Historic Figures
WITH THE NAME TIMOTHY
Dr. Timothy Francis Leary goes down in the American history books as an influential (and controversial) figure of the 1960s and 70s. Born in Massachusetts, Leary was of Irish-American descent. Under pressure from his dentist father, Leary enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but was promptly dismissed after displaying a lack of respect for the rules, honor code and authority in general. This would become one of his defining characteristics. After WWII, Leary went onto finish his education and eventually earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 where he went onto teach. Influenced by the beatnik society of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950s which gave way to the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Leary became controversial in his advocating of the usage of LSD (the psychedelic drug) for its therapeutic and emotional/spiritual benefits. He is most known for the phrase he coined: “Turn on, tune in, drop out.†He influenced many notable people from Ken Kesey to John Lennon and President Richard Nixon once referred to him as “the most dangerous man in America.â€
Dr. Timothy Francis Leary goes down in the American history books as an influential (and controversial) figure of the 1960s and 70s. Born in Massachusetts, Leary was of Irish-American descent. Under pressure from his dentist father, Leary enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but was promptly dismissed after displaying a lack of respect for the rules, honor code and authority in general. This would become one of his defining characteristics. After WWII, Leary went onto finish his education and eventually earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 where he went onto teach. Influenced by the beatnik society of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950s which gave way to the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Leary became controversial in his advocating of the usage of LSD (the psychedelic drug) for its therapeutic and emotional/spiritual benefits. He is most known for the phrase he coined: “Turn on, tune in, drop out.†He influenced many notable people from Ken Kesey to John Lennon and President Richard Nixon once referred to him as “the most dangerous man in America.â€
Dr. Timothy Francis Leary goes down in the American history books as an influential (and controversial) figure of the 1960s and 70s. Born in Massachusetts, Leary was of Irish-American descent. Under pressure from his dentist father, Leary enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point but was promptly dismissed after displaying a lack of respect for the rules, honor code and authority in general. This would become one of his defining characteristics. After WWII, Leary went onto finish his education and eventually earned a PhD in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley in 1950 where he went onto teach. Influenced by the beatnik society of the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1950s which gave way to the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Leary became controversial in his advocating of the usage of LSD (the psychedelic drug) for its therapeutic and emotional/spiritual benefits. He is most known for the phrase he coined: “Turn on, tune in, drop out.†He influenced many notable people from Ken Kesey to John Lennon and President Richard Nixon once referred to him as “the most dangerous man in America.â€