Two developments associated with WWII led to congressional hearings in 1945, which resulted in the creation of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). First, according to experts who testified, 18% of the men who were rejected for induction to the military were rejected for “mental illnesses” and 38% of all disability discharges were “due to mental disease.” The second development was the placement of 3000 conscientious objectors (conchies) as attendants in state mental hospitals. The conchies were appalled by the hospital conditions, and they wrote reports detailing what they found. Prior to this time, the care of mental patients was considered to be the exclusive responsibility of state and local governments, with virtually no federal involvement. The National Cancer Institute, which had been funded by Congress 8 years earlier, was used as a model for the creation of NIMH. The legislation to create NIMH had been drafted by Drs Francis Braceland, William Menninger, and Robert Felix; all three were devotees of Freudian theory and advocates for the prevention of mental illnesses. In 1946, Congress approved the creation of NIMH, and Dr. Felix was named the first director.