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Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of
psychedelic drug Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluc ...
s. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from "bold oracle" to "publicity hound". According to poet Allen Ginsberg, he was "a hero of American consciousness", while writer Tom Robbins called him a "brave neuronaut". President
Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 until Resignation of Richard Nixon, his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican ...
disagreed, calling Leary "the most dangerous man in America". During the 1960s and 1970s, at the height of the counterculture movement, Leary was arrested 36 times. As a clinical psychologist at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
, Leary founded the Harvard Psilocybin Project after a revealing experience with magic mushrooms he had in Mexico in 1960. For two years, he tested
psilocybin Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), is a natural product, naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid and Investigational New Drug, investigational drug found in more than List of psilocybin mushroom ...
's therapeutic effects, in the Concord Prison Experiment and the
Marsh Chapel Experiment The Marsh Chapel Experiment, also called the "Good Friday Experiment", was an experiment conducted on Good Friday, April 20, 1962 at Boston University's Marsh Chapel. Walter N. Pahnke, a graduate student in theology at Harvard Divinity School, d ...
. He also experimented with
lysergic acid diethylamide Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a Semisynthesis, semisynthetic, Hallucinogen, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and ...
(LSD), which was also legal in the U.S. at the time. Other Harvard faculty questioned his research's scientific legitimacy and ethics because he took psychedelics himself along with his subjects and allegedly pressured students to join in. Harvard fired Leary and his colleague Richard Alpert (later known as Ram Dass) in May 1963. Many people learned of psychedelics after the Harvard scandal. Leary continued to publicly promote psychedelic drugs and became a well-known figure of the
counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It began in the early 1960s, and continued through the early 1970s. It is ofte ...
; he popularized
catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
s that promoted his philosophy, such as " turn on, tune in, drop out", " set and setting", and " think for yourself and question authority". Leary believed that LSD showed potential for therapeutic use in
psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...
. He developed an eight-circuit model of consciousness in his 1977 book ''Exo-Psychology'' and gave lectures, occasionally calling himself a "performing philosopher". He also developed a philosophy of mind expansion and personal truth through LSD. He also wrote and spoke frequently about
transhumanism Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the human enhancement, enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available new and future technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cogni ...
, human space migration, intelligence increase, and
life extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled biological limit of around 125 years. Several resea ...
(SMI²LE).


Early life and education

Leary was born in
Springfield, Massachusetts Springfield is the most populous city in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, and its county seat. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ea ...
, an
only child An only child is a person with no siblings, by birth or adoption. Overview Throughout history, only-children were relatively uncommon. From around the middle of the 20th century, birth rates and average family sizes fell sharply for a number of ...
in an
Irish Catholic Irish Catholics () are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland, defined by their adherence to Catholic Christianity and their shared Irish ethnic, linguistic, and cultural heritage.The term distinguishes Catholics of Irish descent, particul ...
household. His father, Timothy "Tote" Leary, was a dentist who left his wife Abigail Ferris when Timothy was 14. He graduated from Classical High School in Springfield. Leary attended the College of the Holy Cross in
Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...
, from 1938 to 1940. He received a Jesuit education there, and was required to learn Latin, rhetoric, and Greek. Under pressure from his father, he left to become a cadet in the
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
. In his first months at West Point, he received numerous demerits for rule infractions and then got into serious trouble for failing to report rule breaking by cadets he supervised. He was also accused of going on a drinking binge and failing to admit it, and was asked by the Honor Committee to resign. He refused and was shunned by fellow cadets. He was acquitted by a court-martial, but the silencing continued, as well as the onslaught of demerits for small rule infractions. In his sophomore year, his mother appealed to a family friend, United States Senator David I. Walsh, head of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee, who investigated personally. The Honor Committee quietly revised its position and announced that it would abide by the court-martial verdict. Leary then resigned and was honorably discharged by the Army. About 50 years later he said that it was "the only fair trial I've had in a court of law". To his family's chagrin, Leary transferred to the
University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...
in late 1941 because it admitted him expeditiously. He enrolled in the university's ROTC program, maintained top grades, and began to cultivate academic interests in
psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...
(under the aegis of the Middlebury and Harvard-educated Donald Ramsdell) and
biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...
. Leary was expelled a year later for spending a night in the female dormitory and lost his student deferment in the midst of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Leary was drafted into the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
and received
basic training Military recruit training, commonly known as basic training or boot camp, refers to the initial instruction of new military personnel. It is a physically and psychologically intensive process, which resocializes its subjects for the unique dema ...
at Fort Eustis in 1943. He remained in the non-commissioned officer track while enrolled in the psychology subsection of the
Army Specialized Training Program The Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) was a military training program instituted by the United States Army during World War II to meet wartime demands both for junior officers and soldiers with technical skills. Conducted at 227 American u ...
, including three months of study at
Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...
and six months at
Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
. With limited need for officers late in the war, Leary was briefly assigned as a private first class to the
Pacific War The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War or the Pacific Theatre, was the Theater (warfare), theatre of World War II fought between the Empire of Japan and the Allies of World War II, Allies in East Asia, East and Southeast As ...
-bound 2d Combat Cargo Group (which he later characterized as "a suicide command ... whose main mission, as far as I could see, was to eliminate the entire civilian branch of American aviation from post-war rivalry") at Syracuse Army Air Base in Mattydale, New York. After a fateful reunion with Ramsdell (who was assigned to Deshon General Hospital in
Butler, Pennsylvania Butler is a city in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is north of Pittsburgh and part of the Greater Pittsburgh region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 13,502. Butler is named after Major General ...
, as chief psychologist) in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
, he was promoted to
corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...
and reassigned to his mentor's command as a staff psychometrician. He remained in Deshon's deaf rehabilitation clinic for the remainder of the war. While stationed in Butler, Leary courted Marianne Busch; they married in April 1945. Leary was discharged at the rank of
sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...
in January 1946, having earned such standard decorations as the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal, the American Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. As the war concluded, Leary was reinstated at UA and received credit for his Ohio State psychology coursework. He completed his degree via
correspondence courses Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...
and graduated in August 1945. After receiving his undergraduate degree, Leary pursued an academic career. In 1946, he received a
M.S. A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medicine ...
in psychology at the Washington State College in Pullman, where he studied under educational psychologist Lee Cronbach. His M.S. thesis was on clinical applications of the
Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) is an IQ test designed to measure intelligence and cognitive ability in adults and older adolescents. For children between the ages of 6 and 16, Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) is com ...
. In 1947, Marianne gave birth to their first child, Susan. Their son, Jack, arrived two years later. In 1950, Leary received a Ph.D. in
clinical psychology Clinical psychology is an integration of human science, behavioral science, theory, and clinical knowledge for the purpose of understanding, preventing, and relieving psychologically-based distress or dysfunction and to promote subjective well ...
from the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
. In the postwar era, Leary was galvanized by the objectivity of
modern physics Modern physics is a branch of physics that developed in the early 20th century and onward or branches greatly influenced by early 20th century physics. Notable branches of modern physics include quantum mechanics, special relativity, and genera ...
; his doctoral dissertation (''The Social Dimensions of Personality: Group Process and Structure'') approached
group therapy Group psychotherapy or group therapy is a form of psychotherapy in which one or more therapists treat a small group of clients together as a group. The term can legitimately refer to any form of psychotherapy when delivered in a group format, i ...
as a "psychlotron" from which behavioral characteristics could be derived and quantified in a manner analogous to the
periodic table The periodic table, also known as the periodic table of the elements, is an ordered arrangement of the chemical elements into rows (" periods") and columns (" groups"). It is an icon of chemistry and is widely used in physics and other s ...
, foreshadowing his later development of the interpersonal circumplex.


