Previous | Next
Part: 12 Session: 145678910111213141516171819202122 Page 118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159 of 999
I was present at this . The Senators were extremely interested.
Was this a bipartisan thing?
Yes, but naturally more Democrats than Republicans, but there were Republicans. Ed Dempay, who had been an advisor to the Secretary at HEW, who is now at Columbia, came and was a witness to the fact that he had been saved by a coronary , because he had had a heart attack in an elevator in Columbia where he was working, and the member of the coronary care team happened to be in the elevator with him and literally saved his life through resuscitation and electric shock, as soon as he got him off the elevator. Also Oscar Chapman, who had been a former Secretary of the Interior, got up and said how he was now alive because -- of an arterial transplant that Mike De Bakey had done for him. I forget whether he had a thrombosis of the aerta or just what his problem was, but he had literally been saved by heart surgery.
Well, that was an impressive array of witnesses.
It was a very good luncheon. We hope to do something like that on the House side through chauot Pepper,
© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help