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A presidential address is almost an anomaly in the history of the American Psychoanalytic Association. In the forty-nine years of our existence there have been nine addresses in all, one third of them delivered by William Allison White. Six of the addresses concern themselves with the affairs, the problems, and the goals of the Association; the first being White's 1928 address in which he looked forward to the development of institutes; the last being Ives Hendrick's which he delivered in this room five years ago on the "Professional Standards of the American Psychoanalytic Association." On reading these addresses, one gets a sense of tumultuous growth, of increasing strength and authority, and of the dedicated purpose which has marked this Association's stewardship of the science of psychoanalysis and of psychoanalytic training during the span of almost half a century. The hope expressed by Franz Alexander in his 1932 address on "Psychoanalysis Comes of Age, " that the expression "psychoanalytic movement" will sound as strange as "ophthalmological movement, " has been realized. To the contemporary ear, the phrase "psychoanalytic movement" has indeed a quaint and archaic sound. Whether psychoanalysis was of age is another question. Robert P. Knight, in his 1952 address on "Organized Psychoanalysis in America, " found the Association in adolescence, but with a good prognosis. Of age or not, the Association—because of its authority and its influence—is now confronted with increasing responsibilities.
We have recently completed a survey of psychoanalytic education. Our educational house in many ways is in superb order. We