This content reveals a disturbing, unethical study conducted in the mid-20th century where identical twins were deliberately separated at birth and placed into different families to explore the nature versus nurture debate, with devastating long-term consequences for the individuals involved.
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do they at this point do they know that
they're twins some do some don't
so that's another that's another issue
of course
I don't know how to handle it myself
how you know how many twins are there
and how many are are aware that they're
twins and how many are not
I mean what's the scope of the problem
in that sense [Music]
[Music]
I want to talk about that [Music]
happy birday happy birthday to you
happy birthday to you
happy birthday [Music]
[Music]
[Applause] [Music]
[Music]
my name is Howard buck
born in New York City I guess I found
out later on when I was smart enough to
know any better that uh I was adopted
two loving parents that were my mom and
dad for sure I mean there could be no other
shock again yes I grew up in Westbury
Long Island New York and then we moved
up to brookly Massachusetts and my
parents always used to tell me that I
was more special because they chose me
as opposed to just had me seemed like
something special to be adopted I don't know
know [Music]
it's a little bit more involved than
just he you know our mother gave us up
for for adoption cuz she couldn't handle
us and and you know they ended up
separating us I'm sure that happens but
some scientists in 1960s were deciding
to study nature versus nurture evidently
they found a way through the adoption
agency to place twins with different
families my father and mother were never
Howard and I were put in strangely
similar family backgrounds our fathers
were both business Executives mothers
were Housewives we both had sisters 3
sent the paperwork I got a call from
someone from the Louise wise agency and
she proceeded to tell me that I have a
an iCal twin brother which uh pretty
much out of the blue floored me I mean
that was tough cuz I every day I just
had that on my mind every day who is
this guy where does he live how do I
[Music]
she said I had a twin brother who' been
looking for me for a couple years and
said I almost drove off the road when uh
when I heard that cuz that was the last
thing I was ever expecting to hear [Music]
looking out in our pool where we like to
spend a lot of our time when the weather
is real nice it's not being very good to
us today these are pictures of the
children when they were quite small
Debbie's and Doug's children
well we were married a couple of years
and we figed try and make have a baby
and nothing happened and we said let's
try adoption and that's how we got to
Louise wise
they gave us stlas and said we we'll let
you have this child but we're going to
monitor it so it was a question of if I
say no they won't give me the child I
think there was a certain amount of
coercion to our permitting them to
conduct the study
they made it sound like uh this was to
everybody's benefit to see how smart
this kid is cuz I don't know him here
we're adopting a child we don't know him
we don't know his background but in
never dawnn on me why they coming back
[Music] Oh
I thought you had it I want I want Sali
the kids had a playroom downstairs
the tomb would play but all of a sudden
I don't want to play anymore and you
just slam everything away from him and
Debbie would come upstairs she says he's
playing realiz she doesn't want to play
with me I went down I said what's wrong
Douglas nothing something was missing in
this kid's life [Music]
[Music]
as happy as we thought he was he was not
happy he'd fight with kids in school
he'd have uh uh he'd interrupt his
playing and suddenly erupt in Anger
there's very little question in my mind
thg's original anger revolved around the fact
fact
that he knew there was something missing
in his life but he didn't know what it was
[Music]
so the Louise wise agency was an
adoption agency placed children from
unwed mothers but it also advised
mothers primarily Jewish ones who were
pregnant how they could manage their
infants who they were relinquishing for
adoption I guess they sought outside
assistance to do this in the best way
possible and one of their contacts was
Dr Bola Bernard a psychiatrist from
Columbia University [Music]
Twins were purposefully being separated
because of a misguided unproven notion
on the part of Viola Bernard that twins
are better off being in separate
families there is nothing no basis to
Albert the effeminate boy arrives late
the therapist welcomes him Albert is
cautious though seemingly not too frightened
note how Albert delicately Pats his hair
and adjusts his color
his movements are not characteristic of
a real boy jbg Jewish board Guardians
had a number of floors and some of them
were clinical operations uh it was all
Albert's feminine characteristics are
even more in evidence when he addresses
another boy
so there were some clinics going on
there were other research projects that
were happening there the Child
Development Center was run by newbower
