3. Several people who knew PR only casually have voiced the view that he collapsed “from conscience,” from disillusion with the Soviet Union. Herbert Marshall, in Moscow at the time but denied access to Robeson, is the strongest proponent of that view, and quotes Pera Attasheva, Sergei Eisenstein’s widow and a friend of Robeson’s since his first visit to Moscow in 1934, to the effect that “the full knowledge of what had been happening in the Soviet Union crashed in on him” (interview with Herbert Marshall and Fredda Brilliant, July 20, 1985). But Zina Voynow told me that her sister, Pera Attasheva, warned her that Marshall was not a reliable witness (conversation with Voynow, March 1987). Angus Cameron (interview, July 15, 1986) and Marie Seton (interviews, Aug.-Sept. 1982) are among those who have argued the broader view of disillusion with the historical process, Seton adding as causative the accumulated stress Robeson felt at being alienated from the black struggle at home, and from living with Essie on a daily basis. Interview with Sam Parks, Dec. 27, 1986 (moorings).
4. Multiple conversations with PR, Jr.
5. ER to Jessica Abt, April 19, 1961; ER to Ben Robeson, May 6, 1961 (“Feeling much better”); ER to Freda Diamond, May 9, 14, 1961 (“fell flat”); ER to Prof. Friedrichs, May 29, 1961; PR, Jr., to Marilyn Robeson, April 13, 27, May 5, 10, 1961; PR, Jr., to Ben Robeson, May 4, 1961—all in RA. PR, Jr., to Marian Forsythe, May 4, 1961; ER to Marian Forsythe, May 5, 1961—both courtesy of Paulina Forsythe. Larry Brown, too, wrote Helen Rosen that he was feeling “a little happier” after getting “a very cheerful letter” from ER (April 29, 1961, courtesy of Rosen), and ER’s own chatty letter to Helen about how well both Pauls were doing was no more informative (April 28, 1961, courtesy of Rosen).
6. PR, Jr., to Marilyn Robeson, May 5, 10, 1961; ER to Marilyn Robeson, May 31, 1961; ER to Diana Loesser, May 29, 1961—all in RA. Between medical duties, Essie kept busy writing articles and doing occasional broadcasts over Radio Afrika (Moscow). The mss. of her articles—including “Cuba Libre,” full of praise for Castro’s revolution—are in RA. “So every dog has his day,” Essie wrote Freda Diamond (May 14, 1961, RA) in summary of her numerous activities—the phrase suggestive of psychological gratification beyond mere article-writing. To add to her pleasure, she received word in Aug. that the GDR had awarded her the Clara Zetkin Medal in honor of her “great merits in the struggle for peace.” “I am very proud of it,” she wrote Peggy Middleton (Rudolf Dolling to ER, Aug. 4, 1961; ER to Middleton, Aug. 17, 1961, RA). She accepted the medal in person two years later (see p. 518).
7. ER to Helen Rosen, June 15, 1961, courtesy of Rosen; Nkrumah to PR, May 10, June 21, 1961, RA; Cheddi Jagan to PR, June 14, 1961, RA; Shirley Du Bois to Freda Diamond, Oct. 9, 1961, courtesy of Diamond. Soon after, Nnamdi Azikiwe of Nigeria, responding to a letter from Essie, wrote to express his sorrow “to learn of the indisposition of my hero, Paul” (Azikiwe to ER, July 15, 1961, RA). Hearing that Robeson was back at Barveekha, Nkrumah, who was himself on a visit to Moscow, wrote again (“Dear Uncle Paul”) to express regret at not having any room in his schedule to visit him (Nkrumah to PR, July 25, 1961, RA). Predictably, the State Department was displeased when it learned of Nkrumah’s offer of a professorship (Accra Embassy to Secretary of State Dean Rusk, April 5, 26, 1962; Rusk to Accra, April 19, 1962, reporting that Robeson was ill with “a nervous disorder” in Moscow, implying it was unlikely he would be able to assume the appointment). For the return to Moscow: ER to Ruth Gage Colby, July 4, 1961; ER to Shirley Du Bois, July 2, 1961; Du Bois to PR, July 25, 1961; ER to PR, Jr., and Marilyn, July 7, 1961; ER to Rockmores [May 1961], July 10, 1961—all in RA. In the middle of July, Essie came down with an attack of gallstones and was herself hospitalized for two weeks; deciding against surgery, the doctors put her on a restricted diet (ER to PR, Jr., and Marilyn, July 29, 1961; ER to Ed Barsky, Aug. 11, 1961—both in RA).
