December 29, 1951
I HAVE today signed an Executive order creating the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation.
The Commission has one major objective. During this crucial period in our country's history it will make a critical study of our total health requirements, both immediate and long-term, and will recommend courses of action to meet these needs.
I have long been interested in safeguarding and improving the health of our people. The provision of adequate health care for all of our population must be a matter of national, as well as local, concern. It is particularly important that in this day of world crisis we should seek to limit the drain upon our strength through illness and death.
We have made progress in our attack upon health problems through such measures as aid for hospital construction, medical research, and maternal, child health, and crippled children's services. And we are making every effort for the most effective utilization of available health resources during this emergency. The Health Resources Advisory Committee in the Office of Defense Mobilization, the Interagency Health Council, and the Armed Forces Medical Policy Council, in cooperation with other Federal, State, and local agencies and our civilian health professions, are doing a good job in coordinating programs so that mobillzation needs may be met without endangering the health services which are vital to our civilian population.
We still have a long way to go, however, before we can hope to provide for the health needs of our people on both an immediate and longtime basis. Many vital problems remain unanswered, such as insuring an adequate supply of physicians, dentists, nurses and allied personnel; developing local public health units throughout the Nation; making more hospitals and hospital beds available where needed; stepping up the tempo of fundamental medical research; meeting the needs of the chronically ill and aged; and providing adequate diagnostic, rehabilitative, and other health services to all income groups.
I have repeatedly endorsed programs to solve these problems. Our attempts to take constructive action on these issues have met enthusiastic support from some quarters and bitter opposition from others. As a result, our people are confused about the proper course of action on subjects so vitally important to their welfare. On a number of occasions I have stated that I would be happy to consider suggestions which were better than the measures I have endorsed to bring the continuing achievements of medical progress to all our people. But such counterproposals have not been forthcoming.
I have, therefore, established the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation to study the facts and to present its recommendations for safeguarding and improving the health of the Nation. Since we need the advice of all viewpoints, the Commission contains both professional and lay members. It will make a searching inquiry into the facts and give us the benefit of objective and constructive thinking on these problems which are of vital concern to every American.
The Commission is authorized to present interim reports on its findings, so that we shall have the benefit of its timely studies within the next 12 months. To aid in its deliberations within this period, the Commission will have available a number of studies in the health field of governmental agencies, congressional committees, and other public and private groups. Moreover, I have asked the Commission to give its immediate attention to an evaluation of the most recent information on subjects currently pending before the Congress and requiring consideration in the next session, such as aid to medical education and aid to local public health units.
We must dedicate ourselves to the continuing search for what is best for the Nation in solving our health problems. I am certain that the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation will make an invaluable contribution toward preserving one of our most precious assets, the health of all of our people.
NOTE: The President referred to Executive Order 10317 "Establishing the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation" (3 CFR, 1949-1953 Comp., p. 845).
The Commission was composed of the following members: Paul B. Magnuson, M.D., orthopedic surgeon, formerly medical director of Veterans Administration, Chicago, Ill., Chairman; Dean A. Clark, M.D., general director of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass.; Joseph C. Hinsey, Ph.D., dean of the Cornell University Medical College, New York, N.Y.; Russel V. Lee, M.D., associate clinical professor of medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, San Francisco, Calif.; Evarts A. Graham, M.D., surgeon, St. Louis, Mo.; Marion W. Sheahan, R.N., director of the National Committee for the Improvement of Nursing Services, New York, N.Y.; Ernest G. Sloman, D.D.S., president elect of the American Association of Dental Schools, San Francisco, Calif.; Walter P. Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers, CIO, Detroit, Mich.; A. I. Hayes, president of International Association of Machinists, Washington, D.C.; Clarence Poe, president and editor of "The Progressive Farmer," Raleigh, N.C.; Charles S. Johnson, president of Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.; Lowell J. Reed, Ph.D., vice president of Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, Baltimore, Md.; Chester L Barnard, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, N.Y.; Elizabeth S. Magee, general secretary of National Consumers' League, Cleveland, Ohio; and Gunnar Gundersen, M.D., member of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association, LaCrosse, Wis.
On December 30, 1951, Dr. Gundersen requested that his name be removed from the list of appointees
I HAVE today signed an Executive order creating the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation.
