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We're delighted to this time that Mary Robert Wagner been able to come and we've asked him to give it word of greeting to you on this happy occasion. Or. Much talked father says Lasker under the Kennedy of our what when it is and ladies and gentlemen that's in my pledge over a number of years now to have the opportunity of these luncheons to give a word of greeting and express the appreciation of the city to. Eminent and wonderful lady Mrs Alaska for her contributions and not only to our city but to the country and to the world and to say that one of the inspirations we have is her tremendous interest in so many of our Civic Enterprises particularly in the field of research and blues and discussions with herself and Dr Leona Baumgartner at the time. That began the program of. The first I believe in the United States on the first on any minutes by that any minister palate they of creating a health research council where we now spend some eight billion dollars a year in research here for I don't need the benefit of the people of New York City but with the leave the people of the United States in the world as well and in that way we're trying to emulate some of the wonderful things that Alaska Foundation has done this is last year in particular and we do why do pay our respects to the three award winners whose. Activities and the work that they've done along not just to us not just to the country but to the world thank you very much. We have a great privilege today. Of hearing from one of the most vital forces in American and world affairs today. In introducing Senator elect Robert Kennedy to you. I feel that I'm introducing an old friend because he was born not far from where I there. And the people in the town of Brookline are now beginning to do something about taking that house. Right now. To make sure the fish will be preserved for posterity. We know that the senator is deeply interested in health and in medicine we know of his deep regard. For the programs concerned with those who are less fortunate than most most of us perhaps you may not be aware of the fact that he is. Very much interested in the National Institutes of Health and to study the structure because I quote from have recent books when he talks of doing something about law and justice. But it is very possible he says that our laws and our society would benefit to benefit from a coordinated approach such as a national institute of Criminal Justice patterned after the national health institutions. There in looking for one sentence which might characterize him I take something written by Theodore long way in an introduction to Mr Kennedy's last book. And this he says has to do with the role of the individual in search of his own dignity and I think this summarizes Mr Kennedy. Third. What I like best about what he has written what he has written however is a dedication to this book. To my mother and father for what they gave to the past and to the present and to my children for what they may give to the future and I know that all of us hope that the senator elect will act as the great bridge between the past of his father and mother and their present and the present in the future of his children and in that bridge will be found the making of a world that would be a better place for all of us senator can't. Lose than. Mrs LASKER And Dr Klein talk to Reuben Dr tobacco talk to father Congressman folk at a distinguished guest at the head table and ladies and gentlemen. I am honored today to be in this company of distinguished medical men whose accomplishments stir our hopes and our imaginations and deserve our everlasting gratitude Dr Klein who is receiving a second Laskar award has made it possible for thousands of our fellow citizens who suffer from mental illness to lead meaningful and useful lives Dr de Becchio already a hero in the victory over polio and Dr Reuben by their research into viruses have given fresh cause to believe that a cure for cancer can be found and in honoring that we also honor the memory of a great humanitarian Albert LASKER. And honor his wife Mary Lasker who carries on his good works President Kennedy I might say greatly value her friendship as do all the members of the Kennedy family and I think not only do all of us in this room or a great debt of gratitude toward her but I think many people all over this country and all over this world because of our special interest in mental illness and mental retardation we and our family have come to appreciate perhaps more than most laypeople the great contribution that she has made to the health of people everywhere but is not only that though that would be enough for Mrs Lasko has also given effective intellectual and political leadership to so many of our people so I'm delighted to be here. Thanks she said to me before I stood up there don't mention anything about me because it won't be very helpful but. That's the way Mrs Laskar is and I disobey her because I think really she has made such a contribution to in all the fields in which you are interested in but really in all the fields that all of us are interested in just as citizens of the world I reminded of a contemporaries description of Thomas Jefferson as a gentleman who could calculate an eclipse ellipse survey in a state tion artery plan an edifice try a cause break a horse dance the minuet and play the violin I do not know if Mrs Alaskan can break a horse but I know that you can do all the other things that many of us thank you thank you this versatility the vitality this deep concern to alleviate suffering and affliction. Put to the service of our country is what distinguishes a society of free people and really is our greatest resource and I also want to Ed in that connection what John Fogarty has done not only what all of you have done and those of you are at the head table but really the major difference that Congressman Fogarty and the leadership that he's provide and the major difference that he's made in the Congress of the United States and therefore the direction in which the Congress and the federal government move I think is largely due to the leadership that one