The American Society for the Control of Cancer

"At the 38th Annual Meeting of the American Gynecological Society held on May 7, 1913 at Washington decided to establish a society at the national level for cancer control, that is, the American Society for the Control of Cancer. On May 22, 1913, the Society was actually created at a meeting of ten doctors and five laymen. The purpose of the society was to disseminate knowledge concerning symptoms, treatment and prevention of cancer; to investigate conditions under which cancer is found; and to compile statistics with regard thereto." George C. Clark, a layman, was president from 1913-19; Dr. Charles A. Powers from 1919-22; Dr. Howard C. Taylor from 1922-30; Dr. Jonathan M. Wainwright from 1930-32; and George H. Bigelow from 1932-34. Dr. George Soper, an epidemiologist, was the first Managing Director in 1922, and Clarence Cook Little became Managing Director in 1929. (Early Contributions of Non-Government Organizations I. Japan and USA. By Kunio Aoki. Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2001;2:15-26.)

A committee of laymen was appointed in April 1913 to plan an organization to fight cancer. The next month, they met a committee of physicians in the Harvard Club in New York. (To Extend Fight on Cancer. New York Times, May 23, 1913.) Officers of The National Anticancer Association (temporary name). President: George C. Clark, New York. Vice presidents: Dr. Clement Cleveland, New York; Lewis M. McMurty, Louisville; Dr. Edward Reynolds, Boston; Dr. Edward Martin, Philadelphia; and Dr. L.F. Barker, Baltimore. Secretary: Thomas M. Debevoise, New York. The executive committee: Dr. George Brewer, New York; Dr. F.F. Simpson, Pittsburgh; Dr. Livingston Farrand, New York; Dr. Joseph Bloodgood, Baltimore; Dr. A.D. Bevan, Chicago; Dr. Leroy Broun, New York; Dr. Howard Lilienthal, New York; Dr. Jeff Miller, New Orleans; Dr. James E. Wing, New York; Dr. Charles Powers, Denver; Reuben Peterson, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Dr. William M. Studiford, New York; Dr. Howard C. Taylor, New York; John E. Parsons and V. Everitt Macy. The laymen's committee: James Speyer, V. Everitt Macy, Thomas W. Lamont, George C. Clark, F.L. Hoffman, John E. Parsons, and Thomas M. Debevoise. "Among the women who will aid in the work are Mrs. James Speyer, Mrs. E.R. Hewitt, Mrs. Robert G. Mead, Mrs. Robert C. Black, Mrs. Frederick W. Vanderbilt, Mrs. George C. Clark, Mrs. V. Everitt Macy, Mrs. H. Winthrop Gray, Mrs. Russell Sage, Mrs. F.F. Thompson, and Mrs. Robert W. de Forest." (To Fight Cancer. Boston Daily Globe, May 23, 1913.)

"Howard Bayne, a Vice-President of the Columbia-Knickerbocker Trust Company, was elected Treasurer, the only office which was not filled at the first meeting.... Mrs. Robert G. Mead was chosen Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, with power to chose [sic] other members. Among the women who are interested in the movement are Mrs. Russell Sage, Mrs. F.W. Vanderbilt, and Mrs. James Speyer." (Organize to Fight Cancer. New York Times, June 10, 1913, p. 22.)

"'The society has been launched by men of the highest standing in the medical profession, including Dr. Clement Cleveland of New York, Lewis M. McMurtrie of Louisville, Dr. A.D. Devin of Chicago, Dr. Joseph C. Bloodgood of Baltimore, Dr. Edward Reynolds of Boston, Dr. Edward Martin of Philadelphia, Dr. F.F. Simpson of Pittsburgh, Dr. C. Jeff Miller of New Orleans, Dr. Charles Powers of Denver, Dr. F.R. Greene, Secretary of the American Medical Association, and Dr. Livingston Farrand, Executive Secretary of the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis. Frederick L. Hoffman and Samuel Hopkins Adams, who have done much for popularizing sound medical knowledge, are members of the Executive Committee, as are such leaders in the world of affairs as George C. Clark, James Speyer, New York banker, and V. Everit Macy, who is identified with several of the great movements for social advance. The movement started in a committee appointed by the American Gynecological Society. The organization was approved by the other constituent bodies of the Congress of American Physicians and Surgeons, and by the American Medical Association. Further stimulus has come from the Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North America at its recent meeting in Chicago.'" (Address by Graham Romeyn Taylor, in: National Society to Fight Cancer. New York Times, Nov. 30, 1913, p. 12.)

[Livingston Farrand was Executive Secretary of the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis from 1905 to 1914 (which had been co-founded by William Henry Welch, S&B 1870); and was later president of the University of Colorado and Cornell University (1921-1937).]

At the meeting of the New York Academy of Medicine in association with the ASCC, Dr. George D. Stewart and others proclaimed that radium was useless. And, "Dr. F.C. Wood of Columbia University said that experiments in recent years in search of a cure for cancer had been based largely upon the methods learned in developing remedies for bacteriological diseases. He said that it had now been established almost beyond question that cancer was not a germ disease nor in any way allied to germ diseases, and that much of the work done lately in laboratories had been in the way of unlearning the theories which had been built up on the analogy of bacterial diseases. He said that nothing had been accomplished in the search for the cause of the disease beyond the disproof of the theory that cancer was communicable or that it was brought into the body of the patient in any way from the outside." Louis I. Dublin, statistician of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, said that early diagnosis and early treatment would reduce mortality by one-third. Officers elected at the annual meeting of the ASCC were George C. Clark of New York, President; Dr. L.F. Barker of Baltimore, Dr. Arthur Dean Bevan of Chicago, Dr. Lewis S. McMurtry of Louisville, and Dr. Edward Reynolds of Boston, vice presidents; Thomas M. Debevoise of New York, secretary; Howard Bayne of New York, Treasurer; Curtis E. Lakeman of New York, Secretary. New directors elected: Prof. C.E.A. Winslow of Yale, Dr. Charles H. Hastings of Toronto, Dr. M.F. Engman of St. Louis, Dr. Robert B. Greenough of Boston, Dr. Joseph Ransohoff of Cincinnati, Dr. W.D. Haggard of Nashville, and Dr. Palmer Findley of Omaha. (Call Surgery Only Remedy for Cancer. New York Times, May 19, 1916.) In fact, in 1914, Dr. Edward C. Rosenau of the University of Chicago had performed experiments demonstrating that ulcers were an infectious disease, and Drs. H. Hartmann and P. Lecène found that stomach ulcers degenerated into cancer.

ASCC in the 1920s

The Lasker family, including Albert D. Lasker, his mother Nettie, brother Edward (President of the Texas Star Flour Mills in Galveston), and sisters Florina, Loula, and Etta (Mrs. Samuel J. Rosensohn) donated $50,000 to the American Society for the Control of Cancer, in honor of Harry M. Lasker, who died of cancer in March 1921. ($50,000 to Fight Cancer. Washington Post, Feb. 28, 1922.)