8. ER to Helen and Sam Rosen, July 31, 1961, courtesy of Rosen; ER to PR, Jr., and Marilyn, Aug. 18, 19, 1961, RA; multiple conversations with Helen Rosen. Alphaeus and Dorothy Hunton also visited the Robesons briefly at Barveekha, along with John Pittman and his wife, Margrit; they had all come to attend the funeral of William Z. Foster in Moscow (ER to PR, Jr., and Marilyn, Sept. 5, 1961, RA). Shortly before he died, Foster had been at Barveekha for treatment (ER to Freda Diamond, May 14, 1961, RA).
9. ER to Rosens, Sept. 5, 1961, RA; multiple conversations with Helen Rosen. In a letter to family, et al., ER later confirmed that it was Davison’s doctor, Philip Lebon, who had put her in touch with the Priory (ER to family, et al., January 28, 1963, RA).
10. Multiple interviews with Helen Rosen.
11. The comments on Ackner were made to me by Dr. Max Fink, the ECT specialist (at the State University of New York, Stony Brook). Ackner to Perlmutter, Jan. 9, 1964; John Flood to Perlmutter, Jan. 17, 1964; Ackner to Dr. Baumann, Aug. 24, 1963, RA. Of the Priory doctors, Essie (at least in the beginning) was especially keen on John Flood. “HE is our man,” she wrote Helen Rosen enthusiastically. “He is Paul’s choice, and he and Dr. A. [Ackner] are the ONLY ones he talks to” (Dec. 19, 1961, courtesy of Rosen). Although ECT treatment was not so benign a procedure then as currently, Helen Rosen says that Paul was “always highly sedated before being given one and afterwards remembered nothing” (multiple interviews with Rosen). That Robeson did suffer at least some short-term memory problems from the ECT treatments is confirmed in ER to Helen Rosen, Dec. 14, 19, 1961, courtesy of Rosen. Apparently Robeson also got at least a few insulin treatments (ER to Rosens and Rubens, Oct. 11, 1962, courtesy of Rosen). Dr. Robert Millman and Dr. Theodore Tyberg helped me to evaluate Robeson’s general medical history. Two phone conversations (June 1985) with Dr. Max Fink, of SUNY, Stony Brook, helped clarify the ECT specifics. “Attitudes today are different towards ECT,” Fink said, “but not dosage particularly.” Fink added, in a follow-up letter to me of July 4, 1986, that “in today’s classification, the history and description of Paul Robeson’s condition would most likely fit that of a patient with a delusional depressive disorder, probably bipolar disorder—for which condition convulsive therapy remains the most effective treatment.” The most recent reviews of the literature on ECT are Raymond R. Crowe, “Electroconvulsive Therapy—A Current Perspective,” New England Journal of Medicine (July 19, 1984); Philip G. Janicak, et al., “Efficacy of ECT: A Meta-Analysis,” American Journal of Psychiatry, March 1985; Richard Abrams, Electroconvulsive Therapy (Oxford 1988); A. J. Frances and R. E. Hales, eds., Review of Psychiatry (APA, 1988), pp. 431–532. The current debate is conveniently summarized in “Electroconvulsive Therapy: An Exchange,” The New York Review of Books, May 30, 1985, in which William H. Nelson argues for the conclusion that “ECT is clearly superior to all other available forms of treatment of severe depression” and is especially impressive in achieving results with patients who had previously failed to respond to drug or psychological therapy. Nelson cites a survey of three thousand randomly selected psychiatrists (Task Force Report #14: Electroconvulsive Therapy [APA Press, 1978]) in support of his claim that two-thirds share his favorable disposition to ECT, and only 2 percent totally oppose the treatment. He acknowledged, though, that ECT “remains a controversial treatment,” and in answering him Marilyn Rice and Israel Rosenfield reiterate the opposing view that “proper testing” (in Rosenfield’s words) will eventually reveal that ECT treatment does produce permanent brain damage even though it is useful in treating severe depression. According to Dr. Max Fink, the arguments presented by Rice and Rosenfield “have been assessed repeatedly, and rejected; the latest is by the 1985 NIH Consensus Conference on Electroconvulsive Therapy” (Fink to me, July 4, 1986). Even today, according to Fink, the “efficacy rate” for a condition like Robeson’s is higher with convulsive therapy (greater than 75 percent in controlled studies) than with an alternative drug regimen (“The combination of an antidepressant drug like imipramine or amitriptyline and an antipsychotic drug like perphenazine or fluphenazine” has an efficacy rate of less than 65 perce
