Mental Health and the U.S. Presidency

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, is widely believed to have suffered from periods of depression throughout his life.  Contemporary historians and mental health experts believe that Lincoln's "melancholy" would be categorized today as clinical depression.  Nevertheless, despite his personal hardships, Lincoln became one of the greatest American presidents and he preserved the union

Lincoln

Now, let's take a walk down memory lane to the 1972 U.S. presidential election.  The Democratic candidate that year was Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, a liberal who advocated for an immediate end to American involvement in Vietnam.  McGovern chose United States Senator Thomas Eagleton of Missouri as his vice presidential running mate.

A few weeks after the Democratic convention, on July 25, 1972, news reports revealed that Senator Eagleton had checked himself into hospital three times between 1960 and 1966 for clinical depression, receiving electroconvulsive therapy (shock treatment) twice.  He was later received a diagnosis of bipolar II.  

Eagleton acknowledged that the reports were true and McGovern stated that he would support Eagleton '1,000 per cent.  However, after consulting with prominent psychiatrists, including Eagleton's own doctors, McGovern was told that Eagleton's depression could possibly reoccur and endanger the country should he become acting president.  

At the time, a Time magazine poll found that 77% of the respondents said that "Eagleton's medical record would not affect their vote."  However, George McGovern feared that the media's constant reference to "shock treatment' would detract from his campaign.  On August 1, 1972, only 19 days after his nomination, Thomas Eagleton withdrew his candidacy, at McGovern's request.  He was replaced by Sargent Shriver, former U.S. ambassador to France, and former (founding director) of the Peace Corps. and the Office of Economic Opportunity.

McGovern

Eagleton

In the presidential election of November 7, 1972, Republican candidate Richard Nixon and his running mate, Spiro Agnew, won a landslide victory over the McGovern/Shriver ticket.  Then came the Watergate Scandal culminating in Nixon's 1974 resignation.  The Vietnam War finally ended in 1975.  As for Thomas Eagleton, he won reelection to the Senate in 1974 and 1980.  He declined to seek a fourth term in 1986.  He died in 2007 at the age of 77.

Now, fast forward to 2026 and the current occupant of the White House.  Donald Trump is not mentally or physically fit to hold the office of president.  Lincoln and Eagleton may have suffered from depression, but they did not behave like madmen.  They did not threaten their enemies and rant and rave.  They did not behave like authoritarians.  They did not encourage an insurrection to overthrow an elected government.  

Donald Trump is a very unstable man.  He is probably the most dangerous person in the world.  He should not be anywhere near the nuclear code.  If there is a nuclear disaster, all of Trump's sycophants and his billionaire supporters will be complicit.  They are unwilling to say that the emperor wears no clothes. 

- Joanne