Brock Chisholm was born on 18 May 1896, in Oakville, Ontario, to a family with deep ties to the region. Under Sir Isaac Brock, his great-grandfather fought against the Americans during the War of 1812. His great grandfather’s brother, William, was Oakville’s founder. His father was Frank Chisholm, who ran a coal yard.[2][3][4][5][6][7] He had a Presbyterian upbringing.[9]
For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Throughout an attack he led his men with great skill and complete disregard of personal safety, and when the company on his left lost all its officers he went over to them and organised a defensive flank–one of the most difficult and important parts of the whole attack. Later in the day, he fearlessly led a party against an enemy counter-attack, which he broke up and repulsed with very heavy losses. He showed the greatest coolness and determination on this occasion.[11]
His bar's citation:
During two attacks this officer led his platoon with great courage under very heavy fire, dressing the wounds of some of his men at great risk to himself, and when more than half of his men were casualties he disposed the remainder with great ability, and consolidated his position. He set a brilliant example to his men.[12]
After the war, Chisholm pursued his lifelong passion of medicine, earning his MD from the University of Toronto by 1924 before interning in England, where he specialized in psychiatry. After six years in private practice in his native Oakville, he attended Yale University where he specialized in the mental health of children. During this time, Chisholm developed his strong view that children should be raised in an "as intellectually free environment" as possible, independent of the prejudices and biases (political, moral and religious) of their parents.[2][5][6]
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Chisholm rapidly rose in stature within the Canadian military and government. He joined the war effort as a psychiatrist dealing with psychological aspects of soldier training, before rising to the rank of Director General Medical Services, the highest position within the medical ranks of the Canadian Army. He was the first psychiatrist to head the medical ranks of any army in the world.[2][4][5][6][7]
In 1944, the Canadian Government created the position of Deputy Minister of Health. Chisholm was the first person to occupy the post and held it until 1946.[2][4][5][6][7]
WHO
In 1946, Chisholm became executive secretary of the Interim Commission of the World Health Organization (WHO), based in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO succeeded the League of Nations's Health Organization. Chishom was one of 16 international experts consulted in drafting the agency's first constitution. He recommended the WHO's name, with emphasis on "world." He defined health for the WHO as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." The WHO charter also established that health is a fundamental human right and that "the health of all peoples is fundamental to the attainment of peace and security."[2][3][4][5][6][7][13]
The WHO became a permanent UN fixture in April 1948, and Chisholm became the agency's first Director General on a 46–2 vote. Chisholm was now in the unique position of being able to bring his views on the importance of international mental and physical health to the world. Refusing re-election, he occupied the post until 1953, during which time the WHO dealt successfully with a cholera epidemic in Egypt, malaria outbreaks in Greece and Sardinia, and introduced shortwave epidemic-warning services for ships at sea.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Chisholm was a controversial public speaker who nevertheless spoke with great conviction, and drew much criticism from the Canadian public for comments inspired by his communist beliefs in the mid-1940s that children should not be encouraged to believe in Santa Claus, the Bible or anything he regarded as supernaturalism. Calls for his resignation as Deputy Minister of Health were quelled by his appointment as Executive Secretary of the WHO, but his public perception as "Canada's most famously articulate angry man" lingered.[2][5]
He was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, of the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Public Health Association among others.[4][7]
Legacy
At his death, the New York Times remembered Chisholm as a "small-town doctor who became director general of the World Health Organization" and also called him "Prophet of Disaster."[2]
Historica Canada notes he was an early leader in warning about the "danger of pollution, overpopulation, and the nuclear arms race."[5]
Works
Social responsibility, and three memorial papers by Gordon W. Allport (New York: Association Press, 1948)