Elected to the board of directors of the ASCC in 1923: Dr. Howard C. Taylor (also Vice President and Chairman of the Executive Committee), Calvert Brewer of the U.S. Mortgage and Trust Company (also Treasurer), Thomas M. Debevoise (also Secretary) and Mrs. Robert G. Mead. Dr. Edward Reynolds was made Chairman of the Advisory Council and Drs. Clement Cleveland, Livingston Farrand, George E. Armstrong of Montreal, and Dr. Rudolph Matas of New Orleans were chosen Vice Chairmen. Members of the Executive Committee: Cleveland, Debevoise, Mead, Reynolds; Mrs. Samuel Adams Clark; Dr. Haven Emerson; Dr. John C.A. Gerster; Dr. Howard Lilienthal; Drs. George H. Semken and Francis Carter Wood of New York; Drs. Joseph Colt Bloodgood and Thomas S. Cullen of Baltimore; Dr. Robert B. Greenough of Boston; Dr. Frederick L. Hoffman; and Curtis E. Lakeman of Albany. (Cancer Society Meets. New York Times, March 4, 1923.)

Dr. Howard C. Taylor was elected president to succeed the late Charles A. Powers; Dr. Francis Carter Wood, Vice President, Thomas M. Debevoise Secretary, and Calvert Brewer, Treasurer. Dr. George A. Soper was the managing director. (Aided By Cancer Campaign. New York Times, Mar. 9, 1925.) During the early 1920s, the ASCC established branches in Europe. "Its managing director, Dr. George A. Soper, toured Europe in 1924, visiting the twenty-odd cancer societies that had been inspired by the success of the ASCC and looking into research and treatment facilities. He reported his findings in "Cancer Control in Europe," which was published by the Society in 1925. The Executive Committee decided that 'the investigation of what other countries were doing in regard to cancer control had produced much information.' This led logically to the idea of holding an international cancer symposium. The dates were September 20-24, 1926; the place Lake Mohonk, New York." (From "Crusade: The Official History of the American Cancer Society," by Walter S. Ross, Arbor House Publishing Co.,1987.)

ASCC Gets Rockefeller Money, 1926

The Executive Committee of the ASCC, 1926: Dr. Howard C. Taylor, President; Dr. George A. Soper; Dr. Joseph C. Bloodgood, Baltimore; Calvert Brewer, New York; Mrs. Samuel Adams Clark, New York; Dr. Clement Cleveland; Dr. Thomas S. Cullen, Baltimore; Thomas M. Debevoise, Dr. Haven Emerson, Dr. James Ewing, Dr. John C.A. Gerster, of New York; Dr. Robert B. Greenough, Boston; Dr. F.L. Hoffman, Wellesley Hills, Mass.; Curtis E. Lakeman, Dr. Howard Lilienthal and Mrs. Robert G. Mead of New York; Dr. Edward Reynolds, Boston, and Dr. George H. Semken, New York. Francis Carter Wood had just returned from Europe, where the British Empire Cancer Campaign and Imperial Cancer Research Fund has been recently founded. (Bid Nation Awake to Fight on Cancer. New York Times, Jan. 20, 1926.)

In May 1926, John D. Rockefeller Jr. made an unconditional gift of $100,000 to the ASCC, plus an additional $10,000 toward expenses for a congress of cancer specialists at Lake Mohonk, to be held in September. Winthrop W. Aldrich was Chairman of the Campaign Committee. "The active Campaign Committee... includes Thomas M. Debevoise, Walter Douglas, Robert C. Hill, Ivy L. Lee, V. Everit Macy, Mrs. Robert G. Mead, Samuel W. Reyburn, Dean Sage, Miss Elsie M. Schefer, Dr. George A. Soper, Louis Morris Starr and Allen Wardwell.... The active Campaign Committee of which Mr. Aldrich is Chairman is part of a larger General Committee, headed by Thomas W. Lamont. Other members are John G. Agar, Ancell H. Ball, Howard Bayne, Calvert Brewer, Robert S. Brewster, Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, Dr. S. Parkes Cadman, Lewis L. Clark, Dr. Henry Sloane Coffin, Everett Colby, Archibald Douglas, Frederick H. Ecker, Haley Fiske, Charles Hayden, Charles Evans Hughes, Darwin F. Kingsley, Robert R. Laidlaw, Mrs. William B. Meloney, Albert G. Milbank, Edgar Park, Seward Prosser, the Very Rev. Howard C. Robbins, Finley J. Shepard, James Speyer, Frederick Strauss and Owen D. Young." (Rockefeller Aids Cancer Study Fund. New York Times, May 3, 1926, p.9.) Cadman, Coffin, Hughes, and Young were all members of the Advisory Committee of the Yale Institute of Human Relations in 1929.

In 1926, the ASCC participated in C.-E.A. Winslow's centralization of the US health establishment.

At a luncheon at the Bankers Club, 120 Broadway, with Thomas W. Lamont of J.P. Morgan & Co. presiding, Winthrop W. Aldrich announced that gifts of $199,500 had raised the total to $338,515. These were from Edward S.Harkness, $100,000; J.P. Morgan & Co., $50,000; Walter C. Ladd and V. Everitt Macy, $11,000 each; Stephen C. Clark, $10,000; Anonymous, $5,000; Mr. and Mrs. A.H. Ball, $2,500; and $1000 each from Winthrop W. Aldrich, Howard Bayne, John R. Bradley, Bernardo Braga, T.M. Debevoise, Walter W. Douglas, Dean Sage, James Speyer, and Dr. H.C. Taylor. "Faulty care of the teeth and the excessive use of tobacco were mentioned by Dr. James Ewing, director of cancer research at the Memorial Hospital, as dangerous hazards leading to possible causes of cancer. Dr. Ewing told of 'white spot disease,' whose symptoms are tiny white spots on the tongue or skin of a hardened smoker. 'When that occurs it is time for the smoker to lay down his cigar for good,' said Dr. Ewing, 'if he would stave off a possible attack of cancer.'" (Anti-Cancer Fund Goes to $338,515. New York Times, Jun. 19, 1926.)

James Ewing Proclaims Health Fascist Ideology at Lake Mohonk, 1926

James Ewing was featured with about three-fourths of the space given to the Lake Mohonk cancer congress (Assails Overeating As Cause of Cancer. New York Times, Sep. 23, 1926, p. 10.) "Overemphasis on hereditary tendency toward cancer and ill-grounded announcements of the discoveries of alleged cancer-causing organisms have retarded the course of cancer prevention and cancer control, according to Dr. James Ewing of New York, who addressed the conference of cancer specialists meeting here at the call of the American Society for the Control of Cancer.

"Many cancers are the result of known irritations and are preventable, said Dr. Ewing. 'Cancers of the lip, mouth, tongue, and tonsil,' he added, 'are due mainly to broken or sharp-edged and uneven teeth or to tobacco. Gastric cancer is generally traced to abuse of the stomach. Early and abrupt weaning is a frequent cause of mammary cancer, although these and other cancers are the result of known causes and can be prevented.....'

"Opposes Parasitic Theory. 'Another far more serious is the widespread assumption of the parasitic theory of the origin of cancer. If cancer is due to the action of an unknown, microscopic, perhaps ultramicroscopic universal parasite, then effectual prevention must wait upon its discovery.'" [Sic. What is the point of insisting upon a "universal parasite" when there are a multitude of viruses and microorganisms, each afflicting different tissues and organs. And since when are one's preferences in prevention the determinant of cause? -cast]

"'At the present day I have no hesitation in committing myself without reservation against this theory. With most general pathologists, I regard it as incompatible with the known facts about cancer. [Sic - which amounted to virtually nothing -cast] The assumption of a universal cancer parasite can only be held by those who assume in addition that cancer is a single disease, comparable to tuberculosis. [Sic - this is a red herring concocted by the enemies of Germ Theory -cast] This assumption appears to be untenable. [So who would want to advance it anyway? This is a straw man -cast] Cancer is not a single pathological entity, but a great group of diseases of various origin and course.'

