Joseph James Kinyoun : discoverer of bubonic plague in America and father of the National Institutes of Health / Joseph K. Houts, Jr. ; foreword by David M. Morens, M.D.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Houts, Joseph K., author.

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physicians--United States.

Physicians.

Plague.

History.

United States.

Plague--California--History--20th century.

Journalism.

Kinyoun, Joseph J. (Joseph James), 1860-1919.

Kinyoun, Joseph J.

California.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

vii, 279 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, [2021]

Summary:

"In March 1900, Dr. Joseph James Kinyoun, a Surgeon with the Marine Hospital Service and student of Louis Pasteur and Dr. Robert Koch, detected bubonic plague in San Francisco, while stationed on Angel Island as a federal quarantine officer. His discovery of the plague led to an immediate outcry from California's governor, local and state politicians, and the city's commercial interests. The hyper-sensationalized journalism of San Francisco's newspapers leapt at the opportunity. Kinyoun would be ridiculed in the press for over a year, leading to death threats and a $50,000 bounty on his head. Eventually, California's quarantine caused an enormous uproar. In time, a special plague commission was installed by the U. S. Treasury Department. After the commissioners completed their report, Supervisory Surgeon-General Walter Wyman withheld it from the public leading to charges of a coverup. In the end, Wyman released the report, which totally vindicated Kinyoun, but a deal had been brokered behind the scenes wherein Kinyoun 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"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 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.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9781476682907

1476682909

OCLC:

1244536880

Publisher Number:

99988903433