UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON ARCHIVES
ORAL HISTORY PROGRAM

Interview #1073
PECKHAM, ANN (FAHERTY)

PECKHAM, ANN (1924- )
Spouse of Dr. Ben Peckham
At UW: 1956-1994
Interviewed: 	2010 (2 sessions)	
Interviewer: 	Robert Lange
Index by: 		Greg Bond
Length: 		2 hours, 46 minutes, 25 seconds

Abstract: In her two interviews with Bob Lange conducted in 2010, Ann Peckham discussed the life and career of her late husband, Ben Peckham (1916-1994), a long-time Professor of Medicine and the Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin.  She talks about Dr. Peckham’s career at UW, which began in 1956, and details his work building the OBGYN program and his outreach efforts to other hospitals and doctors in Madison and the rest of the state. She talks about his work with Planned Parenthood and his support of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.  She discusses the controversial firing of Medical School Dean John Bowers by the Board of Regents in 1961. She also details Dr. Peckham’s childhood, education, and military service during World War Two, as well as, the careers of their three children.

Keywords: Dr. Ben Peckham; University of Wisconsin-Madison; University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School; University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology; Planned Parenthood; NARAL; Abortion; Wisconsin Republican Party; Meriter Hospital; St. Mary’s Hospital; John Bowers; Gloria Sartow; Northwestern University; World War Two – Pacific Theater; 4th Marine Division; Santa Barbara, California.

First Interview Session (January 14, 2010): Digital File
00:00:02		Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:30	Question: Tell me a little about Ben Peckham? Answer: Ann Peckham (AP) talked about the early life of her late husband Ben Peckham (BP), who grew up in Milwaukee and was an accomplished musician in high school.  She talked about BP’s parents and grandparents.

00:02:42	No question: AP explained that the early life of BP and his two brothers had been “complicated,” because his father, who was in the oil and coal business, was an alcoholic.  Benjamin Kurtz Miller, a Milwaukee lawyer and cousin of BP, owned 250 acres of land and a cabin in Wild Rose, Wisconsin, where BP and his brother spent many of their summers.

0:06:02	No question: AP  said that BP came to the University of Wisconsin in the 1930s, and he graduated in 1939 after five years of study.

00:06:34	Question: Did Ben come to UW expecting to become a physician?  Answer: AP did not know, but she thought it had probably been in the back of his mind.  She talked about some of his college experiences in Madison, including working at the Chi Psi house.

00:07:53	No question: AP explained that BP went to Northwestern University to finish his medical education, because his mother’s cousin, Sanford “Sandy” Gifford taught Ophthalmology at Northwestern. Loyal Davis, the father of Nancy Davis Reagan, was a neurosurgeon at Northwestern and a mentor to BP’s class, and he suggested that BP go into general practice.  AP thought that was a “great stimulus” to BP, who wanted to show Loyal Davis what he could accomplish.

00:09:04	No question: AP said that after he graduated from Northwestern, BP worked at St. Luke’s hospital in Cleveland, and he then joined the Navy, where he was assigned to the Great Lakes Naval Air station for his officer training. AP explained how she met BP through Sandy Gifford, who had had been AP’s eye doctor.

00:11:37	No question: AP said that she and BP started seeing each other, and, in the meantime, BP had learned to fly and decided to become a flight surgeon.  He was re-assigned to the Marines and was sent to North Carolina for three months of training.

00:13:18	No question: BP returned home and was soon sent to the Pacific Theater.  After initially agreeing to wait to get married until after the war, BP and AP had a hastily arranged wedding, and they moved to California where BP was based.  AP talked about finding a house in Santa Barbara and living there during the war. She talked about her experiences taking care of the house and learning to drive.

00:18:38	No Question: AP explained that they were in Santa Barbara for four months, before BP shipped out with the 4th Marine Division for the Marshall Islands.  They initially landed on Roi then returned to Hawaii for refitting.  The 4th Marine Division then went to Saipan and Tinian. AP described BP’s work as a battalion surgeon with, first, the infantry and then the artillery.  After Tinian, the Division returned to Hawaii, and their final assault was on Iwo Jima.  At the end of the war, the Division was preparing for an invasion of the Japanese homeland.

