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William Henry Anderson MD, 84, a psychiatrist who served in Gitmo and wrote on the motivations of terrorists, died of cancer on 3 March 2025 in Washington, DC. Bill was born in Philadelphia, PA. He was an Eagle Scout. In his youth he worked at a radio station. He earned a B.S. in Physics from MIT, an M.D. from the Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia. His residency was at Massachusetts General in Boston, MA. He served in the Navy eventually becoming the Chief of Neuropsychiatry at the military facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba where he served in 1971-72 during the Vietnam era. [His interest in terrorism was intensified by 9/11 -- but he had nothing to do with the terrorists incarcerated in later years at Gitmo.]
After the Navy, he settled in Boston and served in several hospitals as a psychiatrist. He later specialized in psychopharmacology. He taught psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and crafted their Continuing Education curriculum for psychiatry -- the courses doctors take to stay up to date and maintain their accreditation over the years -- which was adopted by many other universities and still in use today.
His interest in politics, influence, and crowds led him to earn a M.A. in Political Science at University of Pennsylvania. At Harvard's Extension School -- the night division, where the students tend to be older and more mature but have not been through the same admissions process as Harvard students -- he got creative and taught the Madness of Crowds course, another on conspiracies and conspiracy theories, and one on the psychobiology of extreme climates. He wrote numerous articles for major media including op-eds for the Wall Street Journal and AFIO's own Intelligencer Journal. He was an American patriot.
His first wife of 20-years predeceased him. He is survived by his second wife of 20-years, Claudia Winkler Anderson (nee Crutcher); a daughter, stepchildren, and step-grandchildren. Burial was at Congressional Cemetery.