The Origins of Integrative Medicine—The First True Integrators: Western States Class of 1953

Abstract

A newly invigorated natural healing emerged after World War II. The postwar energy behind natural healing was allowed some room to grow as the American Medical Association was occupied with President Truman’s political push for universal health care in the United States. Western States College (WSC) of Portland, Oregon, was one of the centers of this energy, and WSC’s class of 1953 was perhaps the high point of Dr Budden’s efforts to educate the complete alternative physician.

Natural Healing at Postwar Western States College

It cannot be overstated that Budden’s students were the broad-scope chiropractors and naturopaths of the postwar era. The Western States College (WSC) students who Budden produced kept these professions alive, especially in the northwest, for the next 30 years, into the mid-1970s.

This postwar era was the zenith of the period when WSC was the pacesetting educational and scholarship beacon in chiropractic and naturopathy. This postwar period was the WSC era when WSC was the intellectual environment that would be rivaled in the middle age of the professions perhaps only at National College. (The reference is to Rehm and Keating as discussed in a previous column.¹)

The Class of 1953

By 1946, the way was now clear for the WSC programs and the chiropractic and naturopathic professions to establish themselves in peacetime. In the fall quarter of 1949, the WSC class of 1953 entered the college. By the time the class of 1953 graduated, the majority finished with both doctor of chiropractic (DC) and naturopathic doctor (ND) degrees, and the graduating class of the School of Naturopathy was the largest class of ND degree holders ever at WSC. It was also the largest such class anywhere for another 30 years—until the John Bastyr College of Naturopathic Medicine in Seattle, Washington, graduated its first full class in 1982. The class of 1953 would make its mark in keeping alive both broad-scope chiropractic in Oregon and elsewhere, and naturopathy in Oregon, Washington State, and the Canadian province of British Columbia for that same 30-year period.

In the immediate postwar period, 1946 to 1952, the American Medical Association (AMA)—or organized medicine—was consolidating its power within the US health care system. Medical dominance was present, but as a threat to alternative practitioners, it was not yet at full throttle. This was, looking back historically, because of the AMA’s obsession with the threat that organized medicine called “socialized medicine”—a health care system controlled by the federal government. (There is a great deal of academic scholarship about these events, most extensively in Monte Poen’s Harry S. Truman Versus the Medical Lobby: The Genesis of Medicare.² For capsule glimpses of the political power of the AMA, see Truman.³ For the AMA battle with President Truman, see The Divided Welfare State: The Battle Over Public and Private Social Benefits in the United States.⁴ For a discussion of how these issues related to the elements of medical dominance in US health care policy, see The Democratic Wish: Popular Participation and the Limits of American Government.⁵)

The AMA and President Truman

Universal health care—a totally government-funded health care system—was a pronounced political goal of President Harry Truman. The political and public relations machinery of the AMA was almost entirely directed at this “threat” to the “American Way” for all of President Truman’s postwar term in office. While organized medicine was politically preoccupied, chiropractic and naturopathy were able to advance. President Truman left office in January, 1953, and by the summer of 1953, the AMA was starting a national campaign to eliminate chiropractors and naturopaths as competitors, but until then battles were fought on a state-by-state basis. (The AMA campaign that began in 1953 will be the subject of a future column.)

As previously discussed the National Chiropractic Association (NCA)—the chiropractic “mixer” group—was directing its accredited colleges to shut down any of their nonchiropractic degree programs, and specifically any ND degree programs. After National Chiropractic College complied in 1950, Dr Budden was the lone holdout in maintaining a naturopathy program. The push in this direction was led by John Nugent, the “Flexner of Chiropractic.” In meetings of the education council of the NCA, Dr Budden was merely resistant; behind closed doors, Dr Budden and Dr Nugent had loud, if personally respectful, disagreements about this subject. Dr Budden was unyielding.⁶

And so the postwar period of 1946 to 1952 was a period of professional development in natural healing and of advances in clinical science and in serious scholarship. But in DC, ND education, WSC was alone after 1950. This was, at the same time, WSC’s most fruitful period under Dr Budden fueled by the GI Bill of Rights—the only public funding program for DC and ND education until the rise in the 1980s of student loan and Pell Grant funding.

Enter the Class of 1953

By the fall quarter of 1949, the college had settled into the former lodge building at 4535 SE 63rd Street. The curriculum was set as well, and the students were expected to attend straight through for 3 quarters plus summer term in each of first 3 years of attendance, and 2 quarters in the fourth year. The schedule started the first week of October and went through the end of July of the following year; fall, winter and spring quarters were each 3 months long and summer term was the month of July. Each regular term was 300 classroom hours of instruction and summer term was 100 hours, for a total of 1000 hours first year. This increased to 1160 for second year, 1260 for third year. followed by a fall and winter term fourth year of 940 hours. Degree completion for either the chiropractic or naturopathic degree came at the end of spring quarter, fourth year.

