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Oh, I've talked to him about the need for more research money and more funds for the state mental hospitals, and he has done a little something about it, not very much.

Well, has he shown any greater interest?

No, no, he hasn't shown any great interest in research. I was at a dinner a few weeks ago where he talked about what they'd done for cerebral palsied children--it was a large dinner of about a thousand people--and he interrupted himself and looked at me and said, “I can hear Mary Lasker say, ‘Well, that's fine. How much more are you going to give them next year?’” And he did introduce me, after he introduced all the other members of the state government on the dais, by saying, “Although Mrs. Lasker does not have any official office, she does influence the government.”

But other than that, he hasn't changed a great deal. He's still very lively and charming and agreeable, but not interested in this problem, really.

To go back to the Eisenhower plans for '54, only 25 million was put in the budget for the health reinsurance plan. Rehabilitation and construction programs were sketchily provided for. The construction program could have been done under the existing Hill-Burton legislation, but instead of this the Eisenhower Administration decided to introduce additional legislation for the construction of facilities for the chronically