Herbert M. Shelton

Herbert Macgolfin Shelton (6 October 1895–1985) was a prominent American health educator, pacifist, vegetarian, and advocate of raw foodism and fasting cures. Shelton was nominated by the American Vegetarian Party to run as its candidate for President of the United States in 1956. He saw himself as the champion of original Natural Hygiene ideas from the 1830s.

He was born in Wylie, Texas. A pacifist, Herbert Shelton was jailed in 1917 for making an anti-draft statement in public.

Herbert Shelton attended Bernarr Macfadden's College of Physcultopathy in Chicago and interned at Crane's Sanitarium in Elmhurst, Illinois. He also attended Lindlahr College of Natural Therapeutics for post-graduate work and served at Dr. Lindlahr's and Sahler's Sanitariums. Dr. Shelton later continued post-graduate work at Peerless College of Chiropractic in Illinois and served an internship at Crandall Health School in Pennsylvania.

In 1921, he married Ida Pape, studied at the American School of Chiropractic, and graduated from the American School of Naturopathy with a Doctor of Naturopathy (N.D.) and a Doctor of Naturopathic Literature (N.D. Litt.).

In 1922, Dr. Shelton self-published his first book, Fundamentals of Nature Cure. After recognizing the importance of the Hygienic Movement (launched in 1832 by Dr. Issac Jennings and Sylvester Graham), he changed the title of this first book to An Introduction to Natural Hygiene.

In 1927, he was arrested, jailed and fined three times for practicing medicine without a license. These arrests continued periodically through the next three decades while he continued to lecture and campaign for his ideas.

In 1928, Dr. Shelton published Human Life: Its Philosophy & Laws. In 1931, Dr. Shelton's ninth book was published: The Hygienic Care of Children.

In 1932, Dr. Shelton was jailed repeatedly for practicing medicine without a license. Found guilty of violating the Medical Practice Act, he serves 30 days in Rycker's Prison.

In 1942, Shelton was charged with negligent homicide and "treating and offering to treat a human being without a state medical license" for starving a patient to death. The case was never tried and charges were dropped.

Shelton had many admirers, including a substantial following of devotees who saw in him both a great inspirational leader and a natural healer. Mahatma Gandhi is said to have relied on Dr. Shelton's writing on fasting and before the outbreak of World War II had invited Dr. Shelton to visit him in India.

By 1972, at the age of 77, he was completely bedridden from a degenerative neuro-muscular disease believed to be Parkinson's Disease. He died thirteen years later, unable to improve his own health despite many attempts. His contemporaries were shocked to see him unable to walk, speak normally, or write. Most of his subsequent books were dictated in a whisper. His mind remained sharp, however, and he continued his involvement in Dr Shelton's Health School (now the seventh organization under that name).

In 1978, another patient died at one of his schools, this time apparently of a heart attack. After a two-year-long court battle, Shelton lost the lawsuit for negligence and was bankrupted by the judgment. The school closed as a result.