RICHARD FEYNMAN💫'S FAMOUS LETTER TO THE DRAFT BOARD, "CONFIRMING" HIS INSANITY BY CHALLENGING HIS "PSYCHIATRICALLY UNFIT" DIAGNOSIS

"I still think most psychiatrists are quacks..."

Richard Feynman's characteristic wit and humor are on full display in this letter to the Mercer County, N.J. Draft Board, which he wrote not lꦐong after being rejected for the draft, having received a 4F rejection for medical෴ reasons.

Feynman had received work-related deferrals while he was at Los Alamos, but after the war, he was now eligible for the draft. In the summer of 1946, Feynman was working for Hans Bethe at General Electric in Schenectady, N.Y to supplement his income at Cornell. After going in for a physical in Albany in whic🐽h he said he still talks to his deceased wife Arline

(understandab🉐le given how recently she had passed), and thinks that people talk about him when he is not around (which, of course, is true of most people), he was given a 4F rejection for being "psychiatrically deficient."

As Feynman relates in Surely You're Joking, he was worried ✃that his home draft board in New Jersey would suspect him of faking a serious psychiatric illness if they received word on how accomplished he was in his professional life. As a result, he felt the need to write to the draft board to reject their findings, while nonetheless asking for a deferral and, in many ways, continuing to call his sanity into question with both the style and content of his letter.

Richard Feynman's autograph l꧟etter reads, in part:

"Dear Sirs:

I do not think I should be drafted because I am teaching physics to graduate students at Cornell ⁠— and this is essential to our national security because in the future a good deal of the strength of a nation will depend on her wealth in science, and it is future scientists I am training now.

On the other hand, if you do not consider this sufficient reason you might still be reluctant to draft me because I was rejected at my pre-induction physical exam for psychiatric reasons. I do not think you should give this any weight however as I am sure that this is simply a gross error on the part of the examiners. I am calling this error to your attention because I would not like to take advantage of such a mistake.

[...]

I still think most psychiatrists are quacks and I would think the whole thing has a very humorous facet except that I may be getting the advantage of a mistake and I am insane enough not to want to do that."

REFERENCES:

Feynman, Richard P. "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" Adventures of a Curious Character. New York: Norton, 2018 [1985], pp. 188, 223.