TABLE OF CONTENTS
Descriptive Summary
Biographical Note
Collection Summary
Index Terms
Related Materials
Administrative Information
Restrictions
Series Descriptions
Series 1: Committee For The Nation's Health Records, 1946-1956
Series 2: Harry S. Truman Files, 1945-1956
Series 3: American Medical Association Attack On Truman Health Program, 1939-1953
Series 4: Legislation: Murray-Wagner-Dingell Bills, 1935-1955
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Archives and Modern Manuscripts Program, History of Medicine Division
Processed by HMD Staff
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Dan Jenkins
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| Collection Number: | MS Film 32 |
| Creator | Committee for the Nation's Health Records |
| Title | Microfilm Reels of the Committee for the Nation's Health Records from the Michael M. Davis Collection, In the New York Academy of Medicine
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| Dates: | 1939-1955 (bulk 1946-1955) |
| Quantity: | 12 Microfilm reels |
| Abstract: | Incorporated 1946 with Michael M. Davis, Ph.D., as chair of its Executive Committee, its purpose was to promote national health insurance. With the election of Eisenhower in 1952 it began to function as a health information office for organized labor. The committee was abolished in January, 1956. |
The Committee for the Nation's Health (CNH) was incorporated on 23 February 1946 with Michael M. Davis as chairman of its Executive Committee. Davis was by the time of the organization of the CNH one of the major figures in health care policy in the United States. Born on 19 Nov. 1879 in New York, Davis received a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1906. First in Boston and later in New York, Davis led movements to extend dispensary services to people of moderate means. He then served as director of medical services for the Julius Rosenwald Fund and chaired the foundation-funded Committee on Research in Medical Economics before assuming leadership of the CNH.
The CNH's initial goal was to lobby for the support of national health insurance. As it was originally organized, the CNH had four major functions: providing technical information for sponsors of health legislation; preparing and distributing promotional literature; coordinating activities among other groups favoring national health insurance; and encouraging other groups to join in the campaign for national health insurance. Initially funding for the committee came from members of the Julius Rosenwald family and Albert and Mary Lasker. In 1949, however, disagreement arose within the CNH over whether the CNH should continue to concentrate its efforts on promoting national health insurance or, as the Laskers argued, instead should work to support less controversial aspects of the Truman administration's health program, such as increased federal funding for medical education and research. The Lasker position was eventually rejected by the CNH, at which point the Laskers and Rosenwalds withdrew their support for the organization. Organized labor then became the chief financial supporters of the committee, with some additional support from the Democratic National Committee.
With the election of Eisenhower in 1952 the prospects for national health insurance dimmed. As a consequence the CNH shifted its attention away from lobbying for health insurance and instead began to function as a health information office for organized labor. During the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, both organizations proposed to establish their own health information office. With their final function absorbed by the new union, the CNH was abolished in January, 1956.
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Minutes, memoranda, publications, correspondence, draft legislation, and other administrative records relating to the Committee's lobbying efforts on behalf of national health insurance during the Truman administration. Includes copies of many of Truman's speeches on health matters; material on the opposition of the National Physicians' Committee for the Extension of Medical Service and American Medical Association to national health insurance; and material on health legislation introduced by James Murray, Robert F. Wagner, and John Dingell. Most of the material was collected by the Committee for the Nation's Health; some of it derives from Michael M. Davis, in whose papers the records now reside.
Organized into the following series:
I. Committee for the Nation's Health records
II. Harry S. Truman files
III. American Medical Association attack on Truman health program
IV. Murray-Wagner-Dingell bills
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Restrictions
Restrictions
Collection is restricted. Contact the Reference Staff for information regarding access. For online customer service, please visit custserv@nlm.nih.gov.
Copyright
Permission to cite, quote, publish, or reproduce any unpublished material in the CNH records should be sought from the New York Academy of Medicine. Contact the Reference Staff for details regarding rights. For online customer service, please visit custserv@nlm.nih.gov.
