Richard Nixon Foundation Announces Commemoration To Mark 50th Anniversary Of National Cancer Act of 1971

YORBA LINDA, Calif., Feb. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Richard Nixon Foundation will host a two-day commemoration of the 1971 National Cancer Act at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, on December 1 and 2, 2021. 

Making the announcement on the 50th anniversary of President Nixon's 1971 Special Message to Congress Proposing a National Health Strategy ---which included a call for $100 million to fight cancer--- Foundation President and CEO Hugh Hewitt noted that December will mark the 50th anniversary of President Nixon signing the groundbreaking National Cancer Act of 1971.

Hewitt announced that the commemoration will be chaired by Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, who was Director of the National Cancer Institute from 2001-2005, and Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration from 2006-2009.

Co-chairs will include:

• Paul Begala, political commentator and campaign adviser
• Dr. James H. Cavanaugh, Chairman of the Nixon Foundation Board of Directors
• Melanie Eisenhower, pediatric oncology counselor at UPENN Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; granddaughter of President Nixon and great-granddaughter of President Eisenhower
• Marlene Malek, co-founder of Friends of Cancer Research
• Dr. Ellen Sigal, co-founder and chairperson of Friends of Cancer Research

The Foundation will, in the coming weeks and months, announce additional details including names of distinguished guest speakers, and members of discussion panels and programs are now being finalized.

The Nixon cancer initiative, which was passed with bipartisan support, broke new ground by proposing increased federal funding to be allocated for research and treatment on one specific disease. President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971 at a ceremony in the East Room on December 23, 1971. He said, "I hope in the years ahead we will look back on this action today as the most significant action taken during my Administration." 

The commemoration will combine on-site speakers and events with virtual participants from across the country.

As a result of Nixon's initiative, fifteen designated cancer centers received an unprecedented amount of $1.6 billion ($9 billion in today's dollars) for cancer research over the following three years.

SOURCE Richard Nixon Foundation