"Dr. Feelgood"
Coast to Coast AM
Host: George Noory
Guests: Richard Lertzman,
In the first half, author and publisher Richard A. Lertzman discussed Dr. Max Jacobson, whom the Secret Service under JFK code-named "Dr. Feelgood." He developed a unique "energy formula" which contained methamphetamine and altered the paths of some of the 20th century’s most iconic figures, including President and Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and Frank Sinatra. Dr. Jacobson, who immigrated out of Nazi Germany, had trained with Karl Jung, and first developed a treatment for multiple sclerosis using methamphetamine. His injection formula that became popular with writers, celebrities, and politicians, not only included amphetamine, but such bizarre ingredients as sheep sperm, monkey gonads, human placenta, and steroids, Lertzman detailed.
The concoction "gave people instant power, instant energy, and took away their pain," but Dr. Jacobson never told patients what was actually in the formula. His intentions may have started out positive, but eventually he used the treatments to gain power over his clients such as JFK, who became addicted to the drug, and included Dr. Jacobson as part of his entourage. According to Lertzman's research, Marilyn Monroe was injected by him just before she went on stage to sing her famous rendition of "Happy Birthday Mr. President." Among "Dr. Feelgod's" famous patients were the writers Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and Rod Serling, actress Elizabeth Taylor, and baseball player Mickey Mantle. Jacobson was eventually disbarred from practicing medicine in New York state, and tougher drug laws were enacted in 1972 that curtailed these kinds of medical practices.
Coast to Coast AM
Host: George Noory
Guests: Richard Lertzman,
In the first half, author and publisher Richard A. Lertzman discussed Dr. Max Jacobson, whom the Secret Service under JFK code-named "Dr. Feelgood." He developed a unique "energy formula" which contained methamphetamine and altered the paths of some of the 20th century’s most iconic figures, including President and Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, and Frank Sinatra. Dr. Jacobson, who immigrated out of Nazi Germany, had trained with Karl Jung, and first developed a treatment for multiple sclerosis using methamphetamine. His injection formula that became popular with writers, celebrities, and politicians, not only included amphetamine, but such bizarre ingredients as sheep sperm, monkey gonads, human placenta, and steroids, Lertzman detailed.
The concoction "gave people instant power, instant energy, and took away their pain," but Dr. Jacobson never told patients what was actually in the formula. His intentions may have started out positive, but eventually he used the treatments to gain power over his clients such as JFK, who became addicted to the drug, and included Dr. Jacobson as part of his entourage. According to Lertzman's research, Marilyn Monroe was injected by him just before she went on stage to sing her famous rendition of "Happy Birthday Mr. President." Among "Dr. Feelgod's" famous patients were the writers Tennessee Williams, Truman Capote, and Rod Serling, actress Elizabeth Taylor, and baseball player Mickey Mantle. Jacobson was eventually disbarred from practicing medicine in New York state, and tougher drug laws were enacted in 1972 that curtailed these kinds of medical practices.