As ASCO approaches its 40th anniversary and worldwide membership exceeds 20,000, it is difficult to conceive of a time when the Society was not the premier professional organization for clinical oncologists focused on the care of patients with cancer.

However, on April 9, 1964, the date of the first organizational meeting of the group that would eventually become ASCO’s founding committee, the present size and scope of the Society and its activities would probably have seemed unimaginable to the seven physicians assembled in a small meeting room in Chicago.

The minutes from this first meeting indicate that those in attendance were united by “their common concern for the patient with cancer.” At a time when most cancer-focused organizations concentrated resources on pathology and research, the seven founding members became early and at times singular champions for the need to place more emphasis on clinical considerations and the care of patients with cancer.

They observed that, at the time, “Only a small number of patients with advanced neoplastic diseases are offered the best management available from cancer chemotherapy.” Attributing this to an “apparent lack of interest on the part of most of the University Departments of Internal Medicine in the fields of cancer and cancer chemotherapy,” the founding members determined that “it is possible to provide important improvement and life extension in some types of human cancer” and chartered ASCO on that premise. Arnoldus Goudsmit, MD, composed draft versions of a Society constitution and bylaws, and the founders convened twice more, in June and August 1964, to refine the organizational mission and select physicians to invite as Charter Members.

Doubt about the need for an organization devoted solely to the pursuit of clinical matters was a common response among the physicians solicited. In one such letter, dated October 5, 1964, the question was posed “What is the need [for a clinical cancer care organization]?” This misgiving was expressed by B. J. Kennedy, MD, who went on to be ASCO’s 24th President and to serve the Society for nearly 40 years. (Dr. Kennedy died in April 2003.) While he agreed with the founders that until that time, “efforts devoted towards cancer problems in humans rated almost secondary” to research, he did “not believe a society would exist long as a fruitful society if it only maintained itself with the clinical interests.” Nonetheless, he accepted the founders’ invitation to join ASCO and was present for the first meeting of the charter members, held on November 5, 1964, in Chicago.

Fifty-one physicians attended that meeting, where Kenneth Endicott, MD, Director of the National Cancer Institute, an invited speaker as well as an ASCO charter member, affirmed the need for an organization devoted to clinical oncology and exhorted his colleagues to work toward much needed improvements in the fields of patient care and chemotherapy. Dr. Goudsmit then presented the Society’s governing philosophy and function, identifying six primary goals for ASCO and outlining the means for achieving them.

¤Provide the form, meeting ground, and means for formal and informal  
  communication and mutual education for and among clinically oriented
  individuals with special knowledge and training in the field of human
  neoplastic disease.

¤Provide physicians with proper professional educational background
  material and the opportunity to facilitate their own improved management
  of patients with neoplastic diseases.

¤Sponsor or co-sponsor the publication of photographs, books, and/or
  articles on the subject of clinical oncology. The publication of a special
  journal […] is particularly appropriate.

¤Collaborate with other medical and research organizations, national and
  otherwise, with a view of enhancing professional education in the area of
 diagnosis and treatment of patients with neoplastic diseases.

¤Initiate, coordinate, and cooperate in projects of investigation of human
  neoplastic disease.

¤Provide a corporate framework for the pursuits of these and related
  activities.

While the scope of ASCO’s activities and programs have grown and become more diverse since its incorporation, these basic tenets still serve as guiding principles for the Society.

Addressing the charter members in November 1965, Dr. Goudsmit acknowledged the enormity of the task the founders had set themselves, saying that, “no existing organization is structurally or historically geared to serve what we have conceived as desirable ends and goals.” Even in the face of limited support and interest, however, the assembled group of physicians remained committed to the belief that, in Dr. Goudsmit’s words, “a society of clinical oncology, as sketched, when operative, has the potential of becoming the means for advancing and disseminating medical knowledge and contributing greatly to the improved diagnosis, treatment, well-being, and longevity of hundreds and thousands of fellow citizens with neoplastic diseases and to aid in the prevention of many others.”