(This curriculum information comes from archived college catalogs, officially called “Bulletin of the Western States College.” These are archived in the library collection in the W. A. Budden library at the University of Western States. For this section of this paper these Bulletins have been referenced: volume No. XXV, June 1949, Annual Catalog Schools of Chiropractic and Naturopathy for 1949-1950; volume No. XXVI, June 1950, Annual Catalog Schools of Chiropractic and Naturopathy for 1950-1951; volume No. XXVII, March 1951, Annual Catalog Schools of Chiropractic and Naturopathy for 1951-1952; No. XXVII [2], March 1951, Annual Catalog School of Naturopathy for 1951-1952; No. XXVIII, May 1952, Annual Catalog Schools of Chiropractic and Naturopathy for 1952-1953.)

The first 2 years were intense with the basic sciences curriculum (as such programs are today) together with either an introduction to chiropractic or to naturopathy, followed by principles of either discipline included in the first 2 years. The students largely lived and breathed this course work for 4 years, with most of the social activities that the students had being activities such as clubs and dances at the college. This class of 1953 was mostly veterans, a bit older, a bit more ready to get to work and on with life, and mostly married. And they were from throughout the country and from British Columbia, Canada. There were 8 each from Oregon and Washington State, but 3 from California, 2 each from Missouri, North Dakota, Minnesota, and British Columbia, and 1 each from Nebraska, Illinois, Michigan, Colorado, Montana, and Ohio. There were 5 women in the class, and 2 African Americans, one of whom was from Miami, Florida, had come the farthest from home to study at WSC.

Emblematic of the initiative of this class of 1953, class members started a monthly news publication entitled The Synergist: Western States College Voice of the Student Body, “published in the interest of UNITY among all interested drugless healing arts.” This monthly publication is virtually a journal of this class of 1953, disappearing as a monthly when the class of 1953 graduated, and surviving as a bimonthly only for another year or so. But while this class was enrolled at WSC, it was their voice. Vol. 1, No. 1 was issued for the month of January, 1950, and 3 members of the Class of 1953 were the editors of the publication: James Howard, Hazel Failor, and Appa Anderson. This editorial team was in place with varying titles until the class of 1953 had its March 1953 “first commencement.” These sketches of campus life come from the several volumes archived at UWS for 1950 through Spring Term 1953.

Another aspect of the quality of WSC and its student body, and the class of 1953 particularly, was its racial integration. Two members of this class who entered in Fall 1949 were African American male students who graduated with the class of 1953. One of these students came completely across the country, from Miami. Jackie Robinson “broke the color barrier” in baseball in 1947. President Truman desegregated the American armed forces by executive order in 1948. The Warren Court did not strike down the segregation concept in public education until 1954. The enrollment of these 2 students and their integration into the graduating class of 1953 speaks volumes about the progressiveness of Dr Budden, of WSC, of the students of the class of 1953, and of the City of Portland, Oregon, generally.

The members of the class participated in 2 designated “fraternities,” Sigma Phi Kappa, a chiropractic fraternity founded in 1912 and chartered at WSC in 1948, and Phi Nu Sigma, a naturopathic fraternity started at WSC, modeled on Sigma Phi Kappa. Phi Nu Signa announced in The Synergist for February, 1953, that it was starting the process of “expanding its sphere of influence by providing for and inviting practicing Naturopathic Doctors to join its ranks to help promote Naturopathy and naturopathic principle and practice.” This last seemed to be a parting gift from the leaders of the class of 1953 to the fraternity, and also a way to stay involved themselves as new NDs.

As Reported in The Synergist

The initiative of the class of 1953 becomes clear in looking at its own documentation of itself and of the larger WSC student body in The Synergist. By the time of the class of 1953 commencement ceremonies in March and July, 1953, The Synergist was publishing regular news submitted for publication by both the Oregon Association of Chiropractic Physicians (OACP) and the ONA. This provided the student body with a regular source of professional news and The Synergist became a publication subscribed to by the professions as well.

In the postwar era, WSC became a fixture of natural healing under Dr Budden. The Synergist captured this in documenting the professional activities and meetings that took place at the college, and the participation of Dr Budden, the faculty, and the student body in these events. As an example, The Synergist for May, 1952, recapped the annual OANP meeting that had been held at WSC in March, 1952, at which the featured keynote speaker had been Henry J. Schlichting, Jr, ND, national president of the ANPSA (wee previous column for a reference to Dr Schlichting’s speeches on the state of naturopathy, circa 1952).⁷ The same edition of The Synergist reported the complete program for the annual meeting of the OACP to be held at WSC the first week of June that year.

