D.D. Palmer), who faced personal hardship rather than abandon their values and commitment to their patients. To counter, medical politics grew tougher and in 1907, practicing medicine without a license led to many chiropractors, including D. D. Palmer, being jailed. When asked why he didn’t just pay the fine instead, D.D. responded, “I am not in a cell for lack of principal but for an abundance of principle.” Palmer was practicing chiropractic, not medicine.
Despite these attacks and other personal hardships, momentum built as more and more chiropractors were trained and their services made available to the public. Over a period of 15 years, thirty more chiropractic schools opened. Each school attempted to develop its own identity, while B.J. Palmer continued to develop the philosophy, science, techniques, and technology behind his father's discovery.
B.J. Palmer’s passion, innovation, and entrepreneurial genius grew and led the profession forward. Being also a researcher, writer, and entrepreneur, he took the message of chiropractic care to the masses through radio, seminars, advertising, and politics.
Incensed by the persistent and provocative advertising of chiropractic graduates, local medical communities, who had the power of the state at their disposal, immediately had them arrested. In the first thirty years of the chiropractic profession's existence, there were more than 15,000 prosecutions, of which about 20 percent resulted in incarceration.
In 1907, Chiropractors won their first case, in Wisconsin. However, prosecutions instigated by state medical boards became common and were successful in many instances.
In response, chiropractors conducted political campaigns from 1913 to 1974 where they succeeded in securing separate licensing statutes in all fifty states. Today, all fifty states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico grant licenses and regulate the practice of chiropractic.
Technical Masters, Healers, Emerge
Being under this scrutiny built a warrior mentality into many of the early chiropractors who were inspired by chiropractic’s patient successes, which very often came following medical failures. An abundance of technique masters with strong personalities and skills emerged with unique ways to locate and correct vertebral subluxations and help the body heal itself. This created technique debates, spurred a healthy attitude, and sometimes unhealthy feuds about “my technique is better than your technique.”
The reality is that the majority of their results were fantastic and became reproducible by the doctors they taught. This helped create a chiropractic culture of patient results that still exists today.
AMA Slander Leads to Major Chiropractic Lawsuit Victory
In 1963, despite or perhaps because of the growing successes in the chiropractic community, the American Medical Association (AMA) created a massive, focused slander campaign that was almost exclusively against chiropractors.
Their efforts went on until 1976, when Illinois chiropractor Chester Wilk and four other Doctors of Chiropractic filed a lawsuit against the AMA.
It wasn’t until 11 years later, on August 27, 1987, when victory was won. The AMA was found guilty in United States District Court for having conspired to destroy the chiropractic profession.
Evidence presented during the trial showed how the AMA and other defendants actively but covertly tried to: