Comments on "Woodrow Wilson Re-Examined: The Mind-Body Controversy Redux and Other Disputations"

To previous doubts concerning the validity of Weinstein's "stroke" theory, Jerrold Post, M.D., adds his own skepticism that Woodrow Wilson suffered a series of strokes dating back to 1896. In addition, Post reports the views of five other medical specialists-another psychiatrist, three neurologists, and an orthopedistall of whom believe that Weinstein's diagnoses are mistaken. Because several of the "strokes" that Weinstein claims to have occurred have been placed in the historical record (The Papers of Woodrow Wilson) as unequivocal fact, and because the alleged "strokes" supposedly account for Wilson's inept political behavior at certain critical junctures, it is important that the hypothetical nature of Weinstein's views be recognized, and that students of Wilson's political behavior realize that a number of medical specialists disagree with his diagnoses. Post offers several stimulating hypotheses concerning Wilson's childhood development, and his analysis of the nature of Wilson's identification with his father is persuasive. Also convincing are Post's views concerning the likely anxiety and low self-estimates produced in Wilson by his early reading disability, no matter what its origins. Post provides a useful framework within which both psychological and organic factors in Wilson's behavior may be comprehended as interactive and complementary rather than as mutually exclusive.