In May 1961 , President John F. Kennedy travel to the Vienna Summit to meet with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev for talks important to the human relationship between the two atomic power . As part of his retinue , Kennedy brought an improbable figure ; a man whose colleagues would later report as " out of his idea " , known as " Dr Feelgood " .
Dr Feelgood – existent name Dr Max Jacobson – was a German doctor to the rich and famous . Over his life-time , he treated clients from Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart to Nelson Rockefeller and Elvis Presley . Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe feature among his most famous customer , who flocked to him for his suspiciously invigorate ( and habit-forming ) " vitamin shot " .
The gibe contained everything fromanimal placenta and bone marrowto vitamins and steroids , plus one or two orphic ingredient that tote up a little extra outflow to the tone . Truman Capote , another client , explainedthat the handling gain you feel " like Superman . You ’re flying . Ideas amount at the speed of spark . You go 722 hours directly without so much as a coffee break . "
At this point , you may have contract a idle twinge in the dark and guessed right that his secret ingredients were methamphetamine and upper .
As theNew York Times reportedin 1972 : " Dr Jacobson use remarkably gravid amounts of amphetamine in his practice . The Doctor of the Church ’s office reported that Dr Jacobson buys pep pill at the pace of 80 grams a calendar month . This is enough to make 100 fairly potent doses of 25 milligrams every twenty-four hour period . "
Kennedy had experienced back nuisance for some time when he came across Dr Jacobson . Kennedy hold in the nuisance he was in from the public , pass up to let on that he was stomach not just from spinal issue , but also chronic tummy , colon , and prostate trouble .
Dr Jacobson set about to treat Kennedy , who was a fan of the succor provided by the " vitamin premix " compare to other pain pill . When it came meter to meet with Khrushchev – who meet theopportunity to intimidatethe inexperienced president – he wanted to be at his best . He take Jacobson with him , telling Feelgood “ Khrushchev is supposed to be on his way over . See to it that my back wo n’t give me any worry . ”
As much as you do n’t want to vex about back pain during a encounter with the leader of the Soviet Union , it ’s probably not a great mind to be buck full of a mystery drug either . Side consequence of upper let in everything from nerves to impair opinion – arguably worse than a back twinge when the other cat has access to a short temper and nuclear weapons .
The meeting did not go well . Rather than deescalate tensions , the talks were tense and meander on the first 24-hour interval , before ending in threats of war .
“ He just pound the hell out of me , ” Kennedy order ajournalist for The New York Times . “ It was the worst affair in my life . He savaged me . ”
The President did not know what the vitamin intermixture contained at first , though he continued to take it several metre a mean solar day . finally , he submitted the intermixture for analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . When he was tell that the mixture contained amphetamines and steroids , hereportedly replied , " I do n’t care if it ’s horse piss . It ’s the only matter that works . "
The government continued unabated until Kennedy ’s prescribed doctor – official White House physicians do not generally have the title " feelgood " – put an end to his liaison with Jacobson . Though correlation does n’t equal causation , this cessation of upper occurred at rough the same time his performance as president notably improved .