who was a a very prominent child psychoanalyst
psychoanalyst
so he was my ultimate boss but I didn't
see him very much he didn't come in that
often and I was only part-time
so when when I was hired on in 1968 as a
research assistant I was mainly supposed
to help with the organization and
Analysis of the data we wanted to see if
we could tease out some of the
subtleties of these uh child rearing
processes and family Dynamics and how
that might affect the development of
these two individuals who were
genetically identical but are being
raised in in totally different families [Music]
it was amazing how disorganized the
project was
when I realized that see I went into
this with the idea that I was going to
get a dissertation out of it and that I
would carve out some piece that would be
my dissertation and then I discovered
come on that's not even funny flying out
there and I I remember being more
nervous about that one event than
anything I was out of my mind on that
whole plane ridee
you man wow a little bigger
good eating good living I mean same luck
same lucking
in the mirror
I have champagne at home
right off the bat we we pretty much hit
it off and um I felt like I knew this
person my whole life it's like I knew my
whole life I think we lived a parallel
life we lived similar parallel lives We
Got Married the same year we got married
just get right in the middle watch where
they both keep their wallets in their
front pocket they both don't use any
condiments at all it's not just ketchup
and mustard it's condiments in general
it was the first question Diane asked
does Doug use condiments and I'm like he
has no use for them if Doug had a salad
there'd be no dressing on it you really
don't meet a lot of people that would
never even have salad dressing or try ketchup
ketchup
and Howard's the same way I mean that
that's not usual I mean that's that's
really very very different I know that
I've said this on numerous occasion when
I was growing up and I don't think I
really understood it but I really felt
like I was missing something in my life
I didn't know what it was I couldn't
touch it I couldn't feel it it's amazing
that I had a twin brother and maybe that
we have love relationshipss we have
sibling relationships we have kinship
relationships but of all of those
relationships the most unusual and rare
is the identical twin relationship it's
a clone it's it's a replicant of you
it's it's precious in a way uh people
who are twins talk about how there's
well if it's true that the twin
relationship is perhaps the closest
relationship in nature that you are
closer emotionally to your twin than
anyone else you will ever meet
then that has been taken away from you
you have lost that relationship
[Music]
there's nothing I can think of in
science that is more political than twin studies
studies
these Studies have been used to justify
racism classism and Nazism you know many
[Music]
uh and so they're potent and explosive
politically and yet they're also really
useful and very helpful if you look at
them soberly because what the studies
don't say is that our genes are
responsible for everything no they don't
say that what they say is that we're
Sir Francis gon in England is considered
the father of the twin method he wrote
about this in the 1870s he didn't know
about the biological differences between
identicals and fraternal no what he did
but he correctly surmised that lookalike
twins shared 100% of their genes and non
lookalike twins shared some portion of
their genes and by comparing the two
then you could get some information
about nature and nurture
the new Bower study was unique in a
number of ways first it was because
Twins were purposely being separated
secondly you never study people without
their full knowledge families in the New
York area had no knowledge of a twin
study they were told they were
misinformed that it was a child
development study and that is hiding
basic facts when these children grew up
some of them met and that's really how
[Music]
now one of the most remarkable stories
I've seen in some time a story about
triplets they were born 19 years ago and
then given up at Birth for adoption each
one growing up in a different family
totally unaware that he even had a
brother let alone too two weeks ago this
man Robert chaffron checked into a
college in Upstate New York I got up
there and
everybody seemed to know me
Eddie how are you what's going on I
didn't know you were coming back this
was Bobby yes this was Bobby I was being
questioned and Bobby said my name isn't
Eddie it's Bubby girls were kissing me
on the mouth and guys were slapping me
on the back and people were greeting me
like I was just an old friend and I just
didn't know what was going on and this
is really Eddie Eddie Gallen he went to
the same College last year
coincidentally friends discovered the
connection and Eddie and Robert were
reunited it was like a choreograph thing
although it was unrehearsed
we both went oh my god oh my God oh my
God holy crap and it was it truly was a
mirror image somehow through the grap
Vine news day got involved The Daily
News the New York Post AP or UPI
