25 : The American Campaign Against Orgonomy The Beginnings: 1947-1948The American years were for Reich relatively peaceful until 1947. The operative
word is “relatively.” For only in contrast with the Norwegian press campaign of the late
1930s and what was to come afterward can the period between 1940 and 1947 be viewed as
peaceful. It included Reich’s detention at Ellis Island in 1941, various snide articles, and,
above all, constant rumors concerning Reich’s alleged insanity and malpractice with patients.
But there were no organized or sustained attacks, jeopardizing his capacity to function.
All this was to change shortly after an article appeared in the May 26, 1947, issue
ofThe New Republic. The article, under the byline of Mildred Edie Brady, a free-lance writer,
was entitled “The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich.” The subheading, in large type, ran: ‘The
man who blames both neuroses and cancer on unsatisfactory sexual activities has been repu-
diated by only one scientific journal.”
Other attacks had appeared in the American press. However, no one combined
truths, half-truths, and lies as skillfully as Ms. Brady. Many future writers on Reich were to rely
almost solely on her for their information. One key passage that was picked up by many writ-
ers ran as follows: “Orgone, named after the sexual orgasm, is, according to Reich, a cosmic
energy. It is, in fact, the cosmic energy. Reich has not only discovered it; he has seen it,
demonstrated it and named a town—Orgonon, Maine—after it. Here he builds accumulators
of it which are rented out to patients, who presumably derive ‘orgastic potency’ from it.”
Ifone combines the subheading with the quoted passage, Brady’s message is clear.
The accumulator gives “orgastic potency,” the lack of which is responsible for everything
from neuroses to cancer.Ergo, the accumulator will cure neuroses and cancer. Moreover,
Reich makes a profit by renting cure-all accumulators to the public.
Brady had taken the trouble to read—or misread—Reich’s writing, something many
ofhis critics had not done. In addition, although Reich made a practice of refusing press
interviews, Brady was able to talk with him by posing as an enthusiast of his work with news
from friends on the West Coast. Having bearded the lion in his den, she was able to create
a kind of chatty intimacy with the reader about the strange Reich:
...Reich runs a considerable establishment ... , and he has more patients
than he can take care of. As you climb the stairs to his second-floor office, you find
pictures ofstellar nebullae along the way. You find Reich to be a heavy-set, ruddy,
brown-haired man of 50,wearing a long white coat and sitting at a huge desk.
Between periods of training students in his theories and putting patients into