man gave and then John for me. So I want to congratulate Dr Klein Dr Reuben Dr dub echo and I want to thank Mrs Laster and all of you for what you have done the great engineer Charles F. Kettering once observed that no diseases incurable It only seems so because of the ignorance of men over the past half century we've been narrowing the spectrum of this ignorance spectacular advances in life expectancy due mainly to medical research have had enormous impact on human welfare and upon our economy the average white male born in one thousand nine hundred had a life expectancy of forty seven years even though youngsters began working early you know those days the working life expectancy of the average white male born when McKinley entered office was only thirty one years. The nonwhite child born in one thousand nine hundred had a life expectancy of only thirty three years and a working life expectancy of twenty one years but by nineteen sixty. The life expectancy of white males had increased to sixty seven years and for nonwhite males to sixty four years further or working life expectancies had risen to forty three years for whites and thirty eight years for non-whites we can calculate what this meant to our country as it emerged as a world power of the sixty seven million people who were employed in one thousand nine hundred sixty thirteen million survive to that time because of the dramatic advances of medical science over ten percent of our economic growth in the last half century is attributable to the increase in the size of our labor force due to the increase of life expectancy but this is only part of the story we can project the statistics so we can only imagine the many men and women who have grown to greatness who might have died in childhood how many families have been held together how many thousands of persons who have been spared the suffering and the sorrow of crippling a fatal disease such as diptheria small pox typhoid fever scarlet fever and polio to name only a few hundred lighted to know today that Dr Saul to whom so many of us have a great debt of gratitude is here in the audience with us. And in this connection I would like to mention just a brief personal know and one of the reasons that I'm so grateful to be here in your company today and to participate in the ceremonies because of the progress in science in the one nine hundred forty. John F. Kennedy was able to survive and Dr hench who is here today played a major role in making that possible. If doctors had known last year but they know now President Kennedy's son Patrick probably would have lived each of us knows of similar heartwarming or heartbreaking occurrences among our families are among our friends but with all of that there are still enormous challenges ahead the miracles of modern science are not available to most of the world's people even in the United States the richest country in the world millions live in sickness under conditions that have scarcely changed for generations New York City for example it is estimated that poverty is the third leading cause of death in Harlem in bed that Stuyvesant and in similar areas the death rate for all major causes of heart disease of cancer of diabetes of respiratory diseases and the perils of birth in infancy is significantly higher than the rate of the city as a whole and I'm pleased it honored by all the efforts that are being made by man. By saying to do all that needs to be done and can be done in the city of New York to deal with these kind of problems but the problem exists poverty is responsible for many of these deaths because it is in poverty that diets are inadequate houses are unsanitary and heat fails in the winter. Poverty is also responsible for thousands of these deaths because the poor are without access to adequate medical care. We say with pride that no person demonstrably in need of medical help will be denied it but the statistics show that not enough is being done when as recent studies show more than two thirds of all public welfare clients are mentally disturbed it is not enough to wait for them to request medical attention when infant mortality is thirteen point eight per thousand live births in Flushing and twenty seven thousand in Bedford Stuyvesant it is not enough to say a hospital will be available for every delivery when when forth to one third of the nation's elderly are unable to secure the required diagnostic examination needed to catch the illness in its inception so it is not enough to offer pay for the drastic hospital bills which result Congress must pass Medicare for our elderly thank you but Medicare alone is not enough when mental illness shatters homes and afflicts communities it is not enough to aid local communities to build mental health centers and refuse them the personnel to operate those centers. When two and a half million Americans are physically disabled it is not enough to rehabilitate less than one hundred fifty thousand a year. When poverty and illness go hand in hand it is not enough to produce miracle drugs if they are sold to drugs and by drugs at ten or fifteen times the cost of manufacture Thanks. These are some of our shortages these are some of the problems that exist because we have not yet devoted to the health of our nation enough money enough dedication enough energy and enough will I do not propose now to assign or a lot blame for all of these shortages I think it is more important to stress that they cannot be made up without a maximum effort by all of us the medical profession must find ways to enable our professionals to treat more people perhaps by the use of semi professional medical a technician's upright promise the new designs for hospitals the federal government must help to train tens of thousands of doctors and other medical personnel it must help build the needed facilities and perhaps most importantly it must help the states and the local communities ensure that poverty is never a bar to medical treatment and that illness does not produce further poverty but in the last analysis it must be the responsibility of concerned citizens in local communities to mobilize the resources of leadership energy and devotion to care