"After a discussion of the various types cancer Dr. Ewing continued: 'If there were less anticipation of the imminent discovery of the universal cancer parasite, fewer announcements of its demonstration and more recognition of the specific exciting factors of cancer the cause of cancer control would be benefited.' [Sic - only the cause of controlling peoples' lives would benefit -cast]

"'Finally the chief difficulty in arousing interest in the prevention of cancer is found in the necessary absence of immediate tangible results. Since the major forms of cancer are largely the result of human habits and bad habits, a certain intelligent reformation of the habits of the race must be accomplished before cancer prevention can show very tangible results. There is all the more need of approaching the subject with a sane systematic program.' [The health fascists do not want to admit that an oncogenic virus may be contracted merely by the "bad habit" of going to work, where one is exposed to someone who infected others before realizing that they were infected! -cast]

"Points to Perils of Overeating. Discussing gastric cancer, Dr. Ewing continued: 'Man is the only animal who lives a long natural life with unrestricted access to unlimited quantities of food, and he is the only animal who suffers from gastric cancer. [Sic!] Habitual over-eating is a nearly universal human practice. We are in a safe position to point out to the public that the commonest and one of the most fatal forms of cancer is due to habitual abuse of the stomach.'" He smugly proclaimed that "It requires more than average intelligence to accept and act on advice which entails somewhat minute attention to one's organs. It also entails some time and means. Thus, when the means of prevention of cancer become widely known, cancer may become the eliminator of the unwary, the unintelligent, and the unfit.'" [This is scientific obstructionism in order to blame the victim for stomach cancer caused by Helicobacter pylori infection, rationalized with the fashionable rhetoric of Social Darwinism -cast]

The Lake Mohonk conference was closed with a dinner at the Astor on Sep. 24, 1926. Speakers included Canadian publicist Stephen Leacock; Wendell C. Phillips, president of the American Medical Association; Dr. William H. Welch; Dr. Raffaele Bastinelli, professor of surgery at the University of Rome, and Premier Mussolini's private physician; Dr. Henri Hartmann of Paris, director of the Anti-Cancer Centre at the Hotel Dieu; Dr. H.T. Deelman of the University of Gröningen, Holland; John Bland-Sutton, President of the Royal College of Surgeons, London, and Vice Chairman of the British Empire Cancer Campaign. (Leacock Denounces Quacks. New York Times, Sep 25, 1926.)

James Ewing

Ewing was the first professor of pathology at Cornell University Medical School in 1899 [which had been newly created and funded by Tobacco Trust member Oliver H. Payne since 1898 -cast]. Ewing became an authority in cancer research after helping establish the Collis P. Huntington Fund for Cancer Research in 1902. He was also a co-founder of the American Association for Cancer Research in 1907. After meeting mining engineer James Douglas, president of the Phelps-Dodge Company, which was a major producer of radium, Ewing became one of the pioneers of radium treatment for cancer. Douglas's financial support of Memorial Hospital included the requirement that Ewing be appointed its pathologist. (James Ewing: The Man. The Society of Surgical Oncology, Inc. Dead link http://www.surgonc.org/sso/history2.htm.) The donation was evidently part of a scheme by pathologists at Cornell Medical College (and their robber baron financiers) to create one of the largest cancer hospitals in the world, "of lesser proportions only than the Middlesex Hospital, London, and the Heidelberg Hospital," by merging with Memorial. Allan A. Ryan, the son of transit and utility baron and Tobacco Trust member Thomas Fortune Ryan, also contributed $50,000. Ewing and Dr. Howard A. Kelly of Johns Hopkins were to jointly share Douglas's radium. ($1,000,000 Pledged to Cancer Hospital. New York Times, May 2, 1914.) James Douglas's grandson, Lewis W. Douglas, was later the chairman of Memorial Hospital.

James Ewing was best man for his brother, Thomas Ewing of Pittsburgh. (Weddings of a Day. New York Times, June 10, 1903.) His niece, Barbara, married Lathrop Stanley Haskins, a banker with J.P. Morgan & Co. (Barbara Ewing Engaged to Wed. New York Times, Mar. 7, 1932; Miss Ewing Makes Her Bridal Plans. New York Times, Apr. 16, 1932.)

Douglas and Kelly's fellow radium-promoter was Charles L. Parsons, chief chemist of the US Bureau of Mines, whose son-in-law, Charles Proctor Cooper, became a director of the Guaranty Trust in 1929, and president of the Presbyterian Hospital in 1943.

The suppression of Dr. William B. Coley's bacterial toxin treatment for cancer has been attributed to James Ewing's hostility. (Coley's Toxins, by Wayne Martin. The Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Feb-Mar 2003.). Coley was "instrumental in 1902 in securing a gift of $100,000 from Mrs. Collis P. Huntington for the establishment of the Collis P. Huntington Fund for Cancer Research," and he was chairman of the fund since 1909. (Rites Tomorrow for Dr. W.B. Coley. New York Times, Apr. 17, 1936.)

Collis P. Huntington (1821-1900), for whom the Fund for Cancer Research was named, was a business partner of Leland Stanford in the Central Pacific Railroad and the Southern Pacific Railroad companies. His adopted son, Archer M. Huntington, was on the board of trustees of Memorial Hospital, and his widow gave $100,000 to the institution. (Mrs. C.P. Huntington's Gift. Presents $100,000 to General Memorial Hospital for Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases. New York Times, May 24, 1902, p.7.) Collis Huntington was a director of Pacific Mail Steamship Company between 1890 and 1900; Oliver H. Payne of the Tobacco Trust and the Standard Oil Trust, who funded Cornell University's new Medical School in 1898, was a fellow director (Classified Ad. New York Times, May 30, 1890, p.6). James Speyer, member of the ASCC General Committee in 1926, had been Huntington's banker for 30 years. Huntington also founded the city of Newport News, Virginia, and its naval shipyard. Collis Huntington's private secretary, former newspaper man George E. Miles, "accompanied Horace Greeley on his memorable Presidential campaign tour in 1872, and took verbatim reports of all of Mr. Greeley's speeches." (Close to Eminent Men. New York Times, July 12, 1891.)

James Ewing was anointed the nation's cancer messiah with his picture on the cover of Time magazine, Jan. 12, 1931. In February, he was honored at a dinner by the medical board of Memorial Hospital, which was attended by 400 leading physicians. He was hailed as "the greatest cancer fighter" and presented with a "Book of Homage," compiled by Frank E. Adair. He was praised by James B. Murphy of the Rockefeller Institute, Livingston Farrand, Rockefeller attorney Thomas M. Debevoise, Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming, C.C. Little, and others. President Herbert Hoover, Secretary of the Interior Ray Lyman Wilbur, William H. Welch sent their regrets at being unable to attend. (Dr. Ewing Honored for Cancer Fight. New York Times, Feb. 1, 1931.) Time magazine was founded in 1923 by two members of Skull & Bones class of 1920, Henry Robinson Luce and Briton Hadden.