Professorship

Leary stayed on in the
Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...
as an assistant clinical professor of medical psychology at the
University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It is part of the University of California system and is dedic ...
; concurrently, he co-founded Kaiser Hospital's psychology department in
Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...
, and maintained a private consultancy. In 1952, the Leary family spent a year in Spain, living on a research grant. According to Berkeley colleague Marv Freedman, "Something had been stirred in him in terms of breaking out of being another cog in society." Leary's marriage was strained by infidelity and mutual
alcohol abuse Alcohol abuse encompasses a spectrum of alcohol-related substance abuse. This spectrum can range from being mild, moderate, or severe. This can look like consumption of more than 2 drinks per day on average for men, or more than 1 drink per ...
. Marianne eventually died by suicide in 1955, leaving him to raise their son and daughter alone. He described himself during this period as "an anonymous institutional employee who drove to work each morning in a long line of commuter cars and drove home each night and drank martinis ... like several million middle-class, liberal, intellectual robots". From 1954 or 1955 to 1958, Leary directed psychiatric research at the
Kaiser Family Foundation KFF, which was formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation or The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF, w ...
. In 1957, he published ''The Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality'', which the ''
Annual Review of Psychology The ''Annual Review of Psychology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes review articles about psychology. First published in 1950, its longest-serving editors have been Mark Rosenzweig (1969–1994) and Susan Fiske (2000&ndas ...
'' called the "most important book on psychotherapy of the year". In 1958, the
National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the primar ...
terminated Leary's research grant after he failed to meet with a NIMH investigator. Leary and his children relocated to Europe, where he attempted to write his next book while subsisting on small grants and insurance policies. His stay in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
was unproductive and indigent, prompting a return to academia. In late 1959, Leary started as a lecturer in clinical psychology at
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
at the behest of Frank Barron (a colleague from Berkeley) and
David McClelland David Clarence McClelland (May 20, 1917 – March 27, 1998) was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation need theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for the ...
. Leary and his children lived in
Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...
. In addition to teaching, Leary was affiliated with the Harvard Center for Research in Personality under McClelland. He oversaw the Harvard Psilocybin Project and conducted experiments in conjunction with assistant professor Richard Alpert. In 1963, Leary was terminated for failing to attend scheduled class lectures, though he maintained that he had met his teaching obligations. The decision to dismiss him may have been influenced by his promotion of psychedelic drug use among Harvard students and faculty. The drugs were legal at the time. Leary's work in academic psychology expanded on the research of
Harry Stack Sullivan Herbert "Harry" Stack Sullivan (February 21, 1892 – January 14, 1949) was an American neo-Freudian psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who held that "personality can never be isolated from the complex interpersonal relationships in which person liv ...
and
Karen Horney Karen Horney (; ; ; 16 September 1885 – 4 December 1952) was a German psychoanalyst who practiced in the United States during her later career. Her theories questioned some traditional Freudian views. This was particularly true of her theories ...
, which sought to better understand interpersonal processes to help diagnose disorders. Leary's dissertation developed the interpersonal circumplex model, later published in ''The Interpersonal Diagnosis of Personality''. The book demonstrated how psychologists could use
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a standardized psychometric test of adult personality and psychopathology. A version for adolescents also exists, the MMPI-A, and was first published in 1992. Psychologists and other ment ...
(MMPI) scores to predict how respondents might react to various interpersonal situations. Leary's research was an important harbinger of
transactional analysis Transactional analysis is a psychoanalytic theory and method of therapy wherein social interactions (or "transactions") are analyzed to determine the id, ego, and superego, ego state of the communicator (whether parent-like, childlike, or adult- ...
, directly prefiguring the popular work of
Eric Berne Eric Berne (May 10, 1910 – July 15, 1970) was a Canadian-born psychiatrist who created the theory of transactional analysis as a way of explaining human behavior. Berne's theory of transactional analysis was based on the ideas of Freud an ...
.


Psychedelic experiments and experiences


Mexico and Harvard research (1957–1963)


Introduction to psychedelic mushrooms

On May 13, 1957, ''
Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...
'' magazine published " Seeking the Magic Mushroom", an article by R. Gordon Wasson about the use of psilocybin mushrooms in religious rites of the indigenous Mazatec people of Mexico. Anthony Russo, a colleague of Leary's, had experimented with psychedelic '' Psilocybe mexicana'' mushrooms on a trip to Mexico and told Leary about it. In August 1960, Leary traveled to
Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...
, Mexico, with Russo and consumed
psilocybin Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), is a natural product, naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid and Investigational New Drug, investigational drug found in more than List of psilocybin mushroom ...
mushrooms for the first time, an experience that drastically altered the course of his life.''Ram Dass Fierce Grace'', 2001, Zeitgeist Video In 1965, Leary said that he had "learned more about ... isbrain and its possibilities ... ndmore about psychology in the five hours after taking these mushrooms than ... in the preceding 15 years of studying and doing research". Back at Harvard, Leary and his associates (notably Alpert) began a research program known as the Harvard Psilocybin Project. The goal was to analyze psilocybin's effects on human subjects (first prisoners, and later Andover Newton Theological Seminary students) from a synthesized version of the drug, one of two active compounds found in a wide variety of hallucinogenic mushrooms, including '' Psilocybe mexicana''. Psilocybin was produced in a process developed by Albert Hofmann of Sandoz Pharmaceuticals, who was famous for synthesizing LSD.
Beat poet The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-World War II era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by members o ...
Allen Ginsberg heard about the Harvard research project and asked to join. Leary was inspired by Ginsberg's enthusiasm, and the two shared an optimism that psychedelics could help people discover a higher level of consciousness. They began introducing psychedelics to intellectuals and artists including
Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...
,
Maynard Ferguson Walter Maynard Ferguson CM (May 4, 1928 – August 23, 2006) was a Canadian jazz trumpeter and bandleader. He came to prominence in Stan Kenton's orchestra before forming his own big band in 1957. He was noted for his bands, which often served ...
,
Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...
and
Charles Olson Charles John Olson (27 December 1910 – 10 January 1970) was a second generation modernist United States poetry, American poet who was a link between earlier Literary modernism, modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams an ...
.


Concord Prison Experiment

Leary argued that psychedelic substances—in proper doses, a stable setting, and under the guidance of psychologists—could benefit behavior in ways not easily obtained by regular therapy. He experimented in treating
alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...
and reforming criminals, and many of his subjects said they had profound
mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight ...
and spiritual experiences that permanently improved their lives. The Concord Prison Experiment evaluated the use of psilocybin and psychotherapy in the rehabilitation of released prisoners. Thirty-six prisoners were reported to have repented and sworn off criminality after Leary and his associates guided them through the psychedelic experience. The overall
recidivism Recidivism (; from 'recurring', derived from 'again' and 'to fall') is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been trained to Extinction (psycholo ...
rate for American prisoners was 60%, whereas the rate for those in Leary's project reportedly dropped to 20%. The experimenters concluded that long-term reduction in criminal recidivism could be effected with a combination of psilocybin-assisted group psychotherapy (inside the prison) along with a comprehensive post-release follow-up support program modeled on
Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is a global, peer-led Mutual aid, mutual-aid fellowship focused on an abstinence-based recovery model from alcoholism through its spiritually inclined twelve-step program. AA's Twelve Traditions, besides emphasizing anon ...
.


Dissension over studies

The Concord conclusions were contested in a follow-up study on the basis of time differences monitoring the study group vs. the control group and differences between subjects re-incarcerated for parole violations and those imprisoned for new crimes. The researchers concluded that statistically only a slight improvement could be attributed to psilocybin, in contrast to the significant improvement reported by Leary and his colleagues.
Rick Doblin Richard Elliot Doblin (born November 30, 1953) is an American psychedelic drug advocate who is the founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS). Early life and education Rick Doblin grew up in Skokie ...
suggested that Leary had fallen prey to the
Halo Effect The halo effect (sometimes called the halo error) is the tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, country, brand, or product in one area to positively influence one's opinion or feelings. The halo effect is "the name given to the p ...
, skewing the results and clinical conclusions. Doblin further accused Leary of lacking "a higher standard" or "highest ethical standards in order to regain the trust of regulators". Ralph Metzner rebuked Doblin for these assertions: "In my opinion, the existing accepted standards of honesty and truthfulness are perfectly adequate. We have those standards, not to curry favor with regulators, but because it is the agreement within the scientific community that observations should be reported accurately and completely. There is no proof in any of this re-analysis that Leary unethically manipulated his data." Leary and Alpert founded the International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF) in 1962 in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...
, to carry out studies in the religious use of psychedelic drugs. This was run by Lisa Bieberman (now known as Licia Kuenning), a friend of Leary. ''
The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...
'' called her a "disciple" who ran a Psychedelic Information Center out of her home and published a national LSD newspaper. That publication was actually Leary and Alpert's journal ''Psychedelic Review'' and Bieberman (a graduate of the
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, also known as the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, is an institute of Harvard University that fosters interdisciplinary research across the humanities, sciences, social sciences, arts ...
at Harvard, who had volunteered for Leary as a student) was its circulation manager. Leary's and Alpert's research attracted so much attention that many who wanted to participate in the experiments had to be turned away. To satisfy the curiosity of those who were turned away, a black market for psychedelics sprang up near the Harvard campus.


Firing by Harvard

Other professors in the Harvard Center for Research in Personality raised concerns about the experiments' legitimacy and safety. Leary and Alpert taught a class that was required for graduation and colleagues felt they were abusing their power by pressuring graduate students to take hallucinogens in the experiments. Leary and Alpert also went against policy by giving psychedelics to undergraduate students and did not select participants through
random sampling In this statistics, quality assurance, and survey methodology, sampling is the selection of a subset or a statistical sample (termed sample for short) of individuals from within a statistical population to estimate characteristics of the who ...
. It was also ethically questionable that the researchers sometimes took hallucinogens along with the subjects they were studying. These concerns were printed in ''
The Harvard Crimson ''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper at Harvard University, an Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. The newspaper was founded in 1873, and is run entirely by Harvard College undergraduate students. His ...
'', leading the university to halt the experiments. The Massachusetts Department of Public Health launched an investigation that was later dropped but the university eventually fired Leary and Alpert. According to Andrew Weil, Leary (who held an untenured teaching appointment) was fired for missing his scheduled lectures, while Alpert (a tenure-track assistant professor) was dismissed for allegedly giving an undergraduate psilocybin in an off-campus apartment. Harvard President Nathan Pusey released a statement on May 27, 1963, reporting that Leary had left campus without authorization and "failed to keep his classroom appointments". His salary was terminated on April 30, 1963.''New York Times'', December 3, 1966, p. 25


Millbrook and psychedelic counterculture (1963–1967)

Leary's psychedelic experimentation attracted the attention of three heirs to the Mellon fortune, siblings Peggy, Billy, and Tommy Hitchcock. In 1963, they gave Leary and his associates access to a sprawling 64-room mansion on an estate in
Millbrook, New York Millbrook is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. Millbrook is located in the Hudson Valley, on the east side of the Hudson River, north of New York City. Millbrook is near the cent ...
, where they continued their psychedelic sessions. Peggy directed the International Federation for Internal Freedom (IFIF)'s New York branch, and Billy rented the estate to IFIF. Peggy persuaded her brothers to let Leary rent a room at the mansion. Leary and Alpert set up a communal group with former Psilocybin Project members at the Hitchcock Estate (commonly known as "Millbrook"). One of the IFIF's founding board members, Paul Lee, a Harvard theologian, a participant at
Marsh Chapel Marsh Chapel is a building on the campus of Boston University used as the official place of worship of the school. It was named for Daniel L. Marsh, a former president of BU and a Methodist minister. The building is Gothic in style. While Met ...
and a member of the Leary circle, said of the group's formation: The IFIF was reconstituted as the Castalia Foundation after the intellectual colony in
Hermann Hesse Hermann Karl Hesse (; 2 July 1877 – 9 August 1962) was a Germans, German-Swiss people, Swiss poet and novelist, and the 1946 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His interest in Eastern philosophy, Eastern religious, spiritual, and philosophic ...
's 1943 novel '' The Glass Bead Game''.Chevallier, Jim
"Tim Leary and Ovum - A Visit to Castalia with Ovum"
, ''Chez Jim/Ovum'', March 3, 2003
The Castalia group's journal was the ''Psychedelic Review''. The core group at Millbrook wanted to cultivate the divinity within each person and regularly joined LSD sessions facilitated by Leary. The Castalia Foundation also hosted non-drug weekend retreats for meditation,
yoga Yoga (UK: , US: ; 'yoga' ; ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated with its own philosophy in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals, as pra ...
, and group therapy.Ulrich, Jennifer
"Transmissions from The Timothy Leary Papers: Evolution of the "Psychedelic" Show"
, New York Public Library, June 4, 2012
Leary later wrote:
We saw ourselves as anthropologists from the 21st century inhabiting a time module set somewhere in the dark ages of the 1960s. On this space colony we were attempting to create a new
paganism Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...
and a new dedication to life as art.
Lucy Sante Lucy Sante (pronounced ''Sahnt''; formerly Luc Sante; born May 25, 1954) is a Belgian-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to '' The New York Review of Books''. Her books include ''Low Life: Lures and Snares of ...
of ''The New York Times'' later described the Millbrook estate as:
the headquarters of Leary and gang for the better part of five years, a period filled with endless parties, epiphanies and breakdowns, emotional dramas of all sizes, and numerous raids and arrests, many of them on flimsy charges concocted by the local assistant district attorney,
G. Gordon Liddy George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 – March 30, 2021) was an American lawyer and FBI agent who was convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration. Work ...
.
Others contest the characterization of Millbrook as a party house. In '' The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test'',
Tom Wolfe Thomas Kennerly Wolfe Jr. (March 2, 1930 – May 14, 2018)Some sources say 1931; ''The New York Times'' and Reuters both initially reported 1931 in their obituaries before changing to 1930. See and was an American author and journalist widely ...
portrays Leary as using psychedelics only for research, not recreation. When
Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...
's Merry Pranksters visited the estate, they received a frosty reception. Leary had the flu and did not play host. After a private meeting with Kesey and Ken Babbs in his room, he promised to remain an ally in the years ahead. In 1964, Leary, Alpert, and Ralph Metzner coauthored '' The Psychedelic Experience'', based on the '' Tibetan Book of the Dead''. In it, they wrote:
A psychedelic experience is a journey to new realms of consciousness. The scope and content of the experience is limitless, but its characteristic features are the transcendence of verbal concepts, of
spacetime In physics, spacetime, also called the space-time continuum, is a mathematical model that fuses the three dimensions of space and the one dimension of time into a single four-dimensional continuum. Spacetime diagrams are useful in visualiz ...
dimensions, and of the ego or identity. Such experiences of enlarged consciousness can occur in a variety of ways: sensory deprivation, yoga exercises, disciplined meditation, religious or aesthetic ecstasies, or spontaneously. Most recently they have become available to anyone through the ingestion of psychedelic drugs such as LSD,
psilocybin Psilocybin, also known as 4-phosphoryloxy-''N'',''N''-dimethyltryptamine (4-PO-DMT), is a natural product, naturally occurring tryptamine alkaloid and Investigational New Drug, investigational drug found in more than List of psilocybin mushroom ...
,
mescaline Mescaline, also known as mescalin or mezcalin, and in chemical terms 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenethylamine, is a natural product, naturally occurring psychedelic drug, psychedelic alkaloid, protoalkaloid of the substituted phenethylamine class, found ...
, DMT, etc. Of course, the drug does not produce the transcendent experience. It merely acts as a chemical key—it opens the mind, frees the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structures.
Leary married model Birgitte Caroline "Nena" von Schlebrügge in 1964 at Millbrook. Both Nena and her brother Bjorn were friends of the Hitchcocks. D. A. Pennebaker, also a Hitchcock friend, and cinematographer Nicholas Proferes documented the event in the short film ''You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You''.
Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...
played piano. The marriage lasted a year before von Schlebrügge divorced Leary in 1965. She married Indo-Tibetan Buddhist scholar and ex-monk Robert Thurman in 1967 and gave birth to Ganden Thurman that same year. Actress
Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 and May 1986 cover ...
, her second child, was born in 1970. Leary met Rosemary Woodruff in 1965 at a
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
art exhibit, and invited her to Millbrook. After moving in, she co-edited the manuscript for Leary's 1966 book ''Psychedelic Prayers: And Other Meditations'' with Ralph Metzner and Michael Horowitz. The poems in the book were inspired by the ''
Tao Te Ching The ''Tao Te Ching'' () or ''Laozi'' is a Chinese classic text and foundational work of Taoism traditionally credited to the sage Laozi, though the text's authorship and date of composition and compilation are debated. The oldest excavated por ...
'', and meant to be used as an aid to LSD trips.Chevallier, Jim
"Jean McCreedy and Psychedelic Prayers"
, ''Chez Jim/Ovum'', March 3, 2003
Woodruff helped Leary prepare weekend multimedia workshops simulating the psychedelic experience, which were presented around the East Coast. In September 1966, Leary said in a ''
Playboy ''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
'' magazine interview that LSD could cure homosexuality. According to him, a lesbian became heterosexual after using the drug. Like most of the psychiatric field, he later decided that homosexuality was not an illness. By 1966, use of psychedelics by America's youth had reached such proportions that serious concern about the drugs and their effect on American culture was expressed in the national press and halls of government. In response to this concern, Senator Thomas Dodd convened Senate subcommittee hearings to try to better understand the drug-use phenomenon, eventually with the intention of "stamping out" such usage by criminalizing it. Leary was one of several expert witnesses called to testify at these hearings. In his testimony, Leary said, "the challenge of the psychedelic chemicals is not just how to control them, but how to use them." He implored the subcommittee not to criminalize psychedelic drug use, which he felt would only serve to exponentially increase its usage among America's youth while removing the safeguards that controlled "set and setting" provided. When subcommittee member
Ted Kennedy Edward Moore Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts who served as a member of the United States Senate from 1962 to his death in 2009. A member of the Democratic Party and ...
asked Leary whether LSD usage was "extremely dangerous", Leary replied, "Sir, the motorcar is dangerous if used improperly...Human stupidity and ignorance is the only danger human beings face in this world." To conclude his testimony, Leary suggested that legislation be enacted that would require LSD users to be adults who were competently trained and licensed, so that such individuals could use LSD "for serious purposes, such as spiritual growth, pursuit of knowledge, or their own personal development." He argued that without such licensing, the U.S. would face "another era of prohibition." Leary's testimony proved ineffective; on October 6, 1966, just months after the subcommittee hearings, LSD was banned in California, and by October 1968, it was banned nationwide by the Staggers-Dodd Bill. In 1966, Folkways Records recorded Leary reading from his book ''The Psychedelic Experience'', and released the album ''The Psychedelic Experience: Readings from the Book "The Psychedelic Experience. A Manual Based on the Tibetan...".'' On September 19, 1966, Leary reorganized the IFIF/Castalia Foundation under the name the
League for Spiritual Discovery League for Spiritual Discovery (LSD) was a spiritual organization inspired by the works of Timothy Leary, and strove for legal use of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) for the purpose of meditation, insight, and spiritual understanding. It was in ...
, a religion with LSD as its holy
sacrament A sacrament is a Christian rite which is recognized as being particularly important and significant. There are various views on the existence, number and meaning of such rites. Many Christians consider the sacraments to be a visible symbol ...
, in part as an unsuccessful attempt to maintain legal status for the use of LSD and other psychedelics for the religion's adherents, based on a "freedom of religion" argument. Leary incorporated the League for Spiritual Discovery as a religious organization in
New York State New York, also called New York State, is a state in the northeastern United States. Bordered by New England to the east, Canada to the north, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey to the south, its territory extends into both the Atlantic Ocean and ...
, and its dogma was based on Leary's mantra: "drop out, turn on, tune in". ( The Brotherhood of Eternal Love later considered Leary its spiritual leader, but it did not develop out of the IFIF.) Nicholas Sand, the clandestine chemist for the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, followed Leary to Millbrook and joined the League for Spiritual Discovery. Sand was designated the "alchemist" of the new religion.Grimesmay, William
"Chemist Who Sought to Bring LSD to the World, Dies at 75"
, ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', May 12, 2017
At the end of 1966, Nina Graboi, a friend and colleague of Leary's who had spent time with him at Millbrook, became the director of the Center for the League of Spiritual Discovery in
Greenwich Village Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the s ...
. The Center opened in March 1967. Leary and Alpert gave free weekly talks there; other guest speakers included Ralph Metzner and Allen Ginsberg. Leary's papers at the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
include complete records of the IFIF, the Castalia Foundation, and the League for Spiritual Discovery.Staton, Scott
"Turn On, Tune In, Drop by the Archives: Timothy Leary at the N.Y.P.L."
, ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'', June 11, 2011
In late 1966 and early 1967, Leary toured college campuses presenting a multimedia performance called "The Death of the Mind", attempting an artistic replication of the LSD experience. He said that the League for Spiritual Discovery was limited to 360 members and was already at its membership limit, but encouraged others to form their own psychedelic religions. He published a pamphlet in 1967 calle
''Start Your Own Religion''
to encourage people to do so. Leary was invited to attend the January 14, 1967
Human Be-In The Human Be-In was an event held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park Polo Fields on January 14, 1967. It was a prelude to San Francisco's Summer of Love, which made the Haight-Ashbury district a symbol of American counterculture an ...
by Michael Bowen (artist), Michael Bowen, the primary organizer of the event, a gathering of 30,000 hippies in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. In speaking to the group, Leary coined the famous phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out". In a 1988 interview with Neil Strauss, he said the slogan was "given to him" by Marshall McLuhan when the two had lunch in New York City, adding, "Marshall was very much interested in ideas and marketing, and he started singing something like, 'Psychedelics hit the spot / Five hundred micrograms, that's a lot,' to the tune of [the well-known Pepsi 1950s singing commercial]. Then he started going, 'Tune in, turn on, and drop out.'" Though the more popular "turn on, tune in, drop out" became synonymous with Leary, his actual definition with the League for Spiritual Discovery was: "''Drop Out''—detach yourself from the external social drama which is as dehydrated and ersatz as TV. ''Turn On''—find a sacrament which returns you to the temple of God, your own body. Go out of your mind. Get high. ''Tune In''—be reborn. Drop back in to express it. Start a new sequence of behavior that reflects your vision." Repeated FBI raids ended the Millbrook era. Leary told author and Prankster Paul Krassner of a 1966 raid by Liddy, "He was a government agent entering our bedroom at midnight. We had every right to shoot him. But I've never owned a weapon in my life. I have never had and never will have a gun around." In November 1967, Leary engaged in Leary–Lettvin debate, a televised debate on drug use with MIT professor Jerry Lettvin.


Post-Millbrook

At the end of 1967, Leary moved to Laguna Beach, California, and made many friends in Hollywood. "When he married his third wife, Rosemary Woodruff, in 1967, the event was directed by Ted Markland of ''Bonanza''. All the guests were on acid." In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Leary formulated what became his eight-circuit model of consciousness in collaboration with writer Brian Barritt. The essay "The Seven Tongues of God" claimed that human brains have seven circuits producing seven levels of consciousness. This later became seven circuits in Leary's 1973 monograph ''Neurologic (book), Neurologic'', which he wrote while he was in prison. The eight-circuit idea was not exhaustively formulated until the publication of ''Exo-Psychology'' by Leary and Robert Anton Wilson's ''Cosmic Trigger'' in 1977. Wilson contributed to the model after befriending Leary in the early 1970s, and used it as a framework for further exposition in his book ''Prometheus Rising'', among other works. Leary believed that the first four of these circuits ("the Larval Circuits" or "Terrestrial Circuits") are naturally accessed by most people at transition points in life such as puberty. The second four circuits ("the Stellar Circuits" or "Extra-Terrestrial Circuits"), Leary wrote, were "evolutionary offshoots" of the first four that would be triggered at transition points as humans evolve further. These circuits, according to Leary, would equip humans to live in space and expand consciousness for further scientific and social progress. Leary suggested that some people might trigger these circuits sooner through meditation, yoga, or psychedelic drugs specific to each circuit. He suggested that the feelings of floating and uninhibited motion sometimes experienced with marijuana demonstrated the purpose of the higher four circuits. The function of the fifth circuit was to accustom humans to life at a zero gravity environment. Leary did not specify the location of the eight circuits in any brain structures, neural organization, or chemical pathways. He wrote that a higher intelligence "located in interstellar nuclear-gravitational-quantum structures" gave humans the eight circuits. A "U.F.O. message" was encoded in human DNA. Many researchers believed that Leary provided little scientific evidence for his claims. Even before he began working on psychedelics, he was known as a theoretician rather than a data collector. His most ambitious pre-psychedelic work was ''Interpersonal Diagnosis Of Personality''. The reviewer for ''The British Medical Journal'', H. J. Eysenck, wrote that Leary created a confusing and overly broad rubric for testing psychiatric conditions. "Perhaps the worst failing of the book is the omission of any kind of proof for the validity and reliability of the diagnostic system," Eysenck wrote. "It is simply not enough to say" that the accuracy of the system "can be checked by the reader" in clinical practice. In 1965, Leary co-edited ''The Psychedelic Reader''. Penn State psychology researcher Jerome E. Singer reviewed the book and singled out Leary as the worst offender in a work containing "melanges of hucksterism". In place of scientific data about the effects of LSD, Leary used metaphors about "galaxies spinning" faster than the speed of light and a cerebral cortex "turned on to a much higher voltage".


Legal troubles

Leary's first run-in with the law came on December 23, 1965, when he was arrested for marijuana possession. On December 20, 1965, Leary took his two children, Jack and Susan, and his girlfriend Rosemary Woodruff to Mexico for an month-long vacation to rest and write an autobiography. Two days later they had crossed into Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, in the late afternoon and discovered that they would have to wait until morning for the appropriate visa for an extended stay. They decided to cross back into Texas to spend the night, and were on the US–Mexico bridge when Rosemary remembered that she had a small amount of marijuana in her possession. It was impossible to throw it out on the bridge, so Susan put it in her clothes. On their return from Mexico to the United States, a United States Customs Service, US Customs Service woman officer searched Susan and found a silver snuffbox with marijuana. After taking responsibility for the controlled substance, Leary was convicted of possession under the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 on March 11, 1966, sentenced to 30 years in prison, fined $30,000, and ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment. He appealed the case on the basis that the Marihuana Tax Act was unconstitutional, as it required a degree of self-incrimination in blatant violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Fifth Amendment. On December 26, 1968, Leary was arrested again in Laguna Beach, California, this time for the possession of two marijuana "roaches". Leary alleged that they were planted by the arresting officer, but was convicted of the crime. On May 19, 1969, the Supreme Court of the United States, Supreme Court concurred with Leary in ''Leary v. United States'', declared the Marihuana Tax Act unconstitutional, and overturned his 1966 conviction. On that same day, Leary announced his candidacy for governor of California against the Republican incumbent, Ronald Reagan. His campaign slogan was "Come together, join the party." On June 1, 1969, Leary joined John Lennon and Yoko Ono at their Montreal Bed-ins for Peace, bed-in, and Lennon subsequently wrote Leary a campaign song called "Come Together". On January 21, 1970, Leary received a ten-year sentence for his 1968 offense, with a further ten added later while in custody for a prior arrest in 1965, for a total of 20 years to be served consecutively. On his arrival in prison, he was given psychological tests used to assign inmates to appropriate work details. Having designed some of these tests himself (including the "Leary Interpersonal Behavior Inventory"), Leary answered them in such a way that he seemed to be a very conforming, conventional person with a great interest in forestry and gardening. As a result, he was assigned to work as a gardener in a lower-security prison from which he escaped in September 1970, saying that his nonviolent escape was a humorous prank and leaving a challenging note for the authorities to find after he was gone. For a fee of $25,000, paid by The Brotherhood of Eternal Love, the Weather Underground, Weathermen smuggled Leary out of prison in a pickup truck driven by Clayton Van Lydegraf. The truck met Leary after he had escaped over the prison wall by climbing along a telephone wire. The Weathermen then helped both Leary and Rosemary out of the U.S. (and eventually into Algeria). He sought the patronage of Eldridge Cleaver for $10,000 and the remnants of the Black Panther Party's "government in exile" in Algeria, but after a short stay with them said that Cleaver had attempted to hold him and his wife hostage. Cleaver had put Leary and his wife under "house arrest" due to exasperation with their socialite lifestyle. In 1971, the couple fled to Switzerland, where they were sheltered and effectively imprisoned by a high-living arms dealer, Michel Hauchard, who claimed he had an "obligation as a gentleman to protect philosophers"; Hauchard intended to broker a surreptitious film deal, and forced Leary to assign his future earnings (which Leary eventually won back). In 1972, Nixon's attorney general, John N. Mitchell, John Mitchell, persuaded the Swiss government to imprison Leary, which it did for a month, but refused to extradite him to the U.S. Leary and Rosemary separated later that year; she traveled widely, then moved back to the U.S., where she lived as a fugitive until the 1990s. Shortly after his separation from Rosemary in 1972, Leary became involved with Swiss-born British socialite Joanna Harcourt-Smith, a stepdaughter of financier Árpád Plesch and ex-girlfriend of Hauchard. The couple married in a hotel under the influence of cocaine and LSD two weeks after they were introduced, and Harcourt-Smith used his surname until their breakup in 1977. They traveled to Vienna, then Beirut, and finally ended up in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1972; according to
Lucy Sante Lucy Sante (pronounced ''Sahnt''; formerly Luc Sante; born May 25, 1954) is a Belgian-born American writer, critic, and artist. She is a frequent contributor to '' The New York Review of Books''. Her books include ''Low Life: Lures and Snares of ...
, "Afghanistan had no extradition treaty with the United States, but this stricture did not apply to American airliners." American authorities used that interpretation of the law to interdict Leary. "Before Leary could deplane, he was arrested by an agent of the federal Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs." Leary asserted a different story on appeal before the California Court of Appeal for the Second District, namely: Leary's bail was set at $5 million. The judge at his remand hearing said, "If he is allowed to travel freely, he will speak publicly and spread his ideas". Facing 95 years in prison, Leary hired criminal defense attorney Bruce Margolin. Leary mostly directed his own defense strategy, which proved unsuccessful: the jury convicted him after deliberating for less than two hours. Leary received five years for his prison escape, added to his original 10-year sentence. In 1973, he was sent to Folsom Prison in California, and put in solitary confinement. While in Folsom, he was placed in a cell next to Charles Manson's. They could not see each other, but they could talk together. In their discussions, Manson found it difficult to understand why Leary had given people LSD without trying to control them. At one point, Manson said to Leary, "They took you off the streets so that I could continue with your work." Leary became an FBI informant in order to shorten his prison sentence and entered the witness protection program upon his release in 1976. He claimed that he feigned cooperation with the FBI investigation of Weatherman (organization), Weathermen by providing information that they already had or that was of little consequence. The FBI gave him the code name "Charlie Thrush". In a 1974 news conference, Allen Ginsberg, Ram Dass, and Leary's 25-year-old son Jack denounced Leary, calling him a "cop informant", "liar", and "paranoid schizophrenic". No prosecutions stemmed from his FBI reporting. In 1999, a letter from 22 "Friends of Timothy Leary" sought to soften impressions of the FBI episode. It was signed by authors such as Douglas Rushkoff,
Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...
, and Robert Anton Wilson. Susan Sarandon, Genesis P-Orridge and Leary's goddaughter Winona Ryder also signed. The letter said that Leary had smuggled a message to the Weather Underground informing it "that he was considering making a deal with the FBI" and he then "waited for their approval". The reported reply was, "We understand." The letter writers did not provide confirmation that the Weather Underground okayed his cooperation with the FBI. While in prison, Leary was sued by the parents of Vernon Powell Cox, who had jumped from a third-story window of a Berkeley apartment while under the influence of LSD. Cox had taken the drug after attending a lecture by Leary promoting LSD use. Leary was unable to be present due to his incarceration, and unable to arrange for legal representation; a default judgment was entered against him in the amount of $100,000.