for all of our citizens. This audience need not be reminded that we cannot neglect the ordinary diseases of the many in our quest for full knowledge of even the most obscure problems of the few the work of Dr Klein has made treatments of tens of thousands of the mentally ill possible for the first time but though we have succeeded in lifting our sight from the few who can pay to the many who cannot within this country we have not yet fully gone to the hundreds and uncertain fully concerned sufficiently concerned with the hundreds of millions beyond the people here in this country around the world we now have the knowledge and the technique to bring life and health to the people of Asia of Africa and of Latin America we have not yet yet made the full commitment to do so yet nothing is more clear than that we must do so we once fired the shot that was heard around the world all our ideals of freedom of individual dignity were carried by that sound but I man who dies at thirty while his children are still infants cannot give them the security in which freedom flourishes a man tainted by disease in a society where work is everything cannot preserve the dignity of himself or of his family a country ravaged by illness cannot build a life of decency for all of its citizens if we would keep those ideals a lot if we would fulfill our responsibilities to the nations the world that gave us birth we must start now to lead a worldwide fight against our age old enemies of plague and disease and pestilence We cannot wait. But death in the tropics is not gradual and the patience of the downtrodden is not everlasting we do bed the precious gift of a longer and happier life in our hands must not lose another second in taking it to those who cry out for it let us rather accept the fate of the immortal Louis pastor who said I hold the unconquerable belief that science and peace will triumph over ignorance and war that nations will come together not to destroy but to construct and that the future belongs to those who accomplish the most for Humanity thank you very much thank you are a thank you thank you very much Senator Robert Kennedy we are truly grateful. That a new strong vigorous voice will be heard in the Senate joining the chorus of those who have been working so hard in behalf of. Health medical research and human welfare Senator Hill. Welcome you Senator Kennedy and Mr Fogarty would be delighted to work I'm sure with a strong force in the other house today there are three. Awards to be given. The basic award is shared by Dr Renato don't back up and by Dr Harry Reuben we should have word the basic Awards first and May I. Ask Dr dovecot and Dr Reuben to stand so that we will not. Bore you unnecessarily Dr don't because early work on bacterial viruses led to the development of methods for investigating the process of viral infection of normal cells in culture application of these methods to the study of the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells but if Iris the poly Oma virus the D.N.A. containing virus resulted in the important finding that cancerous transformation can occur in the absence of virus multiplication I shall not read all of the award citation it is in the booklets but you have but may I pass on to Dr de Becker short further that the D.N.A. of the polio virus exists in two forms a linear and a ring form both forms give rise to new virus and to cancer when they enter a receptive cell phones but the ring form is more active Dr Reuben works as given new insight into the mode in which cancer producing R.N.A. viruses bring about the transformation of normal cells into cancer cells while disclosing at the same time other facts a broad biological significance he found that avian flu causes it form of leukemia in birds produced by certain strains of an R.N.A. containing virus is transmitted to the progeny through the egg when nothing of the sperm. Well working in Dr Del because laboratory and this is an award which gives great satisfaction to Dr Delbanco as well as to Dr Rubin because we are honoring at the same time the master a new pupil in the pupil who has gone on and will go on to become a master in his own right Dr Reuben developed a method for the Study of the tumour transformation of cultured chicken eggs by the raw sarcoma virus he showed that the virus could not mature without the assistance of a second virus now called a helper a virus which provides its protein coat to the virus Ross virus the work of doctors Reuben adult Bekele proves that cells can carry for many generations a foreign nucleic acid whether R N A or D.N.A. that is responsible for the malignant properties of these cells these brilliant scientists have translated their laboratories precision of today into definitive guidelines for cancer research of tomorrow their contributions have speeded the day when research will eradicate this most dreaded of all diseases Dr Del Vecchio. One. To you Dr Delbanco may I present the award itself with the citation which we have just read in part if you don't. Just last quarter. Ladies and gentlemen I hardly can express how happy I am in receive in this wonderful award and I like to express my gratitude to the committee who does a greater than me and to the foundation voice was so generous with me. I also must express my tremendous happiness in sharing this award with Harry Rubin because it has been pointed out already is a really very good friend of mine be signed being one of our scientists. What I've done has been in a sense pointed out of by. Dr. And I don't like to have operate on this at all I just wish to point out one of two things which occurred to me while speaking namely one is that I became a viral just starting from the training in quantitative exact science sciences such as genetics and bio physics and then I became interested in the process of development that is the fundamental. Question pursuit of science and in doing so I've come up with findings which are have a very fundamental and the practical implication on the problem of a tremendous significance such as the problem of cancer and in why By this I wish to stress I think of the connection between the from the mental basic