nt). As regards psychotherapy, a major study released in the spring of 1986 concludes that some forms are as effective as drugs in treating depression (The New York Times, May 14, 1986)—an option not used with PR except peripherally in 1965. The study, however, is based on a small sample and involves ambulatory, non-psychotic, and mildly depressed individuals; at the time he was admitted to the Priory, Robeson’s illness was more acute. According to Dr. Max Fink (letter to me, July 4, 1986), “There is no study suggesting that any form of psychotherapy is even moderately successful with patients with bipolar disorder, or with major depressive disorders with delusions.” For a less positive view on ECT than Fink’s (though it cites him as a leading authority), see the popularized account in Mark S. Gold, The Good News About Depression (Villard Books, 1987), especially pp. 231–32. Gold’s exultant listing of the promising new drug therapies currently available makes for poignant reading in relation to the limited treatment options in Robeson’s day.
12. PR, Jr., believes that the shock treatments and drug therapies at the Priory were a part of “a deliberate attempt to ‘neutralize’ Robeson, traceable to the CIA and its British counterpart MI-5,” but no direct evidence has surfaced to substantiate this conclusion. PR, Jr.’s views were expressed to me in multiple conversations and in his ms. comments. For more on this issue, see note 27, p. 747. A number of Essie’s friends have suggested to me that although she may have acted imperfectly, she did so with Paul’s interests foremost in her mind.
13. From the limited records available to him, Dr. Max Fink concluded that the treatment Ackner prescribed “seems to have been entirely appropriate for the time. ECT was the most effective treatment for Robeson’s condition” (phone interviews; letter of July 4, 1986). The Priory doctors did attempt to treat Robeson with many of the drugs then available—including Paratlin, Nardil, Tofranil, Tryptizol, Marsalid, and Meprobamate. Marsalid was a new, well-regarded drug, since replaced in the medical arsenal because it can cause liver-function disturbances, as indeed it did with Robeson. He also got the standard side effects of dry mouth and breathing difficulties from Tofranil and Tryptizol. In the words of Dr. John Flood, “the only treatment which had any effect, albeit temporary, was ECT” (Flood to Perlmutter, Jan. 17, 1964, RA). Ackner’s comparable phrase, “without much benefit,” is in Ackner to Baumann, Aug. 24, 1963, RA. That Robeson derived some immediate (but not lasting) benefit from ECT treatment is documented in ER’s letters to Sam and Helen Rosen, Dec. 20, 1961, Feb. 19, 26, March 1, 5, Nov. 27, 1962, courtesy of Rosen.
14. Multiple interviews with Rosen.
15. ER to Rose Rubin, Oct. 5, 1961; ER to Peggy Ashcroft, Oct. 12, 1961; ER to Freda Diamond, Oct. 13, 1961; Rockmore to ER, no date (Oct. 1?), 1961, carbon to PR, Jr., along with note about “furious,” Oct. 11, 1961; ER to Rockmore, Oct. 15, 29, 1961—all in RA; ER to Revels Cayton, Dec. 24, 1961, courtesy of Cayton. John Abt, the lawyer for the CPUSA, had been allowed to visit PR, and this fact, plus the account of Robeson’s debilitated condition Abt gave on his return to the States, partly accounted for the Rockmores’ concern and anger.
