Lasswell Harold D. The Political Writings of Harold D. Lasswell
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CHAPTER I
LIFE-HISTORIES AND
POLITICAL SCIENCE
Political
biography
as
a
field of
political science
has
long been
relied
upon to
furnish
a
vivid corrective
to the
overemphasis laid upon the
study
of institutional "mecha-
nisms," "structures," and
"systems."
The
legal
and
cus-
tomary position
of the House of Commons, the House
of
Lords, the
monarch
and
the electorate, as
expounded
in
the
commentaries
of
Gneist
and
Dicey, suddenly
take on
new
meaning when
viewed through the lens of Morley's
Gladstone,
Strachey's Victoria, or Lee's Edward VII.
The
German
imperial system of Laband is more fleshly and
less
transcendental when one has
studied
the lives of
Bis-
marck or
William
II. An
institutional
account of
the con-
stitutional development of the United
States
without
a
life
of Marshall
and
a
life of Lincoln would
be but
the dregs
of
a
rich
and
ebullient history. Political science without
biography is
a
form
of taxidermy.
When the tumultuous life of society is flayed into prece-
dents and tanned into
principles,
the
resulting
abstractions
suff"er
a
strange fate.
They
are grouped and regrouped
until
the
resulting
mosaic may constitute
a
logical
and
aesthetic
whole which
has long ceased to bear any valid
relation
to the
original
reality.
Concepts
are constantly
in
danger of losing their
reference
to definite events. Notions
like liberty
and authority
require
a
new birth of
meaning
after they have
followed the
tempting
path of
abstraction
but
a
little
way.
If
conceptions
are
to serve
and not
to
1
2
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
AND
POLITICS
master
the mind, their
terms of reference
must intermit-
tently undergo the most rigorous
scrutiny.
The use of
"institutional"
categories
in describing
politi-
cal
life is indispensable,
but
the publicists
who employ
them have
little
to say about the
"personal" influences
which
modify the expected behavior
of "legislatures,"
"executives," and
"judiciaries."
It is
no
news
that "leader-
ship" is an
important variable
in
predicting
the
course of
events, but
the standard treatises
on
politics
have next to
nothing
to
offer
about the
traits of various
kinds of
agi-
tators and
organizers,
and nothing to say about the
kinds
of experiences out of which these diff^erences
arise.
This limitation
holds for the books
about
the
theory
of
the state and of
politics
which are written
by Englishmen
like
Sidgwick
and
Laski,
Americans like Garner
and
W.
W.
Willoughby,
and
Europeans like
Jellinek, Schmidt,
Kjellen, and Kelsen.
No doubt these men
possess or have
possessed
a
living sense of political realities.
Of
Sidgwick
it is related that he was
wonderfully
adept
in entertaining
his circle for hours with incisive comments
and
amusing
anecdotes about
public
men. But of this "humanity" of
politics there is little
to be
found in what he wrote. Politi-
cal
biography has been
relied
upon
chiefly
to convey
a
sense
of the unpredictable in human aff'airs, and
to adorn
an
after-dinner tale. At its best,
political biography has
contributed to an
understanding
of the factors which differ-
entiate one
human personality from another. But it is
no
secret
that the
literary biography or
autobiography
omits
or
distorts
much of the intimate history of the individual,
and
that
many of the
facts which modern investigators have
found
to
be
important are
numbered among the missing.
Where
is it possible
to
secure
a
supply
of life-histories
in
which the
usual conventionalities are ignored,
and
which
LIFE-HISTORIES
AND
POLITICAL
SCIENCE 3
are
taken by
specialists in the
sociological,
psychological,
and
somatic influences
which play upon the
individual?
There
exist
in
modern society sizeable
collections of such
material which have
hitherto
been
accorded
slight
atten-
tion
by
students of
social science. I refer
to
the case
his-
tories of
those individuals who have
been ill, and espe-
cially
those
who have been
cared for in hospitals and sani-
tariums/
The richest
body
of psychological
and
sociological facts
is found in the files
of
the institutions for the care of the
mentally disordered, although the material available
in
general hospitals is
of
value. The
case
history of
a
patient
in
a
good mental hospital
is
a
document
to
which many
have contributed. There is
a
report of the physical con-
dition of the patient
as
it
is
revealed
in the
routine exam-
ination on his admission
to
the institution. This may be
supplemented by transcripts of previous and subsequent
examinations. There is
also to be found the rating attained
by
the subject
on
several general-intelligence
and special-
aptitude tests. There is
a
report
of
the
preliminary inter-
view and the diagnosis
by
the psychiatrist.
