Title: In sickness and in power : illness in heads of government during the last 100 years /
Authors: Owen, David, 1938-
Publisher: Praeger,
Year: 2008
Subjects: Heads of state Mental illness.; Heads of state Mental illness History; Heads of state Health and hygiene.; Heads of state Health and hygiene History; Federal government History; Federal government History; Famous Persons; Mental Disorders; Federal Government history; History, 20th Century; History, 21st Century; Political Systems history
Abstract: "The course of modern world history has been critically shaped by the physical and mental illnesses of heads of state, sometimes in the public eye, but usually in secrecy. Democratic politicians as diverse as Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Churchill, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Pompidou, Mitterrand, Blair, George W. Bush, Chirac, and Sharon all lied about their health." "Owen argues that a medically definable condition called Hubris Syndrome affects some heads of government the longer they stay in office or after a specific triggering event such as 9/11. Lord Owen makes the cases that democratic societies need to implement new procedures for dealing with illness in their own heads of government, and that they need to empower the United Nations to use new procedures and means for removing despots whose behavior becomes so hubristic as to pose a grave threat to their own people or the world."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: 1901-1953 -- 1953-2007 -- Prime Minister Eden's illness and Suez -- President Kennedy's health -- The Shah's secret illness -- President Mitterrand's prostate cancer -- Bush, Blair and the war in Iraq -- Safeguarding against illness in heads of government -- Conclusion.