it was everywhere they thought they were
twins but then David kelman saw their
picture in the paper they looked just
like him friend of mine came up to me
with a newspaper that had a picture of
two of me it didn't have birthdays it
didn't have any Hospital information but
it was painfully obvious at least and
but again it was so surreal that I
almost didn't believe it I saw him
coming to the door and I opened it and I
looked at him and then I closed it and
then I opened it and I looked at him and
I closed it again and he's doing what I
would be doing he's opening up the door
looking saying holy closing the
door and then he opens the door again he
goes oh my God he closes the door and by
the time I got to the door he had he was
opening the door I said and then he says
to me you haven't seen me in night 18
years and you slam the door on my face
and I walked in and we kissed and we
hugged they really were almost identical
their hairstyle they had giant afro but
if anybody had an afro they had a bigger
one you all smoke the same brand of
cigarettes yes you were all wrestlers at
one time yes you all feel like you've
known each other for 19 years even
though you've definitely yeah totally
how feeling we feel it we all the same
as soon as we started discussing our
personalties the same we always talk at
the same time we can't
we start I'll start a sentence and he'll
finish it it was not an energy it was a
Synergy and Synergy is when a
combination of particles creates
something much better than each
individual could possibly help for
that's what Synergy means and that's
what it was [Music]
they went to Louise wise to confront
them about the fact that there were not
only two which they had acknowledged
after only being forced to acknowledge
but actually three which they had not
even mentioned and obviously set up the
study and then started to test them to
see the effect of nurture and nature and
Louise y Stonewall them said that no
none of that was true and mor they said
if it was a study where was it published
I'd like to read the study
and they was never published [Music]
um all right here are my notes
interviews
and one of my very last interviews was
Dr Viola Bernard
okay I've got it on now so say again the
emphasis of the twin whoever
occasionally there were some identical
twins uh if it was good for them to be
placed separately and the existing
literature at the time and this I have
to emphasize the CH child's C the
literature at the time that we were
talking about was uh of the opinion that
the placement of TS
TS
who were identical
in separate homes had advantages for the children
children
I couldn't find such literature uh I
wanted to cite such studies but I never
in my research came across anything
really substantial that made the case
that Dr Bernard was making to me Viola
Bernard has talked about literature that
says that twins are better off being
raised apart I know of No Such studies I
I've never seen anything nothing in the
literature and I've read pretty widely
I've never seen anything that argues for
the separation of twins as being better
for them
here's another interview with Dr newow
tell me a little bit about the scope of
the study and how many people were
involved in it
the the for
special reasons which if if I were to go
into it you would understand the study
was only based on on a small number of
identical twins separated the bir yeah
I'm sure there aren't that many that one
could work with in that yeah on the many
many reasons of which go into this I
don't want to talk about that now
true it was a true Pro prospective study
one of the only ones really unusual yeah yeah
yeah
I don't think he ever really acknowledged
acknowledged
the damage that they might have done uh
to the twins themselves and um and the
trauma that they were preparing these
children to have when they grew into
adulthood in one day discovered that
they were Twins and that they had been
deprived of that relationship their
entire lives by
scientists who wanted to study them has
have there been ethical questions raised
about this study yeah there have been
questions raised by a number of people
when we looked for these kind of twins I
spoke once to the New York founding home
and uh she said you want us to for
adoption to give one baby this and one
another baby to another uh mother how
can we separate what God has United and
put together how can we do that and I
said to her but you are in the field of
adoption you separate mother and child
all time huh
I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant so I was in
about my fourth month I was 19
and I told my mother and she was not
happy about it
you were the worst when you were
pregnant and unwed
then I went to Louise why services and
they sent me to their home in Staten
Island for unwed mothers I was there and
I'd say from about my fifth or sixth
they were beautiful
a friend of mine picked me up at the
home and took me to my father's house
and I know I would stay in the bathroom
crying for hours on end
cuz it broke my heart to give them up
but then I thought it would be better
[Music]
I felt incredibly incredibly loved
incredibly loved my parents were the
