Science: Leadership in Prison

"All men who came in Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Monday or Tuesday and Mr. Whitney—please step out of their cells!"

This curious order was uttered early one morning last week in the old cell block of Sing Sing prison, whose gates had closed behind Richard Whitney, five-time president of the New York Stock Exchange (TIME, March 21). Starting a five-to-ten year sentence for grand larceny, holding his substantial, six-foot-two figure erect and his chin lifted, Mr. Whitney—Prisoner No. 94,835—displayed such extreme fortitude that it seemed at times like a pose. He was assigned to a tiny, damp, malodorous cell whose only plumbing was...