Robert B. Santulli oral history interview

The Scope and Contents note of this oral history was originally generated by feeding the electronic transcript into OpenAI’s ChatGPT 4o on 2024 August 19. It was then reviewed and edited by a human.

Oral history interview with Robert Santulli, Professor of Psychiatry at Geisel School of Medicine, for the Dartmouth Vietnam Project. Santulli recounts his early life and education growing up in New York City and attending Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut. He describes becoming politically aware as an undergraduate at Yale University, where anti-war sentiment was prevalent and major events like the Tet Offensive and Kent State shootings (on May 4, 1970) intensified tensions. Santulli discusses his decision to attend medical school at Columbia University partly to avoid the draft, with the deferment providing relief from the looming threat of service. He reflects on his medical career, treating Vietnam veterans with PTSD and other mental health issues, and notes the evolving stigma around mental health. Santulli concludes by discussing the Vietnam War's broader impact on American society, particularly the loss of trust in government.