16. ER to PR, Jr., Oct. 5, 7, 13, 29, 30, 1961; Shirley Du Bois to ER, Oct. 29, 1961—all in RA. In her Oct. 30 letter to PR, Jr., Essie reported that she and Big Paul had watched Martin Luther King, Jr., on the TV program “Face to Face”; she thought King “very good, but … a bit on the quiet side … a bit uninspired.…” As an example of Essie’s “upbeat” accounts, the unusually detailed “REPORT” (four typed pages, RA) for Oct. 12–13, 1961, begins with how she found Big Paul “with relief nurse in garden on bench, happy, welcoming,” continues with his discussing the unsuitability of John Gielgud for the role of Othello (Zeffirelli’s production had just opened, with Peggy Ashcroft playing Emilia), then has PR having a “nice chat” with a woman who approached them (she turned out to be the first wife of Beerbohm Tree), and ends with her expressing some slight concern about his inability to sleep and the high dose of medication being given him at night.
17. ER to Rockmores, Oct. 29, 1961 (Gracie Fields); ER to Freda Diamond, Dec. 24, 1961—both in RA; ER to Helen Rosen, Dec. 8, 19, 1961, courtesy of Rosen.
18. ER to Helen Rosen, Dec. 8, 1961 (courtesy of Rosen).
19. PR, Jr., ms. comments (suicidal); interview with Harry Francis, 1971, cassette courtesy of PR, Jr.
20. ER to Helen Rosen, Nov. 18 (two letters, same date), Dec. 24, 1961, courtesy of Rosen.
21. ER to Sam and Helen Rosen, Feb. 9, 1962, courtesy of Helen Rosen.
22. ER to Rosens, Feb. 11 (Robinson), 19, 26, March 1, 5, 1962, courtesy of Rosen; ER to Marian Forsythe (with copies to PR, Jr., the Rosens, and Bob Rockmore), March 16, 1962; also a note from PR to Marian, March 1, 1962, reassuring her that he was “feeling much, much better”—both courtesy of Paulina Forsythe; PR to Clara and Bob Rockmore, March 1, 1962, courtesy of Clara Rockmore.
23. Interview with Katzenstein, July 26, 1986; Ackner to Baumann, Aug. 24, 1963; ER to Janet Jagan, Feb. 5, 1962; ER to Larry Brown, Oct. 3, 1962—all in RA; Andy to Larry Brown, Nov. 19, 1962, NYPL/Schm: Brown. Hearing from Charles Howard about his visit to Paul, Ralph Bunche wrote Essie a note saying how sorry he was “to learn that Paul is incapacitated.… Although over the years Paul and I have not seen eye to eye on political matters, I have great affection for him and I send him warm personal regards.” ER wrote back how “VERY pleased” Paul was “to have your warm greetings” (Bunche to ER, Aug. 22, 1962; ER to Bunche, Aug. 25, 1962, RA).
24. ER to Helen Rosen, Dec. 4, 14, 1961; ER to Rosens, April 10, 1962; ER to Rosens and Rubens, Oct. 11, 1962 (Larry’s music, last visit)—all courtesy of Helen Rosen. PR’s public tribute to Brown was during his Aug. 30, 1949, Rockland Palace speech (tape, RA). When Louise Bransten was in London in late 1961, she also was allowed to visit.
25. ER to “Dear Friends,” March 24, 1962 (soliciting greetings), MSRC: Murphy. The many letters, cards, and telegrams are in RA; Nkrumah’s letter is dated April 3, 1962; Helen Rosen’s comment on the phone call is in Helen Rosen to PR, April 9, 1962, RA. They also named a new youth singing club in the GDR for Robeson (Deckert to PR, Aug. 17, 1962; PR to Deckert, Aug. 25, 1962, RA). The black militant Julian Mayfield wrote a glowing tribute to him in the Ghana Evening News, April 18, 1962. Nkrumah continued with his efforts to entice Robeson to settle down in Ghana, as Shirley and W. E. B. Du Bois had done (they were joined by Dorothy and Alphaeus Hunton in the spring of 1962 to work with Du Bois on the Encyclopedia Africana, sponsored by the Ghana Academy of Sciences [Hunton to Robesons, May 14, 1962, RA]). To meet Paul’s needs, Nkrumah converted his original offer of a chair at the University of Ghana to a visiting professorship, but, although Paul willingly and gratefully agreed to have his name associated with the university, he made it clear (through Essie) that he had no idea whether he would again be able to work, and if so how much. It was a deep sorrow to him. (E. C. Quist-Therson, secretary to Nkrumah, to PR, April 10, 1962; ER to Nkrumah, March 4, May 24, 1962—all in RA). He was then invited to become an honorary fellow of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana (Thomas Hodgkin to PR, Dec. 11, 1962; ER to Hodgkin, Feb. 17, 1963—both in RA).