approach wanted to approach in science and the development of important practical consequences I also wish to point out that this work of course is just beginning in a sense because every day begins from from the beginning and that we see many avenues in which are is what will develop to lead to two consequences which we hope will be even more significant than those choose so far recently we have been a study in. Some changes in the mechanism of the division in the regulation cell division which occur when the cells are infected by. Cancer virus and you have found a very kind of terroristic alteration which showed it to some control mechanism has been jammed and we are now just starting this control mechanism and we hope that if we get to identify the substance of the chemicals which is made by the virus which gems the mechanism we will be able really to contribute to the ultimate goal which is that over a chemical cancer. I wish to express my gratitude to the many collaborators who have helped me in this research and to do the. To do shows which I made to look possible formerly deep California Institute of Technology plus of the not in presently the sort of things to do to for Biological Studies of San Diego. Dr Reuben may I present to you one of the parts of the award in the scroll which bears the citation from which I've read. Thank you Dr Farber to I'd like to express my appreciation and gratitude to Mrs LASKER And to the committee seen fit to choose me for this right on or. Thank you so you can get it by now it is a particular pleasure and honor for me to be able to share of Alaska basic medical research award of professed Delbanco and gave me my first serious introduction the radios and rewards of carrying out fun to take a basic research and biological sciences is teaching with more by example than by died an action involving the learning of added to it as much as facts Secondly I should like to cite my good fortune having had a serious going through the aspect of competent collaborator us among these I should like to single out Dr Who December of one of the Japan did a great deal toward a loose dating the nature of the defectiveness RA sarcoma virus only I feel it's important to point out that the work cited in this award is about one way station along and torturous trail of research. Actually began began anyway with an inpatient investigation and why certain chick embryos the cells from certain chicken breasts were unpredictably resistant to infection with a round sarcoma virus which was then our own our sole object of study followed almost naturally and accidentally the discovery of an effective method for detecting leukemia viruses of chickens which in turn facilitated a broad ranging study of how these viruses are transmitted and maintained in nature as a clot as a consequence we now have the possibility of providing a rational basis for the control of the leukemia of animals Hopefully this rational basis can ultimately be extended to man as a little known byproduct of these studies incidentally and became possible to provide chicken Rio's free of leukemia viruses chickens for the safer propagation of the measles vaccine of children but perhaps the most significant outcome of these studies was the puzzling finding that one of leukemia viruses was inseparably associated with a far more very ill and virus the roster can virus this discovery led to the realisation that the full reproduction of the Ross virus was wholly dependent on the presence of a helper leukemia virus that's became evident in the US virus was defective this is had both practical and theoretical consequences among the practical consequences is an understanding of how embarrassed can initiate a tumour and later disappear from the tumour the presence of the causative virus in such a case can only be demonstrated by adding a tell Proviron this brings forth the question of how many naturally occurring tumours which contain no detectable Myra's actually contain a defective virus which would be demonstrated by such special means. Theoretical consequences are to me at least of greater significance in our system the effectiveness of Rouse has already led to an understanding of what part of the virus determines whether it can cause cancer in certain hosts or not another those is also part of the genetic Americanism through which the host cells themselves are made susceptible resistant virus infection were important still the implications for understanding the fundamental nature of the malignant process seems like more than mere coincidence of the only virus which produces the malignant transformation of cells every time it infects a cell is also the only animal virus which is known to be intrinsically defective seems reasonable that a complete unraveling of the nature of this defect in the should throw considerable light on the nature of the malignant process itself and finally I should like to inject a note of caution. It seems to be an unwarranted degree of extrapolation before the fact that this work because it shows that some tumors contain a hidden virus indicates that all tumors are due to viruses and the cancer can be trucked controlled by prophylactic methods such as vaccination. I feel that such exuberance is unwarranted at this rather amorphous stage of development of our knowledge about cancer I'm certain about one thing only we can be realistically optimistic that the growth rate of knowledge about cancer will continue to accelerate an even faster pace than it has up to now this is your answers provided by the availability of simple efficient and precise tools for studying the malignant process in a quantitative manner or first place at least to the transformation of cells and tissue culture but to my viruses both D.N.A. and R.N.A. there's no doubt that these tools will be intensively utilized in the next few years that much about the nature of that cellular aberration known as cancer will be revealed Thank You are all. Thank you Dr Grossman you kerja me Mr Mayor that in addition to the rooms governing the number of people who may with safety congregate in any one room we ought to pay attention to the kind of people at this moment if the