Norman G. Baker

Norman G. Baker (born November 27, 1882 in Muscatine , Iowa ; † September 10, 1958 in Miami , Florida ) was an American radio operator , entrepreneur and inventor who developed, promoted and commercially exploited an alleged cure for cancer .

biography

Baker was the tenth and youngest child of a wealthy family. His father John Baker is said to have owned patents on 126 inventions, his mother Frances Mary (née Anshulz) worked as a writer before their marriage.

Although initially active in vaudeville shows, Baker's talent as an inventor and designer of machines soon became apparent. He invented and successfully marketed the "Tangley Automatic Air Calliope", an air-powered variant of the steam organ known as the "Calliope" . Baker founded various companies for his activities. He also ran his own vaudeville troupe under the name “Charles Welch”, which among other things offered demonstrations with mentalists and mind readers.

In the 1920s, Baker began to work in the burgeoning business of broadcasting . From 1925 he ran a radio station in Muscatine called KTNT ( Know The Naked Truth ). He used this medium to attack actual and alleged monopolists like AT&T . Baker also published a daily newspaper, which he used like his radio station to campaign against suspected conspiracies . For example, he fought against tuberculosis tests for cattle, fluoridation of drinking water, vaccinations and aluminum cookware, all of which he regarded as carcinogenic . Baker was involved in various interest groups, some of which he founded himself.

Based on an alleged method of curing cancer by Charles Ozias , Baker developed his own cancer cure, which he advertised intensively on his radio station. In 1930 he ran the "Baker Institute" in Muscatine, which employed the convicted swindler Harry Hoxsey . In expensive cures, they allegedly used healing injections . The Journal of the American Medical Association ( JAMA ) accused Baker of quackery . The State of Iowa has opened a lawsuit against Baker and his employees for unlicensed medical activities. Baker lost the case in 1931 and with it his lucrative source of income. In the same year, his broadcasting license was no longer renewed.

In 1932, Baker ran for governor of Iowa. He received only a few hundred votes, but reports about him continued. He used populist arguments against existing elites and alleged conspiracies as well as against Jews and Catholics. In 1936 he competed again and won a few thousand votes.

From 1933 Baker operated a radio station in Nuevo Laredo on the Rio Grande in Mexico , right on the border with Texas , which he used to spread his messages in the United States. His cancer cure was being practiced in a clinic in Nuevo Laredo, and Baker's radio station became very popular.

In 1937, Baker opened a new clinic in Eureka Springs , Arkansas, in the former luxury resort Crescent Hotel . He made huge profits with his partner Thelma Yount. Again he was accused of being a quack. In 1941 he was convicted of postal fraud and spent a good three years until July 1944 in Leavenworth Federal Prison . The Crescent Hotel was closed and the Nuevo Laredo radio station went out of service. Despite Baker's attempt to prevent the sale of the technical equipment, the material was sold to the Texan broadcaster "Alamo Broadcasting" in 1945.

In 1946, Baker wanted to open a research facility to cure cancer in Muscatine, but received no permission "in the public interest". He retired to Miami, where he died of cirrhosis on September 10, 1958 . He was buried in Muscatine.

Web links

• Norman G. Baker in the database of Find a Grave (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h} Norman G. Baker on Find a Grave
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} John Killerlane: Con Man: The Fraud Who Claimed To Have A Cure For Cancer . History Collection
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Angelika Franz: The Horror Hotel. Der Spiegel No. 45, November 2, 2019
4. ↑ Angelika Franz: A charlatan and his brew . Spiegel Online , November 1, 2019