John R. Brinkley

Who was John R. Brinkley?

John Romulus Brinkley was a controversial American medical doctor who experimented with xenotransplantation of goat testicles into humans as a means of curing male impotence in clinics across several states, and an advertising and radio pioneer who began the era of Mexican border blaster radio. Though he was stripped of his license to practice medicine in some states, Brinkley, a crowd favorite and natural showman, still launched two campaigns for Kansas governor, one of which was nearly successful. Brinkley's rise to fame and fortune was as precipitous as his eventual fall; at the height of his career he had amassed millions of dollars and fancy cars, and yet died sick and nearly penniless, as a result of the large number of malpractice, wrongful death and fraud suits brought against him.