Editing Benjamin Spock (section)

==Biography==

=== Early life and education ===
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{{Medal|Sport|Men's [[Rowing (sport)|rowing]]}}
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{{MedalCompetition|[[Rowing at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{Medal|Gold|[[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 Paris]] |[[Rowing at the 1924 Summer Olympics – Men's eight|Eight]]}}
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Benjamin McLane Spock was born May 2, 1903, in [[New Haven, Connecticut]]. His parents were Benjamin Ives Spock, Yale graduate and long-time general counsel of the [[New Haven Railroad]], and Mildred Louise (Stoughton) Spock.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Barnes |first=Bart |date=2024-01-08 |title=Pediatrician Benjamin Spock Dies |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/03/17/pediatrician-benjamin-spock-dies/f0e306b9-3a07-4e72-b237-5fd755b716b3/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |work=Washington Post |issn=0190-8286}}</ref> The family name had Dutch origins; they originally spelled it ''Spaak'' before migrating to the former colony of [[New Netherland]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Benjamin Spock -New Netherland Institute |url=http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/dutch_americans/benjamin-spock/|publisher=New Netherland Institute|access-date=October 24, 2019}}</ref> Spock was one of six children, including his younger sister, environmentalist writer [[Marjorie Spock]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Postel|first=Sandra|author-link=Sandra Postel|date=2020|title=Marjorie Spock: An Unsung Hero in the Fight Against DDT and in the Rise of the Modern Environmental Movement|url=https://www.pfeiffercenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Spock_DDT_NCHS_Journal.pdf|journal=The Nassau County Historical Society Journal|location=[[Nassau County, New York]]|publisher=Nassau County Historical Society|volume=75|pages=2}}</ref>

Spock attended [[Hamden Hall Country Day School]], and went on to attend his father's alma maters [[Phillips Andover Academy]] and [[Yale University]]. He studied [[literature]] and [[history]] at Yale; the lanky 6' 4" Spock was also active in [[college rowing]]. Eventually, he joined the [[Rowing at the Summer Olympics|Olympic rowing crew]] (Men's Eights) that won a gold medal at the [[1924 Summer Olympics|1924 games in Paris]].<ref name=":2">{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/40880 |title=Benjamin Spock |work=Olympedia |access-date=30 October 2021}}</ref> At Yale, he was inducted into the Eta chapter of the [[Zeta Psi]] fraternity and the senior society [[Scroll and Key]]. He attended the [[Yale School of Medicine]] for two years before shifting to [[Columbia University]]'s [[Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons|College of Physicians and Surgeons]], from which he graduated first in his class in 1929.<ref>[https://drspock.com/ Biography of Spock at drspock.com]</ref> By that time, he had married Jane Cheney.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1998/06/14/public-vs-private-dr-spock-mr-hyde/43beeb6e-dda2-44a4-a622-6a59bf580179/|author=Kochakian, Mary Jo|title=Public vs. Private: Dr. Spock, Mr. Hyde|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|date=June 14, 1998}}</ref>

=== Personal life ===
Jane Cheney and Spock were married in 1927. Jane assisted Spock in the research and writing of ''Dr. Spock's Baby & Child Care'', published in 1946 by Duell, Sloan & Pearce as ''The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care.'' The book has sold more than 50 million copies in 42 languages.<ref name=nyt>{{cite news|author=Pace, Eric|title=Benjamin Spock, World's Pediatrician, Dies at 94|url=https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0502.html|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=March 17, 1998}}</ref><ref name=CNN>{{cite news|title=Dr. Spock's baby book will endure|url=http://www.cnn.com/books/news/9803/16/spock.books/index.html|agency=[[CNN]]|date=March 16, 1998|access-date=October 24, 2019}}</ref>

