Plenary Session Transcripts

Governors Attending:

Guests:

Discussion Subjects:

Highways and highway safety; address of the British Ambassador to the U.S.; mental health; and intergovernmental relations

Points of Interest:

Governors discussed the recent defeat in Congress of a highway funding bill. Financing had been a sticking point, given that those who favored a bond program were confronted with opposition to paying interest, while those who favored pay-as-you-go were opposed on the ground that such a system would entail an increase in federal gas and highway use taxes. Governors discussed possible compromises, along with the option of toll financing.

The British Ambassador to the United States talked about the cold war, and about the need for the U.S. to be more open to international diplomacy and liberal trade policies.

Governors discussed two studies done by the Council of State Governments (CSG) between 1949 and 1953 on state mental health facilities, focusing on prevention and cure of mental illness as preferable to custody and restraint.  CSG's second study, completed in 1953, had indicated that less than one percent of state funds spent in combatting mental illness were devoted to research.  In 1954, a clearinghouse to be operated by CSG was instituted to enable states to exchange mental health information.

Dr. Leo Bartemeier of the American Medical Association theorized that mental illness was a product of parental mishandling of children during the first four years of life.  He recommended among other things that schools have physicians on staff to help spot early manifestations of mental illness, and that psychiatric units be established in community hospitals.

Governors talked about how to deal with the dearth of professionals as well as the rapid turnover of staff in the mental health field.  They discussed the option of regional programs to help ensure interstate savings and streamlining in the cooperative effort to train personnel and conduct mental health research.  And they addressed the problem of senility and the matter of separating the aged from the mentally ill.  They also discussed juvenile delinquency and its link to maladjustment.

Governors discussed the report recently completed by the Kestnbaum Commission on Intergovernmental Relations.  The report recommended that states take stock of their readiness to discharge greater responsibility, and reappraise fiscal policies, including taxes.  Governors discussed the report's implications and offered opinions on federal involvement in a variety of areas ranging from highway construction to civil defense.

Memorable Quotes:

The Ambassador of Great Britain said: "I have long detected in this country a distrust of the process of international negotiation as being something which implies weakness...Distrust of dipomacy and diplomats...has been particularly strong here, where the mythical figure of the simple-minded American entrapped by the wily foreign statesman dies hard."

The Ambassador, in asking for the help of the Governors, also said: "You can take the lead in persuading and convincing the people of your communities, of your states, to have faith, understanding and patience while diplomacy, yours and ours together, works upon the contentious issues..."

Dr. Leo Bartemeier, chairman of the Committee on Mental Health of the American Medical Association said: "Any causes of mental disorder must begin with the nature of children at birth. The infant at birth may be likened to the original structure and function. The unintentional mishandling of children in the first, second, third and fourth years of life interferes with the material development which is always greared in the direction of health. In other words, the mistakes of parents create defects at a time when developing a personality is in its most fluid state. These defects...only become patent later on in life when the major stress of human existence...intervenes. It is then that the personality topples...Prevention, therefore, is of the the first importance."

In contrast, Governor G. Mennen Williams of Michigan argued that the connection between general health and mental health should not be overlooked: "I saw a report not long ago about an examination of some mentally retarded children...After examining them, the medical authorities pointed out that...the actual cause of...retardation was a dietary defiency..."

Meyer Kestnbaum, Chairman of the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations, said: "...the problem is not so much "either/or," not so much a matter of whether it is the national government or the states that perform...functions, but rather, how they can best work together to solve the many difficult problems that we face. This notion of a cooperative federalism is certainly one of the constructive ideas of [the Commission's] report, and it is with this in view that the Commission has recommended that there be established in the office of the President some permanent machinery for the consideration of the appropriate relationships between the national government and the states..."

Dan Thornton, former Governor of Colorado and a member of the Kestnbaum Commission, said: "I think that the centralization of power in Washington is a real threat to the future role that states should play in government. I point out that there are over a hundred thousand units of local government, and if they are diminished, or if their rights are taken away...then it is easy to change the philosophy of government and the principles of government without the action of the people themselves, at the local level."

Selected Resolutions Adopted:
(1) Pledging cooperation in obtaining state appropriations for vocational rehabilitation; (2) suggesting that the Executive Committee work with federal agencies to adopt rules and regulations to promote the widest possible peacetime use of atomic materials; (3) suggesting that the Executive Committee take steps to intensify state highway safety programs; (4) directing the Chairman of the Governors' Conference to appoint a committee to work with the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association to seek means of increasing the number of medical personnel available for state mental health institution services; (5) endorsing the proposal to make federal surplus property available for civil defense; (6) directing the Council of State Governments (CSG) to study the problems of metropolitan area government and recommend changes in local government organization; (7) urging the enactment of legislation to improve the Civil Defense Act; (8) commending efforts to combat the problem of litter and supporting national educational programs regarding the problem; (9) recommending that the President and Congress give full consideration to the report and recommendations of the Commission on Intergovernmental Relations; and (10) reiterating approval and support of an expanded federal-state program for the construction of interstate highways.