Perhaps the Earliest Psychological Report on Adolf Hitler, 1941/2

JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

I wanted to take a moment and post something from the bookselling section of this blog, something that's pretty interesting and scarce in its own right.  It is a work produced at the Harvard University Department of Psychology by Henry A. Murray (1893-1988), the Worksheets on Morale. Seminar in Psychological Problems of Morale which was published in 1942 and contains a section which turns out to be the first psychological profile of Adolf Hitler--this copy was formerly in the library of the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor and incubator of the CIA.

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Murray,  Henry A. and Gordon Allport.   Worksheets on Morale. Seminar in Psychological Problems of Morale.  Cambridge, Mass:  Harvard University,  1941/2 (?).  1st edition.  150 leaves  4to.  Original printed wrappers.  Very good condition.  Published by Harvard University, Department of Psychology. 152 leaves, complete in 15 sections, ca. 90,000 words. (Two copies of this work are located via WorldCat: Harvard and Illinois State University).

Provenance:  OSS (Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA)  Library via the Library of Congress.

This work by Gordon Allport and Henry A. Murray contains several sections on what has been recently hailed as the earliest psychological profile of Adolf Hitler, preceding the work done at the request of the OSS of William C. Langer which was released in 1942 or 1943 and called A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler: His Life and Legend (the report being published in 1972 as The Mind of Adolf Hitler: The Secret Wartime Report ).  The second report in 1943 was another by Henry A. Murray, and was titled  Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler and which in its original incantation weighed in at over 200pp, which is much expanded over the earlier work that he and Allport had done in the Worksheets.   

The sections include: (1) Aim of Seminar, 2 lvs; (2) Selected Bibliography, 1941, 3 lvs; (3) Notes on the Definition of Morale, 3+3lvs; (4) Determinants of Good and Bad Morale, 18 lvs; (5) Historical Trends of National Socialist Ideology, 14 lvs; (6) Hitler the Man, Notes for a Case Study, 22 lvs; (7) Education in Nazi Germany, 8 lvs; (9) Strategy and Tactics for anti-Nazi propaganda, 10 lvs; (10) Democratic vs. Totalitarian Morale in Groups, 5 lvs; (11) Standards of Democratic Morale-Building in the U.S., 6 lvs; (12) Civilian Morale Building Techniques, 7pp; (13) Psychology of Influence (Education Persuasion) Applied to Morale Building in America, 16 lvs; (14) Long-term Aspects of Democratic Morale-Building, 7 lvs; (15) Analysis and Execution of Propaganda Campaigns, 18 lvs.

The portions of this publication concerning the psychological profile of Hitler seem to pre-date the very recent re-publication of Murray's very obscure 1943 work mentioned above (again done for the OSS) on the psychological composition of Hitler. The date of publication of these sheets is somewhat uncertain, although there are no references dated after 1941. 

These sheets were obviously not intended for a wide distribution. It is interesting to note the circulation card in the pocket at the rear of this work as it bears the signature of David N. Yerkes. I spoke with Mr. Yerkes back in the late 1990's and inquired after his interest in this work (taken out on 7 June 1944 and returned 14 June 1944), and he told the story that Henry Murray was a pupil of his father's, who was Robert Yerkes, former president of the American Psychological Association, Professor of Psychology at Harvard and innovator in the use of psychological testing and training of American servicemen during WWI.   Beyond that he couldn't recall exactly why he had borrowed the report.