Joe Kennedy: a man with problems -- Robert Felix: a man with plans -- The birth of the Federal Mental Health Program: 1960-1963 -- The short, unhappy life of the Federal Mental Health Program: 1964-1970 -- The death of the Federal Mental Health Program: 1971-1980 -- The perfect storm: 1981-1999 -- Dimensions of the current disaster: 2000-2013 -- Solutions: what have we learned and what should we do?