This is ampli-
fied
by a
summary
of the proceedings
at staff conferences
to
which the patient is presented,
and which is
attended
by
the whole
body
of physicians
and psychiatric social
workers attached
to
the hospital. The
usual routine is for
the physician
and
social
worker in charge
to present
a
summary
of the
case, to
introduce
the patient for
observa-
tion, and
to
engage in general
colloquy
upon the diagnosis
and
therapy
after the patient
has
been escorted out of the
room. The patient
may
be
brought
before
several staff
^
See Harold
D. Lasswell,
"The Study of the 111
as a Method of Research
on Political Personalities,"
American
Political Science
Review,
November,
1929.
4
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
AND
POLITICS
conferences for
the purpose
of discussing whether
he is in
a
condition permitting of
release, parole,
or transfer. Dur-
ing his
stay
in the
institution the nurses,
as
well
as
the
physicians
who make rounds,
add their descriptive
com-
ments upon his behavior.
The social service
department
gets
in touch with relatives
and acquaintances
and pre-
pares
a
biography of the
subject. Occasionally
the patient
will volunteer an autobiography, which
is filed with the
general
record. Correspondence with individuals
who have
interested themselves in the
case
will often
disclose valu-
able details. The exhibits frequently include letters
writ-
ten by
the patient before, during,
and after his illness,
together with published works,
drawings,
paintings, and
plastic productions. In some
instances the record
of
a
single patient who has been
admitted,
released, or trans-
ferred
becomes very
voluminous.
It is due
to
the
growing emphasis
upon the importance
of understanding
the personality
as
a
functioning whole
that
modern medical men
are
willing and anxious
to assem-
ble data about
the behavior of
the individual in his family,
business, and
recreational relations. Such facts
are
often
useful
to
the physician in making
his diagnosis
and
in
deciding how
to
handle the
patient. The modern emphasis
upon the role
of reverie in developing one's traits and in-
terests has
led
to
the inclusion of data
about
night
dreams,
daydreams,
ambitions, grievances,
enthusiasms,
and
loyal-
ties of the
subject.
Not
infrequently the productions of
the patient are recorded in his own
words
by
a
stenog-
rapher
who is present during certain interviews with phy-
sicians.
All
these
psychological
and
sociological
data
in-
crease
the significance of the case record for the individual
who studies
it for the purpose of understanding the total
developmental
history of the
person.
LIFE-HISTORIES
AND POLITICAL
SCIENCE 5
Sometimes
the case
histories
concern people who
are
without
mental disorder, but
who have,
for one
reason or
another,
been
committed
for observation. The
German
government was
not the
only one in
the- late war
which
sometimes
resorted to
the expedient of avoiding
the
ap-
pearance
of internal
dissension
by
referring pacifists
to
a
mental
hospital. The
records of the
kind obtained under
these
circumstances are
often of men and
women
without
pathology,
and serve to
control
the conclusions which rest
on
the study of
pathological cases.
Quite often the specifically
pathological features in
the
record
of
a
sick person are very meager. Thus, one
promi-
nent politician, the mayor of
a
large city,
was
brought to
a
mental hospital suffering from
an
alcoholic
psychosis,^
delirium
tremens. He was only "insane" (to use
a
non-
scientific term) when he
was
passing through
this acute
alcoholic episode,
and
was soon released. But the
record
of what he
said
and
did during the delirium casts
a
brighter light on the deeper motivations of his
political
career than many
pages
of conventional biography.
The
hallucinations and delusions
which
he
experienced were
not
entirely
stereotyped for
the disease.
Since he was no
longer able to
maintain his repressions, his inner fantasy
life came
out in
the clear, and his personality structure
stood
revealed. Another politician showed nothing abnor-
mal
except
a
propensity
for
collecting women's shoe
heels,
which he found sexually stimulating.
He came to
the
medical psychologist
to be
freed from his fetishist perver-
sion, and in so
doing
he made possible the preparation of
a
document which intimately revealed
the
origin
of
certain
political interests. From the
point
of view of the political
'"Psychosis" means the more serious mental disturbances; "neurosis"
means the less serious ones.
