Joseph Califano, Jr.

• On January 11, 1978, the fourteenth anniversary of the publication of the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare Joseph Califano, Jr. launched the federal government’s first campaign to prevent teenagers from taking up cigarette smoking and to encourage existing smokers to stop.
• Until 1975 Califano had smoked as many as three packs of cigarettes a day, but he kicked the habit at the request of his then 11-year-oid son, Joe. “It was September, and I asked him what he wanted for his birthday.” he told The New York Times. “He said, ‘I want you to stop smoking.’ ‘No, seriously,’ I said. ‘What do you want for your birthday and for Christmas?’ And he repeated that wish.“Joe’s now a surgical oncologist and director of the Head and Neck Cancer at the University of California at San Diego.”

  (Personal communication with Joseph Califano, Jr, June 13, 2019)

Women Who Smoke Featuring Joseph Califano

News Story
CBS News
1978

Joseph Califano, Jr. Interviewed by Alan Blum, MD

Interview
1985

Joseph Califano Jr. on Surgeon General Luther Terry

Video Clip
50th Anniversary Symposium on Smoking and Health
2014