Prior to 1960, the US government did not consider cancer a disease, but regarded it as a consequence of aging.
"And this takes us back to 1960 when we finally encouraged the US government to consider cancer a disease. As you know, it wasn't considered a disease. It was considered a consequence of aging." (said at 0:07:01)
Historical and legislative records contradict the claim that the US government did not consider cancer a disease until 1960. The US federal government formally recognized cancer as a disease and a major public health priority decades earlier. In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the National Cancer Institute Act into law, creating the National Cancer Institute (NCI) within the Public Health Service to conduct and support research into the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. Furthermore, in 1955, the federal government established the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service Center to organize a national effort for developing cancer therapeutics.
- contradicts: A History of Cancer Chemotherapy (Cancer Research 2008)
"It was, however, four World War II-related programs, and the effects of drugs that evolved from them, that provided the impetus to establish in 1955 the national drug development effort known as the Cancer Chemotherapy National Service Center." (abstract, passage verified)
openalexfull study (doi) - contradicts: How, After a Decade of Public & Private Wrangling, FDR Signed NCI into Law in 1937 (Oncology Times 2006)
"On August 5, 1937, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the National Cancer Institute Act, and two months later ground was broken for the NCI building." (abstract, passage verified)
openalexfull study (doi)