A look back: The National Cancer Act, signed into law 53 years ago

Fifty years ago, President Nixon interrupted Christmas festivities to sign the National Cancer Act of 1971 into law. Fifty years later, we invite you to immerse yourself in that day to reflect on how far we’ve come.

Speaking surrounded by holly and Christmas cheer in the State Dining Room, Nixon declared, “I hope that in the years ahead that we look back on this day and this action shown as being the most significant action taken during this administration.”

Patricia Nixon, whose dedication to Christmas established a number of White House traditions still in place today, described her 1971 White House Christmas decor as “a land of enchantment.” 

“Holly, garlands of evergreens and banks of red poinsettias fill the famous rooms,” reported The New York Times. “Mrs. Nixon pointed out there is mistletoe, too.”

Under the mistletoe, the White House press office readied itself for the signing of landmark legislation. Nixon’s statement to the press is imbued with Christmas spirit: 

“Hope and comfort, the relief of suffering and the affirmation of life itself—these are qualities which have traditionally been associated with the Christmas season. There could be no more appropriate time than this to sign into law the National Cancer Act of 1971.”

Joseph R. Biden Jr.: Half a century ago, on December 23, 1971, policymakers, researchers, cancer survivors, and advocates gathered at the White House for the signing of the bipartisan National Cancer Act — a landmark law that has helped transform cancer research and offered hope to millions in the years since.

For my family, and for most families, the fight against cancer is personal.  As every family facing cancer does, we learned as much as we could about the illness our son Beau fought, from his diagnosis to the very end.  Along the way, we came to understand just how quickly cancer-fighting science, medicine, and technology is progressing — saving more and more lives each year.  It is thanks in no small part to the National Cancer Act of 1971 that so much of this progress has been possible.

Norman E. Sharpless: When we at NCI set out early this year to join with the broader cancer community to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the National Cancer Act of 1971, we were worried. Our plans to reflect on five decades of progress in cancer while a global pandemic raged on might be seen as ill-timed. Perhaps some are still dubious.

But I believe that our focus on this important history—especially how our nation’s investment in cancer science has transformed the way we understand and confront the disease—has provided inspiration and direction in a time of unrest and upheaval and uncertainty.

Mary Lasker was surprised when, in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson called her at home and asked whether she would accept the job of U.S. ambassador to Finland.

“She’s shocked. Finland abuts Russia. There was no way she wanted to go to Russia. We were at the height of the Cold War. This was not on her list of things to do,” Judith L. Pearson, author of “Crusade to Heal America: The Remarkable Life of Mary Lasker,” and founder of A 2nd Act, said to The Cancer Letter.  

“I want to get the answer to the different kinds of cancer there are,” Lasker told Johnson. 

In their next phone call, when Lasker declined Johnson’s repeated offer to become an ambassador to Finland, she made an appointment to meet with the president at the White House to pitch a different plan: creating a commission on heart disease, cancer, and stroke.

“She wasn’t afraid or standoffish to walk up to a man, even a man in tremendous power, and just launch into a conversation, join a conversation, turn the conversation,” Pearson said. “She was very comfortable and adept at doing that.”

Pearson’s book, “Crusade to Heal America: The Remarkable Life of Mary Lasker,” was published Sept. 19. The book tells the story of Mary Lasker’s quest to cure cancer.