SOME SPECULATIONS ON THE STATE OF STALIN'S HEALTH PRIOR TO HIS FINAL ILLNESS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500070246-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 22, 2003
• Sequence Number: 246
• Publication Date: June 9, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release
DEC 1931 31-4?
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SUBJECT Some Speculations on the State of Stalin's Health
Prior to His Final illness
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a. Indications of Stalin's probable condition prior to his final
b. Whether or not the Ftatement:, made in the autopsy report offer
any evidence on ,his nondition.
c. Assuming the pres~eace of a serious hypertensive condition prior
to Stalin's death, whether or not the medical statements offer
any basis for the determination of when this condition became
serious.
d. Assuming the presence of a serious hypertensive condition prior
to deaths whether or not such a condition might have ;caused
personality changes and, '..f so, what form they might take.J
stroke.
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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
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The medical reports covering Stalin's final illness describe the typical course
of a severe cerebral hemorrhage. They further suggest that Stalin, immediately
prior to his death, suffered from severe hypertension although when this con-
dition originated cannot be determined from the available evidence. Stalin's
many reported tripe to the Crimea for rest, plus his apparent loss of weight
as shown in recent photographs of him could both have been part of a prescribed
course of medical treatment for crrdio-vascular disease of some sort.
treatment received by Stalin during the initial sti.ges of his terminal ill-
ness suggests that his medical advisers were not too worried about his con-
dition and felt that he might respond to treatment. If this was in fact the
case, it might conceivably indicate that Stalin had not had any precious severe
illness of this kind.
this hypertensive condition had been present for some
years, although probably originally only of average severity. The medical
3. As far as previous mental deterioration is concerned !'no evidence is presented
in the reports which could establish this. There is, for example, no state-
ment in the autopsy report indicating the presence of infarcts which might,
although by no means definitely would, cause such deterioration. Actually
even if Stalin nad suffered earlier cerebral accidents serious enough to
cause cerebral hemiplegia there is no reason to suppose that he also deter-
inrated mentally as a re-ult.
4. Conversely, even if he did appear to become obstinate or unreasonable in his.
final years, these qualities would not necessarily be attributable to his
medical condition.. !after all, old. age tends to make everyone somewhat "set
in their ways".
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5. Based on the medical reports I IStalin suffered
from hype: tensi,)n for years prior to his death but Is impossible to say.
25X1 exactly how le:tZ. This hypertension was not the so icall.ed "malignant" type.
which is due to changes in the blood vessels of thekidneys.but appears to
me to have b.--n the ordinary essential or benign type which hastens the
degenerative changes in the arter-i.es. The autopsy report mentions.rothi;ug
about the state of the kidneys and this., together with the fact that, Stalin
lived to a relatively advanced age, tends to bear out this theory. In addition,
his having had a stroke with cerebral hemorrhage would be consistent with a
prier existing state of high blocd pr-:suure. However., when a serious stroke
occurs, blood re-sirt. tends to rise temporarily duc' to increased intracranial
pressure. The i!?t -es on Stalin'-, blood pressure presented in the medical
reports, therefore, may not necessarily represent his blood pressure prior
to the stroke. Since, however, he'had a reported diastolic pressure of 120,
we can be quite sure that, he was suffering prior rc: the stroke from serious
and prolonged hypertension.. Sti1.: ancther piece of evidence tending to con-
firm this is the reported enlargement of the left ventricle of his heart.
6. It appears also that his terminal condition was aggravated by the development
of auricular fibrillation and probably by either emboli to his lungs or
terminal bronchial pneumonia, The _fa'.t-that he was running a fever and was
being given penicillin suggests the pneum As. theoryibut nothing is definite
25X1 since nothing appears in the autopsy report, on the state of his lungs.
hemorrhage there were established substantial enlargement of the left ventricle
of the heart, numerous hemorrhages in the cardiac muscle and in the lining of
the etotnach and int sting, and arteriosclerotic changes in the blood vessels,
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expressed especially strongly i
y gly in the arteries of the brain." It is inconceivable
to me that under these conditions the stroke which caused Stalin's death was the
only one he ever had. In the absence of any evidence proving that Stalin had
25X1 had previous major strokes,. he suffered from a fairly
common?medieal phenomenon known as "little strokes"'? Many people>hava suffered
from this condition, which involves -a large number'of minor strokes occurring
over a period of many years. As a noted US pathologist has said, ?it-18 the
commonest kind of brain pathology we see, but it is often missed clinically.
Very minor strokes of this sort, which do not result in the paralysis usually
expected in major strokes, may cause all sorts of bizarre symptoms the exact
nature of which depends on what minute portions of the brain are affected.
Dizziness, vomiting, pains-in the abdomen, apathy and personality changes are
25X 1 a few of the commonly encountered symptoms. The best 'description
of the - 'little -stroke"question is an article by Dr Walter C Alvarez entitled
"Cerebral Arteriosclerosis with Small, Commonly Unrecognized Apoplexies" which
appeared in Geriatrics (Vol I, No 3, May-June 1946; pp 189-216)?
8. Stalin's medical reports definitely sweat this condition. It is, however,
impossible to say when iz initially occurred or what~its effects were. There
are two parallel cases in recent US history, namely Presidents, Wilson and
Roosevelt. In the case of Wilson, his secretary reported a pronounced person-
ality charge following a relatively minor illness from which he apparently
fully recovered. Roosevelt's condition was readily apparent from the Slight
slurring of his speech which could be noted following his return from the
11':. Conference. It is 'afe to say, in Stalin's case, that some sort-of"
,a .u v rrc.lted from the conditions described above. Without either knowing
him per.,?..T.:...Jy or having additional information on his earlier medical history,
it is impossible to say what form these symptoms took or when?they occurred.
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