Legacy of Healing

"Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity."

- William C. Menninger

After World War II, Brigadier General William C. Menninger, the Army's chief neuropsychiatrist, became a leading public spokesman for long overdue civilian reforms for better psychiatric care of people.

William Menninger meeting with President John F. Kennedy in the oval office, in February, 1962. Menninger was the first psychiatrist to meet with a president.

Source: Kansas Memory, 1962

Menninger's greatest legacy and contribution to the field of psychiatry came in the form of two books, You and Psychiatry and Human Understanding in Industry; a Guide for Supervisors.

In 1948, You and Psychiatry, was written to educate people about what goes on inside their head and makes each person unique along with the fundamentals of living which are not taken care of by physical objects. He acknowledges that all people have moments where "we don't quite understand ourselves" and his book is an introspective look into humanity. With this book, William C. Menninger humanizes and personalizes the field of psychiatry.

In 1956, William C. Menninger wrote his most accessible book, Human Understanding in Industry; a Guide for Supervisors. Within the pages of this short book, Menninger breaks down complex psychiatric principles and diagnoses into easily understood concepts that the average person could access. In addition to his explanations, this book included drawings such as the one below to make these concepts comprehensible. He went on to write multiple books not only about psychoanalysis and PTSD, but about how psychiatry is everywhere and how the brain affects how each person interacts with their neighbors and in the workplace.

A clipping from the book Human Understanding in Industry; a Guide for Supervisors, where Menninger used illustrations to make the concept of psychiatry easier to understand for an average person.

Source: Human Understanding in Industry; a Guide for Supervisors, 1956

After William Menninger passed away in late 1966, due to lymphoma, many people acknowledged his groundbreaking contributions to the field of psychiatry. Thus, Marion Kenworthy organized in December of 1966 a meeting of the American Psychoanalytic Association in New York, where each of Menninger's friends and colleagues spoke about him and his legacy to the field of psychiatry as well as their personal and professional lives.

"We are better persons for having known him. He has left his mark on many of us. Although he had gone to God, we reflect his influence in our lives with our families and our friends. Only the truly great cast their shadows so far in the lives of so many people. In this sense we many speak of his immortality. Perhaps we do so to comfort ourselves through the loss of his presence among us."

- Leo H. Bartemeier, 1966

"It can be anticipated that, with the passage of time, Doctor Will's multiple influence will become even more evident. The strengths which he symbolized and which eh placed at the disposal of the rising generations can be expected to stimulate, fortify, and sustain others as they attemp to meet the challenges before them. In his unselfish way, he experienced his greatest satisfaction when, through word or deed, he increased the potential of the individual whom he encouraged to pause long enough to listen and consider."

- Harvey J. Tompkins, 1966

From the opening of the clinic in the early 1900s to the relocation of the clinic to Texas in the 2000s, William C. Menninger's teachings continue to have an impact on the world today. With years of patients and research, the foundation began a collection of files. The Menninger’s have thousands of files in the archives at the Kansas Museum of History. Through these articles we are able to paint a better picture of how William C. Menninger broke barriers in the field of psychiatry. Few articles, research journals or books in the field of psychiatry today go without a reference of the work done by William C. Menninger.

You and Psychiatry, 1948

Psychiatry in a Troubled World: Yesterday's War and Today's Challenge, 1948.

Psychiatry: An Orientation of Life's Problems, 1949.

Memorial for William C. Menninger, 1966.