When Illness Strikes the Leader (Inscribed to Ron Nessen, President Gerald Ford's Press Secretary)

The illness or disability of a world leader can change the course of history. When Lenin became too infirm to remove Stalin from a position of power, when the shah of Iran's terminal cancer was kept secret from his fellow Iranians and his foreign supporters until Ayatollah Khomeini's Islamic revolution had succeeded, the political consequences were monumental. In this book, two experts in political psychology reveal how the infirmities of leaders have affected their own societies and the broader course of world events. Drawing on a wide range of examples, including Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria, Woodrow Wilson, Adolf Hitler, Idi Amin, Deng Xiao-peng, Ferdinand Marcos, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Menachem Begin, Dr. Jerrold M. Post and Robert S. Robins explore the impact of physical and mental illness on political leadership. Post and Robins investigate the effects of illness on the leader, his inner circle, his followers, and the political system itself. They discuss such topics as: how the nature of the illness affects decision-making; how mortal illness can make a leader more determined to make his mark on history; how a leader's disability can be hidden from the public in every political system; the effects of prescribed drugs and substance abuse on leadership behaviour; the conflicted role and ethical dilemmas of physicians who care for the powerful; and how the demands and privileges of high office compromise the quality of medical care. In closed societies where there is no clear mechanism of succession, say the authors, the ailing or ageing leader and his close advisers can become locked in a fatal embrace, each dependent upon the other for survival; a captive king and his captive court. In the absence of clear rules for determining when a leader is disabled and should be replaced and how a successor will be chosen, illness in high office can be highly destabilizing.

The mental and physical health of world leaders are critical issues that are only beginning to receive serious public attention. All too frequently, leaders remain in power despite health problems that may diminish their capacity to govern. Cover-ups for incapacitated leaders have long been the rule for a variety of reasons, including the real and perceived importance of an existing leader, the workings of the inner court to limit damage control, and the fear of change if a new leader comes to power. Psychiatrist Post and political scientist Robins present numerous fascinating examples of how such diverse leaders as Winston Churchill, the Shah of Iran, Menachem Begin, the recent Soviet gerontocracy, Mao and Deng, and several American presidents have been so affected by health problems that they became dangers to their nations. Although cases of the American presidents are more thoroughly discussed in Robert Gilbert's excellent The Mortal Presidency ( LJ 11/15/92), this work is highly recommended for subject collections and large public libraries because of its readability, emphasis on non-American leaders, and analysis of health issues specifically applied to leadership settings.
- Karl He licher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.