Behavior: Evaluating Eagleton

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A Postal Service employee, successfully treated five years ago, who accompanied his wife, still under Cammer's care, insisted that he had not been hurt by the public discussion of Eagleton's case. "I haven't had any trouble in my job. I believe I'm cured and so do the people I work with." But Eagleton as a candidate? "I'm glad he won't be Vice President. The responsibility would be too much. He might fall apart." His wife agreed: "I would feel edgy about Eagleton as Vice President under the stress of a job like that." Another patient, a woman considered well on her way to recovery, said: "If he became Vice President or President, the pressure he would be under might bring on a relapse." A Manhattan housewife spoke harshly of Eagleton's appearance on TV: "He looked like he could have been a candidate—for depression!"

Other graduates of the shock school of depression were gentler in their judgments. They criticized Eagleton for lack of candor before his nomination, but gave him high marks for having borne himself well when the heat was on him. That heat may have been more shocking than any treatment for depression.