In the early 20th century, a man in Kansas became one of the richest doctors in America without ever performing a legitimate surgery. John R. Brinkley did not rely on pharmaceuticals or traditional science to build his empire. Instead, he promised the secret to eternal youth and vitality could be found in the barnyard.
From a small clinic in Milford, Kansas, to the airwaves of the most powerful radio station on the continent, Brinkley captivated the public with a bizarre medical proposition: transplanting goat testicles into human men.
The Birth of the Goat Gland Cure
The phenomenon began in 1917. A local farmer visited Brinkley’s practice complaining of a “flat tire,” a colloquialism for sexual impotence. During the consultation, Brinkley jokingly pointed to a buck goat outside the window, noting the animal’s virility.
The farmer, desperate for a cure, asked if the goat’s glands could be put inside a man. Brinkley agreed to try. He performed the surgery, implanting a portion of the goat’s reproductive glands into the farmer’s scrotum. Months later, the farmer’s wife gave birth to a healthy son named Billy. When the story broke, thousands of men began seeking out the “Goat Gland Doctor.”
A Surgery for Every Ailment
Business exploded in Milford. Brinkley charged $750 per operation—a massive sum at the time—promising that the procedure would not only restore sexual function but also cure twenty-seven different ailments, ranging from insanity and dementia to flatulence.
He utilized Toggenburg goats, which he imported from Arkansas, claiming their glands possessed the highest medicinal quality. Brinkley marketed his services relentlessly through his own radio station, KFKB (“Kansas First, Kansas Best”). He hosted the “Medical Question Box,” where he read listener letters and invariably prescribed his own proprietary medicines or the goat gland operation.
The Medical Board Intervenes
The American Medical Association (AMA) and its crusader, Morris Fishbein, eventually launched an investigation into the high death rate at Brinkley’s clinic. The medical reality was grim. Brinkley was not connecting the blood vessels of the goat glands to the human body; he was merely slicing open the patient and tucking the animal tissue inside, where it would often rot or be absorbed by the body.
This led to serious infections and, in dozens of cases, death. In 1930, the Kansas Medical Board held a formal hearing. They concluded that Brinkley was performing organized quackery and revoked his medical license for “gross immorality.”
Radio Waves from the Border
Stripped of his license and defeated in a run for Governor of Kansas, Brinkley moved his operation to the Mexican border. He set up a “border blaster” radio station, XERA, in Villa Acuña, Mexico, just across the river from Del Rio, Texas. With a signal of one million watts, the station was powerful enough to be heard in Canada and reportedly turned on car headlights near the transmitter.
He continued to broadcast his medical advice and sell treatments by mail. However, federal regulations and lawsuits eventually caught up with him. He died penniless in 1942, shortly after a jury declared his treatments worthless.