WILLIAM C. MENNINGER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 03/29/1950 - HFSID 273171

WILLIAM C. MENNINGER. TLS: "W.C. Menninger", 1p, 8½x11. Topeka, Kansas, 1950 March 29. On letterhead of The Menninger Foundation to Mr. Harold B. Clemenko, Editorial Department, LOOK, New York, New York. In full: "I think you will be interested in knowing the other people who have accepted invitations for the meeting at the Plaza Hotel on April 4. The morning session will begin at 10:00 and the luncheon at 12:30. Sincerely". In the year of this letter, the Menninger School of Psychiatry began training physicians at Topeka State Hospital. The Menninger Foundation had been established in 1941. William Claire Menninger (1899-1966), the son of psychiatrist Charles Frederick Menninger and the brother of psychiatrist Karl Menninger, joined his father and brother at the nation's first group psychiatry center in 1925, the year the Menninger Sanitorium was founded. Like his brother, Will was instrumental in bringing mental illness "out of the closet" and educating the public on psychiatry and the help available, although Will was primarily a lecturer while Karl's influence was largely through his writings. During WWII, Will served as Chief of the Army Medical Corps' Psychiatric Division, receiving a promotion to Brigadier General. After the war, he implemented his Army innovations at the Menninger Foundation, founded the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry and led an effort to reform state sanitariums. In 1948, Menninger became the first psychiatrist featured on the cover of "Time" magazine, which billed him as "Psychiatry's U.S. Sales Manager". Lightly creased with folds, not at signature. Nicked at upper right edge, staple holes at upper left corner. Fine condition.