Florence S. Mahoney Papers

Florence Stephenson Mahoney is a prominent Washington socialite and a lobbyist for health causes who was most active and well-known during the 1960s and 1970s. Through a network of friends and acquaintances, and in particular with her close friend, the medical philanthropist and lobbyist Mary Lasker, Mahoney worked tirelessly to advance health legislation and to promote medical research.

Mahoney first became prominent in Miami society in the 1940s as the wife of Miami News publisher Daniel J. Mahoney. The marriage ended in the early 1950s, and she began to spend most of her time at her Georgetown townhouse. During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, she reached the peak of her influence, forming close friendships with an astonishing array of powerful and well-known figures in health policy. Her parties and dinners drew an impressive roster of famous people from all branches of government and the private sector.

During the Nixon Administration, Mahoney began to concentrate more on the issue of aging. In 1974, she helped to push the legislation through Congress which created the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health. She then served on its first Advisory Council. Her service to the cause of aging research was acknowledged in the establishment of the annual Florence Mahoney Lecture given at the Institute.

A personal perspective on Florence Mahoney and her influence is found in Mike Gorman's interview with Dr. Stephen Strickland on Florence Mahoney. It is located in the Mike Gorman Papers, also in the National Library of Medicine's History of Medicine Division.