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| These terms are indexed in the National Library of Medicine's online catalog LocatorPlus. Researchers wishing to find related materials should search the catalog using these terms. |
| MeSH Subjects |
| | National Health Insurance, United States -- legislation |
| | Politics |
| Personal Names |
| | Davis, Michael Marks, 1879-1971 |
| | Dingell, John D. (John David), 1894-1955 |
| | Falk, I. S. (Isidore Sydney), 1899-1984 |
| | Frothingham, Channing, 1881-1959 |
| | Lasker, Mary |
| | Murray, James E. |
| | Wagner, Robert F. (Robert Ferdinand), 1877-1953 |
| Corporate Names |
| | American Medical Association |
| | National Physicians' Committee for the Extension of Medical Service |
| | United States. President (1945-1953 : Truman) |
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The records of the Committee for the Nation's Health comprise part of the "Organizations" section of the Library of Social and Economic Aspects of Medicine of Michael M. Davis held by the New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM). The index to the complete collection is available from the New York Academy of Medicine; a copy is also found in the donor file on the Davis collection in the History of Medicine Division. For more information about the materials in the Davis library, see Lee Ash, "The Michael M. Davis Collection of Social and Economic Aspects of Medicine," Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine 43 (July 1967): 598-608.
The CNH records were microfilmed by the NYAM for the Harry S. Truman library for its collections in 1962; additional CNH material was filmed and added to the collection in 1972. In addition, the Truman library also filmed some material in the Davis papers related to the interests of the CNH but not filed with the CNH materials in the Davis collection at the NYAM. This supplementary material is found in series 2-4 (described below).
Committee for the Nation's Health. Microfilm Reels of the Committee for the Nation's Health Records from the Michael M. Davis Collection, In the New York Academy of Medicine. 1939-1955. Located in: Modern Manuscripts Collection, History of Medicine Division, National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, MD.; MS Film 32.
A copy of the microfilm on deposit at the Harry S. Truman library was purchased by the National Library of Medicine from the Truman library and with the permission of the NYAM in 1989. Accession #585.
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Series 1: Committee For The Nation's Health Records, 1946-1956
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| Series 1 contains the CNH's administrative records, covering the organization's political and financial activity from 1946 until its demise early in 1956. Most of the material was stored in yearly binders, but some information was also kept loose in folders. Transitions between binders have been inferred from the changes in binder tab position (from top to side, and vice versa), labelling styles, and dates of the materials contained in each section. In this guide to the microfilmed papers of the CNH, the titles given on file folder and binder separator labels have been retained with only minor changes or additions. Unfortunately the titles are not always an accurate reflection of date or content; hence the researcher should use these titles as more of an indication of his or her position in the microfilmed records rather than as exact guides to the contents of each file or binder division.
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| Included in the records are memos, copies of minutes, and the financial reports sent to Executive Committee members; reprinted articles, news clippings, and CNH policy statements and strategy plans used in the organization's campaign for national health insurance; and materials produced by the CNH's opposition (especially the American Medical Association). Although these papers give a full portrait of the CNH's public relations campaign to gain the support of individuals, political and media organizations, and union locals and media, the CNH files contain little actual correspondence. They do, however, contain the drafts and final versions of fundraising appeals, speeches, press releases, articles, and pamphlets on national health insurance, as well as notes and analyses by Davis, CNH Chairman Dr. Channing Frothingham, and Education Director Frederick E. Robin.
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| The material in series 1 should be supplemented with the four folders of Executive Committee memos and minutes for 1948 and 1949 filmed in 1972 and found on reel twelve.
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| Reel |
| | 1946-1947 |
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| 1 | | | Early History |
| 1 | | | Minutes of Executive Committee, 1946 |
| 1 | | | Memos of Executive Committee, 1946-1947 |
| 1 | | | Minutes of Executive Committee, 1947 |
| 12 | | | Minutes of Executive Committee, 1947-1948 |
| 1 | | Complete File of Mimeographed Material, 1948 |
| 1 | | AMA Anti-National Health Insurance File [misfiled here], 1949-1951 |
| 2 | | AMA Anti-National Health Insurance file (cont.), 1949-1951 |
| | [Binder, marked "Frederick E. Robin,"], [1949?] |
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| 2 | | | Our Bill |
| 2 | | | Costs |
| 2 | | | Veterans |
| 2 | | | Support |
| 2 | | | Speeches, Articles |
| 2 | | | Flanders-Herter [Bill] |
| 2 | | | Hill Bill |
| 2 | | | Taft Bill |
| 2 | | | British |
| 2 | | | Foreign |
| 2 | | | Voluntaries |
| 2 | | | Doctors |
| 2 | | | "50 Questions" [pamphlets on African-American health care] |
| | [1950 Binder] |
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| 2 | | | Financial Reports |
| 2 | | | Minutes of Executive Committee |
| 2 | | | Memos of Executive Committee |
| 2 | | | Appeal Mailings |
| 2 | | | CNH Bulletins |
| 2 | | | Printed Material |
| 2 | | | Mimeo Material |
| 2 | | | Handbook Mailings |
| 3 | | | Handbook Mailings (cont.) |
| 3 | | | Special Mailings |
| 3 | | | Press Releases |
| | [1951 Binder] |
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| 3 | | | Mimeo Material |
| 3 | | | Handbook Mailings |
| 3 | | | Special Mailings |
| 3 | | | Special Mailings |
| 3 | | | Press Releases |
| 3 | | | Financial Statements |
| 3 | | | Minutes of Executive Committee |
| 3 | | | Memos of Executive Committee |
| 3 | | | Mailings to Board of Directors and Honorary Vice-Chairman |
| 3 | | | Appeal Mailings |
| 3 | | | CNH Bulletins |
| 3 | | | Printed Material |
| | [Binder, 1951, 1952] |
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| 3 | | | Memos to Executive Committee, 1951-1952 [Contains only 1951] |
| 3 | | | Minutes, 1951 Meetings, 1952 Meetings [Contains only 1951] |
| 3 | | | CNH Bulletins, [1951-1952] |
| 3 | | | Memos to Officers and Board of Directors [1951] |
| 3 | | | News Releases and Special Mailings [1951] |
| 3 | | | Special Mimeographed Material [1951] |
| 3 | | | Reprinted Material [1951] |
| 4 | | | Reprinted Material [1951] (cont.) |
| | [1952 Binder] |
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| 4 | | | Mimeo Material |
| 4 | | | Printed Material |
| 4 | | | CNH Bulletins |
| 4 | | | Press Releases |
| 4 | | | Minutes of Exectuvie Committee |
| 4 | | | Memos to Executive Committee |
| 4 | | | Financial Statements |
| 4 | | | Mailings to Board |
| 4 | | | Special Mailings |
| 4 | | | Appeal Mailings |
| | [1953 Folder] |
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| 4 | | | Executive Committee Meetings and Memos |
| 4 | | | Financial Statements |
| 4 | | | Legislative Bulletins |
| 4 | | | Labor Health Information Bulletins |
| 4 | | | Health and Welfare [Labor Health and Welfare Series] |
| 4 | | | Bulletins |
| 4 | | | Press Releases |
| 4 | | | Special Mailings |
| 4 | | | Miscellaneous Mimeo |
| 4 | | | Questionnaires |
| | [1954 Binder] |
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| 4 | | | Executive Committee Memos and Minutes |
| 4 | | | Financial Statements |
| 4 | | | Appeals |
| 5 | | | Appeals (cont.) |
| 5 | | | Legislative Bulletins and Analyses |
| 5 | | | Labor Health Information Bulletin |
| 5 | | | Labor Health and Welfare Series |
| 5 | | | Health Fact Series |
| 5 | | | CNH Publications |
| 5 | | | Special Mailings |
| 5 | | | Press Releases |
| 5 | | | Questionnaires |
| | [1955-1956?] |
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| 5 | | | Executive Committee Memos and Minutes, 1955 & 1956 |
| 5 | | | Financial Statements |
| 5 | | | CNH Appeals |
| 5 | | | Legislative Bulletins |
| 5 | | | Labor Health and Welfare |
| 5 | | | Special Mailings |
| 6 | | | Special Mailings (cont.) |
| 6 | | | Press Releases |
| | Committee Records Cont'd. [filmed in 1972] |
| 12 | | | Executive Committee - Memos, 1948 |
| 12 | | | Executive Committee - Memos, 1949 |
| 12 | | | Executive Committee - Memos, 1948 |
| 12 | | | Executive Committee - Memos, 1949 |
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Series 2: Harry S. Truman Files, 1945-1956
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| Michael M. Davis's files on Harry S. Truman contain mostly published transcripts of Truman's speeches on national health insurance, as well as newspaper accounts and other materials related to Truman's public statements on health care and health economics issues. Most folders in this section are headed by the dates and occasions of Truman's speeches, and sometimes contain notes by Davis (and possibly others) on text and policy. |
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| Reel |
| 6 | | Miscellaneous, [1950-1955] |
| 6 | | Budget Message FY 1954, Jan. 9, 1953 |
| 6 | | Truman on Health Insurance, [1948?-1955] |
| 6 | | Address to Assn. of Military Surgeons, Nov. 20, 1952 |
| 6 | | San Francisco Speech, Oct. 4, 1952 |
| 6 | | American Hospital Association Speech, Sept. 16, 1952 |
| 6 | | State of the Union Message, Jan. 9, 1952 |
| 6 | | Dedication of NIH Clinical Center Speech, June 22, 1951 |
| 6 | | Budget Message [FY 1952], Jan. 15, 1951 |
| 6 | | State of the Union Message, Jan. 8, 1951 |
| 6 | | Message re: Aid to Medical Education, Local Public Health Units, Nov. 28, 1950 |
| 6 | | Message to Congress, July 1950 |
| 6 | | Message re: Hoover Reorganization Plan No. 27, May 31, 1950 |
| 6 | | [Democratic] Jefferson-Jackson Day Address, Feb. 16, 1950 |
| 6 | | State of the Union Message, Jan. 9, 1950 |
| 6 | | Reorganization of Executive Branch Message to 81st Congress, June 20, 1949 |
| 6 | | Message to 81st Congress on National Health Program, April 22, 1949 |
| 6 | | Budget Message [FY 1950], Jan. 10, 1949 |
| 6 | | State of the Union Message, Jan. 5, 1949 |
| 6 | | National Health and Disability Insurance Message to 80th Congress, May 19, 1947 |
| 6 | | State of the Union Message, 1947 |
| 6 | | Message to Congress re: Health Needs, Nov. 19, 1945 |
| 6 | | Message to Congress re: Inflation, Housing, July 27, 1948 |
| 6 | | Harry S. Truman [contains general clippings about Taft, acceptance speeches, etc.] |
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Series 3: American Medical Association Attack On Truman Health Program, 1939-1953
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| Series 3 appears to consist of material found in three distinct subseries in Michael M. Davis's files on the American Medical Association (AMA). The first subseries consists of materials on the AMA's opposition to the CNH, while the third details the similar activities of the AMA-associated National Physicians' Committee for the Extension of Medical Service (NPC). Correspondence, publications, and news clippings related to the AMA's and NPC's campaigns can be found here. The second subseries consists of six folders on the campaign against national health insurance and the CNH by Whitaker and Baxter, a San Francisco-based political public relations firm hired by the AMA to direct their national education campaign. All three subseries contain examples of CNH's response to the AMA efforts. |
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| Additional material can be found misfiled on reel 1. |
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| Reel |
| | American Medical Association, 1951-1953 |
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| 6 | | | AMA-CNH Releases and Bulletins, 1953 |
| 6 | | | CNH Bulletins and Releases on AMA, 1952 |
| 6 | | | CNH Bulletins and Releases - AMA , [1951-1952] |
| 6 | | | [AMA - In Politics, 1952 [actual dates of clippings and materials vary] |
| | Whitaker and Baxter [Advertising Agency], 1946-1954 |
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| 6 | | | Whitaker and Baxter, 1952-1954 |
| 6 | | | Whitaker and Baxter, 1946-1947 |
| 6 | | | Whitaker and Baxter - California, [1946-1950?] |
| 6 | | | Whitaker and Baxter - [David] Brown's Resignation, [1949] |
| 6 | | | Whitaker and Baxter - McWilliams Articles The Nation, [1951] |
| 6 | | | Whitaker and Baxter - Campaign Plan, [1949-1951] |
| | National Physicians Committee |
