Gerald Fischbach - Being fired from NIH (42/75)

To listen to more of Gerald Fischbach’s stories, go to the playlist:    • Gerald Fischbach (Scientist)   Gerald Fischbach (b. 1938) is an American neuroscientist and pioneering researcher. He pioneered the use of nerve cell cultures to study the electrophysiology, morphology and biochemistry of developing nerve-muscle and inter-neuronal synapses. [Listener: Christopher Sykes; date recorded: 2023] TRANSCRIPT: We moved back, lived in the campus for a year, then moved into a brand-new apartment building on the 15th floor. It was beautiful, walking distance from the NIH. The whole city had changed dramatically from the time we were there before. Bethesda was now a thriving metropolis. The NIH, because of the Vietnam War, was an armed camp. You couldn't get into the NIH without a pass and without being identified at one of the several entrance points. Disappointing, in a way, with no more baseball games, but it was secure. The first time I was there in the '60s, we would demonstrate against the war on the steps of the administration building, and no one bothered us, crowds gathered around. Today, if you did that, you'd be arrested in 10 minutes and dragged off the campus. What a change in the place. Ruth, in the earlier years, had become the president of the Maryland Mothers of Twins Association, we had twin boys. She was articulate and outspoken. They finally fired her because she was so outspoken. But she wanted to have her say and one of her clear memories is taking this group to the Capitol to demonstrate. Where they would hold hands and circle the building. My daughter, Elissa, who went with her, remembers being stretched so much that she could hardly raise her arms after that. But that was Ruth, her passion and skill was organizing in community events. She had another job at the NIH, she worked at the director's office in Varmus and another woman, who was the assistant director, who she helped organize many projects. We were both very happy there. And then I got fired. It was not my choice. I had been nominated by Donna Shalala, who was then the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to succeed Harold Varmus as director of the NIH. But this occurred near the end of the president's term, who is a Democrat. And the Republicans in the House Committees didn't want to make another appointment for a Democrat at the end of his term. This was Bill Clinton.