president of Project HOPE, a medical relief organization James D. Watkins, a retired admiral At the commission's first meeting, Lilly and O'Connor, seated side by side, "chatted cordially", the New York Times reported. When the meeting ended, reporters and television cameras surrounded Lilly leaving him, he said, "shell-shocked" and "scared to death". Senator Gordon Humphrey, a New Hampshire Republican, attacked Lilly's appointment, said the President "should strive at all costs to avoid sending the message to society—especially to impressionable youth—that homosexuality is simply an alternative lifestyle" and said the President should have named heterosexual experts to the commission. The commission planned visits to review activities in several localities, beginning with a two-day visit to New York City by 5 commissioners in August/September. They visited hospitals and met with volunteers, health-care providers, and representatives of gay organizations. The commission's executive director was forced to resign in September "after a power struggle and allegations of inadequate performance," wrote the New York Times, in which Mayberry yielded to the demands of some members of the commission for better staff support than they felt they were receiving. Lee said: "For whatever reason, lack of staff or whatever, things just weren't happening. With Gene Mayberry out in Rochester, Minnesota, most of the time, the commission felt we had to get a really good, high-powered, full-time person" to manage the commission staff. On October 7, Mayberry and Myers quit, as did the commission's senior staff adviser for medical and research affairs, Dr. Franklin Cockerill 3d, a Mayo Clinic physician specializing in AIDS. Lilly said he was considering resigning but would wait to see who replaced the chairman and vice-chairman. The administration immediately announced the appointment of James D. Watkins, a retired admiral who had been Chief of Naval Operations. The New York Times said Mayberry had been "viewed as a moderating influence on the views of other members who are considered more ideological in their approach" and that "[b]y virtually all accounts, the commission has got off to a slow start in recruiting staff and organizing for its task." Myers said that "The personalities are intense" and that "I don't feel the commission as currently constituted would be effective." Comments from those familiar with the commission and its responsibilities expressed dismay at the resignations. Richard Dunne, executive secretary of GMHC, said: "The AIDS epidemic is out of control, and it seems, so is the Presidential Commission