Part: 12         Session: 123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536         Page 126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151 of 1143

well again and died on the 12th of April in 1945.

In May of '45, I went to Washington to see Judge Rosenman, who at this time was the counsel, the personal counsel to President Truman. After Roosevelt's death, Truman asked Rosenman what subjects were on the agenda and what plans had been made by President Roosevelt that had not been carried out. He said to Rosenman, “I want to do everything that Roosevelt intended to do. I want to carry out everything he intended to do.”

One of the subjects that Rosenman presented to him was a plan for a health message to Congress.

Rosenman, himself, was truly interested in this.

Well, Rosenman thought it was a good idea. He wasn't on fire about it, but he thought it was a good idea, and he told Truman about it. Truman told him to go ahead and prepare the message. I think that Rosenman phoned me to say come down and talk to me about what you want in this health message. In any case, I went to Washington and dined with Rosenman at the Wardman Park and went over his first draft of the health message, which was to be the first health message ever sent to the Congress of the United States by the President. The draft was exceedingly good; however, no reference was made to the need for more action in the field of mental illness. I brought this to Rosenman's attention and he immediately included it in the message.