The ASCC recieved $10,000 each from Mrs. E.B. Blossom and Jeremiah Milbank; $5,000 each, William Bonbright, Clarence H. Mackay, and Mrs. C.E.F. McCann; $3,000 each from Max C. Fleischmann and Hiram W. Sibley; $2,500 each from C.W. Bingham and H.-G. Dalton; $2,000 from George Willis Peters; and $1,000 each from R. Fulton Cutting, Mrs. H.P. Davison, Howard Elliott, and H.M. Hanna, L.C. Hanna Jr., Mr. and Mrs. P.W. Harvey, Charles Hayden, Mrs. I.W. Laidlaw, Robert R. Laidlaw, J.L. Severance, Frederick Strauss, and two anonymous donations. Present at the proceedings were Hugh Auchincloss, Robert Bacon, Courtland D. Barnes, Willis H. Booth, Edwin M. Bulkley, Lawrence S. Butler, George F. Butterworth, George E. Canfield, Stephen P. Duggan, Mrs. Lyttleton Fox, Francis T. Hines, George O. May, Frank L. Polk, Henry W. Taft, Mrs. Charles Leonard, and Mrs. Russell Colgate. (Cancer Fund Gains $90,000 in Campaign. New York Times, Sep. 28, 1926.) (The Very Rev. Howard Chandler Robbins, Dean of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, was Chairman of the Church Committee of the ASCC Fund. Thomas W. Lamont was general chairman. (To Aid in Cancer Control. New York Times, Oct. 17, 1926.) The business men's committee consisted of Winthrop W. Aldrich, Thomas M. Debevoise, Walter Douglas, Mansfield Terry, Robert C. Hill, Samuel W. Reyburn and Dean Sage. They were "largely instrumental in raising the $457,775 that has been given already" toward a $1,000,000 endowment fund. (To Aid Cancer Society. New York Times, Nov. 11, 1926.) Patronesses of a benefit at the Colony Club included Mrs. Walter B. James, Mrs. Henry James, Mrs. Edward F. Hutton, Mrs. Francis C. Huntington, Mrs. Lyman Rhoades, Mrs. Whitelaw Reid, Mrs. Robert G. Mead, Mrs.Walter Jennings, and Mrs. Henry P. Davison. (To Aid Cancer Society. New York Times, Nov. 29, 1926.) At a dinner for the ASCC, William Lawrence Saunders, Chairman of the Board of the Ingersoll-Rand Co. and a director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, offered $50,000 to anyone who could discover what cancer is and how it could be prevented, and another $50,000 for a cure. Henry W. Taft was toastmaster, and Nicholas Murray Butler and Charles Evans Hughes were hosts. ($100,000 Offered For Cancer Cure. New York Times, Dec. 16, 1926.) Contributors of $1,000 or more: William Hale Harkness, Arthur Curtiss James, and Dunleavey Milbank, $10,000 each; George F. Baker Sr., $5,000; Samuel Mather, $3,000; Mrs. Charles B. Alexander and E.F. Hutton, $2,500 each; Mr. and Mrs. Windsor T. White, $2,000; Anton G. Hodenpyl, $1,500; Through Mrs. Frederick Lutz, $1,418; 3 Anonymous, Mrs. B.P. Bole, Edwin M. Bulkley, The Citizens' Aid Society, Mrs. Stuart Duncan, Mrs. Coburn Haskell, Mrs. Della Halle Hays, Samuel W. Morris, Mrs. Harold Irving Pratt, Mrs. Albert Russell, and John R. Todd, $1,000 each. ($514,709 For Cancer Fight. New York Times, Dec. 31, 1926.)

ASCC, 1927

R. Fulton Cutting pledged $250,000 toward the ASCC endowment fund if the remainder was raised before Oct. 1, 1927. John D. Rockefeller Jr. had contributed $125,000 and Edward S. Harkness $100,000. Thomas W. Lamont and Owen D. Young sponsored the luncheon. Also at the speakers' table were Winthrop W. Aldrich, Thomas M. Debevoise, Mrs. Robert G. Mead, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Lessing Rosenthal, George A. Soper, Dr. Francis Carter Wood, head of the Crocker Institute of Cancer Research at Columbia University; Dr. George E. Brewer, Professor Emeritus of the College of Physicians and Surgeons; and Dr. Howard C. Taylor, President of the ASCC. (Cutting Aids Fund to Fight Cancer. New York Times, Feb. 3, 1927.) "The largest gift during the month was one of $25,000 from Miss Mary G. Thompson of 36 East Sixty-seventh Street. Other contributors were: Walter E. Frew, $5,000; Murry Guggenheim, S.R. Guggenheim and John F. Wilkie, $2,500 each; John E. Berwind, $2,000; Cornelius N. Bliss [Jr.], John Henry Hammond, Gates W. McGarrah,William H. Nichols, H. de B. Parsons, Charles Strauss, Myron C. Taylor, W.H. Truesdale, Mrs. Stanley G. Flagg Jr. of Bryn Mawr, Pa., and Mrs. E.T. Stotesbury of Philadelphia, $1,000 each." ($50,000 to Cancer Society. New York Times, Feb. 20, 1927.) [R. Fulton Cutting's daughter, Ruth, was married to Reginald L. Auchincloss; while his brother, Charles Suydam Cutting, married the widow of American Tobacco heir James Cox Brady a few years later.]

"The Dollars and Cents Ball" benefit: Ward W. Fenner was Chairman of the Emergency Committee (which was to escort the Entertainment Committee in a fleet of private cars), who were Eugene Savage, Frank A. Vanderlip Jr., E. Edward Schefer, Kenneth Ives, Rutger B. Porter, Brooks Harlowe, John W. Leaycraft, George Dwight, Robert Jordan, Charles Sise, Frederick P. Delafield, Sherman Loud, Frederick J. Woodbridge, John Ames, Ashton Dunn Jr., John G. Bates Jr., and H. Hawley Myers. The Terpsichorean Committee, chaired by Mrs. Charles A. Van Rensselaer Jr., was Mrs. Edward P. Bottsford, Mrs. Philip Graham, Mrs. Howard F. Froelick, Mrs. Lawrence Jordan Mott, Mrs. Jennings Hine, Mrs. David H. Houghtaling, Mrs. Henry Kelly Brent, Mrs. Chisholm Beach, Mrs. Carl L. Vietor, Mrs. Ray Morris, Mrs. William Everdell Jr., Mrs. William Kingsland Macy, Mrs. Auguste Cordier Jr., Mrs. Samuel G. Rea, Mrs. Malcolm Hunter, Mrs. Sidney Whelan, and the Misses Lucy Gurnee, Helen Meserve, Eleanor FitzGerald, Helen Coley, Margaret Hatch, Jane Sullivan, Catherine Fuller and Bertha Bates, and Charles A. Van Rensselaer Jr., Philip Graham, Lawrence Jordan Mott, David H. Houghtaling, Halsey Colby, Carol L. Vietor and E. Edward Schefer. Finally, "Miss Rosamond S. Auchincloss and her cigarette girls, the Misses Kathleen Baker, Alice Whitehouse, Sophie Gay, Grace Wrenn, Caroline Clark and Ethel Saltus, will wear costumes representing the various kinds of cigarettes advertised." (Ball to Help Medical Work. New York Times, Feb. 27, 1927.)