Post-prison

On April 21, 1976, Governor Jerry Brown released Leary from prison. After briefly relocating to Santa Fe, New Mexico, with Harcourt-Smith under the auspices of the United States Federal Witness Protection Program, the couple separated in early 1977. Leary then moved to the Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, Laurel Canyon neighborhood of Los Angeles, where he resided for the rest of his life. Unable to secure a conventional academic, research, or clinical appointment due to his reputation, he continued to publish books through the independent press while maintaining an upper middle class lifestyle by making paid appearances at colleges and nightclubs as a self-described "stand-up philosopher". In 1978, he married filmmaker Barbara Blum, also known as Barbara Chase, sister of actress Tanya Roberts. He adopted Blum's young son Zachary and raised him as his own. He also took on several godchildren, including Winona Ryder (the daughter of his archivist Michael Horowitz) and technologist Joi Ito. Leary developed an improbable partnership with former Millbrook-era foe G. Gordon Liddy, the Watergate scandal, Watergate burglar and conservative radio talk-show host. They toured the lecture circuit in 1982 as ex-cons debating a range of issues, including gay rights, abortion, welfare spending, welfare and the environment. Leary generally espoused left-wing views, while Liddy generally espoused right-wing perspectives. The tour generated massive publicity and considerable funds for both. The 1983 documentary ''Return Engagement (1983 film), Return Engagement'' chronicled the tour and the release of ''Flashbacks (book), Flashbacks'', Leary's long-germinating memoir; biographer Robert Greenfield has since asserted that much of what Leary "reported as fact in ''Flashbacks'' is pure fantasy." On September 25, 1988, Leary held a fundraiser for Libertarian Party (United States), Libertarian Party presidential candidate Ron Paul. Journalist Debra Saunders attended and wrote about her experience. Leary's extensive touring on the lecture circuit continued to ensure his family a comfortable lifestyle throughout the mid-1980s. He associated with a variety of cultural figures, including longtime interlocutors Robert Anton Wilson and Allen Ginsberg; science fiction writers William Gibson and Norman Spinrad; and rock musicians David Byrne (musician), David Byrne and John Frusciante. In addition, he appeared in Johnny Depp's and Gibby Haynes's 1994 film Stuff (film), ''Stuff'', which chronicled Frusciante's squalid living conditions at that time. Leary continued to take a wide array of drugs (ranging from serotonergic psychedelics to the nascent empathogen MDMA and alcohol (drug), alcohol and heroin) in private, but consciously eschewed proselytizing substances in media appearances amid the escalation of the war on drugs throughout the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Instead, he served as a prominent advocate for space colonization and
life extension Life extension is the concept of extending the human lifespan, either modestly through improvements in medicine or dramatically by increasing the maximum lifespan beyond its generally-settled biological limit of around 125 years. Several resea ...
. He expounded on the eight-circuit model of consciousness in books such as ''Info-Psychology: A Re-Vision of Exo-Psychology''. He invented the acronym "SMI²LE" as a succinct summary of his pre-transhumanist agenda: SM (Space Migration) + I² (Transhumanism, intelligence increase) + LE (Life extension). Leary's space colonization plan evolved over the years. Initially, 5,000 of Earth's most virile and intelligent individuals would be launched on a vessel (Starseed 1) equipped with luxurious amenities. This idea was inspired by musician Paul Kantner's 1970 concept album ''Blows Against The Empire'', which was derived from Robert A. Heinlein's Lazarus Long series. While incarcerated in Folsom State Prison during the winter of 1975–76, he became enamored of Princeton University physicist Gerard K. O'Neill's plans to construct giant Garden of Eden, Eden-like O'Neill cylinder, High Orbital Mini-Earths, as documented in the Robert Anton Wilson lecture ''H.O.M.E.s on LaGrange'', using raw materials from the Moon, orbital rock, and obsolete satellites. In the 1980s, Leary became fascinated by computers, the internet, and virtual reality. He proclaimed that "the PC is the LSD of the 1990s" and enjoined historically technophobic bohemians to "turn on, boot up, jack in." He became a promoter of virtual reality systems, and sometimes demonstrated a prototype of the Mattel Power Glove as part of his lectures (as in ''From Psychedelics to Cybernetics''). He befriended a number of notable people in the field, such as Jaron Lanier and Brenda Laurel, a pioneer in virtual environments and human–computer interaction. During the evanescent heyday of the cyberdelic subculture, he served as a consultant to Billy Idol in the production of the 1993 album ''Cyberpunk (album), Cyberpunk''. In January 1989, his daughter Susan, then 41, was arrested in Los Angeles for non-fatally shooting her boyfriend in the head as he slept in December 1988. She was ruled mentally unfit to stand trial for attempted murder on two occasions. After years of mental instability, she died by suicide in jail in September 1990. Although he considered her the "great love of his life", Leary and Barbara divorced in 1992; according to friend and collaborator John Perry Barlow, "Tim basically gave me permission to be her lover. He couldn't be for her what she needed sexually, so it made more sense for him to anoint someone to do that for him." Thereafter, he ensconced himself in a diverse circle of prominent figures, including Johnny Depp, Susan Sarandon, Dan Aykroyd, Zach Leary, author Douglas Rushkoff, and ''Spin (magazine), Spin'' magazine publisher Bob Guccione, Jr., Bob Guccione, Jr. Despite declining health, he maintained a regular schedule of public appearances through 1994. Reflecting a modicum of political rehabilitation after several failed attempts to adapt ''Flashbacks'' as a film or television miniseries, he was the subject of a symposium of the American Psychological Association that year. From 1989 on, Leary began to reestablish his connection to unconventional religious movements with an interest in altered states of consciousness. In 1989, he appeared with Robert Anton Wilson in a dialog called ''The Inner Frontier'' for the Association for Consciousness Exploration, a Cleveland-based group that had been responsible for his first Cleveland appearance in 1979. After that, he appeared at the Starwood Festival, a major Neo-Pagan event run by ACE in 1992 and 1993. His planned 1994 WinterStar Symposium appearance was canceled due to his declining health. In 1992, in front of hundreds of Neo-Pagans, Leary declared, "I've always considered myself a Pagan." He also collaborated with Eric Gullichsen on ''Load and Run High-tech Paganism: Digital Polytheism''. Shortly before his death on May 31, 1996, he recorded the album ''Right to Fly'' with Simon Stokes, which was released in July 1996.


