Episode 3 Dr. Cornelius Rhoads

In the 1930s, a conspiracy theory emerged about the US conducting ethnic cleansing in Puerto Rico. Dr. Cornelius Rhodes, a pathologist and oncologist, was accused of killing patients and implanting cancer. Rhodes apologized, claiming it was a joke. Forced sterilization of Puerto Rican women was also happening, leading to the belief that Puerto Ricans were being eradicated. Rhodes later became a colonel in the Chemical Warfare Service and tested chemical weapons on soldiers, mostly Puerto Ricans. He continued his work in cancer research and received recognition, but the award named after him was eventually renamed. The investigation into Rhodes was questioned, but no further action was taken. Many believe he got away with his crimes. This reflects a sentiment of wanting a Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans, still seen today. In the 1930s, there was a conspiracy theory floating around about the United States conducting their own sort of ethnic cleansing on the island of Puerto Rico. The discovery of the Rhodes letter lent itself to this becoming more than just a quote-unquote theory of any kind. In this notorious letter to a colleague, he claims to have killed eight and implanted cancer in some of his patients that he was sent to Puerto Rico to save. This is the story of Dr. Cornelius P. Rhodes. Cornelius Rhodes was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on June 20th, 1898, the year the U.S. invaded Puerto Rico. His father was an ophthalmologist and he grew up in an affluent neighborhood. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1924 and eventually went on to work for the Rockefeller Institute. Hematologist William B. Castle was conducting research in Puerto Rico on patients with anemia being caused by a parasitic hookworm, which was endemic on the island along with a malabsorption disease called tropical sprue, which causes abnormal flattening of the villi, I'm not sure if I pronounced that right, villi or villi, and inflammation of the lining of the small intestines. This was found to be treated by folic acid and antibiotic. Dr. Castle called upon Dr. Cornelius Rhodes to assist in San Juan, Puerto Rico as he was a pathologist and oncologist known for his research specifically on anemia. Rhodes began seeing and treating over 250 patients. One night after a party at a colleague's home, when walking to his car, he noticed his car had been vandalized. In an apparent drunken stupor, he went to his office and penned a letter to his colleague in New York wherein he wrote, somewhere with our point of view. The situation is settled in Boston. Parker and I are to run the laboratory together and either Kenneth or McManus to be assistant, the chief to stay on. As far as I can see, the chances of my getting a job in the next 10 years are absolutely nil. One is certainly not encouraged to make scientific advances when it is a handicap rather than an aid to advancement. I get a damn fine job here and am tempted to take it. It would be ideal, except for the Puerto Ricans. They are beyond doubt the dirtiest, laziest, most degenerate and thievish race of men ever inhabiting this theater. It makes you sick to inhabit the same island with them. They are even lower than Italian. What the island needs is not public health work, but a tidal wave or something to totally exterminate the population. It might then be livable. I have done my best to further the process of extermination by killing off, ate, and transplanting cancer into several more. The latter has not resulted in any fatalities so far. The matter of consideration for the patient's welfare plays no role here. In fact, all physicians take delight in the abuse and torture of the unfortunate subjects. Do let me know if you hear any more news. Sincerely, Dusty. A Puerto Rican technician working with Rhodes found the letter and reported it. When word got to Rhodes that the letter was found and turned in, he quickly apologized to the staff and doctors, but stated it was just a joke. He called it, quote, Fantastic and playful composition written entirely for my own diversion and intended as a parody on supposed attitudes of some American minds in Puerto Rico. You know, because race extermination is hilarious to some, apparently. According to historian and ethicist, Susan E. Ledever, Rhodes referred to the patients as, quote, Experimental animals, end quote. In his notes, he had written, If they don't develop something, they certainly have the constitutions of oxen. In this, he is referring to the fact that he was controlling the diets of said patients to induce tropical sprue, which was thought to be linked to what a person ate. With this, exacerbating its symptoms for his own purpose of study. These experiments, of course, were conducted without the knowledge or consent of said patients. Louis Baldoni, Rhodes' former technician, sent the letter to the president of the Nationalist Party, Pedro Albizu Campo. Campo sent the letter to the League of Nations, the American Civil Liberties Union, newspapers, and even the Vatican. Many publications picked up the story, publishing a photo of the letter. Others chose to omit certain parts of the letter, defending Rhodes and publishing comments from patients he helped save, lest anyone pull back the curtain on the wizard. The revelation of the discovery of this letter coincided with and fueled the belief some had that the U.S. was trying to exterminate Puerto Ricans. They believed the U.S. wanted a Puerto Rico with no Puerto Ricans, a sentiment that still echoes in the