In Detroit, five-and-dime store magnate S.S. Kresge and W.A. Fisher of the Fisher Motor Company started a drive with $5,000 each. (Cancer Society Plans to Push Fund Drive. New York Times, May 19, 1927.)

Davison, Gates, Baker, & Jennings

Mrs. Henry P. Davison sponsored a three-day circus to benefit the ASCC. "Mrs. Brewster Jennings was in charge of refreshments, which were sold by a large committee of young matrons. Mrs. Artemus L. Gates, daughter of Mrs. Davison, was in charge of the tea garden, placed near the dancing platform, which had been built over the sands of the beach." Yachts owned by Mrs. Davison and George F. Baker Jr. plied the waters, delivering patrons from Westchester and Connecticut. (Peacock Point Fete Attracts Throngs. New York Times, Sep. 13, 1927.) Henry Pomeroy Davison was chairman of the War Council of the American Red Cross, which sent the mission to Russia to aid the Bolsheviks. Henry P. Davison Jr. was a member of Skull & Bones, 1920. Benjamin Brewster Jennings was the son of Oliver Gould Jennings, Skull & Bones 1887. His grandfathers, Benjamin Brewster and Oliver Burr Jennings, were among the financiers of the Standard Oil Company, and he was employed by this company and its successors since graduating from Yale in 1920. After retiring in 1958, he was elected chairman of the board of managers of Memorial Hospital in 1962. Mrs. Davison's son-in-law, Artemus L. Gates, was a member of Skull & Bones, 1918. He was later a member of the advisory board of the American Heart Association, and a member of the board of directors of Time Inc.

The executive committee of the ASCC consisted of Mrs. Robert G. Mead; Dr. Howard Canning Taylor, President; Prof. Francis Carter Wood, Vice President; Dr. James Ewing; Dr. George Soper, managing director; Thomas Debevoise; and Curtis E. Lakeman, "a social welfare expert and director of the Commonwealth Fund." The Treasurer was August Zinsser, President of the Central Savings Bank; and Mrs. Samuel Adams Clark was Chairman of the Membership Committee of the New York City Committee. (Anti-Cancer Drive in Full Swing Today. New York Times, Nov. 25, 1927.)

The New York City Cancer Committee, a division of the ASCC, was at 34 East Seventy-fifth Street. Its president, Dr. John C.A. Gerster, declared that "Cancer is not considered a germ disease. It is not contagious, and there is no danger of geting it by nursing or treating a case." Dr. P.K. Sauer was Secretary; August Zinsser, Treasurer; Mrs. Francis J. Rigney, Chairman of Publicity; Susan M. Wood, Executive Secretary. (New York to Hear Facts of Cancer. New York Times, Nov. 4, 1928.)

ASCC in the 1930s

In 1930, the Chemical Foundation Inc., headed by Francis P. Garvan, funded "The American Journal of Cancer," as the official organ of the American Society for the Control of Cancer and of the American Society of Cancer Research. Dr. Francis Carter Wood, director of the Crocker Institute of Cancer Research at Columbia University, was the editor. (New Publication to Cover World in Cancer Fight. Hamilton, Ohio, Daily News, Oct. 8, 1930.)

The International Union for the Control of Cancer (UICC) was established in Paris in 1934.

The board of directors of the ASCC in 1936: Until 1937- Frank E. Adair, MD; Winthrop W. Aldrich; Calvert Brewer; R.H. Pike, MD; E.W. Goodpasture, MD; J. Shelton Horsley, MD; George R. Minot, MD; Frederick F. Russell, MD; H. Gideon Wells, MD; E.B. Wilson, PhD. Until 1938 - Thomas S. Cullen, MD; James Ewing, MD, Chairman; Robert B. Greenough, MD; Ludvig Hektoen, MD; Frederick L. Hoffman, LLD; George W. Holmes, MD; John J. Morton Jr., MD; Charles C. Norris, MD; Wm. A. O'Brien, MD; Thomas Parran Jr., MD. Until 1939 - Bowman C. Crowell, MD; Haven Emerson, MD; Ellis Fischel, MD; Samuel C. Harvey, MD; A.R. Kilgore, MD; James B. Murphy, MD; Stanley P. Reimann, MD; H.E. Robertson, MD; Burton T. Simpson, MD; Howard C. Taylor, MD. Clarence C. Little was Managing Director and Editor of the Society's namesake journal, and J.J. Bittner, PhD and A.M. Cloudman, PhD were Assistant Editors. Field Representatives were R.A. Herring, MD, in Washington, DC; F.L. Rector, MD, in Evanston, Ill.; J.W. Cox, MD, in Alexandria, Va.; and J.M. Flude, MD, in Hollywood, Cal.

The National Advisory Cancer Council of the National Cancer Institute

Original members of the National Advisory Cancer Council of the National Cancer Institute, appointed by Surgeon General Thomas Parran in 1937: James Ewing, Director of Memorial Hospital; Dr. Francis C. Wood, Director of the Crocker Institute of Cancer Research at Columbia University; Harvard University President James B. Conant; Dr. Arthur H. Compton of the University of Chicago; C.C. Little, Managing Director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer; and Dr. Ludvig Hektoen of Chicago. In 1938, Dr. James B. Murphy of the Rockefeller Institute and Dr. Mont R. Reid replaced Ewing and Wood. (Named to Cancer Council. New York Times, Dec. 11, 1938, p. 30.) Ewing, Hektoen, Little, Murphy, Parran, and Wood were all affiliated with the ASCC.

Stanley P. Reimann was the director of the Lankenau Hospital Research Institute in Philadelphia. He was a director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer from at least 1936-39, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Council for Tobacco Research from 1954 to 1968.

Edwin Bidwell Wilson, the first Professor and Head of the Department of Vital Statistics when the School of Public Health was created at Harvard University in 1922, was Chairman of the ASCC from 1937 to 1942. He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Council for Tobacco Research from 1954 to 1964.

Kenneth Merrill Lynch, President, Dean of Faculty, Professor of Pathology, and Chancellor, Medical College of South Carolina, was a member of the board of directors of the ASCC from 1939 to 1943. He was a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Council for Tobacco Research from 1954 to 1974.

James Ewing dismissed the virus theory again in his 1940 texbook: "The main basis for the virus theory of cancer rests on the demonstration by Rous that certain fowl sarcomas are transmissible by a filter-passing agent. The nature of this agent has been investigated by many observers whose reults are ably summarized by Foulds. The writer has reviewed the data in this field and does not feel that one is justified in formally accepting the chicken sarcomas as virus-induced processes." (Neoplastic Diseases: A Treatise on Tumors. James Ewing. Fourth Edition, W.B. Saunders & Company, 1940.)

Charles Dewey Hilles Jr., Skull & Bones 1924

Charles Dewey Hilles Jr. (1902-1974) was ACS Treasurer in 1945 and Secretary from 1946-52. He was director-at-large of the ACS and its predecessor from 1939 to 1959, Chairman of the Executive Committee in 1954, Vice Board Chairman in 1957. He was an associate of George Emlen Roosevelt, and was a vice president of International Telephone and Telegraph during the 1940s, when it was used as a vehicle for funding Adolph Hitler. His father had been President Taft's secretary, and was a powerful official of the Republican Party.