Death

In January 1995, Leary was diagnosed with inoperable prostate cancer. He then notified Ram Dass and other old friends and began the process of directed dying, which he termed "designer dying". Leary did not reveal the condition to the press at that time, but did so after Jerry Garcia's death in August. Leary and Ram Dass reunited before Leary's death in May 1996, as seen in the documentary film ''Dying to Know: Ram Dass & Timothy Leary''. Leary's last book was ''Chaos & Cyber Culture'', published in 1994. In it he wrote: "The time has come to talk cheerfully and joke sassily about personal responsibility for managing the dying process." His book ''Design for Dying'', which tried to give a new perspective on death and dying, was published posthumously. Leary wrote about his belief that death is "a merging with the entire life process". His website team, led by Chris Graves, updated his website on a daily basis as a proto-blog. The website noted his daily intake of various illicit and legal chemical substances, with a predilection for nitrous oxide, LSD and other psychedelic drugs. He was also noted for his trademark "Leary Biscuit", a cannabis edible consisting of a snack cracker with cheese and a small marijuana bud, briefly microwaved. At his request, his sterile house was redecorated by the staff with an array of surreal ornamentation. In his final months, thousands of visitors, well-wishers and old friends visited him in his California home. Until his last weeks, he gave many interviews discussing his new philosophy of embracing death. Leary was reportedly excited for a number of years by the possibility of freezing his body in Cryonics, cryonic suspension, and he announced in September 1988 that he had signed up with Alcor Life Extension Foundation, Alcor for such treatment after having appeared at Alcor's grand opening the year before. He did not believe he would be resurrected in the future, but did believe that cryonics had important possibilities, even though he thought it had only "one chance in a thousand". He called it his "duty as a futurist", helped publicize the process and hoped that it would work for his children and grandchildren if not for him, although he said that he was "lighthearted" about it. He was connected with two cryonic organizations—first Alcor and then CryoCare—one of which delivered a cryonic tank to his house in the months before his death. Leary initially announced that he would freeze his entire body, but due to lack of funds decided to freeze his head only. Three weeks before his death, Leary changed his mind again and generally refused cryopreservation from both Alcor and CryoCare. He requested that his body be cremated, with his ashes scattered in space. Leary died aged 75 on May 31, 1996. His death was videotaped for posterity at his request by Denis Berry and Joey Cavella, capturing his final words. Berry was the trustee of Leary's archives, and Cavella had filmed Leary during his later years. According to his son Zachary, during his final moments, he clenched his fist and said: "Why?", then, unclenching his fist, said: "Why not?". He uttered the phrase repeatedly, in different intonations, and died soon after. His last word, according to Zach, was "beautiful". The film ''Timothy Leary's Dead'' (1996) contains a simulated sequence in which he allows his bodily functions to be suspended for the purposes of cryonic preservation. His head is removed and placed on ice. The film ends with a sequence showing the creation of the artificial head used in the film. Seven grams (¼ oz) of Leary's ashes were arranged by his friend at Celestis to be Space burial, buried in space aboard a rocket carrying the remains of 23 others, including ''Star Trek'' creator Gene Roddenberry, space colonization advocate Gerard O'Neill and German-American rocket engineer Krafft Ehricke. A Pegasus rocket containing their remains was launched on April 21, 1997, and remained in orbit for six years until it burned up in the atmosphere. Leary's ashes were given to close friends and family. In 2015, Susan Sarandon brought some of his ashes to the Burning Man festival in Black Rock City, Nevada, and put them into an art installation there. The ashes were burned along with the installation on September 6, 2015.


Personal life

Leary was legally married five times, sired three biological children and adopted a fourth child. He also regarded Joanna Harcourt-Smith (his domestic partner from 1972 to 1977) as his common-law wife for the duration of their relationship. His first wife, Marianne Busch, died by suicide. * 1945–1955 Marianne Busch (1921–1955) ** daughter Susan (1947–1990) ** son Jack (1949–) * 1956–1957 Mary Cioppa (1920–1996) * 1964–1965 Nena von Schlebrügge (1941–) * 1967–1976 (separated 1972) Rosemary Woodruff (1935–2002) * 1972–1977 Joanna Harcourt-Smith (domestic partner) (1946–2020)"Joanna Harcourt-Smith, socialite and author who went on the run with Timothy Leary – obituary"
''The Telegraph''. November 6, 2020.
** son Marlon Gobel (1976–) * 1978–1992 Barbara Blum Chase (1946–) ** son Zach (1973–) (adopted)


Influence

Leary was an early influence on applying Game theory#General and applied uses, game theory to psychology, having introduced the concept to the International Association of Applied Psychology in 1961 at its annual conference in Copenhagen. He was also an early influence on
transactional analysis Transactional analysis is a psychoanalytic theory and method of therapy wherein social interactions (or "transactions") are analyzed to determine the id, ego, and superego, ego state of the communicator (whether parent-like, childlike, or adult- ...
. His concept of the four The Sekhmet Hypothesis#Origins of the hypothesis, life scripts, dating to 1951, became an influence on transactional analysis by the late 1960s, popularized by Thomas Harris in his book, ''I'm OK, You're OK''. Many consider Leary one of the most prominent figures of the
counterculture of the 1960s The counterculture of the 1960s was an anti-establishment cultural phenomenon and political movement that developed in the Western world during the mid-20th century. It began in the early 1960s, and continued through the early 1970s. It is ofte ...
, and since those times he has remained influential on pop culture, literature, television, film and, especially, music. Leary coined the influential term reality tunnel, a kind of representative realism. The theory states that, with a subconscious set of mental filters formed from their beliefs and experiences, everyone interprets the same world differently, hence "Truth is in the eye of the beholder." His ideas influenced the work of his friend Robert Anton Wilson. This influence went both ways, with Leary taking just as much from Wilson. Wilson's 1983 book ''Prometheus Rising'' was an in-depth, highly detailed and inclusive work documenting Leary's 8-Circuit Model of Consciousness, eight-circuit model of consciousness. Although the theory originated in discussions between Leary and a Hindu holy man at Millbrook, Wilson was one of its most ardent proponents and introduced it to a mainstream audience in 1977's bestselling ''Cosmic Trigger''. In 1989, they appeared together on stage in a dialog called ''The Inner Frontier'' hosted by the Association for Consciousness Exploration, the same group that had hosted Leary's first Cleveland appearance in 1979. World religion scholar Huston Smith was "turned on" by Leary after being introduced to him by Aldous Huxley in the early 1960s. Smith interpreted the experience as deeply religious, and described it in detailed religious terms in his book ''Cleansing of the Doors of Perception''. Smith asked Leary whether he knew the power and danger of what he was conducting research with. In ''Mother Jones Magazine'', 1997, Smith commented:
First, I have to say that during the three years I was involved with that Harvard Psilocybin Project, Harvard study, LSD was not only legal but respectable. Before Tim went on his unfortunate careening course, it was a legitimate research project. Though I did find evidence that, when recounted, the experiences of the Harvard group and those of mystics were impossible to tell apart—descriptively indistinguishable—that's not the last word. There is still a question about the truth of the disclosure. Was the drug-induced mystical experience just an emotional jag that messed up some neural connections? Or was it a genuine disclosure, an epiphany?


