Forty-Year Retrospective of President Nixon's Committee on Health Education : A Whistle-Blower's Diary

Corruption within the Nixon administration was not limited to Watergate; his Committee on Health Education ignored and suppressed the opinions of professional health educators. In this history, two education insiders explain why and how the committee was a sham from the beginning. One of the authors-Joy Garrison Cauffman-participated on the committee and was threatened by President Nixon's representatives for expressing her opinions.

Now Cauffman and her coauthor, Ronald L. Linder, reveal how political insiders took steps to form the bogus committee; how President Nixon and his people quashed the recommendations of educators; how slush funds drive what goes on in Washington, DC; and how bureaucrats continue to distort the issues related to health education.

Several committee members argued against the predetermined outcomes of the committee's work, but they were silenced-and the price they paid for speaking up is shocking.

The future of health care in America is critically dependent on our ability to educate people on how to establish and maintain their health. But to make that possible, we must learn from the mistakes showcased in A Forty-Year Retrospective of President Nixon's Committee on Health Education.

Joy Garrison Cauffman, PhD, is a world leader in health education and was the first female professor with the Department of Family Medicine at USC. She served on three presidential committees and founded the Coalition of National Health Education Organizations. She has received numerous national awards for her extensive contributions to health and medical education. Ronald L. Linder, EdD, has coauthored several publications and received Telly Awards for the production of televised patient and medical education programs as president of American Medical Productions. He coordinated the National Science Foundation's Biomedical Interdisciplinary Curriculum Project and served as liaison officer with the Veterans Health Administration Western Region; he has also held administrative and faculty positions at UCLA.