Chapter 9: Marlboro Mirage Summary

In light of the Surgeon General's report recommending unspecified, "appropriate remedial action" in response to smoking, the exact action to take was far from clear. So many people had a self-interest in the smoking industry that it was considered very difficult to change entrenched patterns that had existed for a generation. The errors of prohibition were clearly seen, but the government was seen as a possible tool to educate people about smoking.

In politics, the four "smoking bloc" states controlled a disproportionate power in Congress. Lyndon Johnson, a smoker himself until his heart attack in 1955, would not speak harshly against cigarettes. Regulation agencies like the FTC had been fairly inept at going up against even medium sized businesses in past decades. Even so, an FTC commissioner was successful in drafting a regulatory rule calling for mandatory cigarette warning labels...