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But by the time we had finished dinner, he got used to the idea and he began to agree with us. The next day Florence and I lunched with Senator Pepper in the Senate Dining Room, with Rhodes. We set forth the need for medical research in the United States and why there should be Federal funds on a much larger scale. Pepper agreed with us, although it was a new idea to him then, and he promised hearings on it. He asked me to make a list of people I would suggest to testify, which I did, and he said he would hold the hearings in December.

Whom did you suggest?

Well, I suggested George Behr of New York, David Hyman, Rhodes, and several other people, and they suggested some other people. T. Dackett Jones was one of the early people who testified.

Were they all invited then to appear?

They were invited, yes.

Mrs. Lasker, what was the state of public interest in these proposed hearings? Was there any? Was it evident in the press?

No. I don't recall--there might have been brief mention of it in the press--but there was no public interest whatever,