Dr Schlichting, it was reported, had given an open speech to WSC students and staff, to physicians and to the public, as well as a speech to the convention banquet. The Synergist reported in the column “Naturo-News” authored by Dr R. A. Rombaugh of Independence, Oregon, that Dr Schlichting “lauded the pioneers and early educators and complimented Dr W. A. Budden, Western States College Director on the fine job in building the College to today’s high level of standards.” The schools, Dr Schlichting said, were “the life blood of any profession.”

Another initiative of the class of 1953 was an annual WSC picnic. The first reported “WSC Annual Picnic” was to be held Sunday, June 15, 1952, but was postponed a week due to inclement weather. But when it was held on June 22, 1952, as reported in The Synergist for July, 1952, it left all attendees and participants “looking forward to the picnic next year.” More impressively, the picnic was attended by both members of the OACP and the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians as reported in the Journal of the American Naturopathic Physicians and Surgeons Association (vol. 5, No. 2, June, 1952).

More Professional Matters for Dr Budden

Three other events of interest occurred during 1953 that affected the class and were noted in The Synergist. First, the Oregon chiropractic scope of practice came under assault again, from the medical profession on one side and the “straight” chiropractic group on the other. A breakfast meeting of the Oregon Joint Legislative Council held Saturday, March 7, 1953, was broadcast on radio and moderated by radio commentator (and future Oregon governor) Tom McCall. The specific subject was pending Senate Bill 134, yet another bill to strip obstetrics and minor surgery from the Oregon chiropractic scope of practice (see The Oregonian, Saturday, March 7, 1953).

Dr Budden appeared with another physician from the OACP representing the Joint Legislative Committee of chiropractors and naturopaths. The medical view was provided by representatives of the Multnomah County Medical Association, both of them clinical professors at the University of Oregon Medical School, one in OB/GYN and one in general surgery. When asked by McCall about the fact that Palmer College did not teach these subjects as “The Fountainhead” of chiropractic, Budden related some of the history of “straights” and “mixers” and told the audience that one major issue was that the Palmer School did not wish to go to the expense of teaching these subjects, even though in 1953 it had adopted a 4-year curriculum.

By the following Tuesday, the Oregon Chiropractic Research Association (OCRA)—the Oregon “straight” organization, a group in Oregon approximately one-fourth the size of the OACP—had issued a strongly worded “communique” to the radio station that broadcast the discussion and to The Oregonian newspaper. The statement said that the OCRA had nothing to do with the pending legislation and no interest in it, but it took offense to Budden’s characterization, noting that Palmer devoted 4485 class hours to “straight” adjustment technique and Budden “attempted’ to teach a laundry list: spinal adjustment, obstetrics, surgery, eye-ear-nose-throat practice, proctology, proctology, removal of tonsils (by electrotherapy), administering anesthetics, use of hypodermics, electrotherapy, hydrotherapy, physiotherapy “and such” in 4240 class hours (see The Oregonian, Wednesday, March 11, 1953).

In the long run, once again, no legislation was passed altering the Oregon scope of practice.

Some Positive Developments

What did pass at the instance of Dr Budden and WSC, and with the support of both professions, was House Bills 271 (NDs) and 272 (DCs), increasing the educational requirements to high school plus 2 years of college credit from an accredited college or university. This was noted in an approving editorial in The Synergist for February, 1953, penned by Appa Anderson. It was noted in The Synergist for March, 1953, that as president, Dr A. R. Hedges was bringing the American Naturopathic Physicians and Surgeons Association convention to Portland that summer, in July. The general chairman for the convention was WSC’s Professor W. Martin Bleything. (The convention news itself was in The Oregonian, Friday, July, 17 1953, with lengthy interview coverage of the convention appearance by soils and food sciences professor from the University of Missouri, Dr William Albracht.)

1953 for the Class of ‘53

The April, 1953, issue of The Synergist contained a column by the editor of the OACP Journal; this column had by now become a regular presence in The Synergist. The editor was A. C. Johnson, WSC class of 1951. He paid a special tribute to the class of 1953, saying Without reservation, I would like to praise a universally qualified and most ambitious group.” He paid special tribute to those “from this group, (that) have become the working force that has published The Synergist during these past 4 years,” and he closed with, “To the class of ‘53, and with gratitude to you who have done so much to keep the college, the students, and the profession interested and united, we, the profession, wish you God speed in the gratifying endeavor that awaits you.”

