[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 45 (Thursday, April 21, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[Congressional Record: April 21, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO MARY WOODARD LASKER
Mr. HATFIELD. Mr. President, earlier this month I had the opportunity
to attend an event at which my good fried, Mary Woodard Lasker, served
as honorary chairperson. Although she was not present in body, her
vision and strength were felt in every corner of the room. Mary passed
away recently, leaving many lasting tributes to her work. Her legacy
reflects her dedication to the conquest of disease and disability.
I ask unanimous consent to insert in the Record a tribute to Mary
given by Terry Lierman, president of Capitol Associates. Terry, a
former staff member to Senator Warren Magnuson, was a partner and
treasured friend to Mary Lasker in all of her efforts in medical
research. He tutored under a truly great mentor in this field and I
have no doubt he will continue to advocate for this critical issue in
loving memory of Mary Lasker.
There being no objection, the tribute was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Tribute to Mary Woodard Lasker
(By Terry Lierman)
It was Senator Warren Magnuson (my first mentor) that
introduced me to Mary Lasker and it was love at first sight.
Here was Mary who was born in Watertown, Wisconsin in 1900--I
was born 30 miles from there--but a little later. She went to
the University of Wisconsin, my alma mater. She basically
started the modern NIH, where my first job was, she worked
the halls of Congress, that's where I worked, I have followed
Mary unconsciously and will consciously follow her in the
future too--Chairman Magnuson's favorite phrase was ``just
tell me what time it is, not how the clock works!'' This is
one person, Mr. Chairman, who deserves more than just the
time!
So allow me to share a few stories with you as a legend is
born.
It was Mary that got Senator Magnuson to sponsor, as his
first bill in Congress, along with Senator Pepper, something
starting the National Cancer Institute.
The few minutes I have here, is like asking an NIH
researcher for a 1 page grant application.
Chairman Magnuson, this clock ran beautifully for 93 years,
and its long overdue for someone to tell how the clock
worked!
Simply, if God created mothers for children--God created
Mary Lasker for medical research!
Mary, literally, up to the day of her death 4 weeks ago,
kept urging for more effort and faster progress--she had a
wonderful sense of urgency--she understood that people were
dying and suffering.
Her last passion was the Harkin/Hatfield Research Fund for
Medical Research. It was her last call to me and she spoke in
a whisper, but her urgency, like always, came through--how
was it going; what were the chances; what could she do to
help; on and on, always questioning, always pushing for more.
Mary had a wonderful way to put perfect thoughts into
words, ``words of wisdom according to Mary'' should be a
primer for all of us--one she used often was ``if you want
something done, give the other person the credit.''
But lets give Mary the credit tonight: Credit for the
10,000 azaleas she had planted in D.C.; 900 cherry trees
around the tidal basin; 1 million daffodils planted in Rock
Creek; Gardens in 20 Blocks of Park Avenue New York; Lasker
Gardens in Central Park; The landscaped grounds and trees at
the United Nations; Even a flower garden at Oxford in honor
of the discovery of penicillin; and hundreds of highway
planting projects with Lady Bird Johnson along our Nation's
highways.
Mary felt very strongly that beauty and color translated to
PMA--a positive mental attitude=good health.
That is the easy part to identify what Mary has done, now
comes the life sciences--life sciences, Mary was always
interested in life.
At NIH sits a gorgeous building and grounds named the
``Mary Woodward Lasker Center for Health Research and
Education.'' When I first told her that Senators Kennedy and
Hatfield and Speaker O'Neill, Chairman Pepper, were doing it
in her honor it was one of the few times I saw her angry.
Angry because she said she did not deserve the credit, it was
the Congress that deserved the credit. It happened over her
protest and she was very, very proud of it--even purchased
pictures for the inside and worried that the outside wouldn't
have enough flowers.
Go there and walk the interior gardens and you, I will
assure you, that you will feel the inspiration of Mary--it
was a convent before.
It was Mary Lasker who got her husband Albert, who
controlled massive amounts of advertising on radio in the
early 40's to get CBS to say the then very taboo word
``Cancer'' on a program called Fibber, Maggie and Molly. This
led to a flood of mail to a fledgling group called the
American Cancer Society and Mary hired people to open the
mail and count the checks propelling ACS nationwide. She
would later use a similar technique but with Eppie Lederer/
Ann Landers to get the National Cancer Act passed over the
initial objections of President Nixon. Full page ads in major
newspapers with 4 inch bold type saying, simply: Mr. Nixon
you can cure cancer--it worked!
