August 2, 1979
Dear Don:
I doubt that the National Institutes of Health has had a Director as articulate, sensitive, intellectually brilliant and bureaucratically adept as you have been.  Often over the past thirty months I congratulated myself on having the good sense to keep you as the Director.
I believe the Institutes have achieved new levels of excellence under your leadership (to say nothing of increased resources in a time of budgetary stringency).  So long as you are the Director, I am confident the Institutes will continue to flourish in achievement -- and get their fair share of whatever the HEW budget is.
My thanks and much affection.
Sincerely,
Joseph A. Califano, Jr.