And then this remarkable class prepared to graduate and pass into the history of WSC. For some comparison, in June, 1949, WSC graduated 36 DC degrees and 16 ND degrees, with 11 graduating with dual degrees. In March 1950, WSC graduated 29 DC degrees and 2 ND degrees. In March, 1951, 21 DCs and 4 ND degrees graduated. In March, 1952, 31 DCs and 1 ND graduated.

The class was scheduled to graduate in March, 1953, and most were graduating as DCs. As there was interest expressed among class members in receiving dual degrees, a special spring quarter schedule had been arranged focused exclusively on ND therapeutics. The Synergist had reported this development from time-to-time during the 1952-1953 school year. It was noted in the March, 1953 publication: “Much of the class will be around after Graduation to take a post-graduate course in Naturopathy, so we really won’t be saying our good-byes for a while.” This course for DCs required a full spring quarter of coursework in Cyriax Text-book of Orthopaedic Medicine, vol. 2, on massage therapy; Mausert’s Herbs for Health; and Spitler’s Basic Naturopathy in a course designed by Drs Budden and Bleything.

The class of 1953 had 2 commencement ceremonies, one in March and one in late June. In March, there were 33 DCs and 2 NDs graduated, with 7 DCs also receiving the BTS degree and 1 ND receiving the BTS degree. In July, at a special commencement at the end of spring quarter, 33 NDs were graduated, and 1 received the BTS degree. Twenty-six of these degrees went to DC graduates from March 1953, 3 went to March 1952 DC graduates who returned for the spring quarter course, and 6 ND degrees were received by ND candidates who finished studies in June with the extra quarter’s work.

The late June ND degree ceremony was staged as an evening event on the second night of the ANPSA convention as reported in the Journal of the ANPSA for September, 1952 (vol. 6, No. 6):

The commencement address was delivered by that outstanding authority on nutrition of the University of Missouri, William Albert Albrecht, PhD. … Dr Albrecht’s address was indeed inspiring, not only to the graduates but to all in attendance.”

And, as the reporter noted: It was indeed an inspiration to see this fine young group of naturopathic physicians entering the profession. The profession needs more young naturopathic physicians to assure its future.

Some Stalwarts of 1953

Joseph Boucher, the ND degree graduate who had been student body president for 1952-1953, received the William J. Gallagher Award as outstanding graduate of the class of 1953, with Appa Anderson being noted by Dr Budden in announcing the award as a close second. And then the class of 1953 left WSC to conquer the world. But this Class was the fruition of all that Dr Budden and the chiropractic and naturopathic professions had built at WSC in the face of challenges and opposition.

Conclusion

Dr Budden died unexpectedly in August, 1954, less than a week after returning from attending his last NCA meeting. By the time the class of 1953 finished its first year at WSC, the ND program was the only remaining ND program in the US. Within 2 years of the death of Dr Budden the ND program at WSC was discontinued, courts had restricted the legal scope of practice in Washington and Arizona, and licensing of NDs was lost completely in Texas due to actions by the courts and in South Carolina, Utah, and Florida by legislative action. How this happened is another piece of history still to be told, but a great deal of it curbed broad-scope or “mixer” practices in those states and a large factor was medical dominance, what the educators and physicians discussed here had battled for 25 years. Things did not improve until at least the 1980s, another part of the story yet to be told.

But that should in no way diminish what was done at WSC and in both its School of Chiropractic and its School of Naturopathy. From the class of 1953, Joseph A. “Joe” Boucher, ND, BTS, became a giant of Canadian naturopathy in his own right,⁸ Appa Anderson stayed at WSC for an impressive career of her own in chiropractic radiology (Oregon Pioneer, see especially pages 104-105), and Professor W. Martin Bleything was one of the founders of today’s National University of Natural Medicine together with one of his fellow faculty members and a former WSC student from the Class of 1952.⁸ Ralph M. Failor who—along with his wife Hazel— received a DC degree in March and a ND degree in July would succeed Dr Budden as president of WSC. He would in time become a big part of the history of WSC.

What happened was remarkable and needs to be better known.

Coming next issue: The career of Henry J. Schlichting, Jr, and medical dominance strikes at natural healing.

Biography

George W. Cody, JD, MA, BA, received his undergradute degree from Stanford University, his law degree from Willamette University, and his master’s degree from University of Washington. He practiced law for 25 years and has worked in public affairs, health policy, and medical history research. His original history of natural medicine is part of The Textbook of Natural Medicine.