xiv HISTORICAL FOREWORD
other figures played significant parts in expanding the role of the NIH.
In 1949 the NIMH came into existence, followed by the National Institute
of Neurological Diseases and Blindness (NINDB) in the following year.
In the immediate postwar years there was little to suggest that the
NIH would replace philanthropic foundations as the primary source of
research and training funding. To be sure, the act of 1946 gave the National
Mental Health Advisory Council the function of recommending grants
and the NIMH to create an intramural research program. Nevertheless,
Robert H. Felix, the head of the NIMH from 1949 to 1964, proved to
be one of the most adroit federal administrators of his generation. He de
veloped close relationships with key congressional figures, and reinforc
ed the growing belief that medical science had the ability to uncover the
etiology of diseases and to develop effective therapies. In this sense he
mirrored, or helped to shape, the growing public faith in the ability of
science, medicine, and technology to create a better world.
Despite the importance of the NIH, its history has been neglected.
Admittedly, policy studies allude to its role. This is particularly true for
the NIMH, largely because the voluminous records pertaining to its
policy role and extramural program have been retained. Little attention,
however, has been given to the intramural research program, if only be
cause relatively few primary sources have survived. This volume seeks to
fill the historical void. The first two parts of the book, written by Dr.
Ingrid Farreras, provide descriptive accounts of the NIMH and the
NINDB intramural programs and their laboratories and branches dur
ing the 1950s, including their research activities. The third part of the
book includes the recollections of some of the prominent individuals who
were associated with these intramural programs in the 1950s. Their recol
lections help to compensate for the paucity of primary source materials.
The NIMH and the NINDB brought together biomedical and social
scientists who played important roles in shaping their disciplines and
raising novel questions. By this time the boundary lines between psychiatry
and neurology had begun to sharpen. Before World War II, by contrast,
these lines were blurred. Both specialties, for example, claimed jurisdic
tion over many disorders. Indeed, in the 1920s some individuals began
to identify themselves as neuropsychiatrists. After World War II, the two