00:22:36	No question: AP described her experiences leaving California and negotiating with the army for a train berth back to Chicago.  She remembered that she had gained 25 pounds while in California, and when she returned to Chicago she lived with her parents and her pregnant sister.  She worked in the office of Dr. George Gardner, the Chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwestern and then went to work at her father’s law office in downtown Chicago.  Her sister had hay fever, so she moved with her sister to a rent a small house in Michigan. She told a story about celebrating the end of the war with her sister over a bottle of sherry.

00:29:49	No question: AP observed that she and BP had been apart for 22 months and that she had lost 25 pounds and grown her hair out and looked very different when returned.  Her father arranged for them to have a room at the Drake Hotel when BP got back to Chicago so they could get reacquainted. AP recalled that in the time he had been away, she matured from a teenager to a woman and that it had been “quite an adjustment” for both of them.  She talked about the homecomings at her family’s house and at BP’s mother’s house in Milwaukee.  After visiting Milwaukee, they went to cousin Ben’s cabin in Wild River, where AP recalled she did not care for the rustic style of living.

00:35:18	No question: AP talked about BP’s sister Edith, who was visiting after the war. Edith was very smart and had an affinity for languages.  Edith learned Japanese and went to Japan with the Army of Occupation and stayed there teaching English to Japanese businessmen.  She would return home every couple of years.  BP had another sister Polly, whom his mother had adopted, but the family gradually lost touch with her.

00:37:56	No question: BP still had more time in the military, and he was stationed in St. Louis to do discharge physicals for returning sailors.  They moved to St. Louis for four months, and AP recalled that they did not have much money so they rented a small apartment that had a lot of bugs and they went to the St. Louis Zoo frequently, because it was inexpensive.

00:40:02	Question: As part of getting reacquainted did Ben talk about his experiences during the war? Answer: AP recalled that, at first, he talked to her – “dumped all this out; the things that had been really terribly painful.” He did not talk to his mother or to her father who “was dying” to talk to him about the war.  
 
0:41:27	No question:  AP explained that when BP returned to Northwestern after his military service most of the men he had gone to medical school with had established practices and were making money.  There was no room in the OBGYN or the clinical program right away, so Ben first studied Physiology, where he had two years of “rat colonies and rabbit experiments.”  He decided to get his Ph.D. in OBGYN, and he had to arranged a crash course in German for his second language.  He wrote his thesis while he was completing his clinical residency in obstetrics.

00:44:48	Question: Do you know why he picked OBGYN? Answer: AP was not sure why he chose OBGYN.  She thought he might have changed his mind when Sandy Gifford died, because he had been looking forward to working with him.  While he was overseas, AP had shipped him books that Dr. George Gardner, her boss, had told her to send him.  Dr. Gardner liked BP, and AP thought he might have been grooming BP to succeed him at Northwestern.  AP talked about the small two-bedroom apartment that they lived in with their two children – Mary and Roger.  She remembered the apartment as being “pretty tight,” but she observed that Ben had not been home a lot because of his studies.

00:48:01	Question: That did not bother you? Or you just adapted? Answer: AP said simply that it was home.  They were happy and had a nice time.  She described a car accident that they were in about this time in which their youngest son, Roger, lost sight in one eye.  She observed that the injury has not negatively affected his life.  He was a physician, played tennis, and skied, and “got along well.”

00:50:41	No question: AP talked about two other places they lived in Chicago, including a house in Evanston where they moved to get their children in good public schools.  Dr. Gardner took BP into his practice on Michigan Avenue, and he also taught at Northwestern.  While they lived in Evanston, they had another son – Gardner Greene Peckham.

00:55:31	No question: AP remembered that after they had been in Evanston for about three years, Dr. Murray Angevine, the Chair of Pathology at the University of Wisconsin, came and interviewed BP about becoming Chair of the OBGYN Department at UW. BP was 40 years old, had a Ph.D., and had passed his boards and was a valuable commodity. Dean John Bowers, of the Medical School also helped to recruit him. According to AP, BP felt a strong connection to his alma mater, and he also thought it would look good on his resume to be the chair of a department. She thought BP was angling to set himself up to succeed Dr. Gardner at Northwestern.   She also talked about the house they bought in Madison in Shorewood Hills at 3433 Crestwood Drive, and the remodeling and painting they had to do. She also described the helpfulness of Imogene Bowers, the wife of Dean Bowers.

