Dr. John K. Lattimer, internationally
acclaimed American surgeon, will speak at
the Robert H. Jackson Center at 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Sept.17, and 7:30 a.m. Wednesday,
Sept.18.
Lattimer, author of Hitler’s Fatal Sickness
and Other Secrets of the Nazi Leaders,
promises to be one of the most colorful and
multi-talented professionals to appear on
the lecture series of the center, said Rolland
Kidder, executive director.
Lattimer’s tour of duty during World
War II at the U.S. Army’s 98th General
Hospital inspired the book, which was published
in 1999. At the hospital he was one
of several physicians who attended to the
medical needs of the prisoners throughout
the Nuremberg Trial.
He has chosen the book’s title as his
topic for the Jackson Center lectures. In his
acknowledgments in the book he credits the
Lutheran pastor, the Rev. Henry Gercke, for
persuading him to accompany him to the
prison interrogation center at Mondorf in
Luxembourg. There he had the good fortune
to encounter a psychiatrist and psychologist,
both alumni of Columbia University.
In the article on Lattimer appearing in
the spring 2000 issue of the College of
Physicians and Surgeons, the author Peter
Wortsman writes, ‘‘The author (Lattimer)
taps into his firsthand experience as well as
medical scholarship and speculation on the
historical ramifications of Hitler’s Parkinson’s
disease, which he believes, ultimately,
led Hitler to make the rash military
judgments that cost Germany the war.’’
Lattimer, now 89, was born in Michigan,
but spent his formative years in New York
City. A graduate of the Physicians and Surgeons
College of Columbia University, he
continued his medical training at the Squier
Urological Clinic, where he was named
professor and chairman of the department
of urology and director of the clinic in
1955 at age 39. He remained at this post
until his retirement in 1980.
Lattimer has been named an avid history
buff, among many other appellations. On
one occasion he assumed the role of one of
his prominent ancestors, Ethan Allen, to
participate in an enactment of the capture
of Fort Ticonderoga. This incident provided
the second time in which his name
appeared on the front page of the New York
Times; a third time was with a photograph
in which he demonstrated on his own head
the location where the bullets struck President
John F. Kennedy.
Lattimer was the first non-government
investigator granted access to the Kennedy
autopsy materials, which included X-rays,
photographs and bloodied clothing. He
supported the Warren Commission report
and totally discounted the elaborate tales of
conspiracy theorists. This experience led to
his authorship of Kennedy and Lincoln,
Medical and Ballistic Comparisons of
Their Assassinations, which became a best
seller when published in 1980.
The Sept. 17 event is sponsored by
M&T Bank, Chautauqua Health Network,
WCA Hospital, Dr. Peter Walter and Dr.
John LaMancuso. The morning session on
Sept. 18 is being coordinated with a group
of area Rotary Clubs. The public is invited
to both events.
For more information, call 483-6646.