A single line often inverts meaning once you see what it
answers, so neighbouring messages are always shown.
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Feb. 8, 2002 - Sheryl Stolberg suggests in the New York Times that Bush should appoint me. She mentions that the sticking point is my requirement to do both jobs.
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Feb. 15, 2002 - Laura Meckler wrote a piece for AP on the right wing Family Research Council opposing my nomination for NIH Director based on my philosophy on fetal tissue and stem cells. They refer to my comments in 1988 about the utility of the SCIDhu mouse model.
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Feb. 23, 2002 - Article in New York Times by Sheryl Gay Stolberg telling the story as it happened saying that I am no longer a candidate for NIH Director's job. She states that the White House says that the reason is the objection to the 2 jobs, while the social conservatives say that my views on abortion and stem cells make me unacceptable to them. Also, mentions the Sen. Brownback story. Key article since it is factually correct.
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Mar. 5, 2002 - Secretary Thompson called me today and said that he was very upset, but I will not be asked to be NIH Director. He said that he was being forced by the White House to submit Dr. Elias Zerhouni's name and that he was not happy at all about this. He stated that as far as he was concerned, I was his number one person at the NIH and he was looking forward to working with me in the future.
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2002-03-09 00:00
Anthony S. Fauci
Mar. 9, 2002 - Attended Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, D.C. Spent time speaking with President Bush, Karl Rove, Clay Johnson, Donna Shalala, Tim Russert, Sam Donaldson, John Neroponte, Cokie Roberts, etc. The topic was often concern and dismay on the part of people (non-White House) that Bush was not going to offer me the NIH job. Most felt that it really was the litmus test issue and not the 2 jobs issue. Clay Johnson, who I believe is behind all of this, actually volunteered to me that "Dr. Zerhouni is no Tony Fauci, but then again, there really is only 1 Tony Fauci". It is tough for me to figure out just how much the Social Conservative/Sen. Sam Borwnback issue played in Clay Johnson's insistence to the president that I not be NIH Director.
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Mar. 26, 2002 - I went to White House ceremony where Pres. Bush announced Elias Zerhouni as nominee for NIH Director.
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Mar. 27, 2002 - Went to NYC for Press Conference for the announcement of my receiving the Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine, which is the largest prize in Medicine in America and the second largest in the world to the Nobel Prize. Amount = $500,000.00.
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Mar. 28, 2002 - Big press conference at DHHS for the announcement of the publication in NEJM of the dilution studies for smallpox vaccine. Also, in same issue of NEJM was my editorial calling for an open dialogue as to whether there should be pre-emptive vaccination of "first responders" or even of the enitre population on a voluntary basis. D.A. Henderson is not particularly happy about my editorial since he continually has trouble admitting that a smallpox attack is a danger. Clearly this is related to the fact that he has devoted much of his professional life to trying to eliminate smallpox. Mar. 31 - April 6, 2002 - Went on a terrific trip to Africa with Sec. Thompson and a delegation listed below. We visited Mozambique, South Africa, Botswana, and Cote D'Ivoire. The trip was designated a Presidential Mission and so we received the royal treatment. Flew over on an Air Force jet and were received at each country with Secret Service protection and local military and police escourts via motorcades etc. Visited CDC and NIH funded facilities. Met with President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique. Long conversation with South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang regarding reluctance of South African government to provide nevirapine to prevent mother to child transmission (MTCT). I disagree with her stance, but respect the difficult situation that she is in. She is driven by a need to decide things for herself since she was one of the original ANC members who were in exile during apartheid and she does not trust anyone but her own people. She, however, told me that President Tabo Mbeki respected me greatly and frequently speaks highly of me, During the Stay in South Africa the Supreme Court of SA ruled that the government must supply nevirapine to pregnant infected mothers and their newborns according to ACTG protocol 012. Met with President Festus Mogae of Botswana. He too had heard about me. Met with Prime Minister of Cote D'Ivoire. Representative people on the trip that I developed good friendships with in addition to Sec. Thompson and his staff of Bill Steiger, Terrell Halaska, Dave Boyer, Corina Gardner, Matt Bluhm and others were: Former Congressmen Ronald Dellums and Ray McGrath, Scott Evertz of the White House, Congresswomen Barbara Lee (D-CA) and EB Johnson (D-TX), Michael Miller of NSC, Anne Peterson of USAID, Bill Roper and others.
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April 25-30, 2002 - During the trip to South Africa, I spent about 1 1⁄2 hours at dinner trying to convince her to help President Mbeki change his stance on treatment of HIVinfected people including pregnant women (see above). Of note, just this week the South African government has made a major change in their stance. They now allow treatment for rape victims and soon will start treating infected pregnant women. It is entirely conceivable that my discussions played some role in this turnaround.