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Mary LaskerMary Lasker
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Before the campaign started, at the end of March, I foresaw that the Society must have lay membership on its board, by at least half. Foote and I went to a meeting--I was invited to the meeting of the board by Mr. Foote, I guess--and Foote at this meeting asked for an agreement that the board would elect enough laymen so that at least 50 percent of the board would be outstanding lay leaders at its next meeting. This was agreed to rather casually, and the doctors were horrified when they found out later that this meant substantially their loss of the control of their Society.

By the 1st of May, 1945, although the confusion was great, enthusiasm generated by the campaign and the need to organize better brought Elmer B, then the head of what has become Warner-Lambert (then the head of H LaRoche); James Adams, then the President of General Foods, whom B had gotten involved in the campaign; Eric Johnston and Foote on the board of the organization. Albert was elected about the same time. By the time the money started to pour in, then Albert realized that we had something and felt that there was a real possibility of making a contribution and a dent in this picture. And that interested him. But up until the time the money started pouring in from the campaign, he did it a little bit left-handedly. The minute he got on the board, he was passionately interested in the field and in how to amplify its possibilities.

Between these laymen they tried to get the Society organized and found the doctors incredibly obstructionist,





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