most nurturing people ever
my mother would say things like if I
took a lie detective test I would pass a
lie detective test saying that I gave
birth to you like she really was just so
thrilled to have both of us I would say
that I had a great childhood I would say
that I also had a lot of sadness I have
thousand pictures of me pouting I would
pout and my mother would take a picture
and how cute I am pouting
I think I ran away like 20 times
I threw more tempet Tantrums it's it's
only now as a parent thinking back about
my children that I can see that maybe
raising me was not the easiest thing in
I was able to hire a private investigator
investigator
and she said I found your sister but um
well the only thing I can say is
professionally the less public I am the
more appropriate it is in my field I
don't want to be seen now I got a phone
call from a woman who asked who said to
me is margerie here and this was 11
years after she died and I thought GE
somebody must be going through some old
records and she said who are you I said
well I'm her mother
what's it about and she said well her
twin sister is looking for her and I I
fell to the floor and I was so angry because
because
when we were with the first child at the
agency and the second child at the
agency my husband said we love twins if
you have a pair of twins will take them
this is the day we brought her home and
here she is meeting her brother for the
first time her brother meeting her um
yeah March 1961 meeting Marge
she was very glum didn't smile a lot I
just thought okay our son was a happy
kid she was a glum kid there are serious
people and cheerful people and
she didn't have many friends she was
much of a loner we always had animals
she had her music
her first suicide attempt was when she
was 17
even when she was on medication she was
still depressed
she also had a guns from time to time
and would go target practice and that's
how she finally killed herself I called
the police in the neighborhood and I
told them that I think something
happened I think my daughter might have
and here they go and separate them of
all the Terrible Things terrible
terrible thing you know because I often
think what would it have been like if
they'd been raised together might it
have been better you see
was the Gloom caused because of the way
they were separated and Marge was alone
a month well by herself after never
being alone for that little brief lifetime
lifetime
I went to the cemetery
um because now I knew where she was
and I I can't
tell you the feeling to look at a stone
and see your birth date on a stone I had
this overwhelming
um desire to lie down on this
spot but I immediately went home and um
called my sister's mother and asked if I
could plant a UB Bush on there because
I needed something on there so that's me
how did this study come about
I tell you I would rather not want to
speak about it oh really why until we
have published it oh uh-huh when do you
plan to publish it I think we probably
want to come out with the data in about
even if the study had provided some serious
serious
um intelligence
about behavior and so forth even then it
would be bad but here nothing came of it
there's no study no anything
bunch of locked files
it's ridiculous I mean there there's
absolutely no justification for keeping
this data uh out of the hands of of
Robert hey it's Barry oh listen please
don't give it a second thought I'm good
I just wanted to give you a call just to
touch base about some of the issues we
were discussing earlier in the day about
no not on speaker just me we're seeing
to what extent we can get them access to
documents that were generated documents
and pictures and various other things
that relate directly to them but that
apparently they've never seen Viola
Bernard Foundation hereby gives any
interest which it may have in the papers
to Colombia so per this document she
kind of transferred any interest that
they did have to Colombia however she
did so in such a way that no one else should
should
would seem to have the ability to get
access to their own materials until 2021
well I think you're Ed of the term their
own materials is key you know I mean
really who owns this material I mean you
know how is it that you know her estate
or um or any educational institution
should be able to Trump the individual's
own interests in documents documenting
them the conduct that we're talking
about here had the most dramatic effect
on their lives it's one thing if
something like that is consensual and
everybody's well informed and agrees and
so on it's another thing if somebody
who's a health professional just sort of
according to the information we have
there are documents that were generated
as a result of the study that are
currently in the possession of Columbia
the study is long over these people are
a lot of them are deceased they're not
practicing any longer um and I think um
it's incumbent on all of us to take a
good hard honest look at what happened
and to the extent possible try to make
it right [Music]
[Music]
I'm aggravated that people are
continuing to deny and Stonewall and and