01:02:19	No question: AP talked about the trouble faced by Dean John Bowers, who had “antagonized so many people” in the Medical School.  She explained that the immediate cause of Dean Bowers’ firing was a disagreement over who should head the surgery department.  BP was loyal to Dean Bowers, but he was also loyal to his alma mater, and he was one of the few department chairs who did not resign.  BP remained on his job, but AP explained that he declined to participate in the search for the new chair of the Department of Surgery. AP recalled that it was a “very difficult time.”

01:06:04	No question: AP read the words spoken by Peter Eichman, Dean of the Medical School, at the memorial service for BP in 1994.  

1:09:16	No question: As an aside, AP explained that BP had opened an abortion clinic at University Hospital soon after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision because he felt it was an important aspect of women’s health care. AP observed that “it was a pretty tough thing to carry out.”

01:10:45	No question: AP also read a eulogy delivered by Dr. Ron Olson at BP’s memorial service.

01:13:58	No question: In his statement, Dr. Olson remembered that BP had recruited Gloria Sartow, the University hospital’s first female resident, and he talked about the ways in which BP helped to ease her transition into the formerly all-male program. 

01:14:34	No question: Dr. Olson also talked about BP’s efforts to work with and cooperate with the private hospitals in the area in order to give his students a greater variety of patients and settings in which to lean.

01:16:55 	End of First Interview Session 

Second Interview Session (March 15, 2010): Digital File

00:00:00	Start of Interview/Interviewer’s Introduction

00:00:18	Question: Why did BP decide to become an academic physician rather than staying in private practice? Answer: AP did not believe he ever considered that option.  At Northwestern, all of the professors in the medical school also worked in the private sector. When BP returned to school to study physiology, he started teaching and AP thought that he discovered a love of teaching.

00:02:17	Question: Did teaching come easily? Answer: AP thought that it had. She noted that he did not take any classes about how to teach, but that he had been a good student and had watched people teaching throughout his schooling. In response to a question, she did not believe that BP had been “apprehensive” about teaching.  AP noted that he prepared extensively and worked at home every night. AP recalled that one day after retiring, BP had said that he was very glad about the way his life had turned out and that he was pleased with the success of his residents.

00:05:43	Question: Did he ever consider going to another university? Answer: AP did not think he ever seriously considered it.  She observed that there had been some bad times at UW, particularly after Dean John Bowers was fired. She felt that BP’s original idea might have been to return to Northwestern to succeed Dr. Gardner, but she believed Northwestern eventually hired the right person for the job.  She did not think BP would have been happy with the necessary fundraising at Northwestern.

00:07:56	Question: Did you secretly wish to go back to Chicago? Answer: AP never wanted to go back.  She thought sometimes about what it would be like to go back, but she never wanted to live in a suburb again.

0:09:01	Question: What was the condition of the OBGYN Department when BP arrived? Answer: AP remembered that when they arrived in 1956, the department was not a free-standing department - it was part of the Department of Surgery. One of BP’s first projects was to set up a distinct OBGYN Department. AP recalled that, early on, there were only three other people in the department, including Dr. Ralph Campbell, Dr. Madeline Thornton and Dr. Bill Kiekhofer, and she talked about some of her memories of them. She also described how BP spent a lot of time acting as the chief resident and the first assistant to help residents learn the procedures.

00:13:01	Question: Did that cause a lot of attention? Answer: AP agreed that it brought attention, and the Department of Surgery sent one of its senior members to watch BP operate to make sure he knew what he was doing.  She talked about the difficulties they faced during their first years in Madison but noted that the staff gradually got bigger as they added more specialties.  She observed that there were not many patients in the beginning and that it was slow going. In response to a question, she explained that, initially, patients from around the state were not encouraged to return to their own doctors for follow-up treatment, and many doctors outside of Madison were hesitant to send patients to UW Hospital for fear of losing them.  BP traveled around the state for outreach, however, and told doctors that he would describe and explain his procedures to them and that he would send the patients back home for follow-up treatments.  This encouraged more doctors to send patients to Madison.

