The Captive King and His Captive Court: The Psychopolitical Dynamics of the Disabled Leader and His Inner Circle

Abstract

Drawing on case material from recent and past history, this paper systematically examines the effects of leader disability on political decision making and behavior, giving special attention to the complex relationship between the disabled leader and his inner circle. Four groups of factors are examined: (1) factors related to the illness itself, including whether the illness is physical or mental, and whether the disability is temporary or preterminal, total or partial; (2) factors related to the leader and his reaction to his illness, including the degree to which the leader denies or acknowledges the extent of his disability; (3) factors related to the nature of the political system including whether the society is open or closed, and whether there is a clearly defined succession process; and (4) factors associated with the medical care of the VIP patient, including the conflict between the health needs of the individual and the political needs of the system. In a closed society, with a partially disabled leader, the leader and his inner circle can become locked in a fatal embrace, each dependent upon the other for survival–the syndrome of the Captive King and His Captive Court.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Adams, S. Firsthand Report. New York: HarperCollins, 1961.

Anderson, D. G. “Death Anxiety and Political Motivation: The Psychology of Abraham Lincoln.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, 1983.

Brooks, J.J. , and others. “The Final Diagnosis of President Cleveland's Lesion.” Transactions and Studies of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 1980, 2, 1–26.

Burns, J. Leadership. New York: HarperCollins, 1978.

Forgie, G. B. Patricide in the House Divided. New York: Norton, 1979.

Friedlander, W. J. “About Three Old Men: An Inquiry into How Cerebral Arteriosclerosis Has Altered World Politics. A Neurologist's View.”Stroke, 1972, 3, 467–473.

George, J. L. , and George, A. L. “Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House: A Reply to Weinstein, Anderson, and Link.” Paper presented at the fourth annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Mannheim, Germany, 1981.

Gilbert, R. E. “Personality, Stress, and Achievement: Keys to Presidential Longevity.”Presidential Studies Quarterly, 1985, 15, 33–50.

Glad, B. Key Pittman. New York: Columbia University Press, 1986.

10.

Heaton, L. D. , and others. “President Eisenhower's Operation for Regional Enteritis.”Annals of Surgery, 1964, 159, 661–666.

11.

Hughes, C. W. , and others. “A Review of the Late General Eisenhower's Operations.”Annals of Surgery, 1971, 273, 793–799.

12.

Khruschev, N. Kruschev Remembers. Boston: Little, Brown, 1970.

13.

Kucharski, A. “Medical Management of Political Patients: The Case of Dwight D. Eisenhower.”Perspectives of Biological Medicine, 1978, pp. 115–126.

14.

Kucharski, A. “On Being Sick and Famous.”Political Psychology, 1984, 5, 69–82.

15.

Lifton, R. J. Revolutionary Immortality. New York: Norton, 1968.

16.

London Observer .“Burnham Death Puzzle.” Sept. 8, 1985, p. 6.

17.

Macalpine, L , and Hunter, R. George III and the Mad-Business. New York: Pantheon, 1969.

18.

Magnor, T. “Yugoslavia and Tito: The Long Farewell.”Current History, 1978, 74, 154–158.

19.

Marmor, M. F. “Wilson, Strokes, and Zebras.”New England Journal of Medicine, 1982, 307, 528–535.

20.

Moran, C. Winston Churchill. London: Constable, 1964.

21.

Nichols, J. “President Kennedy's Adrenals.”Journal of the American Medical Association, 1967, 201, 115–116.

22.

Paige, G. The Scientific Study of Political Leadership. New York: Free Press/Macmillan, 1977.

23.

Park, B. E. The Impact of Illness on World Leaders. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986.

24.

Pi-Sunyer, O. “Political Humour in a Dictatorial State: The Case of Spain.”Ethnohistory, 1977, 24.

25.

Post, J. “On Aging Leaders: Possible Effects of the Aging Process on the Conduct of Leadership.”Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 1973, VI, 109–116.

26.

Post, J. “The Seasons of a Leader's Life.”Political Psychology, 1980, 2, 36–49.

27.

Post, J. “Woodrow Wilson Re-examined: The Mind-Body Controversy Redux and Other Disputations.”Political Psychology, 1983, 4, 289–331.

28.

Post, J. “Dreams of Glory and the Life Cycle.”Journal of Political and Military Sociology, 1984, 12, 49–60.

29.

Post, J. “Narcissism and the Charismatic Leader-Follower Relationship.”Political Psychology, 1986, 7, 675–688.

30.

Resenberger, B. “Amphetamines Used by a Physician to Lift Moods of Famous Patients.”New York Times, Dec. 4, 1972, p. 1ff.

31.

Riccards, M. P. “In Sickness and in Health.”Presidential Studies Quarterly, 1977, 7, 215–230.

32.

Rigby, T. H. “Was Stalin a Disloyal Patron?”Soviet Studies, 1986, 38, 311–324.

33.

Robins, R. S. “Paranoid Ideation and Charismatic Leadership.”Psychohistoric Review, 1986, 5, 15–55.

34.

Robins, R. S. , and Post, J. “The Paranoid Political Actor.”Biography, 1987, 10, 1–19.

35.

Robins, R. S. , and Rothschild, H. “Hidden Health Disabilities and the Presidency: Medical Management and Political Considerations.”Perspectives of Biological Medicine, 1981, pp. 240–266.

36.

Rogow, A. A. “James Forrestal: A Study of Personality.” In Politics and Policy. New York: Macmillan, 1963.

37.

Runyan, W. Me. “The Madness of George III: Reflections on the Course of the Debate.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, Oxford, England, 1983.

38.

Strozier, C. Lincoln's Quest for Union. New York: Basic Books, 1982.

39.

Tucker, R. C. Stalin as Revolutionary, 1879–1929. New York: Norton, 1973.

40.

Volkan, V. , and Itzkowitz, N. The Immortal Atatürk. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984.

41.

Weinstein, E. “Denial of Presidential Disability: A Case Study of Woodrow Wilson.”Psychiatry, 1967, 30, 376–391.

42.

Weinstein, E. Woodrow Wilson: A Medical and Psychological Biography. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981.

43.

Wiegele, T. G. , Hilton, K. L. , Oots , and Kisiel, S. V. Leaders Under Stress A Psychophysiological Analysis of International Crises. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1985.