H. Stuart Hughes - Support of Psychoanalysis and Psychohistory

Support of Psychoanalysis and Psychohistory

As a beneficiary of it, Hughes saw the value of psychoanalysis. His widow, Judith Hughes, is a European historian and psychoanalyst. He, in the words of his wife, “could not have lived the life he did, at least the last 40-plus years of it, without benefit of psychoanalysis.”

As a historian Stuart Hughes saw enormous value of the Freudian world view applied to history. In Gentleman Rebel he reported being close to his Harvard colleague Erik Erikson and serving in the ”supporting cast” of psychohistory. When Richard Schoenwald established the first psychohistory newsletter (the predecessor to The Psychohistory Review), Hughes made serious contributuions and encouraged the new and bold direction of the publication.

An important bibliographer of psychohistory, William Gilmore, calls “History and Psychoanalysis: The Explanation of Motive,” in Hughes’ book, History as Art and as Science (1964), an indispensable “classic” and “a must reading.” Hughes’ memoirs are particularly revealing, as he does not begin his account with any mention of his distinguished family, but instead with a question from his psychoanalyst, Avery Weisman.