ASCC in the 1940s

The Lasker Takeover of the ASCC

Mary Lasker's connections to the advertising industry were the key to her takeover of the American Society for the Control of Cancer. "During the first weeks of the year 1945, Mary Lasker and a newly enlisted ally, Emerson Foote (one of Albert's young business partners, to whom he had given part of his corporation when he retired in 1942), began a special fund-raising effort for the American Society for the Control of Cancer. It was 'special' in a very concrete way: the Society had agreed to their conditions that at least one-quarter of the funds raised would be spent on research, and that the Board of Directors of the Society would be charged to include at least fifty percent laymen - both radical innovations for the organization. In only a couple of months, Mrs. Lasker and Mr. Foote had raised over a hundred thousand dollars, most of it generated out of an article in Readers' Digest for which they had arranged. The first money, at their insistence, was used to hire a fund-raising staff. Impressed at his wife's early success, Albert Lasker joined the effort and helped to get others involved, including Elmer Bobst of the drug firm of Hoffman, LaRoche, James S. Adams of Standard Brands, and Eric Johnston of the motion picture industry. Using all the skills and techniques of Madison Avenue, and drawing in as many friends as possible, this small group raised $4 million for the cancer society in 1945, in contrast with the $780,000 that had been raised the previous year. (Mr. and Mrs. Mahoney chaired the Miami area effort and raised the local giving from less than $1,000 to $50,000.) In 1946 the Lasker goup raised $10 million, and the new board of directors, with Lasker now a member, changed the name of the organization to the American Cancer Society." (Stephen P. Strickland. Politics, Science, and Dread Disease. A Short History of United States Medical Research Policy. Harvard University Press, 1972. Strickland is a political scientist specializing in health policy, and an official or semi-official NIH historian. Numerous oral histories and other documents by Strickland are archived at the NIH).

According to Ralph W. Moss (Unraveling the Politics of Cancer: New York: Paragon House, 1989), other members of the Lasker takeover included Howard Pew of Sun Oil; Ralph Reed of American Express; Harry Van Elm of Manufacturers Trust Co.; newspaper heiress Florence Mahoney; and Gen. William J. Donovan, director of the US government intelligence agency, the OSS, which evolved into the CIA. Mary Lasker's papers include correspondence with Donovan from 1941 to 1959, and he was a director of the Lasker Foundation. Kennedy assassination conspiracy theorist Mae Brussell incriminates both "Wild Bill" Donovan and Elmer Bobst as having connections with key Nazis who surrendered to the United States after world War II. Did Nazi money help fund the American Cancer Society?

Emerson Foote

Emerson Foote was one of the founders of Foote, Cone & Belding (now True North Communications) when Albert Lasker dissolved his Lord & Thomas advertising firm. He began his association with the American Cancer Society in 1944 as Chairman of its Public Relations Committee, and was Director and Vice Chairman of ACS from 1944-1952. He was also a director of the American Heart Association.

Clarence Cook Little

Clarence Cook Little was the son of James Lovell Little and Mary Robbins Revere. In 1882, James L. Little was among the wealthiest citizens of Boston (Boston's Rich Men and Women. From the Boston Herald, Jan. 1, 1882. The New York Times, Jan. 3, 1882.) James L. Little was one of the incorporators of the Boston Daily Advertiser Corporation (Newspaper Changes. The New York Times, March 26, 1882; The Boston Advertiser Company. The New York Times, March 30, 1882.) His brother, James Lovell Little Jr., was an 1897 graduate of Harvard University. (What Is Doing In Society. New York Times, Nov. 1, 1901.)

Little was a graduate of Harvard (B.A., 1910; M.S., 1912; Doctor of Science, 1914). "[I]n 1906, he entered Harvard University to study biology. He inbred his first pair of mice while he was a junior at Harvard. In 1910 he received his B.A. degree with Phi Beta Kappa honors; in 1912 his M.S. at the Harvard Graduate School of Applied Science; and the degree of Doctor of Science in 1914. For two years, 1910-1912, he had served as secretary to the Corporation of Harvard University; while working for his science degree he was research assistant in genetics. He continued his specialized studies in genetics with mice while he was research fellow in cancer at Harvard (1913-17). During 1916 he also served as assistant dean and acting University marshal. In 1917-1918 he was an associate in comparative pathology at the Harvard Medical School." He was president of the University of Maine from 1922 to 1925, and president of the University of Michigan from 1925 to 1929. In 1929, he founded the Jackson Memorial Laboratory and became Director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer, which he headed until the Lasker takeover in 1943. In 1937, the Rockefeller Foundation granted $40,000 to enlarge the laboratory. (Clarence C. Little bio, in Current Biography, Dec. 1944;5(12):36-38 (HW Wilson Co.)

The establishment of a "Department of Preventive Medicine and Hygiene" at Harvard in 1909 was announced in the Graduates' Magazine. The article proclaimed that "Its establishment is another symptom of the strong tendency to draw the physicians of the country into an organized public service. Though all doctors are now engaged in the work of preventive medicine, this work cannot be privately measured and paid for. No doubt so long as death continues to claim mankind there will be a province for the private practitioner. But his field is narrowing to the treatment of the more hopeless forms of disease. If he would live by what has become the chief part of medicine he must either enter the public health service or invade the field just opened by the enlightened business prudence of the life insurance companies. The example of Harvard must be followed by the other medical schools of the country, to supply the demand for specially trained men both in the service of these companies and in the public service." (Harvard's Pioneer School. New York Times, Sep. 13, 1909.)

Little was one of the speakers at a scientific conference on cancer control at the University of Wisconsin in 1932. Other speakers included James Ewing on "Cancer, a Public Health Problem;" Howard B. Andervont, later a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Council for Tobacco Research; James B. Murphy, and Leiv Kreyberg. (500 Scientists Open Madison Conference on Cancer Control. Chicago Daily Tribune, Sep. 8, 1936.)

Little's beliefs were the same as those of the Lasker bunch and hostile to germ theory. As noted in Richard Kluger's book, "Ashes to Ashes," "Among his writings was the book 'Civilization Against Cancer,' typical of his efforts to explicate the disease, the enormous complexity of which fascinated him. Cancer was 'not a unity,' he wrote, 'and many factors must be considered in attempting to blot it out -- heredity, sex, hormones, diet, sunlight, vitamins...' While not on the forward edge of the new field of oncology, Little grasped early on that the cancinogenic [sic] process was probably not initiated by a germ or virus, as were most infectious diseases, but came, as he wrote in 1933, 'from some as yet mysterious 'derangement' within a single body cell.'" It was the ASCC under Little which lobbied for the establishment of the National Cancer Institute in 1937, and four of the six original members of the NCI's National Advisory Council were ASCC directors. With disastrous stupidity, in 1954 the chiefs of the tobacco industry chose this over-the-hill advocate of genetic explanations of cancer, who was fundamentally hostile to the type of research which would have exonerated smoking, to become the scientific director of the Tobacco Industry Research Council (where he was joined by some more of his old cronies from the ASCC). Until his death in 1971, C.C. Little played a duplicitous game of pretending to defend the tobacco industry by spouting bromides, while secretly betraying its interests by refusing to investigate the role of infection. The liability lawyers seeking to portray the tobacco industry as villains couldn't have asked for an easier target than the one C.C. Little handed them.

