Statement Urging Congressional Action To Implement a National Cancer Program.

THE SECOND supplemental appropriations bill 1 which I signed yesterday included an extra $100 million to launch an intensive campaign to find a cure for cancer. I had called for this appropriation in both my State of the Union Message and in my special message to the Congress on a national health strategy, and I strongly commend the Congress for acting favorably on this request.

¹The bill (H.R. 8190), approved May 25, 1971, is Public Law 92-18 (85 Stat. 40).

But money alone will not be enough. The way we organize our work in this field is also extremely important. For this reason I proposed to the Congress on May 11 legislation to establish a new cancer cure program, one that is independently budgeted with its Director responsible directly to the President of the United States.

I now urge the Congress to match its prompt action in appropriating funds with further prompt action to implement this new program.

As I have said before, the time has come in America when the same kind of concentrated effort that split the atom and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease.