Davis, Michael M. Papers

Chairman of the Executive Committee, Committee for the Nation's Health, 1946-1956

The papers of Michael M. Davis include correspondence, printed materials, press releases, articles, reports, legal documents, minutes of meetings, and speeches concerning Davis's involvement as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Committee for the Nation's Health.

[Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List]

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ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Size: 5 linear inches (about 600 pages).
Access: Open.
Copyright: No donation if copyright was received with this collection. Documents created by U.S. Government employees in the course of their official duties are in the public domain. Copyright interest in other documents in this collection presumably belongs to the creators of those documents, or their heirs.
Processed by: Harry Clark, Jr. (1962).
Updated by: Kevin Ploth (2016) as part of the Truman Library Internship Program.
Supervising Archivists: Randy Sowell and David Clark.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

1879 (November 19)		Born Michael Marks Davis, New York, New York
1900		A.B., Columbia University
1906		Ph.D., Columbia University
1910-1920		Director of Boston Dispensary
1920-1927		Secretary, Committee on Dispensary Development, New York City
1928-1936		Director of Medical Services, Julius Rosenwald Fund, Chicago
1937-1948		Chairman, Committee on Research in Medical Economics
1946-1956		Chairman of the Executive Committee, Committee for the Nation's Health
1971 (August 19)		Died, Sherbrooke, Quebec

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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COLLECTION DESCRIPTION

The papers of Michael M. Davis include correspondence, printed materials, press releases, articles, reports, legal documents, minutes of meetings, and speeches concerning Davis's involvement as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Committee for the Nation's Health.

In 1945, President Truman announced his desire for the creation of a national health insurance program, as proposed in a bill sponsored by Senator Robert Wagner, Senator James Murray, and Congressman John Dingell. In response, the American Medical Association (AMA) and National Physicians' Committee for the Extension of Medical Service (NPC) commenced a campaign against the bill. The Committee for the Nation's Health (CNH) was created in 1946 to combat the AMA and NPC and support the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill. The bill was defeated, however, and the CNH was abolished in 1956.

The collection is arranged into a single series, the Subject File. The Subject File contains a wide range of printed materials and speeches from the CNH, AMA, and NPC. The series includes press releases, brochures, publications, articles, newsletters, advertisements, and reports. These materials were distributed to oppose or support national health-care legislation from 1939-1952. Also included are printed materials from magazines, newspapers, and journals about the campaigns of these organizations. There are also copies of health-care legislation from 1939-1945, including the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill. The microfilm in the collection has minutes, memoranda, publications, correspondence, legislation, and other records related to the CNH, AMA, NPC, and President Truman's national health insurance program.

More information about President Truman's health-care proposals can be found at the Truman Library in Official File 286-A of the Truman Papers, and in the papers of J. Howard McGrath and Oscar Ewing.

[ Top of the page | Administrative Information | Biographical Sketch | Collection Description | Series Descriptions | Folder Title List ]

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