Pearce Bailey: The “Fifth Horseman” and the National Institute for Neurological Diseases and Blindness

Abstract

ABSTRACTPearce Bailey (1902–1976) had an active career focused on the growth and development of neurology as a specialty in the post-World War II era. He was a founding member of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and its second president from 1951 to 1953. In 1951, he was also appointed as the first director of the National Institute for Neurological Diseases and Blindness (NINDB), which is now the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Known as an excellent politician, Bailey’s role at the NINDB helped bolster the AAN in its early days. Prominent neurologists in the AAN, especially A. B. Baker, also helped shape the NINDB as early advisors. Bailey continued working to move neurology forward globally, including cofounding the World Federation of Neurology with Ludo van Bogaert in 1957 and becoming director of the NINDB International Research Program in 1959. Bailey retired in 1971, having been dubbed by Baker as “one of the smartest politicians that ever came to Washington.”