On Oct. 6, 1961, the National Congress on Medical Quackery convened in Washington, D.C. sponsored jointly by the American Medical Association and the FDA. More than 700 attendees from state medical societies and licensing boards, Better Business Bureaus and trade associations, federal and state agencies, medical and pharmacy and nursing schools, health insurance companies,
research institutes, women’s clubs, and related societies concerned with disease attended the meeting.

The objective was to eliminate quackery as a major health problem in the U.S.