This article reviews the history of the deinstitutionalization movement from a public policy perspective. Congress enacted the Mental Health Study Act in 1955, prompting the creation of the Joint Commission on Mental Illness and Mental Health. The resulting policy of deinstitutionalization was formulated into the primary legislation of the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963. With this legislation, the locus of care began to shift from the state mental institution to the community. According to the author, deinstitutionalization was initiated in an era of social reform to protect the rights of persons with mental illnesses: however, a strong research base was absent and led to major flaws in the policy's implementation (author).