Chapter 11: Stroking the Sow's Ear Summary Analysis

Although public opinion was swinging against tobacco in the 1970s, the industry still had great influence in Washington. In general, the tobacco industry worked from the top down, while anti-smoking forces worked from the ground up, so it took some time for the tobacco industry to mobilize more lobbyists to fight non-smokers' rights groups at the state level - because of the sheer logistics involved. Eventually, they were successful in fighting back several state campaigns, although it was at a great expense. When the activist groups started local city legislative efforts, the industry found it could not send lobbyists to every city in the nation. It did, however, quickly discover that it could affect state legislation to supercede local laws. In this way, the tobacco industry countered many grass roots efforts from above...