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In Sickness and in Power Illnesses in Heads of Government during the Last 100 Years
David Owen
Book Code: C36005
ISBN: 0-313-36005-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-313-36005-3
448 pages, n/a
Praeger Publishers
Publication: 5/30/2008
List Price: $44.95
Availability: In Stock
Media Type: Hardcover
Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4
Subjects:
  • Endorsement From D. R. Thorpe,
    Author of Eden: The Life and Times of Anthony Eden, First Earl of Avon, 1897-1977:     Lord Owen's chapter on Anthony Eden will surely now be accepted as the definitive account of the effect of his illness on his decision-making during the Suez Crisis.
  • Endorsement From Richard Reeves,
    Author of President Kennedy: Profile of Power:     Lord Owen's unique credentials as politician and physician make In Sickness and Power an essential book for those of us interested in a deeper look at why leaders do what they do. It is an astonishing piece of work.
  • Endorsement From Jonathan Davidson, MD,
    Emeritus Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
    Duke University Medical Center:     A compelling, timely and much-needed account about heads of government and their personal health. Lord Owen's unique qualifications as a politician and physician make this an authoritative and landmark work. Fascinating individual case histories, and the problems they raise, are presented in lucid and scholarly fashion. Lord Owen's description of the hubris syndrome is an important contribution to the clinical literature and will surely provoke further efforts to understand it, as well as hopefully lessen its potential to cause harm. The book concludes with some well-reasoned potential solutions on how to prevent and contain the possible damage which can arise from impaired health in a head of state. Essential reading.
Description: The course of modern world history has been critically shaped by the physical and mental illnesses of heads of state, sometimes in the public eye but usually in secrecy. Democratic politicians as diverse as Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Churchill, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Pompidou, Mitterrand, Blair, George W. Bush, Chirac, and Sharon all lied about their health. Between 1906 and 2008 seven Presidents are judged to have been mentally ill while in office: Theodore Roosevelt (bipolar disorder), Taft (breathing-related sleep disorder), Wilson (major depressive disorder), Coolidge (major depressive disorder), Hoover (major depressive disorder), Johnson (bipolar disorder), and Nixon (alcohol abuse). Many despots-such as Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Idi Amin, and Robert Mugabe-have been branded by the press and public opinion as suffering mental illnesses. Lord Owen argues neither Hitler nor Stalin were "mad" in any sense the medical profession recognizes (whereas Mussolini and Mao had depression, possibly bipolar disorder). Something happens to some leaders' mental stability while in power that is captured by Bertrand Russell's phrase, "the intoxication of power." Hubristic behavior with excessive self-confidence is almost an occupational hazard for heads of government, as it is for leaders in other fields, such as business and the military, for it feeds on isolation and excessive deference. Owen argues that a medically definable condition called Hubris Syndrome affects some heads of government the longer they stay in office or after a specific triggering event such as 9/11. Recent leaders such as George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and Margaret Thatcher have developed Hubris Syndrome. Symptoms include patterns of reckless behavior, bad judgment, and operational incompetence, often compounded by delusions of personal infallibility and divine exemption from political accountability. Lord Owen makes the cases that democratic societies need to implement new procedures for dealing with illness in their own heads of government, and that they need to empower the United Nations to use new procedures and means for removing despots whose behavior becomes so hubristic as to pose a grave threat to their own people or the world.
Table of Contents:
  • Acknowledgements
  • List of illustrations
  • Introduction
  • Part I: Illness in heads of government during the
  • last 100 years
  • 1 1901-1953
  • 2 1953-2007
  • Part II: Case histories
  • 3 Prime Minister Edens illness and Suez
  • 4 President Kennedys health
  • 5 The Shahs secret illness
  • 6 President Mitterrands prostate cancer
  • Part III: The intoxication of power
  • 7 Bush, Blair and the war in Iraq
  • Part IV: Lessons for the future
  • 8 Safeguarding against illness in heads of government
  • 9 Conclusion
  • Notes
  • Index
LC Card Number: 2008013655
LCC Class: RC451
Dewey Class: 616
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