and not uh accept the responsibility for
what they did I'm not looking for
anything I'm just looking for someone to
say yeah that wasn't right here's your
stuff sorry about that you know we're
going to let those other twins know
hi hi how you doing Howard P hi Larry
Pearlman you nice to meet you too dou okay
okay it's been a while huh uh yeah 44 years
years
exactly yeah uh is that we were six when
when you uh yes yes I I actually pulled
out the testing I did on you guys uh
when you were exactly six
the way the study was set up is uh the
during the first year of life I think
that they had visits four times a year
and then it went down to twice a year
and then once a year so they had all
this material that they didn't really
know how to analyze it it wasn't a
sophisticated research operation by any
means uh in fact they didn't really know
what they were doing from a research
standpoint but they had this terrific
source of data because they had these
twins who were being separated and so so
I note that the there were 10 twins at
that time 10 sets or 10 10 Al together
five sets
you guys researching it is a job but for
the people that were in it that's it
it's you know it's people making
decisions about your life where you have
no control where they some of them
actively just lied to you outright lied
to my parents anyway so all this
information that they gathered and what
is locked up in these archives but what
what do you think is in there that
they're trying to keep from no there's
going there's going to be a lot of stuff
there there would have been home visits
and films and there'll be psychological testing
testing
I appreciate you acknowledging that we
were part of this study because people
said we weren't so oh that's see that's
just stupid well that's what it annoys
you no you see that's that I just don't
understand that I mean why would they
why Li
it got me thinking about
the damage that was done to the families
to the parents um who were kept in the
dark about the fact that they had
adopted Twins
and that was a piece that I had never
really thought through very much you
know that that made me sad it really
made me think how much of an injustice
has been done to to all of these twins
nice out
I always thought there was something
missing always and when I met my
brothers I felt that there was a piece
of me that had been completed and I
can't say that what I thought I was
missing my whole life was my brothers
cuz how do you come up with something
like that that's so far-fetched
but I can tell you that I felt complete
we were babies we were babies and they
had these psychologists they were going
from house to house looking at a baby
knowing that this Baby's being deprived
Eddie was the the um the most gregarious
the three of us
uh probably the best looking when if all
our weight was the same he was the best
looking I just remember his hand he had
this large hand they all they all have
these large hands you know and had this
soft large hand and he put his hand out
and he shook my hand and I just knew in
that moment it was just there was
something very very special about him
and we had a wedding at um the the swan
club we did very traditional and I got
pregnant literally I think right away
and we had Jamie and um you know she was
I I I loved him very deeply it was a
very rich relationship we had so much to
live for
and I think that as much as he loved his
brothers he had a hard time letting go
of those uh stolen 18 years of their
lives I think he
was devastated by it
I think that he
was traumatized and I don't think that
I I lost him through suicide um tragic
suicide he shot himself
um I found it hard to believe that he
did it I had to run a party the morning
after my brother died
I had staff walking around crying their
eyes out
that was the toughest thing I ever did
if not the greatest loss of my life one
of them but probably the greatest loss
of my life
what these people did were were not just
to those children it they it was to
those children most importantly it was
to those children but it was to every
single human being involved in that
child's life [Music]
break the disc before I even do anything
there we go
it says film sequence me date of visit 11068
11068
most of this film sequence is a power
being tested there Mrs David
the most prominent feature of projective
material was a pervasive sense of
sadness fears of deprivation and loss in
his immediate environment his sense of
the instability of his environment
unmodulated angry outbursts which began
toward the end of the first year with
headbanging and pounding on the floor
and continue in various forms throughout
the stady years
and expressed sense of loneliness
my strongest friend is me it kind of
bothers me that they did this and
nothing ever came of it or they never
used the data or did all this effort and
did all this stuff to people and
you know what did it do to help anyone's
oh no trucker is the puppy that's Sandy
right yes yes yes [Music]
[Music] okay
okay
so here's where we told the world that
there there must be a reason that I'm
finding this out now like why didn't I
find out 20 years ago you know does she
