Coronary Events in World Leaders

It is not possible to implement a scientific study of cardiovascular disease in world leaders, but this should not deter investigators from analyzing the available data. In this issue, Girardi and colleagues (1) have done that in a scholarly fashion, and their findings and discussion are of great interest. From my perspective, I wish to make the following points.

I was chief of cardiology at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington, D.C., when Lyndon B. Johnson, majority leader of the U.S. Senate at that time, had a heart attack on 2 July 1955. Accordingly, it was my responsibility and privilege to manage his illness. Dr. Jim Cain, a gastroenterologist from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, was notified. Cain was a long-time friend of the Johnson family and served as an advisor in health matters. He came from Rochester to see Johnson, as did Dr. Howard Burchell, an excellent, internationally known cardiologist who served as the cardiac consultant in the case. Dr. Cain and I became close friends and partners in the future care of Johnson. We later worked cooperatively with Drs. Janet Travell and George Burkley, who were the White House physicians when Johnson was vice president and president.

While Johnson was recuperating, President Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack in Denver, Colorado. Months later, when both men were back at their 24-hour-per-day jobs, the American Heart Association presented the Heart of the Year Award to President Eisenhower in an Oval Office ceremony. When Senator Johnson was asked to say a …