Mary's greatest dream, was a cancer vaccine. Early on,
while she talked, slept and pushed for a cancer vaccine, the
scientific community scoffed. Now, with 1 person in the
United States dying from cancer every 62 seconds, medical
research progress has brought that dream within reach, Mary
will be proven right yet again.
Then the list of medical research accomplishments grew
rapidly--creation of the Heart, mental health and most of its
institutes in the 40's and 50's, 60's--there is a rare NIH
program without Mary's stamp on it.
The Lasker Awards in 1948 which have been the American
leader in recognizing basic, clinical research and public
service.
52 Lasker winners since 1948 have gone on to win Nobel
Prizes.
Mary would do anything to get attention not for her awards,
but she saw this as a way to promote medical research--
awards, press, politics which she viewed very positively as a
means of serving the needs of people.
She was very frustrated with scientists who did not want to
subject themselves to politics and thought that medical
research funding would happen automatically because it was
the right thing to do. Mary would say, ``it's my money, I
have a right to help determine how it is spent.
She was a model citizen. She understood, like Alexandre de
Tocqueville stated, that democracy does not work unless those
who live in it work for it. A keen lessen for all Americans
who do not participate and blindly go down the trail of
taking democracy for granted.
We should all know that rights are only ours if we exercise
and protect them.
Mary viewed advocacy for medical research as a right of the
public and sought it with a passion.
In the 60's she forced, with the intervention of President
Johnson, the NIH to get involved in clinical research
saying--
``What good does it do to fund medical research if we can't
get it used by those who need it.''
In the 70's and 80's her passion was education, cancer
vaccine development and gene therapy years before it was
popular. In fact, it was not all roses, People, scientists,
often scoffed at Mary but time and again she was right.
She would say ``go to the government for funding. You can
raise more there in a day than in a lifetime of trying to
raise money privately.''
Mary was proud of her championing of the National Eye
Institute--she adored and spoke reverently about Lew
Wasserman and her seat on the Board of Research to Prevent
Blindness.
Mary had a vision that few are blessed with and would
probably be frustrated with those that mouth prevention today
but ignore the importance of research for tomorrow--she said
``research is the first link in the chain of prevention.''
Like those few people with vision, Mary's eyes were always
able to look farther than they could see. Mary was often
heard to say that ``I am opposed to heart attacks, and
cancer, and strokes the way I am opposed to sin.'' Her vision
gave her the resolve to persuade others to find the cause of
disease, not just treat the symptoms.
Mary Lasker had the resources to go to the South of France
but elected to stay and fight the good fight.
She stayed focused in the determination to cure and prevent
disease and disability.
It was her vision, her life, her energy which will benefit
every person in this room before we join Mary.
The last few years in talks with her, she was becoming
increasingly frustrated by the country's inability as she
said to ``dream'', she said there are always people who find
reasons not to do things and that Washington is made up of
``work horses and show horses.'' Tonight's honorees, down to
every person, (Former Rep. Frederick B. Rooney, A. Edward
Maumenee, MD, Lew R. Wasserman, and Research to Prevent
Blindness, National Eye Institute, Rep. William H. Natcher,
Rep. Louis Stokes, Rep. John E. Porter, Sen. Mark O.
Hatfield, Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, Sen. Tom Harkin) Mary
worked with, supported and was very fond of. Like tonight,
she was not partisan, she would help those who would help
others--those who would dare to dream about making this place
a better one and do something about it.
Mary's one speech that I heard in 18 years, because she
shunned the light stated simply--
``The fruits of our labors throughout the years will:
Alleviate pain where there is suffering; Provide the freedom
to live in health so that we can fulfill our promise and
quest in the pursuit of happiness and provide hope where none
existed before.''
If you want to know what Mary's monument looks like--look
at the people around you. Deeds for people, not stones, are
the true monument of the great.
Her legacy is a living vibrant message of hope to millions
afflicted with disease and disability.
Her life will be judged not by her wealth or her love for
beauty, but by the beauty and wealth that she instilled in
every life she touched through medical research.
Those of use who have met her, seen her beauty and been
touched by life, will revel in her memory and be driven by
her passion.
The fruits of Mary Lasker's efforts and commitment to
improve humankind are all around us; they live in each of
us--they will be truly timeless. Our efforts to cure disease
and conquer disability will be judged by Mary in our minds
and hearts.
A grateful nation owes much to Mary Woodard Lasker--a woman
whose mind rebelled against needless suffering and whose
heart responded to a worthy cause. Mary showed us that
medical research is a living message that we will pass onto
our children--for a time that we will not see.
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