Timothy Leary as an American Hero essays

Timothy Leary as an American Hero essays The term hero brings to mind many ideas, many events, and many people. However, one face it generally fails to conjure is that of Timothy Leary. Dr. Leary managed to create a level of infamy few Americans have achieved since this countrys inception; he is the poster-child of the mind-altering hallucinogen LSD and has been labeled by many as the subversive leader of the counter-culture movement of the sixties. Not many people appreciate this great mans long string of accomplishments, his devotion to scientific progress, or his cheery, irrepressible personality. It is a small circle of people indeed who would label this man a hero, but the truth is that Dr. Leary embodied the principles of courage, discovery, and benevolence, which none can deny are heroic trademarks. No man has shown more courage in the face of adversity than Timothy Leary. One great example of his valor comes from his early years as a cadet at West Point during the 1940s. After indulging in a quantity of alcohol with some upperclassmen after a football game one evening, Leary found himself before the Cadet Honor Committee of West Point awaiting punishment. The committee decreed that he must avoid social contact of any kind, despite the fact that during his court-martial the charges brought upon him were hastily dropped. For nine months he survived this involuntary solitude, until finally the school asked him to resign because of moral problems that his punishment was causing. Leary agreed on the condition that his innocence would be announced in the mess hall. Two days later, he left West Point. Long afterward, after earning a doctorate in psychology and serving several professorships at prestigious institutions as Berkley and Harvard, Dr. Timothy Leary developed an int erest in what he would later become famous for: psychedelics. Originally his studies were sponsored by Harvard, but after drug abuse became a maj...