The Committee for the Nation's Health (CNH) was incorporated on 23 February 1946 with Michael M. Davis as chairman of its Executive Committee. Davis was by the time of the organization of the CNH one of the major figures in health care policy in the United States. Born on 19 Nov. 1879 in New York, Davis received a Ph.D. from Columbia in 1906. First in Boston and later in New York, Davis led movements to extend dispensary services to people of moderate means. He then served as director of medical services for the Julius Rosenwald Fund and chaired the foundation-funded Committee on Research in Medical Economics before assuming leadership of the CNH.
The CNH's initial goal was to lobby for the support of national health insurance. As it was originally organized, the CNH had four major functions: providing technical information for sponsors of health legislation; preparing and distributing promotional literature; coordinating activities among other groups favoring national health insurance; and encouraging other groups to join in the campaign for national health insurance. Initially funding for the committee came from members of the Julius Rosenwald family and Albert and Mary Lasker. In 1949, however, disagreement arose within the CNH over whether the CNH should continue to concentrate its efforts on promoting national health insurance or, as the Laskers argued, instead should work to support less controversial aspects of the Truman administration's health program, such as increased federal funding for medical education and research. The Lasker position was eventually rejected by the CNH, at which point the Laskers and Rosenwalds withdrew their support for the organization. Organized labor then became the chief financial supporters of the committee, with some additional support from the Democratic National Committee.
With the election of Eisenhower in 1952 the prospects for national health insurance dimmed. As a consequence the CNH shifted its attention away from lobbying for health insurance and instead began to function as a health information office for organized labor. During the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, both organizations proposed to establish their own health information office. With their final function absorbed by the new union, the CNH was abolished in January, 1956.
From the guide to the Microfilm Reels of the Committee for the Nation's Health Records from the Michael M. Davis Collection, In the New York Academy of Medicine, 1939-1955 (bulk 1946-1955), (History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine)