6
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND
POLITICS
scientist the
most valuable parts of his history
happened
to be
quite far
removed from the narrowly
circumscribed
pathological symptoms.
The value of
some records is enhanced
by
the fact that,
besides
the pathological productions of the patient, they
contain
much
information which
is volunteered
by
the per-
son
when he is himself
again.
Some forms of mental
disorder show recurrent intervals of
disturbance and
nor-
mality, and during the "clear" interludes the patient
is
quite competent
to
furnish autobiographical
data.
Often
the "remissions" in the individual's
condition extend over
several years,
although
they
may be
momentary. Another
form of mental disease is characterized
by
the fact that
the sufferer's difficulties center about
a
single system of
ideas
which, if left untouched
by
the
interviewer, permits
him to be dealt
with
as an
ordinary individual.
It
should
be
evident from the foregoing that, contrary
to
popular
impression, the histories
to be
found
in
institutions for the
care of the
sick
are
by
no means exclusively confined
to
pathological subjects or
to
the merely pathological aspects
of the
person.
Some of the
life-histories which
are summarized in
this
monograph come from mental hospitals.
Others have
been
collected
from volunteers who were outside mental insti-
tutions and who were aware of no
serious
mental
pathol-
ogy.
They
have been
undertaken
on
the understanding
that our
knowledge of human nature in politics would be
advanced
if "normal"
individuals
were studied
with the
same
care
which
is
often bestowed
on
the abnormal.
So
the
book
includes
persons
who are
"sick"
and
per-
sons
who
are "well." In the main the material is
printed
for the
first time. There are no
retrospective interpreta-
tions
of
historical personages. The
chief unity of the study
LIFE-HISTORIES
AND POLITICAL
SCIENCE
7
lies in the fact that it is restricted
to
politically interesting
people who have been
studied while
alive by
specialists
under conditions of
unusual
intimacy.
The purpose of this venture is not
to
prove that politi-
cians are
"insane."
Indeed, the
specifically pathological
is of
secondary importance
to
the central problem of
ex-
hibiting the developmental profile
of
different
types
of
pub-
lic
characters. Our job is
not to
catalogue the symptoms
at
the
expense of the main patterns of the personality. We
have not
finished when we know that
a
modern Rousseau
suffered
from paranoia; that
a
modern Napoleon has
partly
atrophied genitalia; that modern Alexanders,
Caesars, and
Bliichers
are
alcoholic; that
a
modern
Calvin
is plagued by
eczema, migraine,
and
kidney stones; that
a
modern
Bismarck is hysterical; that
a
modern Lincoln
shows depressive pathology; that
a
modern Robespierre
displays
a
eunuchoid habitus; or that
a
modern Marat
suffers from arthritis, diabetes,
and eczema.
"Psycho-
pathography" is legitimate
and useful, but pathography
is not
our aim.^
Nor
is it the purpose
of
this
book
to
make
a
hit-and-miss
collection of isolated anecdotes about the relation
between
early
experiences
and
specific
political traits and interests.
Not
that
this
sort of thing is not
a
liberalizing
experience.
Our
conventional
schemes of "political motivation" seem
curiously aloof from the manifold
reality of human
life
when we discover the private. basis of public
acts.
John
B, to
choose
a
random instance, is
a
busy, aggressive, and
successful salesman who spends
a
great deal of time and
money
on
the care of
the blind.
He takes time away from
'
The
best
summary
of
this literature
is
Wilhehn
Lange-Eichbaum,
Genie-
Irrsinn und Ruhm. See also the works of Ireland, Lombroso, Mobius, and
Gould.
8 PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND
POLITICS
his business to serve
on
the
board of governors of
insti-
tutions for the blind,
and
he handles
many financial cam-
paigns on their behalf. Measures
looking toward
the
im-
provement
of
public or private
care for these
unfortunates
are
certain of his support before
legislative committees,
on the
platform,
and in
personal
conference.
The study
of his
early memories finally
revealed the incident in which
his
ardent interest in the blind
was rooted. When he
was
between
three and four
years of age,
his little sister
pulled
an eye
out of his
favorite
cat, and
he was terribly dis-
tressed.
His concern for the
safety of his
pets was
the
original
drive
toward
protective
work for the blind which
matured
into his adult activity. It
would
be
possible to
fill many pages with
reports
of "critical experiences"
of
this kind, and
their importance
is far greater
than is usu-
ally supposed.