The Commission has one major objective. During this crucial period in our country's history it will make a critical study of our total health requirements, both immediate and long-term, and will recommend courses of action to meet these needs.
I have long been interested in safeguarding and improving the health of our people. The provision of adequate health care for all of our population must be a matter of national, as well as local, concern. It is particularly important that in this day of world crisis we should seek to limit the drain upon our strength through illness and death.
We have made progress in our attack upon health problems through such measures as aid for hospital construction, medical research, and maternal, child health, and crippled children's services. And we are making every effort for the most effective utilization of available health resources during this emergency. The Health Resources Advisory Committee in the Office of Defense Mobilization, the Interagency Health Council, and the Armed Forces Medical Policy Council, in cooperation with other Federal, State, and local agencies and our civilian health professions, are doing a good job in coordinating programs so that mobillzation needs may be met without endangering the health services which are vital to our civilian population.
We still have a long way to go, however, before we can hope to provide for the health needs of our people on both an immediate and longtime basis. Many vital problems remain unanswered, such as insuring an adequate supply of physicians, dentists, nurses and allied personnel; developing local public health units throughout the Nation; making more hospitals and hospital beds available where needed; stepping up the tempo of fundamental medical research; meeting the needs of the chronically ill and aged; and providing adequate diagnostic, rehabilitative, and other health services to all income groups.
I have repeatedly endorsed programs to solve these problems. Our attempts to take constructive action on these issues have met enthusiastic support from some quarters and bitter opposition from others. As a result, our people are confused about the proper course of action on subjects so vitally important to their welfare. On a number of occasions I have stated that I would be happy to consider suggestions which were better than the measures I have endorsed to bring the continuing achievements of medical progress to all our people. But such counterproposals have not been forthcoming.
I have, therefore, established the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation to study the facts and to present its recommendations for safeguarding and improving the health of the Nation. Since we need the advice of all viewpoints, the Commission contains both professional and lay members. It will make a searching inquiry into the facts and give us the benefit of objective and constructive thinking on these problems which are of vital concern to every American.
The Commission is authorized to present interim reports on its findings, so that we shall have the benefit of its timely studies within the next 12 months. To aid in its deliberations within this period, the Commission will have available a number of studies in the health field of governmental agencies, congressional committees, and other public and private groups. Moreover, I have asked the Commission to give its immediate attention to an evaluation of the most recent information on subjects currently pending before the Congress and requiring consideration in the next session, such as aid to medical education and aid to local public health units.
We must dedicate ourselves to the continuing search for what is best for the Nation in solving our health problems. I am certain that the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation will make an invaluable contribution toward preserving one of our most precious assets, the health of all of our people.
NOTE: The President referred to Executive Order 10317 "Establishing the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation" (3 CFR, 1949-1953 Comp., p. 845).
The Commission was composed of the following members: Paul B. Magnuson, M.D., orthopedic surgeon, formerly medical director of Veterans Administration, Chicago, Ill., Chairman; Dean A. Clark, M.D., general director of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Mass.; Joseph C. Hinsey, Ph.D., dean of the Cornell University Medical College, New York, N.Y.; Russel V. Lee, M.D., associate clinical professor of medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, San Francisco, Calif.; Evarts A. Graham, M.D., surgeon, St. Louis, Mo.; Marion W. Sheahan, R.N., director of the National Committee for the Improvement of Nursing Services, New York, N.Y.; Ernest G. Sloman, D.D.S., president elect of the American Association of Dental Schools, San Francisco, Calif.; Walter P. Reuther, president of the United Automobile Workers, CIO, Detroit, Mich.; A. I. Hayes, president of International Association of Machinists, Washington, D.C.; Clarence Poe, president and editor of "The Progressive Farmer," Raleigh, N.C.; Charles S. Johnson, president of Fisk University, Nashville, Tenn.; Lowell J. Reed, Ph.D., vice president of Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, Baltimore, Md.; Chester L Barnard, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, New York, N.Y.; Elizabeth S. Magee, general secretary of National Consumers' League, Cleveland, Ohio; and Gunnar Gundersen, M.D., member of the Board of Trustees of the American Medical Association, LaCrosse, Wis.
On December 30, 1951, Dr. Gundersen requested that his name be removed from the list of appointees