island today. Now, this was the same time in which doctors were sterilizing women on the island without their knowledge or informed consent. Women were walking into the hospital Municipal de Barceloneta to give birth to their baby and walking out not knowing that would be, in many cases, the first and the last baby they'd ever give birth to. Over 20,000 women were sterilized in Barceloneta alone. Eventually, the program spread throughout the island. This program stems from the growing belief that inferior races were increasing while the Anglo-Saxon population was decreasing. Eventually, this made way for the Eugenics Society. Eugenics is a set of beliefs and practices that aim to, quote-unquote, improve the genetic quality of a human population. Forced sterilization was happening on the mainland as well, though at a smaller rate. If you were prone to seizures, for example, or were unfortunate enough to be born poor, you could be sterilized. On the island, though, an exponentially larger portion of women and young girls were being sterilized. All of this, together with Rhodes' letter, gave way to the idea that Puerto Ricans were in fact being eradicated. After the letter was published, the newly U.S.-appointed governor, James R. Beverly, displayed outrage, stating the letter was, quote, a confession of murder, end quote, and, quote, a libel against the people of Puerto Rico, end quote. And so, with righteous indignation, he called for an investigation as one of his first major acts as governor, which concluded, no evidence of wrongdoing. We'll come back to this later. And so, Rhodes went back to New York, where he continued his work, eventually becoming the VP of the New York Academy of Medicine. But he wasn't quite done with his atrocities against humanity. See, during World War II, he became Colonel Cornelius Rhodes and chief medical officer in the Chemical Warfare Service. What could possibly go wrong here, you ask? Well, he developed chemical weapons that had to be tested before they could be used for war. So, who did they test them on? Did you guess Puerto Ricans or other people of color? You'd be correct. On San Jose Island, they'd gather uniformed soldiers to run training drills. Without their knowledge or consent, chemical agents, such as mustard gas, was poured over them from above. They were sent into gas chambers with a gas mask, and these chemical agents were released to see how long they lasted before they would collapse. When I went through boot camp, this was the thing we had to do. It wasn't mustard gas, it was regular tear gas, but it burned like hell. My skin, my nostrils, my eyes, it was miserable. If you've been through boot camp, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Now multiply that by about a thousand, because this mustard gas actually made their skin blister and bubble. Can you imagine what it did to their insides? They tested these chemical agents on over 60,000 soldiers, of which most were Puerto Rican and other people of color. Many suffered debilitating and enfeebling effects from the chemicals. After this, Rhodes became the first director of the Sloan Kettering Institute, in which he used some of the surplus chemical agents he used during the war in chemotherapy experiments to help cancer patients. This was what he would become known for. He is remembered in America for his cancer research, and even appeared on the cover of Time magazine. The American Association for Cancer Research named a prestigious award after him, among many other accolades awarded to him posthumously. Eventually, in 2002, a Puerto Rican cancer researcher brought to their attention who they'd named this award for, and they renamed it as they felt though no evidence was shown that he'd committed the atrocities he'd spoken of in his letter, the letter itself was deplorable enough for them to change it. Remember earlier when I said we'd get back to the governor who ordered the investigation as he would beside himself over the letter from Rhodes? Well, in the 1980s, a social scientist by the name of Pedro Aponte Vasquez questioned if the investigation, in fact, was even valid after discovering a letter written by Governor Beverly himself to the Associate Director of the Rockefeller Foundation, identifying a second letter Rhodes had written that Governor Beverly stated was even more disturbing than the first. Despite this new evidence, the U.S. refused to reopen the case as Rhodes was already dead, and so what would be the point? Essentially, Cornelius P. Rhodes, who died of a heart attack at 61 on August 13, 1959, many believe, got away with the mass murder of a people he called experimental animals, and who stated in his letter that Puerto Rico would actually be livable if there were no Puerto Ricans on it. A Puerto Rico without Puerto Ricans, a sentiment shown through corporate greed, tax exemptions, and both enforced and unenforced laws seem to be shared by many still today. Thank you for listening to this episode of A Roscón Crime. As always, I hope you learned something, felt something, and may you always find the courage to speak up and do something. Don't forget to hit follow and that bell notification so you're notified every time a new episode comes out. I would like to encourage you all to read books such as Ed Morales's Fantasy Island and Nelson Dennis's War Against All Puerto Ricans, as well as follow such content creators as Bianca Graulo and Señor Edison on all platforms. Please remember, whether you call it GonGon, Pegao, or something else, I'm so glad you're here. Thank you and see you next time.