Dax949
Well-known member
Perhaps "The Worry Clinic" isn't even known anymore among this latest generation but when I was in high school we had a weekly discussion segment every Friday in our Social Studies and our Government classes concerning the George W. Crane topics of the week. Our teacher, Robert Orr, was very concerned about the trends in the United States fostering Socialism and Liberalism - which has indeed festered into our 'Woke' societal movement.
If you're not familiar ... Here's a synopsis of the man and his values:
George Washington Crane III (1901–1995), a psychologist, physician, and conservative syndicated columnist wrote the long-running "Worry Clinic" (an advice column answering reader questions on personal, marital, and psychological issues) and quiz-style columns like "Test Your Horse Sense"
He was known for his explicitly conservative perspectives on personal life which emphasized traditional values, personal responsibility, logic/self-discipline, and what he saw as "horse sense" rooted in mid-20th-century American conservatism.
Core Political and Cultural Stance
Crane's advice frequently reflected traditional (and by modern standards, highly patriarchal) gender expectations:
Other Social Views
Crane's views aligned with mid-century conservative Protestant, Republican, and traditionalist thought: skepticism of expansive government, emphasis on self-reliance, distinct gender spheres, sexual restraint within marriage, and moral traditionalism. His columns reached hundreds of newspapers at peak popularity (1940s–1950s) and influenced everyday readers, though they drew criticism even contemporaneously for rigidity. Today, they are often viewed through a historical lens as illustrative of pre-feminist, pre-sexual-revolution norms.
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So how would Dr. Crane be received today? I wonder. Could we bring back his values into modern society? If you've never read his columns, you probably don't know all that we've lost.
If you're not familiar ... Here's a synopsis of the man and his values:
George Washington Crane III (1901–1995), a psychologist, physician, and conservative syndicated columnist wrote the long-running "Worry Clinic" (an advice column answering reader questions on personal, marital, and psychological issues) and quiz-style columns like "Test Your Horse Sense"
He was known for his explicitly conservative perspectives on personal life which emphasized traditional values, personal responsibility, logic/self-discipline, and what he saw as "horse sense" rooted in mid-20th-century American conservatism.
Core Political and Cultural Stance
- Political conservatism: Crane wrote campaign speeches for President Calvin Coolidge and held strong anti-New Deal views. He believed Franklin D. Roosevelt had "destroyed the republic" by fostering dependency on government ("the nonsense belief that somehow you can get something for nothing out of Washington"). He passed this outlook to his sons, Republican Congressmen Phil and Dan Crane.
- Religious and moral traditionalism: He taught adult Bible classes for decades and integrated religious/moral frameworks into his advice. His columns often promoted self-improvement, character, and conventional ethics over progressive social changes.
- Emphasis on logic and personal agency: He advocated applying psychological principles practically but through a lens of traditional values, criticizing "congealed thinking" while often defending established gender and family norms.
Crane's advice frequently reflected traditional (and by modern standards, highly patriarchal) gender expectations:
- Marital Rating Scales (1930s): He created "Tests for Husbands and Wives" based on surveys of ~600 people. Wives were scored (merits and demerits) on traits like being a good hostess, dressing neatly (deductions for crooked seams or red nail polish), having meals ready on time, avoiding nagging, and maintaining appearance. Husbands were rated too (e.g., high marks for being an "ardent lover" ensuring his wife's satisfaction), but the framework placed heavy emphasis on wives' domestic and pleasing roles. These are now often cited as relics of 1930s gender norms.
- "Boudoir cheesecake": A signature euphemism for sexual appeal and connubial bliss (erotic/romantic fulfillment in marriage). He argued most marital problems stemmed from wives not providing enough of it—through seductive attire, enthusiasm, dieting, or "turning on a seductive ‘act’" even when tired. It was framed as women's responsibility to prevent straying husbands and divorce ("most divorces start in the bedroom"). He saw it as "no-calorie" insurance for happy marriages.
Other Social Views
- Homosexuality: Described as an "abnormal erotic state" that could potentially be addressed through "strong incentive plus enough time for the heterosexual habit to develop"—reflecting conversion-therapy-adjacent thinking common in his era but conservative even then.
- Family and child-rearing: He lectured his own children nightly on conservative values, avoided allowances in favor of earned responsibility, and promoted structured personality development and "mental hygiene."
- Marriage matchmaking: Founded the Scientific Marriage Foundation (1957), an early computer-assisted (IBM sorting) dating service emphasizing compatibility, character references, and counseling—advised by figures like Norman Vincent Peale. It aimed to foster stable, traditional marriages.
Crane's views aligned with mid-century conservative Protestant, Republican, and traditionalist thought: skepticism of expansive government, emphasis on self-reliance, distinct gender spheres, sexual restraint within marriage, and moral traditionalism. His columns reached hundreds of newspapers at peak popularity (1940s–1950s) and influenced everyday readers, though they drew criticism even contemporaneously for rigidity. Today, they are often viewed through a historical lens as illustrative of pre-feminist, pre-sexual-revolution norms.
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So how would Dr. Crane be received today? I wonder. Could we bring back his values into modern society? If you've never read his columns, you probably don't know all that we've lost.
