Recognizing this need, NHLBI initiated the pilot activities of the HDFP to characterize significant operational, socioeconomic, and motivational factors that would influence the acceptance of antihypertensive therapy in the defined populations within which the controlled clinical trial would take place and to obtain baseline information necessary to the undertaking of the clinical trial, which was to determine whether a practical, intensive, and antihypertensive program could significantly reduce morbidity and mortality in hypertensives in the general population.