Part: 12         Session: 145678910111213141516171819202122         Page 248249250251252253254256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270271272273274275276277278279280281282283283(a) of 999

about it. He said he would. I've heard nothing from him on this, and I've sent him information.

Then again in the middle of October Mel Laird asked me to come to lunch at the Department of Defense. Mel Laird used to be in the Congress, you remember.

You had him once as a speaker at the Lasker --

. . . yes, and he was the ranking Republican on Appropriations for HEW on the House side.

I remember, four or five years ago he spoke

Yes. He would sometimes help quite a lot but was always on the conservative side. However, we made friends gradually and this October he did ask me to come to lunch at the Pentagon. I found there several people, including the new editor of McCalls, Shana Alexander, and John Gardner, and they -- what Laird was having was a lunch with outsiders who have new points of view, because his public relations people felt he and the Under Secretary, Mr. Packard, saw too many people from the military, and that it would be wiser for them to sometimes see people with other concerns in the community. So this is what the luncheon was about.

Well, as I was going there I thought I would try to talk to him about the idea of making cancer a national goal. He had been