need my help or do I need her help you
know is there a reason for this cuz it
kind of seems odd that within 6 months
you know of having diagnosed with cancer
that here you have a twin like it's just
something seems like I don't even how to
put it something seems like we need each
other Anya
You' bring the spatula
no so we went to Louise wise because it
was when you got a Jewish baby if you
want to do it the right way go through
we went in and they said all right now
she's in a study if you don't want to to
be in the study let us know well at that
point if they had said if you could
yeah uh we when we uh brought you home
she were very small very tiny and very
clingy and for the for the longest time
you were extremely clingy you would let
go of Mom at all I about that one guys
never liked being alone and never will
like being alone so I I I think it'll be
very interesting to find out if your
sister was had the same personality the
same cling type I'm really very anxious
for her sister to know
exactly what's going on because she may
have have the same breast cancer and not
know it
if you're going to do a study at least
show people what the study proved you
know nature versus nurture okay so what happened
happened
that's what I wrote Of course is this
true do I have a twin an identical twin
oh my God I don't even remember writing
this too much to process felt shocked my
I had a stomach ache my head was
spinning it was surreal so it's so
strange it's real this was the day I
knew it was real that I have an
identical twin seeing that book I held
that book and I couldn't let go of that
book again I needed to find her that is
[Music] right
I love that movie roller ball
that's a great movie he asking me about
movies I must have just seen it I love
that movie 8277 63 so we were still
together at the end of a this is
probably two weeks before I was adopted
placement dates there you go when were
you 924 there it is they were a little
bit after me
that's pretty disturbing
said after adoption both boys show
Decline and something and then they
I was um graduated college in 85
this is stuff they reviewed and revised
in ' 86
so they're still messing around with the stuff
stuff
people sitting around dissecting your life
we felt that interaction between the
Twins was taking place by at least four
to 4 and 1/2 months there was some
interplay when they were together
increased personal interaction between
the Twins during the past month we see
the twins pending adoption into separate
homes as additional potential comp
applications for separation individuation
individuation
you know go back to how twins are bonded
and whatever you know I would assume it
somehow if you tear them apart it has to
have some effect it's just it's just
wrong what they did was really really
wrong um and the more you know stuff I
read the more wrong it kind of seems and
the more uh more upsetting it gets
for Douglas and Howard who were shifted
from hospital to one foster home then to
another then back to the first foster
home in the first half year prior to
their separate adoption the cwen may
have been the most stable human object
in their environment
usually Howard initiated contact with
his twin with Douglas then responding
this would involve them both in the
twinning interaction It's upsetting to
know that these people were able to um
affect our lives in a way that I didn't
even understand and uh
I don't know I don't know why I'm get
emotional about it but it's just it's
not really my nature but it's just uh um
it's just hard to I'm not really
introspective and when you start looking
you start going wow maybe if that didn't
happen you know maybe some of the the
hard spots wouldn't have been hard I
if this was early enough in the very early
early
uh birth right after birth
then it was advantageous for them to
have their own family uhhuh if however
what was known as the twinning reaction
an attachment
between the two twins the two children
uhhuh had had time to develop in the
early months then we were opposed to it
because then we would be traumatically
separating those who had a opportunity
my reaction to that is that's a bunch of
now I understand we're talking about an
eminent psychologist
um but we also may be talking about a
liar I thought it was a Nazi experiment
that they had done I thought it was
Dreadful the most awful thing I had ever
heard they didn't give a damn for
anybody only what they were doing their
work these are unconscionable people
they separated us after 3 months
so if they really truly believe this
then why Place us together in one Crib
in foster care I think it was uh not
only a crime but a sin who do you think
you are that you could play God like
that if they're twins they're meant to
be together they knew the effect had
happen they knew we' been together for
for long enough for it to happen and
they didn't know about anyway
it's to me I'm Ill by that I'm made ill
by that she's
it's to me it's fraud
he stole
uh a childhood on some levels
not that uh I wouldn't trade my life for
anything but
he can't uh give back you can't get that back
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