00:18:26	Question: UW Hospital had its own OBGYN unit? Answer: AP remembered that they did have a unit at the old hospital, which was closed some time before they moved to the new hospital in the 1970s.  She recalled that patients loved it, because it was a very small unit, and they got private care. The UW unit, however, did not have all the expensive equipment like the big birthing centers had.  After much consultation, the UW unit was merged with the OBGYN unit at Meriter Hospital–then known as Madison General Hospital.  The doctors who worked at Madison General and who had passed their board exams were subsequently made associate professors.

00:20:40	No question: AP noted that the arrangement worked well, but they had some trouble working with St. Mary’s, because St. Mary’s would not allow patients to have their tubes tied and because Sister Rebecca, the head of the hospital, was sometimes difficult to work with. Consequently, they developed an intensive care nursery at Meriter and stopped using the one at St. Mary’s

0:21:52 	No question: AP talked about the turmoil surrounding Dean John Bowers, which affected BP “almost the day he walked in the door.” Dean Bowers had antagonized many of the old faculty, and he brought in five new department chairs: pediatrics, radiology, psychology, OBGYN, and neurology.  He wanted to bring in an outsider to chair the surgery department, because he had been tasked with changing and modernizing the medical school, but he faced much opposition. AP remembered that it became a “very unhappy” situation with old friends fighting each other.  Finally, a committee visited President Elvehejm and the Board of Regents, who eventually fired Dean Bowers.  She remembered that things gradually got better but that the personnel struggle with St. Mary’s lasted for awhile.

00:26:16	Question: How many of the five department chairs left when John Bowers was fired?  Answer: AP thought that only two ended up staying-BP and Frank Forster of Neurology.  After Bowers left, though, the school went through nine different Deans. In response to a question, AP explained that BP did not really stay in touch with Bowers after he left.  They would occasionally see each other at conferences, but they did not stay close.  AP believed that Bowers thought BP should have resigned.

00:29:43	Question: What was the breakdown between his medical practice and his administrative responsibilities? Answer: AP said that he was allowed to use his private practice to double his $13,000 per year salary, but she did not think he was able to earn that much for several years. BP generally charged more than other doctors in town, because he did not want to be taking business from them, so it took awhile for him to build his practice.  AP thought that his patients liked him, but, she recalled, he was very centered on academics.  She listed many of the organizations of which he had been a member.

00:33:06	Question: Did he always see a woman through her delivery? Answer: AP thought he did, or at least that he tried to.  She recalled that they never went away, because he was on call for 24 hours a day until he started sharing patients with other doctors. In response to a question, she said that the family did not resent BP’s schedule. She thought it would have been nice to have more help around the house, but she said “that was just the way it was.”

00:35:04	Question: You came to Madison in 1956, how long did it take until Dr. Ben Peckham was known around the state? Answer: AP agreed that he became known throughout the state, but she did not know how quickly it happened.  She thought that a part of it was his travels around the state lecturing. She also thought his patients liked him and took his name back home, and many of his residents also ended up staying in Wisconsin after they graduated, which also spread his name around the state.  She remembered that she was also doing a lot of traveling during that time due to her work the state Republican Party.

00:37:10	Question: He was lecturing in the Medical School? Answer: AP said that he was and that he won many awards from the medical students. In response to a question, she thought he probably lectured both introductory and advanced level classes.  She also remembered that he did a lot of teaching with the residents including “round rounds” at 7:00 on Saturday morning, which was not very popular with the residents. She observed that his research interests became more clinical over the years, because he did not have the time to keep a lab operating. She talked about some of the trips they went on through People to People, including visits to China and New Zealand, on which he was often tabbed to deliver medical lectures.

00:42:20	Questions: Did BP ever aspire to be Dean? Answer: AP said that he had been Associate Dean for five years (1967-1971), which took a lot of time, as did his work on boards and committees.  She thought it took a balancing act for BP to get everything done and to keep up with his practice and the department.  In response to a question, she noted that he did not bring a lot of his work home.

