first, 40 years ago this past friday, december 23, president richard nixon declared the war on cancer. and i hope that in the years ahead that we may look pack on this day and this action as being the most significant action taken during this administration. president nixon had big expectations, and we have come a long way since 1971. but still even today, cancer s going to strike down one in four americans. there are smart people who will tell you up front that we may be losing the war on cancer. this morning i want to talk about our successes rather than our failures. at the end of world war ii, doctors had few weapons against cancer. you could cut it out, blast it with radiation. got terrible side effect. but there wasn t medicine, good medicine. one day in 1947, a 2-year-old boy came through the door at children s hospital in boston. robert sandler had leukemia. it had broken through his bones. his twin elliot watched the ambulance take him away. back then the disease