Jewish Quotas in Clinical Psychology? The Journal of Clinical Psychology and the Scandal of 1945

Abstract

In 1945 Frederick Thorne, editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychology, proposed to limit the acceptance of Jewish applicants to clinical psychology graduate schools. A public scandal erupted over this proposed limit, which was modeled on Jewish quotas in medical education. Criticized by the mass media and most psychologists, Thorne's proposal was repudiated by the Eastern Psychological Association and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues. Using private correspondence, oral histories, and published articles, this mostly forgotten episode in the history of clinical psychology is recreated. It is argued that the 1945 campaign against Jewish quotas prepared activists for the 1950s campaign against racial segregation and the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. Because the participants in 1945 came from all specialties in psychology, it is suggested that this story is of significance to the field as a whole, rather than just to historians of social issues.

The American Psychological Association and antisemitism: Toward equity, diversity, and inclusion.

“…Another leading psychologist who engaged in flagrant antisemitic activities and has not yet been censured by APA is Frederick C. Thorne (Thorne, 2000). Described as impulsive and iconoclastic (Harris, 2009), Thorne founded the Journal of Clinical Psychology , and in an unsigned opening editorial, proposed limiting the acceptance of Jewish applicants to clinical psychology graduate programs (Harris, 2009; Routh, 2000). A storm of public protest erupted, several editorial board members resigned, and Thorne unconvincingly attempted to deny responsibility for the editorial (Harris, 2009).…”

“…Described as impulsive and iconoclastic (Harris, 2009), Thorne founded the Journal of Clinical Psychology , and in an unsigned opening editorial, proposed limiting the acceptance of Jewish applicants to clinical psychology graduate programs (Harris, 2009; Routh, 2000). A storm of public protest erupted, several editorial board members resigned, and Thorne unconvincingly attempted to deny responsibility for the editorial (Harris, 2009). Carl Rogers notably did not resign from the editorial board following this incident, later asserting a wish to “work from within” to no good effect and with no public statements in opposition (Harris, 2009).…”

“…A storm of public protest erupted, several editorial board members resigned, and Thorne unconvincingly attempted to deny responsibility for the editorial (Harris, 2009). Carl Rogers notably did not resign from the editorial board following this incident, later asserting a wish to “work from within” to no good effect and with no public statements in opposition (Harris, 2009). APA remained silent on the issue, but the Eastern Psychological Association, under its president, E. G. Boring, took a clear stance in opposition.…”

Sources: The Center for the History of Psychology at the University of Akron.

“…Material from the CHP also served as the primary resource for a monograph on psychologist Henry Goddard and the rise of intelligence testing in the early 20th century (Zenderland, 1998), as well as another monograph on psychologist David Boder's poignant interviews with Holocaust survivors (Rosen, 2010). CHP collections have also been used to write scholarly articles on a variety of topics, including Jewish quotas in clinical psychology (Harris, 2009), the identity of Little Albert (Beck, 2009), and the origins of the scientist-practitioner model in psychology (Cautin, 2008).…”

The Snake Pit: Mixing Marx with Freud in Hollywood.

“…What is not always remembered, however, are the political and economic struggles that coincided with—and influenced––efforts to improve the plight of the mentally ill. These included the reawakening of Depression era campaigns for social and economic justice, whose offshoots would include the civil rights and women’s movements of the 1950s and 1960s (Dwyer, 2006; Harris, 2009; Pols, 2001). These interacted with psychiatry’s expansionist ambitions to produce “social psychiatry,” which considered social inequality and prejudice to lie within its jurisdiction.…”