In March 1900, Dr. Joseph James Kinyoun, a surgeon with the Marine Hospital Service and the founder of the Hygienic Laboratory, which became the National Institutes of Health, discovered bubonic plague in San Francisco. His finding led to an immediate outcry from the governor, local and state politicians, and the city's commercial interests. In the hyper-sensationalized journalism of San Francisco's newspapers, Kinyoun was ridiculed, leading to death threats and a $50,000 bounty on his head. Eventually, California's quarantine caused an enormous uproar. By the time a special federal commission produced a report (initially withheld from the public, leading to charges of a coverup) that vindicated Kinyoun, a deal had been brokered wherein the pioneering doctor was removed from his post. This book tells a timely story about yellow journalism, coverup, corruption, the struggle between science and politics, and the consequences of blind denial of the truth.
Author(s): Joseph K. Houts Jr.
Publisher: McFarland & Company
Year: 2021
Language: English
Pages: 287
City: Jefferson
Cover
Acknowledgments
Table of Contents
Foreword
Introduction
I. The War Was Now Over
II. The Marine Hospital Service
III. The European Influence
IV. The New Frontier
V. The Pursuit: 1890–1891
VI. A Whirlwind of Discovery and Research: 1891–1894
VII. Widening the Realm: 1895–1896
VIII. The First Decade
IX. Abroad Again
X. War and the Third Pandemic
XI. 1899: The Year of Great Upheaval
XII. Angel Island
XIII. Y. Pestis
XIV. Venomous Pens
XV. Darkening Clouds
XVI. The Price of Truth
XVII. Farewells
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index
