The_Info_Web/10 - PEOPLE/(A-G)/Harold Blauer.md

category	tags	summary	born	died	location	created	updated
Victims & Witnesses	Person CIA MKULTRA MKNaomi ArmyChemicalCorps NewYorkStatePsychiatricInstitute PaulHoch	New York tennis professional who died January 8, 1953, at the New York State Psychiatric Institute after receiving a massive intravenous dose of the mescaline derivative EA-1298 in a secret Army Chemical Corps chemical warfare experiment.	1910	1953-01-08	New York, New York	2026-06-03	2026-10-15

Harold Blauer was a professional tennis player who died on January 8, 1953, after receiving a massive intravenous injection of EA-1298, a mescaline derivative (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine, or MDA) designated by the U.S. Army Chemical Corps as a candidate chemical warfare agent. Blauer had checked into the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) in late 1952 seeking treatment for depression following a divorce. He was enrolled as a test subject in classified chemical warfare experiments conducted under an Army Chemical Corps contract with NYSPI, without his knowledge or consent. Paul Hoch, director of experimental research at NYSPI, was the medical official in charge of administering the compound. The dose administered was approximately 450 milligrams, a massive quantity for a substance still in early development. Blauer died within two hours of the injection.¹²

The Cover-Up

Within 48 hours of Blauer's death, Army Chemical Corps contract officer Amedeo Marrazzi directed efforts to conceal the Army's involvement. At a July 1954 meeting attended by federal counsel, Hoch, and Marrazzi, those present expressed concern about anticipated malpractice claims. The death certificate listed the cause as "coronary arteriosclerosis; sudden death after intravenous injection of a mescaline derivative," omitting any reference to the Army Chemical Corps contract or the compound's experimental status.¹

The opinion in Barrett records that Blauer, 42, was admitted voluntarily to the institute in December 1952 for depression after shock therapy at another hospital had failed, that the institute's record described the drug study as "for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes," and that, according to the estate, the fatal injection was the fifth in a series to which he had reacted unfavorably and the estate was never told of the Army Chemical Corps' involvement.³ The administratrix of the estate sued the State of New York in the New York Court of Claims in April 1953. David Marcus, then an assistant attorney general, was assigned to defend the case and his investigation uncovered the Army's role. On January 4, 1954 the court authorized production of the institute's records and examination of its doctors. A conference of federal counsel and medical personnel in early July 1954 recorded apprehension, expressed by Dr. Amedeo Marazzi of the Chemical Corps and by Hoch, about anticipated malpractice claims. At a meeting in Washington on July 12, 1954, Hoch stated that he would not have used the new compound for experimental purposes but for the institute's contract with the Army. An attorney in the Justice Department's Civil Division advised that the case was worth $60,000 to $75,000 if the full circumstances were revealed and should be settled to avoid disclosure of the Army's interest, and an Army Judge Advocate General attorney recommended moving the Chemical Corps contracts from New York to Maryland, where they would be "beyond subpoena power."³

The full circumstances of Blauer's death remained hidden for 22 years. The Army, NYSPI, and the CIA all participated in concealing the cause of death from Blauer's family. An initial settlement of $18,000 was paid to the family in 1955, with the U.S. government covertly paying half. In August 1975, the Army first disclosed the true circumstances to Blauer's daughter Elizabeth Barrett, who filed a lawsuit. In 1987 a federal judge awarded over $700,000 to Blauer's estate.²⁴

A tentative settlement of $15,000 was raised to $18,000 after Marcus told the judge of the Army's involvement in an ex parte conference. The Court of Claims entered the order on July 7, 1955, and the Army had paid $9,000 of the sum to the State on June 9, 1955. The release covered the "governmental body or agency which furnished the drug."³ The Secretary of the Army disclosed the Army's role on August 12, 1975. A CIA inspector general's memorandum of August 13, 1975 found no CIA association with the death beyond funds the Agency transferred to the Army annually from fiscal year 1953, and records that the estate "sued New York State for $500 K" and that the claim "was settled out of court for $125 K."⁵ Blauer's daughter failed in an effort to reopen the Court of Claims case in 1976 and brought three actions in the Southern District of New York. On July 31, 1986 the Second Circuit upheld Marcus's absolute immunity and held that if the estate proved its allegations the four federal attorneys would not be entitled to absolute or qualified immunity.³

In Barrett v. United States (798 F.2d 565, 1986) the Second Circuit recited the estate's allegation that Hoch, who testified before the Court of Claims that the drug had been given for diagnostic purposes, "was well aware that the mescaline derivative was a new compound not being administered for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes but as an experiment to study its effect for chemical warfare purposes."³ According to Marks, James Cattell, who gave the injection, told Army investigators: "We didn't know whether it was dog piss or what it was we were giving him."¹

Footnotes

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1. Barrett v. United States, 798 F.2d 565 (2d Cir. 1986); John D. Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate. Times Books, 1979. Chapter 4. ↩︎

2. Barrett v. United States, 646 F.Supp. 1345 (S.D.N.Y. 1986). ↩︎

3. Barrett v. United States, 798 F.2d 565 (2d Cir. July 31, 1986). https://static.case.law/f2d/798/cases/0565-01.json ↩︎

4. Los Angeles Times, May 5, 1987; UPI Archives, May 5, 1987. ↩︎

5. Central Intelligence Agency, Office of the Inspector General, memorandum to the Legislative Counsel, "Drug-Related Death of Harold Blauer," August 13, 1975, CIA Reading Room document 00146161. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-00146161 ↩︎