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Mary LaskerMary Lasker
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Part:         Session:         Page of 1143

Well, of course, no Council had ever been asked for any advice at all by Mrs. Hobby or anybody else in the Public Health Service.

Q:

Are they never used as advisory groups?

Lasker:

No, they're just used as advisers on whether one project is better than another project, or whether one project should be accepted, if there is money for it.

Well, the minute she said this I got in touch with all the key people on the different Councils and I said, “Did you hear Mrs. Hobby? Well, this is what she said. So, now your Council must meet and advise her on what is necessary for the Institutes.”

Well, as we did have some friends on the Councils, not too many but some, they got very busy and they did indeed advise her, and of course the funds were much larger than anything they had ever thought of possibly. James Adams was very active in pushing the Councils to vote officially citizens' budgets, what we call citizens' budgets, which we had presented at the Congressional hearings during the spring of '55, in other words, for fiscal '56. It must have been late in October of '55.

These resolutions were presented to the Surgeon General, who in turn was to give them to Mrs. Hobby, which I imagine he did at the end of November. Naturally, Mrs. Hobby paid no





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