What is the source of the often-quoted remark by Surgeon General William Stewart in the late 1960s that we had essentially defeated infectious diseases and could “close the book” on them?
Although this remark has often been cited in the literature, the Office of the PHS Historian has never been able to locate the source of the statement, or to confirm that Dr. Stewart actually made such a comment. We have asked Dr. Stewart about it, and he cannot recall whether or not he made this statement. When the statement is quoted in the literature, in a variety of wordings, generally no source is given, or the author refers back to some earlier secondary source which itself does not include a citation. Laurie Garrett, in her book The Coming Plague, gives a reference to a speech that Stewart gave at a conference in 1967 as her source. However, we have checked the published version of the speech and it does not contain the statement or anything close to it. So while we cannot say for certain that Dr. Stewart did not make this statement, we also cannot confirm that he did or provide a source. We would welcome hearing from anyone who has been able to locate a definitive source for th