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| 6 | | | National Physicians Committee - Pamphlets |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Pamphlets |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Ads, Pamphlets, Mailings |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Miscellaneous |
| 7 | | | AMA - Comic Book |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee and AMA |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee, 1946-1949 |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee, 1943-1945 |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee, 1939-1942 |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Editorials re: Cartoon Contest |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - CNH Exploitation of Cartoon Contest |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Counter-Attack Material |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Finances |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - History |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Hostile Press |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Lobbying |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - CNH Releases |
| 7 | | | National Physicians Committee - Dan Gilbert |
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Series 4: Legislation: Murray-Wagner-Dingell Bills, 1935-1955
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| Series 4 holds CNH correspondence and materials related to health and health insurance bills introduced into Congress in the 1940s and 1950s, principally those sponsored by Congressmen James Murray, Robert F. Wagner, John Dingell, and others. These thirty folders contain draft and finished copies of these bills, congressional reports and hearings on health insurance and related subjects, and notes, comments, and analyses by Davis and other CNH officials. Also included are news clippings, mailings, and correspondence related to specific bills, including correspondence with Murray, Wagner, Dingell, I.S. Falk, and others. |
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| Reel |
| | Wagner-Murray, Etc. Health Insurance Bills |
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| 7 | | | National Health Insurance - Dingell: HR 95 |
| 8 | | | National Health Insurance - Dingell: HR 95 (cont.) |
| 8 | | | [Title illegible, perhaps "1949....Insurance Billl....Sen. Murray"] |
| 8 | | | Analyses of Health Bills, 1948-1949 |
| 8 | | | S. 1679 - National Health Insurance and Public Health Act, 1949 |
| 8 | | | Re-Draft of S. 5 into S. 1679 by PHS, March 1949 |
| 8 | | | S. 5 (HR 783) National Health Insurance Bill, 1949 |
| 8 | | | Congressional Record - Excerpts From |
| 8 | | | Hearings, National Health Bills, 1949 |
| 8 | | | S. 1520 - Murray Wagner Pepper Bill, 1947 |
| 9 | | | S. 1520 Murray-Wagner-Pepper Bill (cont.), 1947 |
| 9 | | | Hearings - National Health Bills, 1946-1947 |
| 9 | | | Originally Loose in Drawer [contains miscellaneous reports and pamphlets related to health insurance bills] |
| 9 | | | Analyses, Comparisons re: Various Health Insurance Bills, 1943-1946 |
| 9 | | | S. 1606 - Wagner-Murray Bill, 1946 |
| 10 | | | S. 1606 Wagner-Murray Bill (cont.), 1946 |
| 10 | | | S. 1050 - Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill, |
| 10 | | | S. 1161 - Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill, 1943 |
| 10 | | | Health Insurance, 1935 |
| 10 | | | Various Health Insurance Bills |
| 11 | | | Various Health Insurance Bills (cont.) |
| 11 | | | Wagner Bill Requests |
| 11 | | | Wagner Bill - Social Security Committee, 1944 |
| 11 | | | Con Wagner Bill - General Batch of Material against Bill |
| 11 | | | Wagner Bill - Batch of MMD's letters about Bill, Analyzes [sic], Reports, etc...[becomes illegible] |
| 11 | | | Robert F. Wagner, Sr., 1939 |
| 11 | | | Pro Wagner Bill - General Batch of Material for Bill |
| 11 | | | Wagner Bill - Temporary Folder |
| 11 | | | Wagner Bill Propaganda |
| 11 | | | Robert F. Wagner, Sr., 1940 |
| 11 | | | Robert F. Wagner, Sr. [no date] |
| 11 | | | Wagner Bill - Medical Society Material On |
| 11 | | | Wagner Bill - NPC: Batch of material against bill, National Physicians Committee |
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