Essie was unable to get back to work on the two books (one on the Congo, the other on politics) she had hoped to write, but between visits to the Priory she kept her hand in. She participated in the birthday rally for the Daily Worker (reading a few words of greeting from Paul), maintained an active political correspondence with Janet Jagan on developments in British Guiana, with Russian friends about the possible translation and publication of her work (Boris Polevoi had become editor-in-chief of the magazine Youth, and Mikhail Kotov assisted from several angles), and in the fall of 1962 covered the Commonwealth prime-ministers’ conference for the Associated Negro Press, deeply engaged by the British debate over Common Market versus Commonwealth. (Daily Worker: George Matthews, editor, to ER, Feb. 9, March 1, 1962, RA; London Daily Worker, March 5, 1962; PR’s brief remarks to the rally are in RA. British Guiana: ER to J
agan, Feb. 3, April 13, Aug. 27, 1962; Jagan to ER, July 2, 1962. Russia: ER to Kotov, Feb. 19, June 22, 1962. Commonwealth Conference: ER to Larry Brown, Oct. 3, 1962; ER to Freda Diamond, Oct. 26, 1962; ER to Indira Gandhi, September 19, 1962; ER to Nehru, September 19, 1962—all in RA.)
26. ER to Rosens, May 10, 27, June 20, 1962; ER to Helen Rosen, May 31, 1962 (rise in PR’s spirits)—all courtesy of Rosen. William Wolff to PR, May 14, 1962; Hille to PR, June 4, 1962; PR’s brief ms. of Hille greetings and also the preface to George Cunelli’s book, Voice No Mystery (dated July 19, 1962, and, judging from the style, written by Essie)—all in RA. A dozen years later Cunelli’s book had still not been published. The way Cunelli explained it to Robeson, “The publishers … put some obstacles in my way, asking diminished admiration for Soviet achievements in visual art and vocal problems, and could I ask my past pupil, Laurence Olivier, to write a Preface instead of Paul Robeson. I refuse this opportunist proposition” (Cunelli to PR, June 3, 1974, courtesy of Paulina Forsythe). Essie thought that writing the preface to the book had been important in getting Paul a labor permit (ER to Rosens and Rubens, Oct. 11, 1962, courtesy of Rosen).
27. FBI New York 100-25857-4379, March 5, 1962 (Key Figure); FBI Main 100-12304-641 (passing). Robeson was finally deleted from the Key Figures list at the New York Office in January 1963. As early as April 1961, shortly after PR’s suicide attempt, an FBI memo speculated that “the death of Robeson would be much publicized … his name and past history would be highlighted … in propagandizing on behalf of the international communist movement” (FBI Main 100-12304-621).
Both in print and in private discussion, PR, Jr., has strenuously argued the possibility that the U.S. government deliberately “neutralized” his father, perhaps by slipping him the hallucinogen BZ (which the United States is on record as using elsewhere) in Moscow in March 1961, perhaps by playing a role in the course his medical treatment took, particularly in the administering of a protracted series of ECT. I have done everything I could think of—including a lawsuit against the FBI for the release of Robeson files denied me under the Freedom of Information Act—to unearth the evidence that would allow for a conclusion one way or the other on PR, Jr.’s speculations. So many of the government documents forwarded to me under the FOIA (or extracted by lawsuit) are inked over that I have found it impossible to say for sure that there is nothing to his charges (especially since PR’s Priory records are apparently lost; after a prolonged search, the deputy hospital director informed me that she was unable to locate the “relevant medical notes.” [Alison Boyle to me, March 29, 1988]). So little of even a circumstantial nature has surfaced to support PR, Jr.’s case that I have had to draw the conclusion, tentative though it must remain for now, that the case is unproved.
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