Jane Cheney Spock was a civil liberties advocate and mother of two sons. She was born in [[Manchester, Connecticut]], and attended [[Bryn Mawr College]]. She was active in [[Americans for Democratic Action]], the [[American Civil Liberties Union]] (ACLU) and the [[National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy]]. The Spocks divorced in 1976.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/spock-classic.html|author=Klemesrud, Judy|title=The Spocks: Bittersweet Recognition in a Revised Classic|work=The New York Times|date=March 19, 1976}}</ref> Cheney went on to organize and run support groups for older divorced women.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jane C. Spock, 82; Worked on Baby Book|date=June 14, 1989|work=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|page=D25}}</ref>

In 1976, Spock married Mary Morgan.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/05/17/specials/spock-88.html|author=Lawson, Carol|title=At 88, an Undiminished Dr. Spock|work=The New York Times|date=March 5, 1992}}</ref> They built a home on Beaver Lake in Arkansas where Spock would row daily.<ref>{{cite news|title=Dr. Spock: He's newborn at 75|date=February 18, 1979|page=I1}}</ref> Mary quickly adapted to Spock's life of travel and political activism, and was arrested with him many times for civil disobedience. Once they were arrested in Washington, D.C. for praying on the White House lawn. Morgan was strip-searched; Spock was not. Morgan sued the jail and the mayor of Washington, D.C. for sex discrimination. The ACLU took the case and won.

For most of his life, Spock wore [[Brooks Brothers]] suits and shirts with detachable collars, but at 75, for the first time in his life, Mary got him to try blue jeans. She joined him in meditation twice a day and introduced him to [[Transactional analysis]] (TA) therapists, massage, yoga and a [[macrobiotic diet]] which reportedly improved his health. "She gave me back my youth," Spock was quoted as saying. He adapted to her lifestyle, as she did to his. There were 40 years difference in their ages, but Spock would tell reporters they were both 16.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}} Mary scheduled speaking dates and handled legal agreements for the 5th through 9th editions of ''Baby and Child Care''. She continues to publish the book with co-author Robert Needlman.

For many years, Spock lived aboard his sailboat, the ''Carapace,'' in the [[British Virgin Islands]] off [[Tortola]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Mary Morgan: Spock's wife also caretaker|work=Daily Breeze (Torrance, CA)|date=29 April 1990}}</ref> At 84, Spock won third place in a rowing contest, crossing four miles (6.4&nbsp;km) of the Sir Francis Drake Channel between Tortola and [[Norman Island]] in 2.5 hours.<ref>{{cite journal|title=BENJAMIN McLANE SPOCK (1903-1998) - den kontroversielle rebellen|journal=Tidsskrift for Norsk Barnelegeforening|year=2016|volume=34|issue=1|pages=26–28}}</ref> He credited his strength and good health to his lifestyle and his love for life.<ref name=nyt/> Spock had a second sailboat, named ''Turtle'', in Maine on which he lived and sailed in the summer. The Spocks lived exclusively on boats for most of 20 years.

By 1991, Spock was unable to walk without assistance and was reported as infirm shortly before his death.<ref name=NYT062898/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/02/28/us/dr-spock-old-and-infirm-needs-money-wife-says.html|title=Dr. Spock, Old and Infirm, Needs Money, Wife Says|first=Doreen|last=Carvajal|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=February 28, 1998|accessdate=May 5, 2021}}</ref> At the very end of Spock's life, he was advised to come ashore by his physician, Steve Pauker, of New England Medical Center, Boston. In 1992, Spock received the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award at the [[John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum|John F. Kennedy Presidential Library]] for his lifelong commitment to disarmament and peaceable child-rearing.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peaceabbey.org/2015/05/recipients-of-the-courage-of-conscience-award/|title=Recipients of the Courage of Conscience Award {{!}} The Peace Abbey FoundationThe Peace Abbey Foundation|website=www.peaceabbey.org|date=2 May 2015 |access-date=October 24, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=At the Dangerous Edge of Social Justice: Race, Violence and Death in America|author=Fensch, Thomas|publisher=New Century Books|year=2014|isbn=978-0983229667|pages=254}}</ref>

Spock had two sons.{{citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Spock died at a house he was renting in [[La Jolla, California]], on March 15, 1998. His ashes were buried in [[Rockport, Maine]], where he spent his summers.{{citation needed|date = September 2023}}