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Mn. Ptorenu Mahon.y

NATIONAL COMMITTEE
MENTAL ILLNESS, INC.

AGAINST

1028 CONNECTICUT AVENUE. N.W. 0 SUITE 1215 0 WASHINGTON 6. D. C. 0 REPUBLIC 7-4398

                                      Executive Director MIKE GORMAN

August 28, 1959

Mrs. Albert D. Lasker
Villa Fiorentina, St. Jean
Cap Ferrat, Alps Maritime
France

Dear Mary :

Just a note to bring you up to date:

   1, Jane said on the phone the other day that you
were curious as to how much effect the President's very
negative message accompanying the signing of our bill
would have. There is general agreement that Secretary
Flemming will use the criteria set up in the message to
slow up the appropriation process.

     Secretary Flemming has called a meeting of key
members of the various Advisory Councils for Tuesday,
September 1. Farber, Ravdin and IleBakey have been
invited, among others. The announced purpose of the
meeting is to discuss the criteria as they relate to
Coixncil actions during the coming year.

   2. This leads directly into the question of the
Senate Appropriations Subcommittee investigation of the
medical research programs of the National Institutes of
Health. Senator Hill called a meeting of the subcommittee
this past Tuesday to get their approval for the names I
had submitted. He was quite surprised at the
attitude of some of the subcommittee members. Both
Senators Pastore and Stennis talked about the vast
increase in medical research funds for the NIfI and they
said they had received a great deal of mail critical of
such a large increase. Senator Margaret Smith, who has
always been in our corner, agreed and said that most of
the considerable volume of mail she was receiving was in
favor of the President's position. Even old Carl Ilayden
agreed that this public reaction was serious.

     There was a general consensus of the Senators
present at the meeting that several businessmen be
appointed to the Committee to take a tough look at the
whole NIH program. Ilill was forced to accede to this
request and we are now going through a list of names.
I enclose a list of the consultants who have already
accepted.

T h i s iwes*&g$ t_i on w

.&anG+ a Six a ox- i 1 y

t

SPONSORING MEMBERS

Spafford Ackerly, M.D.
Mrs. H. R. Aldredge
Chester Alter, Ph.D.
Mrs. Max Ascoli
Mr. George Babbitt, Jr.
Mr. Edward L. Bernays
Mr. Barry Bingham
Mr. Henry Bloomgarden
Karl Bowman, M.D.
Francis J. Braceland, M.D.
Henry W. Brosin, M.D.
Mr. Arthur Bunker
Melvin A. Casberg, M.D.
Mr. & Mrs. Bennett Cerf

Mr. David Crockett
R. W. Cumley; Ph.D.
Mr. Ralph K. Davies
Franklin G. Ebaugh, M.D.
0. Spurgeon English, M.D.
Jack EwaIt, M.D.
Jacob Finesinger, M,D.
Mr. Emerson Foofe
Mrs. Hunter Galloway
Edwin Gildea, M.D.
Margaret C. L. Gildea, M.D.
Roy Grinker, M.D.

Mr. & Mrs. John Gunther
Mr. Arnold Hanger
Mr. Irving Harris
F. Homburger, M.D.
Robert W. Hyde, M.D.
Mrs. Henry Ittieson, Sr.
M. Ralph Kaufmann, M.D.
William K. Keller, M.D.
Mr. George Killion
Mrs. Robert Kintner
Nathan Kline, M.D.
Mrs. Alexander Knox
Judge John H. Lamneck
George M. Leader
Miss Isabel leighton
Mrs. David Levy
Mr. & Mrs. loshua Logan
Mrs. Leonard Lyons
Mr. Arthur Mag
Mr. Albert Q. Maisel
Mrs. Joseph Mankiewicz
Mr. Harold Mantell

Mrs. Edward Marcus
Mr. Ben May
Mrs. Edward F. McSweeney
Karl A. Menninger, M.D.

