to be loaned to the State of New York, where in April 1930 Parran took up his post as state health commissioner. His primary task was chairing a Special Health Commission whose recommendations (1932) provided a framework to bolster county health departments in the face of needs in the Great Depression. Few of the commission's recommendations were enacted. Parran's work on syphilis achieved more success. The Columbia Broadcasting System inadvertently launched his campaign after radio executives censored the phrase "syphilis control" from a talk, leading Parran to cancel his appearance. Newspapers across the United States reprinted the censored speech. Surgeon General Parran became active in New Deal politics in New York and entered national politics as well. In 1934, his former supervisor, now President of the United States, Roosevelt, appointed Parran to the Committee on Economic Security, which drafted the Social Security Act of 1935; Title VI authorized millions for public health departments and for biomedical research. After Surgeon General Hugh S. Cumming's term, President Roosevelt appointed Parran as Surgeon General of the United States; he was sworn in on 6 April 1936. Parran's syphilis control campaign was in full swing by the fall of 1936. Title VI funds supported efforts to identify and treat syphilis, and the National Venereal Disease Control Act of 1938 made funds available for rapid treatment centers that employed the new sulfa drugs and, later, penicillin. During 1937 his book about syphilis, Shadow on the Land, was published and very well received. However, unpublished essays with little and/or misleading evidence have suggested that his work against syphilis is tainted by the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (1932–1972) and the Guatemala syphilis experiments (1946–1948), which were conducted by the PHS's Division of Venereal Diseases, partially during his tenure as Surgeon General. During World War II, reports from Europe indicated that the public health situation was dire, prompt action was needed, and a highly qualified medical officer was required to direct the Public Health Division of the Civil Affairs Branch (G-5) of the newly formed headquarters. Because all of the senior Army medical officers with competence in this field were already holding highly important positions, the Army turned to Dr. Parran for help, and he released his deputy, Dr. Warren Fales Draper, to the military headquarters. Draper became a member of General Dwight Eisenhower's staff as the Chief of the Public Health Branch and the top public health adviser