Although Adolf Meyer, first director of the Phipps Clinic at Johns Hopkins, did much to promote a knowledge of psychoanalysis in the United States, he never identified his views with those of Freud. Using unpublished letters and documents, the present paper seeks to clarify Meyer's attitude toward psychoanalysis by focusing on his dealings with one of Freud's most gifted followers, Ernest Jones, at a critical moment in the reception of psychoanalysis in America. In particular, an effort is made to identify some of the personal, intellectual, and institutional factors that shaped Meyer's response to Freud.