David Oliver Cauldwell

Who was David Oliver Cauldwell?

David Oliver Cauldwell was a prolific and pioneering sexologist, who has been claimed to have coined the term “transsexual”, and many of whose monographs on sex, psychology, or health were published by Emanuel Haldeman-Julius in such forms as Big Blue Books.

Cauldwell was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a surgeon. Cauldwell reports himself as from childhood having had a special interest in sexual anatomy. He studied medicine at the Chester College of Medicine and Surgery and at Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. After several years as a private general practitioner, Cauldwell became an Associate Medical Officer of the Department of War, and as a contract surgeon for the Army, and became a neuro-psychiatrist for the Department of War. In 1945, Cauldwell ended active practice to become a writer on topics of health, notably sexology.