J. David Stern

In July, 1961, the ATLANTICpublished a Special Supplement, Psychiatry in American Life, (now available in book form) in which the majority of the contributors were psychoanalytically oriented. In July of this year we returned to the subject of mental illness with the deliberate intent of discussing other forms of treatment, and of inquiring into the present care and needs of the community. Those analysts who have angrily resisted the criticism we brought to bear should remember that our approach has not been one-sided and that medical procedure, now as at the time of the famous Flexner Report, must be open to the public inspection both by the professional and the layman. Our issue on Disturbed Americans has been more widely read than any other this year, and the responses to it, only a fraction of which we can publish, manifest the deep concern of a conscientious public. — The Editor

Born in Philadelphia and a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, J. DAVID STERN began his career in journalism in 1908. Four years later he bought the New Brunswick TIMES, the first of a string of papers across the country whose fortunes he directed in a liberal tradition. As publisher of the Philadelphia RECORD and the New York POST, he became a power in Pastern politics and a close friend and adviser of FDR.