Snyder, Howard McC. (Howard McCrumb), 1881-1970

Howard McCrum Snyder (b. Feb. 7, 1881-d. Sept. 22, 1970), army physician, was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the son of Albert C. Snyder, a Western Union telegrapher and office manager and subsequently a meat dealer, and Priscilla McClelland McCrum. Snyder, whose father died in 1891, was raised in comfortable circumstances. He attended local schools, the University of Colorado (1899-1901), and Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, where he received his M.D. in 1905. He interned at Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia. Snyder returned west to practice medicine and to work as an army contract surgeon at Fort Douglas, Utah, and then enrolled at the Army Medical School in Washington, D.C., in 1907. He graduated with the highest honors in 1908 and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps of the regular army. For the next two years Snyder was stationed with the Research Board for Tropical Medicine in the Philippines, where he met Alice Elizabeth Concklin. They were married July 12, 1910, and had two sons. Between 1911 and 1917 Snyder held various assignments in the United States. Promoted to captain in 1911 and to major in May 1917, Snyder was an instructor at training camps for medical officers during World War I and in July 1918 was assigned to command a Medical Corps school for noncommissioned officers at Camp Greenleaf, Georgia. During the 1920''s Snyder served at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and pursued advanced studies at the Mayo Clinic. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1928 and to colonel six years later. A pioneer in cartilage surgery for the treatment of football injuries, Snyder undertook more studies at the Medical Field Service School and at New York University. Assigned as an instructor with the medical detachments of the New York National Guard in the mid-1930''s, Snyder subsequently served from 1936 to 1940 as medical adviser with the National Guard Bureau, Washington, D.C. In this position he supervised on behalf of the army the training and facilities of National Guard medical personnel throughout the United States. Snyder was promoted to brigadier general in October 1940 and in December of that year was named assistant inspector general. The first member of the inspector general''s staff to be specifically charged with overseeing army medicine, he traveled extensively, compiling reports on the health problems of draftees, the care of battle casualties, and evacuation and hospitalization. He was promoted to major general in 1943. On Mar. 1, 1945, he was technically retired for age but was at once recalled to active duty to serve as General Dwight D. Eisenhower''s personal physician. He remained with Eisenhower until 1948 while the latter was army chief of staff. When Eisenhower retired from the army to become president of Columbia University in 1948, Snyder too moved to New York City. One of Eisenhower''s greatest interests while at Columbia was the Conservation of Human Resources Project. During his many years in the army Eisenhower had become familiar with the alarming data about illiteracy among young American males and established this project under the direction of Eli Ginzberg, a distinguished economist. Snyder was named senior adviser to the project and took a close interest in it. Snyder was recalled to active duty in 1951 to join Eisenhower at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) headquarters in Europe. Snyder remained with Eisenhower as special adviser and physician until September 1952, when Snyder again retired. By this time Eisenhower''s presidential campaign was underway, and Snyder was constantly at Eisenhower''s side. Snyder again returned to active status in January 1953 as physician to the president and a member of the White House staff. The relationship between Snyder and Eisenhower was one of close friendship and esteem. Even though Snyder never played golf, he became in his seventies a familiar figure on the links as he jogged alongside the presidential golf cart. During Eisenhower''s two terms in the White House, Snyder made headlines when the president suffered a heart attack in September 1955, a serious attack of ileitis (a gastrointestinal ailment) in 1956, and a minor stroke in 1957. Eisenhower''s heart attack occurred when the president and his wife were at her mother''s home in Denver, Colo. Snyder, who was at Eisenhower''s side within minutes, gave the president a sedative to allow him to get some sleep and the next morning permitted him to walk from the house to his car for the drive to the hospital. At a press conference Snyder''s handling of the case attracted several pointed questions, but the famed heart specialist Dr. Paul Dudley White, called in to consult, supported Snyder''s initial decisions, saying that they contributed to the president''s peace of mind and subsequent recovery.