Chapter 1:
A Banker's Son in Montana
Before he became the world's most unlikely psychedelic pioneer, before his name became synonymous with the discovery that launched the counterculture movement of the 1960s, Robert Gordon Wasson was simply a son of the American West. Born on September 22, 1898, in Great Falls, Montana, he entered a world poised on the cusp of a new century, a world of rapid industrialisation, expanding frontiers, and burgeoning intellectual possibilities. His origins were far from the buttoned-down corridors of Wall Street he would later come to dominate, and even further from the remote mountains of Mexico where he would make his most famous discovery.
A man of two worlds, he balanced a high-powered career in banking with a deep, scholarly passion for the hidden world of fungi.
His father, Edmund Atwill Wasson, was an Episcopalian clergyman, a man of the cloth who brought both moral authority and intellectual rigour to his household. Edmund was not a simple country preacher; he was a scholar in his own right, a man who believed deeply in the power of education and the importance of questioning received wisdom. In a twist of historical irony that would not be lost on those who later studied the Wasson family, Edmund authored a book in 1914 titled Religion and Drink, a serious theological and sociological exploration of the complex relationship between spirituality and intoxicants. The book examined how different religious traditions had grappled with alcohol, from the sacramental wine of Christianity to the prohibitions of Islam. It was a theme that his son would later pursue to its most radical and unexpected conclusions, though in a direction Edmund could never have imagined.
The Wasson household was one of books, debate, and intellectual curiosity. Edmund instilled in his son a deep respect for both scholarly inquiry and the power of religious tradition. He taught young Gordon that faith and reason were not enemies but partners in the quest for truth. This early education in the importance of rigorous investigation, combined with an openness to the mystical and the transcendent, would prove to be the perfect preparation for the extraordinary journey that lay ahead.
Though born in the wide-open spaces of Montana, with its big skies and rugged individualism, Wasson's childhood was actually spent in the decidedly more urban environment of Newark, New Jersey, where his father had accepted a new clerical post. The family moved east when Gordon was still young, and he grew up navigating the industrial landscape of the early 20th-century East Coast. He attended Newark's public schools, where he proved to be a bright and curious student, excelling in his studies and showing an early aptitude for writing and analysis.
The call to adventure and duty came early in Wasson's life, as it did for so many young men of his generation. In 1917, as the United States prepared to enter the Great War that was tearing Europe apart, a young Wasson, not yet nineteen years old, decided to enlist. He joined the American Expeditionary Forces as a private, a decision that spoke to both his sense of patriotic duty and his desire to see the wider world beyond the confines of Newark. He was assigned to serve as a radio operator, a role that required both technical expertise and a calm demeanour under pressure. This was cutting-edge technology at the time, and Wasson's facility with it demonstrated his natural aptitude for mastering complex systems.
His service in the war, though he did not see front-line combat, was a formative experience. It exposed him to the chaos and camaraderie of military life, to the technology that was rapidly connecting the globe, and to the wider world of European culture. He returned from the war with a broader perspective, a deeper maturity, and a hunger for knowledge that would drive his next steps.
After his discharge, Wasson set his sights on higher education. He enrolled in the prestigious Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City, one of the nation's finest institutions of its kind. Columbia was a place that attracted the brightest minds, and it was there that Wasson honed his natural talent for storytelling, investigation, and rigorous analysis. The journalism program at Columbia was not just about learning to write news stories; it was about understanding the world, asking the right questions, and presenting complex information clearly and compellingly. These skills—the ability to research deeply, to synthesise information from multiple sources, and to craft a narrative that could capture the public imagination—would serve Wasson extraordinarily well in both of his careers.
He excelled at Columbia, and upon his graduation in 1920, he was awarded a singular honour: the institution's first-ever Pulitzer Travelling Scholarship. This coveted prize was a golden ticket, providing him with the funds and the freedom to continue his studies abroad and to broaden his horizons in ways that would have been impossible otherwise. It was a recognition of his exceptional talent and promise, and it opened doors that would change the course of his life.
Wasson chose to use the scholarship to attend the renowned London School of Economics, one of the world's leading institutions for the study of social sciences. Post-war London was a bustling, cosmopolitan city, a place where intellectuals from around the world gathered to debate the great questions of the day. It was a city rebuilding itself, both physically and culturally, after the devastation of the war. For a young American with an inquiring mind, it was an intoxicating environment.
It was in this vibrant atmosphere, in the autumn of 1921, that Robert Gordon Wasson met the woman who would change his life forever. Her name was Valentina Pavlovna Guercken, and she was a young Russian medical student who had fled her homeland in the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution. She was a woman of sharp intellect, deep cultural roots, and a passion for the natural world that was rooted in her Russian childhood. She was also, as Wasson would soon discover, a woman with a profound and almost mystical love for mushrooms.
Their meeting was not a dramatic, love-at-first-sight encounter, but rather a gradual recognition of kindred spirits. They were both serious students, both intellectually ambitious, and both shaped by the upheavals of the early 20th century. They began to spend time together, discussing their studies, hopes, and dreams. A courtship began, one that would lead to marriage and to a partnership that would be far more than romantic. It would be an intellectual collaboration that would give birth to an entirely new field of study.
But before that partnership could fully blossom, before the quest for the sacred mushroom could begin, Wasson had a more conventional career to build. He returned to the United States in the early 1920s and began a steady, determined ascent in the world of American finance. He started at the Guaranty Trust Company in 1928, learning the ropes of the banking world just as the Roaring Twenties were about to give way to the catastrophic stock market crash and the onset of the Great Depression. It was a baptism by fire, and Wasson proved himself to be both resilient and capable.
In 1934, he made the move that would define his professional life for the next three decades. He joined the venerable Wall Street firm of J.P. Morgan & Co. This institution was not merely a bank but a pillar of American capitalism, a symbol of old money, immense power, and global influence. J.P. Morgan & Co. was the bank that had financed railroads, steel mills, and entire industries. It was the bank that had bailed out the U.S. government during the financial crisis. To work for Morgan was to be at the very centre of American economic power.
Wasson's sharp intellect, his journalist's ability to craft a compelling narrative, and his meticulous attention to detail found a perfect home at Morgan. He rose steadily through the ranks, and by 1943, he had been appointed Vice President for Public Relations, a position of immense prestige and influence. In this role, he was not simply a spokesman; he was the guardian of the Morgan image, the man responsible for managing the bank's relationship with the press, the government, and the public. It was a role that required political savvy, discretion, and an ability to navigate the complex and often treacherous waters of high finance.
In 1934, early in his tenure at Morgan, Wasson demonstrated his commitment to the institution by authoring a book on a controversial episode in the bank's history: the Hall Carbine Affair. This was a Civil War-era scandal in which J.P. Morgan, the bank's founder, had been accused of war profiteering by purchasing defective rifles from the U.S. Army at a low price and then reselling them to the Army at a substantial markup. The accusations had long dogged the Morgan name.
Wasson's book was a meticulous, well-researched defence of Morgan, arguing that the accusations were unfounded and that Morgan had acted honourably. It was a work of corporate loyalty, but it was also a work of serious historical scholarship, demonstrating Wasson's ability to delve into archives, marshal evidence, and construct a persuasive argument.
For nearly three decades, from 1934 to 1963, R. Gordon Wasson was the consummate company man. He was a pillar of the financial establishment, a man who moved in the highest circles of power. He attended the right clubs, knew the right people, and projected an image of unflappable respectability. To the outside world, he was a successful banker, a man of facts and figures, a gatekeeper of corporate power. His colleagues at...
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