William C. Menninger, M.D.
Miss Lois Mattox Miller
John A. P. Millet, M.D.
Robert A. Moore, M.D.
Douglas Orr, M.D.
Mr. `AI Ostrow
Clifton T. Perkins, M.D.
Howard Potter, M.D.
Mr. Bernard Reis

Mrs. Jesse Robison
Mr. Elmo Roper
Mr. Thomas Rosenberg
Miss Helen Ross
Leonard Rountree, M.D.
Arthur H. Ruggles, M.D.
Mrs. Howard Sachs
Julius Schreiber, M.D.
Mr. Spyros P. Skouras
Harry C. Solomon, M.D.
Benjamin Spock, M.D.
Mrs. Charles Vidor
Ozro T. Woods, M.D.
Si Bernard Wortis, M.D.
Mrs. F. H.` Wright

(List Incomplete)

Purpose: Through a brood educational campaign, to create public understanding and support of the 10-point Bill of
Rights for the mentally ill adopted by the 1954 National Governors' Conference on Mental Heolth.  To convince the
American people to actively support federal, state and local preventive mental health programs emphasizing research,
training and expanded clinic and community services designed to treat and cure  mental illness in its early stages.

Page Two August 28, 1959

hlrs. Lasker

and the time for it. Senator Hill is ve rrked and he
has taken an amazingly long time in appr
and setting up the first meeting. In a discussion with
Farber and 1-lill the other day, we all agreed that the pressure
for this kind of investigation was a side effect of our
getting into the big leagues. Just a few years ago we were
getting too little money to justify any criticism of excessive
spending; now and each year from now on we must expect
ppwerful <$emand$ that ~dle document our case very carefully.

she was running for reelection next year she would need
some powerful arguments to counteract the adverse mail she
has been receiving and the criticism of her by Administration
officials.

*-ch e  c on s u 1 t an t s

For example, Senator Smith told Hill that since-

3. The Administration's tough position will continue

through fiscal 1961. Take the Veterans Administration as
an example. As you may remember, we got the VA medical
research figure up to $15,834,000 this year,  of which
$1,500,000 is for research construction.
$20,344,000 for fiscal 1901, of which $3,000,000 was for
research construction. On August 21, Dr. Cummings was
notified that the budget for fiscal 1901 would be $15,344,000
This is $3,500,000 under the fiscal 1900 budget. I enclose
a letter from the Controller of the Ilepartment of Medicine
and Surgery which contains its own chilling eloquence.

is leaving October 1. Ilis successor is Dr. James Musser,
hand picked by Dr. Middleton.

The VA requested

Dr. Cummings, who is fed up with the whole business,

4. The International Medical Research bill is still

bogged down. Senator Hill has had two meetings with
Congressman Roberts in the last week but to really no
avail. €lill has also worked on Congressman ilarris.

letters since the close of the hearings on August 6.
I have in my folder more than 40 letters and wires from
Arkansas to Harris, largely inspired by Dr. EIoward Rusk.
Some of these come from presidents of oil companies, the
Commerce and Industry Association of New York, etc.
Ex. Rusk has done a magnificent jpb; in all the years
I have been down here I have never seen such pressure
applied. On Monday of this week I)r. Rusk arranged for
Dr. Thomas Dooley to send wires to all the members of
the Committee.

The Committee has been flooded with wires and

    5.  I enclose the speech which Senator Ilill will
deliver in Birmingham on October 5.  This is an exceedingly

Mrs. Lasker

Page Three

important speech for Senator Hill, since he has been
d~#.Ly. batherred by the editorial and other criticis
in Alabama of his actions on medical research. The

it has gone through four drafts -- because I-lill has
sweated over each draft with the idea of selling the
doctors of Alabama that he is not their sworn enemy. 'r

speech has been extraordinarily difficult to write

Cordially,

\kj, i 5

Y

$ enclosures

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