00:43:40	Question: Could you talk about BP’s involvement with Planned Parenthood? Answer: AP remembered that he was “scratching for patients,” because his students needed more patients to work on.  He offered to work in Planned Parenthood clinics, and Planned Parenthood was “very happy” to have his expertise.  AP thought it was a “wonderful” association, and she recalled that the residents all got a chance to work at the Madison Planned Parenthood clinic.  After awhile, Planned Parenthood named BP to its local Medical Advisory Board and then he moved on to the State Medical Board for Planned Parenthood, as well.  

0:45:42	No question: AP explained that she did not do much work with Planned Parenthood until recently but that she had long worked with NARAL.  She recalled that she was one of only two Republicans on the 32-person NARAL national board. She enjoyed the experience, and she was eventually put on the PAC (Political Action Committee) Board.  She recalled that it was a constant struggle to get NARAL to support Republican politicians, even pro-choice Republicans.  After awhile, she tired of traveling to Washington six times a year, and she left the Board.

00:49:06	Question: Was BP supportive? Answer: AP recalled that BP was very supportive, and she pointed out that he opened an abortion clinic in the hospital immediately after the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.  AP had mixed emotions about the current state of the issue, and she worried about what would happen if Roe v. Wade was ever overturned.

00:50:35	Question: Did you or BP suffer social or political consequences for being pro-choice? Answer: AP talked about BP working with state legislators to change the laws in Wisconsin so contraception was no longer classified as an “indecent article.”  AP explained that she suffered some political consequences for her views on abortion.  She remembered that at one Republican state convention she urged the party not to adopt a strict anti-abortion resolution, and she was booed, even by her fellow Dane County delegates.  She remembered walking out of the convention and never going back. She still considers herself a Republican [in 2010], and she still pays her dues, but she hopes for a day when the abortion issue will not be so high profile.

00:53:46	Question: What was it like to be prominent in the medical community? Answer: AP did not really know.  She remembered that were some people who did not like BP, but she did not really have an answer.

00:54:46	Question: Did you do a lot of entertaining of physicians and their spouses?  Answer: AP talked about hosting the Department party at their house for many years, and she also recalled having a party ever year when the residents graduated and new residents entered the program.  Over the year she got help from the Department to host the parties. AP felt that these days [2010] most of the entertaining is done in clubs, and she thought it had “lost something.”

00:58:51	Question: I have talked to many older faculty members who similarly thought that the socializing, which complemented the academic work has gone downhill?  Answer: AP thought that it was more difficult to entertain as people got older. She thought that such socializing had been valuable for the residents. She talked about her memories of some people from these parties, including Ken Thompson.

01:03:05	Question: Can you talk about your family? Answer: She talked about their three children and their relationship with BP while growing up.  AP explained that after the kids were grown, BP made a point helping each of the children put together a tool bench for their house.

01:10:13	No question: AP thought that, after BP retired, he had more free time, and that he got much closer to each of the children.  Mary, their oldest child, married a surgeon and lives in Ann Arbor, where she breeds dogs and runs a small kennel.  

01:13:08	No question: AP talked about their third child, Gardner, whom she thought was definitely BP’s “adored baby.”  He is in Washington, D.C., and she thought that he still missed his father every day.  AP talked about Gardner’s education and career and his introduction to working in politics. Gardner worked for the congressman who represented the district that included Three Mile Island.  Later, he worked for several years on the Africa Subcommittee, and he made many trips to Africa.  In 1994, he began working for Newt Gingrich as his top foreign affairs and national security staffer, before moving on to a consulting firm where he worked in 2010.

01:24:05	Question: Your two older children had careers in medicine and your younger son had a career in politics, do you think this reflected the interests of their parents?  Answer: AP thought that children pursued their own interests and were very independent, and she talked more about their various careers.

01:26:05	Question: What was BP like? What kind of physician was he? Answer: AP thought that his patients liked him and that his peers liked him.  She explained that there would soon be a seminar in the Medical School in honor of BP, and she was hoping that some of his former residents would come back.  AP thought that the doctors he trained had a lot of respect for him and that they’ve done very well. She particularly talked about the successes of Gloria Sartow, BP’s first female resident.

01:28:43	Question: What was he like? Answer: AP thought that BP was wonderful to live with and that he woke up happy every morning. She thought he appreciated the work she did, and simply concluded that he was a “great guy.”

01:29:30	End of Second Interview Session

End of Oral History #1073