Jerrold Post, the CIA psychologist who analyzed minds of world leaders dies of coronavirus at age of 86!

The analysis came true. After the release of the book, his health started deteriorating. In July 2020, he developed a stroke. The final weeks before his death on 22 November 2020, he was at his home. The death came 1 week after he tested positive for coronavirus.

Tributes to Jerrold

Magnus Ranstorp, a special advisor to the EU Radicalisation Awareness Network has spoken highly of the departed soul. He said that Jerrold was a very gentle and kind person and he possessed a sharp mind. Kenneth Dekleva, his friend psychologist described Jerrold as a giant in the field of leadership analysis. He called him a CIA trailblazer.

Jessica Case is a publisher with Pegasus Book and she worked with Jerrold during the time he was writing the book on Donald Trump. She told the BBC:

“His knowledge and insight into psychology were unmatched. He was endlessly curious.”

Jerrold and his early life and career

Jerrold was born in 1934 in New Haven. He studied at Yale University and completed his undergraduate degree here. Later he joined the medical school and also did postgraduate training in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and also at the National Institute of Mental Health.

Also, read about Bobby Brown Jr, Son Of Singer Bobby Brown Died At The Age Of 28!

Jerrold was with the CIA for nearly two decades. He had set up the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior at the agency in the early 1970s. He used to study world leaders and their minds in the context of their family, cultural and political backgrounds and reach a conclusion about their likely actions in a particular scenario.

His team had studied the mind of Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, and Libya’s Muammar al-Gaddafi. This aided the preparation for negotiations and handling of crises for the USA. He also profiled Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.Jerrold had penned innumerable books and in his book Keeping Faith, he said:

 “After Camp David, there was scarcely a major summit without our being asked to prepare profiles and assessments of the foreign leaders.”

In 1979, the government gave him the Intelligence Medal of Merit. He also was the director of the political psychology program at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. But the CIA and government wanted him back for assessment of Saddam Hussein.