Governor Nelson Rockefellerr

1963 — The Digest of Chiropractic Economics reported that chiropractors in New York State (NYS) had succeeded in securing a chiropractic statute when Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller signed the “Peterson bill” on April 30, 1963.

The victory capped a 50-year crusade for this legitimization, led by such notable doctors of chiropractic as Louis Blackmer, Julius Dintenfass, J. Lewis Fenner, Sol Goldschmidt, Lyndon E. Lee, Benjamin A. Sauer and William Werner.

Hundreds if not thousands of chiropractors had been prosecuted for “practicing medicine without a license” over the years and many served time in jail. Nonetheless, they had persevered against a politically powerful state medical society.

Dr. Mahlon Blake

Dr. Mahlon Blake, a graduate of the Logan Basic College of Chiropractic, was appointed to the first NYS Board of Chiropractic Examiners and was elected its president by his peers.

This first legislation in the Empire State contained several serious limitations. Radiographic privileges were somewhat restricted and although DCs then practicing in the state were “grandfathered” into licensure, no new graduates could sit for the licensing examination unless they had earned their “DC” from a college recognized by the federal government.

The catch — no chiropractic college at that time had achieved federally recognized accreditation. The logjam was broken in 1971, when the National College of Chiropractic received regional accreditation from the NYS Department of Education.