham, N.C

To emphasize the differences in the health of the sexes, Dr. Eugenia Eng tells students at the University of North Carolina, 'Women are sicker; men die quicker.' That women in the United States live about seven years longer than men is hardly disputed, though the reason for the gap is a mystery. The perception that women are sicker, not only in their extra years but throughout life, is also widely shared and used to counteract the notion that women are healthier because they live longer. It is also used to justify the need for more health care for women and the way in which research money is allocated. Yet there are little solid data to indicate that women are sicker, and even less about the quality of their health in those extra years. A better understanding could help identify the factors underlying longevity, such as social networks, so that they could be used to improve public health

Dr. Lawrence C. Mohr, one of the White House doctors in [Ronald Reagan]'s second term, was seeing him for the first time in six months, and afterward, the doctor and the former president talked. As usual, Reagan asked about Mohr's family. But Reagan 'was distant,' he said, and seemed 'preoccupied, which was unusual, because Ronald Reagan is a person who was engaged when he would talk to you.' It was about a year later, in Reagan's annual check-up at the Mayo Clinic, that formal mental-status tests for the first time raised questions about his recent-memory skills, [John Hutton] said. The doctor said Mrs. Reagan would not let him disclose further details of the tests, and added that 'someday they can be documented' by historians. But those results led doctors to begin a more intensive regimen of mental testing: The medical statement released along with Reagan's Alzheimer's disclosure said the disease had been diagnosed through repeated observations and testing for a year. This left Hutton and others in the Reagan party worried that the speech might not go well - that Reagan 'might lose his place in the notes and that kind of thing,' said Caspar Weinberger, who was secretary of defense in the Reagan administration

While the doctors said they were familiar with Alzheimer's, none is an expert in it. But an Alzheimer's specialist - after reviewing videotapes of news conferences and major events late in [Ronald Reagan]'s presidency, as well as the doctors' descriptions - said he, too, saw no evidence that Reagan had the disease as president. (Alzheimer's hereditary pattern is not precisely known. Though it is not stated on his death certificate, Reagan's brother, Neil, is believed to have had Alzheimer's before dying of a heart attack in December 1996 at the age of 88.) Watching for changes in president While they said they were not aware of Reagan's pledge, [Lawrence C. Mohr] said he and [John Hutton] 'certainly wanted to watch for any increase' in forgetfulness. At the same time, they acknowledged that, beyond their observations and conversations, they had not taken any special medical measures to assess Reagan's mental competence while in office. (Questions about Reagan's mental state had been raised again that spring, when he testified in the Iran-Contra trial of his former national security adviser, Vice Adm. John Poindexter. Reagan, for example, did not know that Poindexter's predecessor, Robert McFarlane, had pleaded guilty when Reagan was president; nor could he identify the chairman of his Joint Chiefs of Staff. Videotapes of the testimony were viewed by the Alzheimer's expert consulted by The New York Times. While he saw hints that might have led him to probe further, he said, he found no definitive evidence of the disease.) Actor's ability to overcome obstacles While in office, he may often have been detached and uninterested in details, but Reagan had the actor's ability to rise to the occasion when he cared about something, or knew he had to, his friends and aides said