The amazing events that I’m writing about in this article would never have occurred if John R. Brinkley hadn’t received a mail order medical degree in 1917 and obtained a job as the company doctor at the Swift Meatpacking Company in Kansas. While working at the meat packing plant, Brinkley was intrigued that goats destined for the slaughterhouse vigorously mated.
A few years later, Brinkley set up a private practice in the small hamlet of Milford, Kansas. One day a farmer came in to Brinkley’s office complaining of a sagging libido. Recalling the frantic antics of the goats at the slaughterhouse, Dr. Brinkley suggested to the farmer that what he needed was a goat gland transplant.
It should be noted that previously Brinkley
Very few people who had the operation complained that it didn’t work because Brinkley explained that the operation only worked on intelligent people. There were a few problems. For example, when Brinkley switched from Toggenbergs to Angoras a patient sued. The patient didn’t sue because the operation didn’t work but because afterward he “smelled so bad.” Brinkley switched back to Toggenbergs. As many as 40 goats a day were shipped to the clinic.
Eventually the AMA sued Brinkley and he lost his medical license. The FCC shut down his radio program due to fraud. Brinkley decided that the only way to get his license back was to become the governor. He ran a write in campaign actually receiving the most votes but lost the election on a technical