and took man to the moon should be turned toward conquering this dread disease. [ applause ] >> richard nixon, his state of the union address, 1971, announcing the u.s. was going after cancer in a big way. >> let us make a total national commitment to achieve this goal. >> reporter: remarkably the last television commercial touting the joys of cigarette smoking had aired just weeks before. and until the 970s the word "cancer" was rarely uttered, said aloud. >> it was forbidden. did people 50, 60 years ago think cancer was contagious? >> that was part of the reason but i think also such a bad diagnosis with such a terrible prognosis it was nothing anyone wanted to admit having because it sounded like a death sentence. >> the head of the national cancer institute says fresh from some victories over childhood leukemia the medical community at the time believed curing cancer was within reach. the idea was as bold