Overview:
This material helps address how the general public were introduced
to and understood pencillin, and how they tried to negotiate their
relationship to the federal agents who controlled access to the
drug. When penicillin was first produced, both its scarcity as well
as the lack of understanding within and without scientific communities
together meant that the use of penicillin was restricted to military
personnel. As production methods improved, the availability of penicillin
increased, but only under specific, controlled conditions.
Nevertheless, private citizens did attempt to influence the distribution
of penicillin, by writing directly to the person they thought could
most help them - President Roosevelt. In these letters, people describe
their illnesses, the illnesses of spouses, parents, children, or
their patients, and plead with the president that he intervene,
and provide them with the new miracle drug. Although Eleanor occasionally
responded to these requests personally, the Roosevelts rarely saw
the letters. Instead, the President's assistants forwarded most
of these letters to Keefer's office in Boston, which sometimes took
up to a month to arrive at Massachusetts Memorial. Moreover, if
requests did not come from a patient's physician, Keefer sent a
form letter indicating that a letter or telephone call >from the
person's physician was necessary for consideration of his or her
case. These requests, which were moving and often quite heart wrenching,
convey the hope (not infrequently a false hope in the promise of
penicillin), desperation and confusion the public experienced in
relation to penicillin in the early stages of its development and
production.
Examine each of the letters carefully. Pay special attention to
who wrote each letter, and to whom each is addressed. Note the tone,
language and content of each. Also note the action taken, if any,
in response to the appeals. What differences do you recognize between
the letters? What significant differences do you see in the rhetorical
strategies used in these letters (e.g. in what terms and with what
claims do authors request or demand access to penicillin)? What
differences do you recognize in the effectiveness of these strategies,
or, put differently, who received penicillin and who did not? What
do the thoughts, hopes and ideas revealed in the letters reveal
about how the public viewed science and medicine, and their significance
and role in their daily lives at this time? How did the public understand
penicillin? Were there differences? What major influences do you
think contributed to shaping these perceptions? How did the public
attempt to negotiate the relationship between themselves and the
federal bureaucracy that controlled their access to the drug? What
do you think the public believed to be the nature of this relationship?
Personal Correspondence Archive:
1943
- Letter from Dr. Dimitry to
the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army, June 1943
- Letter from Mr. Charlie Rottern
to CMR's Dr. A.N. Richards, June 1943
- Letter from Surgeon General
Norman Kirk to CMR's Dr. A.N. Richards, July 1943
- Letter from Dr. C.F. Keefer
to Dr. Priest, August 1943
- Letter from WPB's Dr.
Roy Koch to CMR's Dr. Richards, in re: Camoeasas, September 1943
- Letter from Dr. T.C. Donald
to Dr. Andrus of the National Research Council, September 1943
- Letter from Mrs. Minnie
Edgecomb to President F. D. Roosevelt, September 1943
- Letter from Mr. Floyd V. Nagel
to President F. D. Roosevelt, September 1943
- Letter from American Hospital
of Chicago's Z. Pintel to the OSRD, September 1943
- Telegram from Dr. C.
F. Keefer to Dr E. C. Andrus, in re: Donald, September 1943
- Letter from Dr. J. Norman White
to Mrs. W. J. Hiltz, September 1943
- Letter from Mrs. Helen Georgiotoulos
to Dr. Keefer, October 1943
- Telegram from Dr. Paul
Patterson to Dr. W. Keefer, October 1943
- Letter from Mr. Vincent
Cardello to President F. D. Roosevelt, October 1943
- Letter from Mr. Dominick Coiro
to President F. D. Roosevelt, October 1943
- Letter from Mr. Ralph
Smithpeters to President F. D. Roosevelt, October 1943
- Letter from Mr. Joseph Infuso
to President F. D. Roosevelt, October 1943
- Letter from anatomized
author (pres. Mrs. Profili) to President F. D. Roosevelt, November
1943
- Letter from Mrs. William J.
Hilts to President F. D. Roosevelt, November 1943
- Letter from Mr. & Mrs.
Ray Roberts to President F. D. Roosevelt, November 1943
- Letter from Mrs. T. Rose to
President F. D. Roosevelt, November 1943
- Letter in reply to Mrs. T. Rose
from Dr. E. C. Andrus, December 1943
- Letter from Mr. S. D. Sandro
to President F. D. Roosevelt, November 1943
- Letter from Mr. Raymond
Serratos to President F. D. Roosevelt, November 1943
1944
1946
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