FOUR TYPED LETTERS SIGNED BY HUNGARIAN-BORN AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIST AND CRIMINOLOGIST RALPH S. BANAY CONCERNING HIS PROPOSAL FOR A NEW ORGANIZATION TO FURTHER THE PARTICIPATION OF MEDICAL PERSONNEL IN THE NATIONAL DEBATE ON CRIME.

New York: December 1, 5, 27 & January 24, 1969., 1969.. Very good. - The December 1, 1969 letter fills one side of an 11 inch high by 8-1/2 inch wide sheet of Medical Correctional Association letterhead with the names & addresses of officers, including Ralph S. Banay as President, printed at the top. Signed "Ralph". The bottom right corner of the letter is creased. A staple is inserted at top left, affecting Banay's printed name & address. Together with an unsigned carbon copy of the recipient's reply. Of Banay's 3 follow-up letters, 2 are also typed on Medical Correctional Association letterhead and 1 on Banay's personal letterhead. All three are signed "Ralph". Also included are 2 unsigned carbon copies of letters from Banay to Medical Correctional Association colleagues. The four signed letters are folded twice for mailing and are in very good condition.

Banay's four signed letters are addressed to Freudian psychiatrist and criminologist Dr. Arthur N. Foxe. In the initial letter Banay complains that in the current state and federal government debates on the problem of crime and its solution doctors "are pushed out of the picture because they are not vocal and have no organization behind them." Banay believes a new organization should be formed "I would suggest the title of The American Association of Physicians, Psychologists and Social Workers Concerned with Crime, Its Causes, Treatment and Prevention, Inc. It should be a top notch group which would be effective enough to reach federal and state government authorities...." Foxe writes back approving of the idea but suggesting the organization's title should be shortened. The other signed letters follow up on this proposal. The additional unsigned carbon copies, on the same subject, are to Nathan K. Rickles and Maier I. Tuchler of the Medical Correctional Association

Hungarian-born psychiatrist Ralph S. Banay [1896-1970] came to America in 1927. He held a number of medical, psychiatric and educational posts, including at Manhattan Eastern State Hospital, Boston Eastern State Hospital, Sing Sing Prison, Columbia University and Greenmont-on-Hudson Sanatorium. He was also involved in projects dealing with the problems of drugs and alcohol.