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Karl Menninger wrote the following unsolicited letter to the editor of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis Forum :1
To the Editor:
I must tell you I had a delightful hour yesterday reading the Spring/Summer 1989 issue of the Academy Forum.
Think of it! Think of me, Karl Menninger, twice president of the American Psychoanalytic Association, reading and enjoying something from the American Academy of Psychoanalysis! Time was when this would have been unthinkable, a treason, a sacrilege.
Tell me what was it about the Academy (or me) that once made it taboo for some of the rest of us? Honestly, I can't remember! Where did we disagree? What was your sinfulness or error or fault in theory or practice in some of our eyes? Wherein were you “bad” or wrong or anti-constitutional or something? What was the war about? It was not just Karen, bless her heart; she was rough and rebellious but clever. She was my good friend, once. But what was the matter with us all then, and where is the feud now? Things all look so different at 96!
Anyway, I did find this number of the Forum very interesting, and I think your contributors are bright, thoughtful, scientific writers. Being somewhat fallen away from orthodox psychoanalysis and its devotees I can't easily find out here. Oldsters are not considered to be capable or competent to pass critical judgement on any scientific subjects, and maybe this is an example of why. But I'm curious. Will you lend a helping hand to an old, now harmless foe?
Karl Menninger, MD
The President of the Academy Hrair Babikian then wrote to Dr. Menninger early in 1990 notifying him that the Academy had elected him to be an Honorary Member. The following letter came from the Menninger Foundation in July 1990: