Greeting: America and the Draft · Episode 7 of 12 · 23 min
Guinea Pigs and Bedlam: Starvation, Asylums, and Desmond Doss
Some World War II objectors let doctors starve them for six months. Others exposed the horrors of state asylums. One carried 75 wounded men off a cliff, unarmed. The episode covers the Minnesota Starvation Experiment, disease studies, the 3,000 objectors who staffed mental hospitals and produced the Bedlam 1946 exposé, and Desmond Doss, the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor.
Who's who
- Ancel Keys+2 more episodesPhysiologist who led the Minnesota Starvation Experiment
- Desmond DossArmy medic and first conscientious objector awarded the Medal of Honor
- Albert Q. MaiselAuthor of the 1946 Life exposé Bedlam 1946
- Harry S. Truman+14 more episodesPresident who presented Doss the Medal of Honor
Where it happens
- University of Minnesota, MinneapolisSite of the Minnesota Starvation Experiment
- Maeda Escarpment, OkinawaHacksaw Ridge, where Doss lowered wounded men down the cliff
Timeline
- 1942CPS guinea pig units and mental hospital assignments begin
- November 1944Minnesota Starvation Experiment begins with a 12-week control phase
- April-May 1945Doss's actions at the Maeda Escarpment on Okinawa
- October 1945Truman presents Doss the Medal of Honor
- May 1946Bedlam 1946 appears in Life magazine
- 1950Keys and colleagues publish The Biology of Human Starvation
Still debated
Doss's rescue count of about 75 is his own conservative estimate, with accounts ranging from roughly 50 to 100. Whether the objectors' medical experiments were ancestors of informed consent or unregulated research that reform reacted against is an open reading, and Bedlam 1946 was one catalyst among several for mental-health reform.
civilian public servicestarvation experimentmental hospitalsmedal of honorconscientious objectorsmedical research
← PreviousWork of National Importance: The Pacifist Smokejumpers of WWIINext →The Cold War Draft: Hershey's Channeling Machine
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