In the period of euphoria after the first human heart transplant operation, it seemed many people would gladly sign up to donate their organs, including their hearts. In August 1968, when news broke that former president Dwight D. Eisenhower's life was in danger due to serious heart disease, more than twenty people volunteered their own hearts to be transplanted into Eisenhower's failing body. This illustrates that the public in general did not understand the consequences of being a heart donor. In the end it did not matter; neither Eisenhower nor his family even considered heart trans- plantation as a treatment.

There was no system in place for people to make their hearts available upon their death. For ordinary heart transplant candidates (unlike beloved former presidents), donors were few and far between. During that same period, Houston, Texas, experienced a larger than usual number of accidents...