PEDIATRICS Vol. 10 No. 3 September 1952, pp. 348-354
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THE PEDIATRICIAN AND THE PUBLIC

"TOO BIG A JOB FOR ONE YEAR"

PAUL B. MAGNUSON M.D., LL.D., D.Sc.

Editors: PAUL A. HARPER, M.D..

When I received your kind invitation to give the annual Trimble lecture, I wrote Dr. Compton that I had several pretty sound medical papers worked up on the causes of pain in the lower back—I've been working in that field for more than 40 years—but that the ladies might be much more interested in some information on the President's Commission on the Health Needs of the Nation. So, in deference to the ladies, I am going to talk about the latter topic.

Last November, without a word of warning I got a call from the White House that the President of the United States wanted to see me. I took the train from Chicago that night, and the next morning met with the President. The President laid the cards right on the table. He said he was deeply concerned with the health of the American people in these trying days of all-out-mobilization. He said he had made certain proposals to bring more and better medical care to the people, but these proposals had precipitated an emotional argument which clouded the issue. The President said he was not necessarily committed to any one plan—if any group could come up with a better series of proposals than the ones he advocated, he would be the first to support them if they would insure better health for all the people.

For that reason, he said, he had decided after long deliberation to set up a Presidential Commission to get at the facts. He offered me the chairmanship, and promised me an absolutely free hand in choosing the members of the Commission.