Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary (1920 â 1996) was a Harvard professor of psychology. He research into psychedelic drugs, including LSD--and promoted their use. Fired from Harvard, he became the roving Hippie, the sage of Aquarius, the 1960s icon who promoted peace and love through psychedelic drugs to a nation divided over the rise of the hippie counterculture. Leary coined the slogan, "Turn on, tune in, drop out."
Other professors at Harvard led the attack on the wayward researcher, arguing that experimental drugs like LSD should be administered by physicians in controlled medical settings, not by psychologists at late-night parties. Leary responded that "control of the mind through drugs, which we call internal politics, will be the leading civil rights issue in the coming decades." He claimed, "LSD use is a sacramental ritual." In 1963, he was fired from Harvard. That made him immensely popular in the dropout world, despite repeated reports of "bad trips" and psychological damage to drug users. Despite repeated arrests he avoided prison until until 1970. He escaped from a California prison but in 1973 was apprehended trying to enter Afghanistan; he turned to prison until paroled in 1976. Leary continued his advocacy lectures across the country from his base in Hollywood.
He died of cancer, but remains an iconic hero to the surviving addicts he introduced to dangerous drugs.