In popular culture


On screen

In the 1968 ''Dragnet (1967 TV series), Dragnet'' episode "The Big Prophet", Liam Sullivan played Brother William Bentley, leader of the Temple of the Expanded Mind, a thinly fictionalized Leary. Bentley held forth for the entire half-hour on the rights of the individual and the benefits of LSD and marijuana, while Joe Friday argued the contrary. The 1979 musical ''Hair (film), Hair'' and Hair (musical), the 1967 stage performance it is based on make multiple references to Leary. Leary appears in Cheech & Chong's 1981 film ''Nice Dreams'', featured in a scene in which he gives Cheech "the key to the universe". In 1994, Leary appeared as himself in the ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' episode "Elevator", and also appeared in an episode of ''The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.'' as the character Dr. Milo. In 1996, months before his death, Leary appeared in the feminist science fiction feature film ''Conceiving Ada''. The 1998 movie ''Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (film), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas'', adapted from Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, 1971 novel, portrays heavy psychedelic drug use and mentions Leary when the protagonist ponders the meaning of the acid wave of the 1960s. A 2017 episode of ''Urban Myths (TV series), Urban Myths'' depicts a meeting between Leary and Cary Grant, whom he introduces to LSD.


In music

'' The Psychedelic Experience'' (1964) was the inspiration for John Lennon's song "Tomorrow Never Knows", on The Beatles' album ''Revolver (Beatles album), Revolver'' (1966). The Moody Blues recorded two songs about Leary. "Legend of a Mind", written and sung by Ray Thomas on their album ''In Search of the Lost Chord'' (1968), begins: "Timothy Leary's dead. No, no, no, no, he's outside looking in". The second was "When You're a Free Man" on the ''Seventh Sojourn'' album. Leary recruited Lennon to write a theme song for his Governor of California, California gubernatorial campaign against Ronald Reagan (which was interrupted by Leary's prison sentence for cannabis possession), inspiring Lennon to come up with "Come Together" (1969), based on Leary's campaign theme and catchphrase. Leary was present and sang back-up vocals when Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, recorded "Give Peace a Chance" (1969) during their bed-in in Montreal and is mentioned in the lyrics of the song. The Who's 1970 single "The Seeker (The Who song), The Seeker" mentions Leary in a sequence where the song's protagonist claims that Leary (among other high-profile people) was unable to help them with their search for answers. While in exile in Switzerland, Leary and British writer Brian Barritt collaborated with the German band Ash Ra Tempel and recorded the album ''Seven Up (album), Seven Up'' (1973). He is credited as a songwriter, and his lyrics and vocals can be heard throughout the album. Commenting on the work of his friend H. R. Giger, a Surrealism, surrealist artist from Switzerland who won an Academy Award for his work on the film ''Alien (film), Alien'', Leary noted: During the height of rave culture from the 1980s to mid-2000s, recordings of Leary and other psychedelic thinkers speaking were often mixed into electronic music. The Shamen honored him in the song "Ebenezer Goode" on their album ''Boss Drum''. In 1995, Leary had a cameo at the end of the video for alternative rock group Blind Melon's song "Galaxie (song), Galaxie". The Marcy Playground song "It's Saturday", from its 1999 album ''Shapeshifter (Marcy Playground album), Shapeshifter'', mentions joining Leary "in a cryogenic freeze".


In comic books

In 1973, ''El Perfecto Comics'' was organized by Aline Kominsky-Crumb, Aline Kominsky and published by Print Mint, The Print Mint to raise funds for the Timothy Leary Defense Fund. The comic features 31 underground artists contributing mostly one-pagers about drug experiences (primarily LSD). The front cover and a contributed one-page story are by Robert Crumb. In 1979, Last Gasp (publisher), Last Gasp published the One-shot (comics), one-shot edition ''Neurocomics: Timothy Leary''. "Evolved from transmissions of Dr. Timothy Leary as filtered through Pete Von Sholly & George DiCaprio", it is based on Leary's writings related to life, the brain, and intelligence. DiCaprio collaborated with Leary on the script.


Works

Leary authored or coauthored more than 20 books and was featured on more than a dozen audio recordings. His acting career included over a dozen appearances in movies and television shows in various roles and over 30 appearances as himself. He also produced and/or collaborated with others in the creation of multimedia presentations and computer games. In 2011, ''The New York Times'' reported that the
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
had acquired Leary's personal archives, including papers, videotapes, photographs and other archival material from the Leary estate, including correspondence and documents relating to Allen Ginsberg, Aldous Huxley, William Burroughs,
Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...
,
Ken Kesey Ken Elton Kesey (; September 17, 1935 – November 10, 2001) was an American novelist, essayist and Counterculture of the 1960s, countercultural figure. He considered himself a link between the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the hippies o ...
, Arthur Koestler,
G. Gordon Liddy George Gordon Battle Liddy (November 30, 1930 – March 30, 2021) was an American lawyer and FBI agent who was convicted of conspiracy, burglary, and illegal wiretapping for his role in the Watergate scandal during the Nixon administration. Work ...
and other prominent cultural figures. The collection became available in September 2013.


See also

* Grateful Dead * John C. Lilly * David Peel (musician), David Peel * ''The Sekhmet Hypothesis'' * Zihuatanejo Project


Notes


References


Citations


Works cited

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* *


External links


TimothyLeary.info – biography, archives, links, and more

Lectures from the Leary Archive in audio format
*
"Unlimited Virtual Realities for Everyone!"
, Artfutura, ArtFutura, 1990.
Timothy Leary papers, 1910-2009
held by the Manuscripts and Archives Division,
New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...
. *
Image of Timothy Leary and his wife, Rosemary Woodruff holding a news conference in Los Angeles, California, 1969.
Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. {{DEFAULTSORT:Leary, Timothy Timothy Leary, 1920 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American memoirists 20th-century American psychologists American SubGenii American consciousness researchers and theorists American expatriates in Algeria American founders American modern pagans American people of Irish descent American psychedelic drug advocates College of the Holy Cross alumni Deaths from prostate cancer in California Drug culture ESP-Disk artists Filmed deaths Former Roman Catholics American free speech activists Harvard University Department of Psychology faculty Hippies Lysergic acid diethylamide Military personnel from Massachusetts Modern pagan writers People from Millbrook, New York Psychedelic drug researchers Psychonautics researchers Ram Dass Space burials United States Army Air Forces non-commissioned officers United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers United States Military Academy alumni University of Alabama alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty Washington State University alumni Writers from Springfield, Massachusetts