Hektoen International

A Journal of Medical Humanities

Tag: John F Kennedy

  • The secrecy behind JFK’s autoimmune disease

    Jude Tunyi Columbus, Ohio, United States   John F. Kennedy leaving on gurney from hospital following spinal surgery, as his wife Jacqueline stands over him. Dick DeMarsico, 1954. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division. Most Americans are familiar with the life and death of John F. Kennedy (JFK), but they may not know about…

  • Being our best selves: hidden in full view

    James Stoller Peter Rea Alan Kolp Cleveland, Ohio, United States   Figure 1. Pillars and pediment We live in a paradox framed by a tension between age-old wisdom about excellence and our current state. The paradox is this: our behaviors and our priorities are often at odds with age-old truths about how we can be…

  • Political obfuscation and medical speculation

    Charles G. Kels San Antonio, Texas, United States   Grover Cleveland, 22nd (1885–1889) and 24th President (1893–1897) of the United States, with trademark mustache intact. He is the only US president to serve non-consecutive terms. National Archives, Washington, D.C., USA. Public domain. Politicians have long endeavored to keep their health concerns secret. In US presidential…

  • Blood relics and contemporary memory

    Robbie PorterWorcester, England In the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich there is an exhibit, carefully preserved in an environmentally conditioned case, which is amongst its most popular and venerated visitor attractions. It is the dress uniform of a rear-admiral in the Royal Navy, and is of the highest provenance. For this is the uniform Lord…

  • Is history good for you? Pros and cons

    Pro “ . . . a page of history is worth a volume of logic.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” – George Santayana “A people without history is like wind on the buffalo grass.” – Sioux proverb “[History is] a pact between the dead,…