If diagnostic labels and isolated anecdotes
do
not satisfy
us,
what
do
we want?
The
answer can be succinctly stated
thus: We
want
to
discover what developmental experi-
ences are significant for the
political traits and
interests
of the
mature. This means that
we want to see what
lies
behind
agitators, administrators, theorists,
and other types
who
play on the public
stage. Can we
conceive
the
develop-
ment
of the human personality
as a
functioning whole,
and
discern the
turning-points
in the growth of various
patterns of political life? Can we
uncover
the typical
subjective histories of
typical public characters?
Can we
place this
subjective history in relation
to
the physical
and
cultural factors which were developmentally
signifi-
cant?
Even
this
ambitious project
does not exhaust the scope
of this
study. We
want
to see
whether
the intensive in-
vestigation
of
life-histories will
in any way
deepen our
LIFE-HISTORIES
AND POLITICAL
SCIENCE
9
understanding of
the whole social
and
political
order.
The life-story of
a
Hottentot or an American reveals the
concrete reality
of images
and moods
as
they are
experi-
enced
seriatim
by
those whose life is
caught up
in the
web
of violently contrasting
cultures.
The trained student
of society
discerns
a
wealth of culture
patterns whose full
meaning in
human
experience can only
be revealed by
securing
the
subjective
history
of those who
are
exposed
to
them. In some
cultures the child
is slapped, switched,
and beaten;
in some cultures the child
is rarely the target
of corporal
punishment. Does this
mean that the children
in the first culture will harbor revenge
and welcome vio-
lence
in social
life?
In
some
cultures, parental control
is negligible
from the fourth
to the fourteenth year, and
in other cultures
supervision is
strict and continuous.
What
difference does
this make
in
the
developing view
of
the
world
in
successive generations? Those
who are
within
the same culture are exposed to many minor variations
in social practice, and we may hope
to
ascertain the con-
sequences of these differences
for
the minds of those who
undergo
them.
This
book
is in harmony with
a
trend
which has been
growing in strength in the social sciences.
Social science
has been
moving toward
the intensive
study of
the in-
dividual's account of
himself. This is
a
movement which
is
poorly conveyed
by
the phrase,
"an interest in human
biography," because
the term
"biography"
is
full
of
ir-
relevant literary and
historical connotations.
The person's
own story
is
not
a
chronology
of everything
he thought
and
did,
nor is it an
impressionistic
interpretation
of what
he
experienced.
The life-history is
a
natural
history,
and
a
natural
history is concerned with facts which
are develop-
mentally
significant.
The
natural
history
of the
earth is
10
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND
POLITICS
not
a
rehearsal of every event included
within
the
series,
but
a
selective
account
of
major changes within
the
series.
Dated events matter,
but
they
matter not because they
have
dates but because
they
mark phases. When biography
is
treated as natural history, the purpose
is to pick and
choose the principal
epochs of development
and to
identify
their distinctive patterns.
The
study of
life-histories
as natural histories is
a
very
recent
phenomenon.
The social sciences
have barely begun
to
exploit
this
approach. It is of very great significance
that
Comte,
after
spending
a
lifetime in
the preparation
of his great system,
finally
saw that the capstone was
missing, and at
the time
of
his
death was
frantically
try-
ing to
improvise it. His projected treatise was
to deal
with
personality development and
differentiation
{La morale).
It was never
finished. There is something symbolic
of the
history
of
the
social sciences in this story of
Comte's
long
preoccupation
with institutions, his
belated
recognition of
the
possibilities of personality study, his hurried effort
to
make good
the omission, and the
fragmentary
nature
of
the results achieved.
Social science is in
the belated-
hurried-fragmentary
phase of growth.*
Comte's
fragment was never expanded
by
French
soci-
ologists.
The comparative morphology of culture became
all-absorbing,
and
this was
concerned with
the
pantomime
of what men did, and
sporadically with what men thought.
Comte executed his
earlier volumes only
too
well. When
the
mental processes of
primitives
came to
be
studied by
Durkheim
and
the
Durkheimians,
these "primitive men-
talities" were
examined for the sake of revealing highly
*
See De Grange's
excellent treatment of this matter in his paper
on
the methodology of
Comte, Analysis
1,
Methods in Social Science:
A
Case
Book.