"Dr. Little at the time was under the influence of the antivirus school of thought - the word virus was taboo, as at least one young staff member discovered - but other laboratories picked up the work and proved the existence of a mammary tumor virus." (Clarence Cook Little, by George D. Snell. In: Biographical Memoirs, Vol. 46, National Academy of Sciences 1975, pp. 240-263.) In fact, the "antivirus school of thought" always seems to be in the driver's seat - including when they periodically use virus research as a ploy to get their hands on more funding.

As Managing Director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer in 1936, he testified on the National Cancer Act of 1937, accompanied by ASCC Chairman James Ewing. ASCC directors included Winthrop W. Aldrich (Nelson A. Rockefeller's uncle); Haven Emerson, Professor of Public Health at Columbia University and member of the advisory board of Yale's Institute of Human Relations; Samuel Clark Harvey, Chairman of Surgery at Yale and a longtime crony of Harvey Cushing; Frederick L. Hoffman, Prudential Life Insurance statistician; Thomas Parran, who became Surgeon General from 1936 to 1948; H. Gideon Wells, an advisor to the original Lasker Foundation of 1928; and future TIRC Scientific Advisory Board members Stanley P. Reimann and Edwin B. Wilson..

Between 1939 and 1942, Little was Vice President, Chairman of the Advisory Council, and a director of the Birth Control Federation of America. During this period, Mary Lasker was Secretary, a member of the Executive Committee, and a director. Little and anti-smoking actuarial study author Raymond Pearl were involved with the American Birth Control League between 1921 and 1928.

Little claimed that "For decades many efforts have been made in laboratories to find a germ or germs reponsible for cancer. They have not been successful." (The Fight on Cancer, by Clarence C. Little. Public Affairs Pamphlets No. 38, Public Affairs Committee, Inc., 1939. Printed for and distributed by the American Society for the Control of Cancer, Inc.)

"Rear Admiral Charles S. Stephenson, USN, retired, an authority on preventive medicine, has been named the acting managing director of the American Cancer Society, it was announced yesterday by that organization. Admiral Stephenson, who joined the society several months ago to direct the work of its research division, succeeds Dr. Clarence C. Little, managing director of the society since 1929. Dr. Little will continue as a member of the society's board of directors but will devote much of his time to the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory at Bar Harbor, of which he has been the director since 1929." (New Cancer Society Head. New York Times, May 29, 1945.)

Stephenson sent letters to Joseph F. Cullman, then president of Benson & Hedges, and Paul M. Hahn, Chairman of the still-forming Tobacco Industry Research Council, with his personal background, which failed to mention his ties to the American Cancer Society, and urging them to use Navy records for a study of cancer. (Stephenson to Cullman, Jan. 5, 1954; Stephenson to Hahn, Jan. 5, 1954). Hahn thanked Stephenson for his letter and informed him that the TIRC was still in the process of formation (Hahn to Stephenson, Jan. 7, 1954). Hahn also referred Stephenson's letter to Bert C. Goss of Hill & Knowlton, with the comment, "I believe you will wish to refer the enclosed letter (from Rear Admiral Charles S. Stephenson, Medical Corps, U.S.N., Retired), to the Subcommittee of Research Directors." (Hahn to Goss, Jan. 7, 1954.)

A 1954 Hill & Knowlton memo said that C.C. Little was a longtime friend of Roy E. Larsen, the President of Luce Publications. (Confidential Memorandum, Hill & Knowlton, Inc. Oct. 7, 1954.)

Biological aspects of cancer research. CC Little. J Natl Cancer Inst 1958 Mar;80(8):441-465. Little expounds on his favorite subject, gene research in mice. Needless to say, his Jackson Laboratory (which remains a veritable CC Little fan club) profited from the mouse experiments, even if they were of no benefit to smokers.

The American Cancer Society, 1946: Dr. Frank E. Adair, President; Elmer H. Bobst, president of William R. Warner & Co., was chairman of the executive committee; Eric A. Johnston, chairman; Dr. Cornelius P. Rhoads, director of Memorial Hospital, was chairman of the Committee on Growth. Dr. Clarence C. Little told of the society's educational program, at the ACS's annual dinner for the National Association of Sciences Writers at the Biltmore Hotel. (War Data Sought in Cancer Studies. New York Times, Jan. 9, 1946.)

The Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory

Founders of the Jackson Memorial Laboratory included Edsel Ford and Roscoe B. Jackson, the President of Hudson Motorcar Company. (The Beginnings of Cancer Research Centers in the United States, by Harold P. Rusch. April 28, 1982.)

The Rockefeller Foundation contributed $40,000 for 40,000 mice at Jackson Laboratory ($1 Each For 40,000 Mice. New York Times, Jan. 30, 1938.) It was also the beneficiary of a ball given by Mrs. Timothee Adamowski, Mrs. Eugene du Pont, Mrs. William Rodman Fay, Mrs. E. Victor Loew, Mrs. Peter Augustus Jay, Mrs. Charles B. Bradley, Mrs. William Pierson Hamilton, Mrs. Louis C. Lehr, Mrs. Robert Hall McCormick, Mrs. Harold A. Howard and Dr. Augustus Thorndike (Benefit Dances For Bar Harbor. New York Times, July 30, 1939.) Mrs. William McCormick Blair Sr. (Skull & Bones 1907), Mrs. Harold A. Howard, Mrs. Robert H. McCormick, Mrs. Charles B. Pike, and Mrs. Charles H. Frost were Chicago-area benefactors. (Maine Summer Colonists Plan Cancer Benefit. Chicago Daily Tribune, Aug. 27, 1939.)

The laboratory acquired the Aldersea estate from James M., Edward C., George A., and Oliver W. Robbins, heirs of Miss Mary Coles of Philadelphia (Aldersea Becomes Gift. New York Times, Sep. 3, 1942.) The Rockefeller Foundation and Mrs. Albert D. Lasker funded a conference on heredity and cancer, at which causes other than heredity were emphasized (Experts Minimize Heredity in Cancer, by Waldemar Kaempffert. New York Times, Sep. 22, 1944.) The Rockefeller Foundation made a grant of $282,000 for "a five-year study of the relative roles played by heredity and environment in the determination of intelligence and emotional patterns" (Genetic Study Planned. New York Times, May 7, 1945).

After its destruction by a forest fire in October 1947, the Laboratory received $50,000 from the Damon Runyan Cancer Fund (Runyan Fund Aids Laboratory. New York Times, Nov. 12, 1947.) The National Advisory Cancer Council of the US Public Health Service voted an emergency grant of $250,000 for the purpose of rebuilding. The NACC also gave Memorial Hospital "the largest aggregation of Federal cancer grants ever given to one institution, a total of $142,550 for six projects." Dr. A. LaCassagne of the Pasteur Institute, and Dr. L. Doljanski of the Hebrew Institute, Palestine, also received grants. "Dr. Leonard A. Scheele, director of the Cancer Institute, said that these were 'to assist in the mobiliation of the international attack on cancer." (New York Hospital Gets Cancer Grant. New York Times, Dec. 13, 1947). The Jackson Memorial Laboratory also received $123,000 from the Jackson and Webber families of Detroit, $34,390 from individuals and local divisions of the American Cancer Society, $85,000 from the Rockefeller Foundation, and $20,000 worth of surplus property from the War Assets Administration ($662,729 Is Given to Cancer Research. New York Times, May 28, 1948). John D. Rockefeller Jr. donated 30 acres of land (30 Acres of Land Given Laboratory. New York Times, Oct. 22, 1948).