floor should for they would not only go down one floor to the basement most of the leaders of the voluntary health agencies and many of industry concerned with health and great surgeons who have pioneered in bringing a new world of surgery but also a number of the most distinguished viral it just in America and this would be a catastrophe particularly at this time Dr Stanley Dr horse for Dr saw so many others who are here today. In honor of the two VI rather just who have received the basic science of war. And now Dr Klein may I ask that you. Are on our own. Dr Klein made a shocking statement that. The most common disease today is mental depression Dr Klein more than any other single psychiatry has just been responsible for one of the greatest revolutions ever to occur in the care and treatment of the mentally ill. Literally hundreds of thousands of people who are leading productive normal lives whom But for Dr Klein's work would be leading the lives of fruitless despair and frustration. Having pioneered the introduction and use of the right Wolfie another tranquilizing drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia in one nine hundred fifty four Dr Klein first reported nine hundred fifty seven the beneficial effect of I pro NY as it amount to mean oxidase inhibitor in the treatment of severe depressions. I shall skip to the end of this since these early experiments the use of the anti-depressant drugs both in mental hospitals and private psychiatric practice has been developed and refined to a point where the United States alone over four million patients a year are treated with anti-depressant drugs for his persistence and leadership in the constant search for psycho pharmaceuticals for the mentally ill and for this new contribution which is released and restored to useful life hundreds of thousands of person suffering from deep melancholia and profound despair the nine hundred sixty four Albert Laster clinical research award is given to Dr Nathan S. Club. One. Dr Farber ISIS Laskar Sen Kennedy Wagner of the Del bacco Dr Ruth and colleagues my lesson at this moment is tempered by the knowledge of how much more needs doing and my pride is discomforted because there are many others who rightfully should share in the recognition and reward. Because science is so communal my own list of nominations for COA Ward would be at least as long without the backbone of support from the New York State Department of Mental Hygiene the enthusiastic backing of the New York Foundation and other similar private organizations grants provided by the National Institutes of Health and the help of the pharmaceutical industry in the form of both drugs and research fund I would not be here on the day is today each of us has a dream of glory in which the dreamer is making a speech to which all the world is listening considering who and what the present audience represents for all practical purposes this ideal has been achieved in the dream it is never quite clear what is the potential message faced with this opportunity I have been much more concerned about this brief acceptance speech than the longer formal present ation the say afternoon we live in a time when the antagonists are gaining dominance not only are there strong currents of anti intellectual ism but we are also treated to anti novels anti plays an anti art the audience is supposed to stand up and cheer because brave little man despite the senselessness in the futility of the universe does not immediately go out and hang himself it is unfashionable to have strong and passionate convictions it is naive to believe that what we are doing has meaning only fools commit themselves beyond the pleasures of bed bottle in a bank account. The very word antagonise designate to the contenders against in the Ag on the competitions the odd man today is the protagonist although this is an audience full of them science and medicine are based on an assumption so implicitly and universally accepted that it is often forgotten the existence of related and predictable regularities the pattern in patterning of events is continually being destroyed while at the same time it is recreated a healthy organism organizes itself towards some and. The most frightening thing about psychosis is the bankruptcy of purpose the repetitive and P.D.N. impedance of accomplishment labels the neurotic and the failure of desire damns the depressed the antagonists may object that we do not know what the purpose is or we or that we cannot really prove that a purpose even exists this is true if one limits the concept of purpose to requiring that specific goals and objectives be stated in advance in reality we often do not fully recognize the meaningfulness of what we are doing until after it has been done the thought and feeling of living organisms and less interrupted flows into action hence the forward thrust of life the onward push of that one unfinished animal to experience to create and to act the process is an ague on and agony but no greater thrill exists than to surprise out some marvelously subtle complexity or some breath taping taking leap by which nature has organized itself in the words of another psychiatrist Captain Newman M. de. There are those sublimely cursed by discontent and to them happiness comes only when they push their brains and hearts to the farthest reaches of which they are capable Nothing is more rewarding than the effort a man makes to matter to count to stand for something to have it make some difference that he lived at all. Fifty rule if. It is been a tradition. For the third consecutive year to pay tribute also to the ladies who made these great discoveries possible May I ask business Klein to stand. I. Want if. I had Mrs go back. If. Mrs Reuben. If. I find they are tribute to the vice president Mrs Ford to us and to her stuff for the right if. And finally I want to say just one word about the president of the Albert Mary Lasker foundation. And it is this she has brought tremendous beauty to this world as she has to this room. And her contribution to medicine and to the welfare of man is so more enormous that it must be termed described in the word unique just as last if there were.