Sparkle in Las Vegas

Sparkle in Las Vegas •• Las Vegas is a sparkling city in the Nevada desert and it served as the host city for the 1962 AMERICAN PHARMACEUTICAL ASSOCIATION annual meeting. As pharmacists converged on Las Vegas for the 109th annual meeting of APHA, some pessimistic rumblings were heard. Some anticipated the smallest annual meeting in years . Others predicted that the delegates who would be present would be so preoccupied they would not find any time left for attending the professional meetings scheduled for them. Still others prognostica ted that the Las Vegas trip would impair the public image of pharmacy and the finance commissioner of one New England stat e disapproved applications for trips by some state officials stating that he felt national associations could find a better place to hold business sessions than Las Vegas. However, this gloom and pessimism was shattered the moment the delegates and guests met th e first sparkle of th eir hosts. By the time the first general session was called to order by President J. Warren Lansdowne, the largest paid registration ever to attend an APHA convention was assured. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey addressed what may be th e largest audience of pharmacists ever to assemble under one roof in the U .S. Furthermore, every major meeting of the ASSOCIATION, its sections and related and affiliated organizations, attracted packed au diences, many with standing-room only. Many old-timers stated that they could not recall any previous convention in their memory where the sessions were better attended. Furth ermore, the delegates and their guests remained through the conclusion of the convention . The largest annual banquet ever held by APHA witnessed some 1,700 registrants seated in the beautiful multimillion dollar Convention Center to hear Nevada Governor Grant Sawyer explain the misconceptions which exist about his great state and hear incoming President George F. Archambault point the way to the future. Further sparkle for the professional stature of pharmacy was provided by the citizens and news media of Las Vegas itself. Man y of the good people of Nevada went out of their way to compliment the officials of APHA on the orderliness and sincerity with which our registrants conducted themselves . But perhaps the greatest sparkle of all glowed from the manner in which pharmacists actively participated in the deliberations of the ASSOCIATION. One national pharmacy publication observed that while the typical floor debates and heated floor arguments were notably absentThere was an undertone of mature realization that we are dealing with complex matters in complicated times and intelligent, sound approaches must be developed to resolve them. There was a resoluteness that seemed to permeate the air and this can only indicate good for the future.

In a special pre-convention message, APHA executive director, William S. Apple, notedWesterners are admired for their will to work, for their ability to take the raw material of life and fashion from it a better environment.

General Chairman Frank Bollig and the hospitable Hj62 local convention committee certainly confirmed the truth of this observation. Yes, there was a great deal of sparkle in Las Vegas and it was all good. The glow from the sparkle should serve as a beacon for the profession's future.

-Editor

Vol. NS2, No.5, May 1962

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