James Rowland Angell, the president of Yale University from 1921-37, was president of the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory from 1947 until his death in 1949. (Jackson Laboratory Re-Elects Dr. Angell. New York Times, Aug. 23, 1948; Dr. Angell Is Dead; Yale Ex-President. New York Times, March 5, 1949.)

In 1949, the board of scientific directors of the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory was created. Dr. Leslie C. Dunn, head of the genetics department of Columbia University, was named president; Dr. James B. Murphy of Rockefeller University, vice president. Other members were C.C. Little; Dr. Frank Beach, professor of psychology at Yale University; Dr. Homer Smith, professor of physiology at New York University; Dr. Merel Tuve, physics professor at Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Edwin B. Wilson, vice president of the National Academy of Sciences; and Dr. Sewall Wright, professor of genetics at the University of Chicago. The board of trustees was enlarged to include Richard Webber Jackson, vice president of the Hudson Motor Car Co., as president; Dr. Dunn as vice president; William P. Newman, president of the Eastern Trust and Banking Company of Bangor, Maine, as treasurer; and C.C. Little as secretary. (Dr. L.C. Dunn Is Named Science Board Head. New York Times, Aug. 27, 1949.)

The women's auxiliary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars donated $60,000 in 1948 and $50,000 in 1949 to the Roscoe B. Jackson Laboratory. Mrs. Evelyn Monaco was president of the auxiliary. ($15,000 Research Gift. New York Times, Oct. 27, 1949.) The Rockefeller Foundation granted $50,000 a year for three years to continue behavior studies of animals, concerning "the psychological implications of the origin and nature of aggressiveness, adjustment to parents and to siblings, shyness and timidity, stability under stress and a host of other basic behavior problems." (Notes on Science. New York Times, Feb. 26, 1950.) Robert A. Gantt, vice president of the International Telephone & Telegraph Corporation; James H. Ripley, retired civil engineer; and Dr. Edward R. Hays were elected to the governing board of the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory (3 Picked For Laboratory Board. New York Times, Aug. 27, 1950.) The 13-acre estate of Morris Hawkes on Mount Desert Island was donated to the laboratory by heirs Newbold Morris, George L.K. Morris, and Stephen V.C. Morris (Maine Estate Given to Cancer Institute. New York Times, Apr. 13, 1951.)

The annual operating budget of the Jackson Memorial Laboratory for 1952-53 was set at $710,470. "About three-fifths of this is covered by grants-in-aid already pledged from the National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the Atomic Energy Commission, the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York Foundation and other philanthropic funds." Clarence Cook Little proclaimed that "The scientific world must now focus its research efforts on constitutional diseases which are non-infectious," and that "The battle of the infectious diseases is virtually won... The fight against cancer, heart disease, arteriosclerosis and others that claim the most lives each year, has scarcely begun." (Jackson Laboratory Back on Fiscal Feet. New York Times, Aug. 18, 1952.)

"Richard W. Jackson, 40 years old, Detroit civic leader and vice president of the Hudson Motor Car Company, was found dead in his automobile today. He had been shot once through the right temple and a Luger pistol lay beside him. The body was found by a policeman in suburban Grosse Pointe Shores, who approached to ticket the car for illegal parking. Officials said that there was no sign of a struggle and that Mr. Jackson's wallet and briefcase were undisturbed. Mr. Jackson was the son of the late Roscoe B. Jackson, a founder of the Hudson Company and its president from 1923 until his death in 1929. Friends disclosed that he had been under treatment for an internal ailment. Mr. Jackson joined the Hudson Company in 1933, following his graduation from Yale University.... He was president of the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Foundation for Cancer Research at Bar Harbor, Me...." (Detroit Civic Leader Found Dead In Auto. New York Times, Sep. 12, 1952.) Dr. Frank E. Adair was elected to replace Jackson. (Dr. Adair Heads Laboratory. New York Times, Nov. 23, 1952.)

Dr. Frank Beach and Dr. Sewall Wright were also members of the board of trustees in 1953. Howard B. Andervont and Edwin B. Wilson, members of the Scientific Advisory Board of the TIRC in the 1950s, were also trustees and scientific directors of the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory between 1953 and 1959. Harold V. Bozell, retired president of General Telephone Company, was a "warm personal friend" of Howard Cullman, and they served on the board of board of Beekman-Downtown Hospital together. Cullman recommended him to Timothy Hartnett for fund raising for the TIRC, July 12, 1954.

Retired Vice Admiral Leland P. Lovette was chairman of the national fund-raising campaign in 1954. Patrons of an art benefit at Kennedy Galleries include Dr. and Mrs. Frank E. Adair, Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, and Mrs. and Mrs. Hugh Knowlton (Audubon Exhibition Planned As Benefit. New York Times, Oct. 31, 1954). "The board of directors of the New York Chapter of Jackson Laboratory Association, a fund-raising arm for the laboratory, includes Miss Dorothy Armbruster, Mrs. Harold S. Osborne, Mrs. Thurlow M. Gordon, Mrs. Patricia Rinehart Campbell, Mrs. Elsa H. Naumburg, Edwin F. Chinlund, Curt H. Reisinger, Robert A. Gantt, Col. Frank R. Mead, Oscar M. Taylor, Hugh Knowlton, John Davies Stamm and James H. Ripley." (Art Show to Aid Fight on Cancer. New York Times, May 14, 1955.)

C.C. Little was elected to a six-year term on the Board of Overseers of Harvard University (Named to Harvard Unit. New York Times, June 17, 1955.) Freddy B. Homburger was a research associate at the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory (Letters to the Times. Aiding Medical Research, by Freddy Homburger, M.D. New York Times, July 17, 1955.)

The Ford Foundation, under president and chairman H. Rowan Gaither, gave the Division of Behavior Studies of the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory a $300,000 grant. The foundation's largest grant, of $3,628,000, however, was to the Foundations' Fund for Research in Psychiatry of New Haven, Conn., whose president throughout its existence was Frederick Redlich, the late dean of Yale Medical School. (Ford Fund Gives $6,826,850 For Mental Health Research. New York Times, June 25, 1956.)

Little retired as president and director of the Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory in 1956, and was succeeded by Hugh Knowlton, a member of the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Company as president; and by Earl Green, asociate professor of zoology at Ohio State University, as director. (Banker Heads Group For Cancer Research. New York Times, Aug. 29, 1956.)

Roscoe B. Jackson Memorial Laboratory, Contributions Received, January 16-24, 1961.

"$35 Million Bioinformatics Grant Awarded to the Jackson Laboratory," Jackson Laboratory Media Release, Aug. 18, 2001. This is from the NIH, our tax dollars. In comparison, their 2001 Annual Report boasts of $7.2 million from 1500 individual donors from the wealthy Bar Harbor set who are their constituency, while their total FY2001 budget was $97.8 million.

cast 05-11-08