Quacks and Crusaders: The Fabulous Careers of John Brinkley, Norman Baker, and Harry HoxseyOne promoted goat gland transplants as a remedy for lost virility or infertility. Another blamed aluminum cooking utensils for causing cancer. The third was targeted by the Food and Drug Administration as "public enemy number one" for his worthless cures. John Brinkley, Norman Baker, and Harry Hoxsey were the ultimate snake oil salesmen of the twentieth century. With backgrounds in lowbrow performance—carnivals, vaudeville, night clubs—each of these charismatic con men used the emerging power of radio to hawk alternative cures in the Midwest beginning in the roaring twenties, through the Depression era, and into the 1950s. All scorned the medical establishment for avarice while amassing considerable fortunes of their own; and although the American Medical Association castigated them for preying on the ignorant, this book shows that the case against them wasn't all that simple. Quacks and Crusaders is an entertaining and revealing look at the connections between fraudulent medicine and populist rhetoric in middle America. Eric Juhnke examines the careers of these three personalities to paint a vision of medicine that championed average Americans, denounced elitism, and affirmed rustic values. All appealed to the common man, winning audiences and patrons in rural America by casting their pitches in everyday language, and their messages proved more potent than their medicines in treating the fears, insecurities, and failing health of their numerous supporters. Juhnke first examines the career of each man, revealing their geniuses as businessmen and propagandists-with such success that Brinkley and Baker ran for governor of their states and Hoxsey had thousands of supporters protest his "persecution" by the FDA. Juhnke then investigates the identity, motives, and willingness to believe of their many patients and followers. He shows how all three men used populist rhetoric—evangelical, anti-Communist, anti-intellectual—to attract their clients, and then how their particular brand of populism sometimes mutated to anti-Semitism and other sentiments of the radical right. By treating the incurable, Brinkley, Baker, and Hoxsey took on the mantles of common folk crusaders. Brinkley was idolized for his goat gland cures until his death, and Hoxsey's former head nurse continued his work from Tijuana until her death in 1999. In considering who visits quacks and why, Juhnke has shed new light not only on the ongoing battle between alternative and organized medicine, but also on the persistence of quackery—and gullibility—in American culture. |
From inside the book
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... paper ) 1. Quacks and quackery - United States . 2. Brinkley , John Richard , 1885-1942 . 3. Baker , Norman , 1882- . 4. Hoxsey , Harry M. I. Title . R730 .J845 2002 615.8'56 - dc21 2002006162 British Library Cataloguing in Publication ...
... paper ) 1. Quacks and quackery - United States . 2. Brinkley , John Richard , 1885-1942 . 3. Baker , Norman , 1882- . 4. Hoxsey , Harry M. I. Title . R730 .J845 2002 615.8'56 - dc21 2002006162 British Library Cataloguing in Publication ...
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Contents
Silent film promoting Brinkleys goatgland operation | 7 |
John and Minnie Brinkley in 1932 | 17 |
Political rally for Brinkley in 1932 | 23 |
Iowas | 36 |
Norman Baker at the height of his career | 37 |
A gathering outside Bakers studio during | 43 |
Baker emphasized the AMAs Chicago connections | 51 |
Baker as a modern man | 60 |
Senseless Dupes or Sensible Pragmatists? | 92 |
Cartoon published in Bakers TNT magazine in 1931 99 vii | 99 |
Cartoon boosting Hoxsey during the mid1950s | 102 |
The Popularity | 119 |
Discount gas prices at Bakers Muscatine filling | 122 |
Publication celebrating Hoxseys crusade against | 137 |
Conclusion | 147 |
Notes | 157 |
The Career of Cancer Charlatan | 64 |
A highway billboard advertising Hoxseys clinic | 71 |
Hoxsey with biography in hand | 83 |
Part of the FDA campaign to discredit Hoxsey | 90 |
195 | |
209 | |
Common terms and phrases
advertising Alternative Medicine AMA's American Medical Association American Rally April August Baker Collection Brink Brinkley Papers Brinkley's broadcast campaign cancer cure cancer treatment charged Chicago Christian claimed conventional County court Courtesy crowd crusader Dallas December Defender editorial Eureka Springs farmers February Federal Radio Commission flyer former patients Gerald Winrod Gland Goat governor Harry Hoxsey healers Healing Health Herbert Hoover hospital Hoxsey Cancer Hoxsey Collection Hoxsey treatment Hoxsey's Ibid Illinois interview Iowa J. R. Brinkley JAMA January John John Brinkley Journal June Kansas City Star KFKB KSHS Archives KTNT KTNT File Langer letter listeners medical establishment medical trust Midwest Free Press Milford Minnie Morris Fishbein Muscatine Art Center National newspaper Norman Baker November October Oliver Field Pelley physician political Populist prostate quack Quackery radio station Reinemund reported Ribuffo rural September 1930 surgery Taylorville Texas Topeka town Transcript University Press warned Wichita wrote York