Revolutionary Medicine: The Founding Fathers and Mothers in Sickness and in Health

We know their vaunted place in history: Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, and statesman, scientist, and pamphleteer Benjamin Franklin. But it’s their work in public health—and their personal battles with illness—that makes this blend of political and medical history so engaging. Abrams (Jewish Women Pioneering the Frontier Trail) notes that there’s nothing new about today’s contentious debate over health care; the nation’s founders were “acutely sensitive to health issues” affecting their families and community. Jefferson—who famously declared, “Science is my passion, politics my duty,” and made no effort to mask his disdain for doctors—used his power to advocate for smallpox vaccinations, while Madison pushed the effort further with one of the earliest health bills, the Vaccine Act of 1813. Martha Washington poignantly noted, “Sickness is to be expected”; indeed, her husband suffered recurring malarial fevers, Franklin had episodes of gout, Jefferson was plagued with dysentery, and Madison had petit mal seizures. Abrams’s meticulous medical portrait of colonial times—and its most powerful leaders—will be fascinating reading for students of both history and medicine. Illus. (Sept.)