The 1964 Surgeon General’s Report

The Legacy of the 1964 Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health – Alan Blum (1:01)

On January 11, 1964, at a crowded press conference in Washington, D.C., United States Surgeon General Luther Terry released Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States. Two years earlier, Dr. Terry was asked by President John F. Kennedy to appoint a committee to scrutinize the medical and public health literature on the health consequences of smoking. The report’s unequivocal conclusion that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer and other diseases was supposed to end the debate about the dangers of tobacco that had raged for decades, if not centuries.

Video clip of press conference given by U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry, MD, on January 11, 1964, to announce the findings of the Report on Smoking and Health, which concluded that cigarette smoking was the main cause of lung cancer. (0:30)

From CBS Reports – Cigarettes: A Collision of Interests (Click for Full Video)
April 15, 1964

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“Smoking and Health: The U.S. Decision”

News article about the research efforts of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, which produced the landmark Report on Smoking and Health in 1964
Newsweek, front cover and pages 61-66
November 18, 1963

“U.S. Report Indicts Cigarets”

Front page coverage of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health
The Detroit Free Press, pages 1A and 6A
January 12, 1964

Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service

Book, front cover
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
January 11, 1964

“Tie Cancer to Cigarets”

Front page story by Michael Pakenham about the publication of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health
Chicago Tribune, pages 1, 3-9
January 12, 1964

“The Cigaret Report Links Cancer, Other Diseases”

Front page coverage of the Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health
New York Journal American
January 12, 1964

“I am pleased to send you the enclosed report of my Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health.”

Letter from U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry, MD, to physicians across the U.S.
Sent with copies of Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health to U.S. doctors
January 15, 1964

“No medical evidence or scientific endorsement has proved…”

Kent advertisement that appeared in a major American publication two months after the release of the Surgeon General’s report
Newsweek, page 15
March 16, 1964

“Smoking: The Government Report”

News article about the publication of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health
TIME, page 50
January 17, 1964

“‘Cigarette Smoking Is a Health Hazard…’”

News article about the publication of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health
Newsweek, pages 48-50
January 20, 1964

“Verdict on Cigarets: Guilty as Charged”

News article about the impact of the publication of the U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health and Winston cigarette advertisement on back cover of magazine
Life, pages 56A-62, 64, and back cover
January 24, 1964

“The Surgeon General’s first report on smoking and health”

Journal article by Luther L. Terry, MD, who served as Surgeon General of the United States Public Health Service from 1961 to 1965 and chaired the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, which produced the landmark Report on Smoking and Health in 1964
New York State Journal of Medicine, vol. 83, no. 13, front cover and pages 1254-1255
December 1983

“Anti-tobacco postage stamps”

Cover essay by James H. Lutschg, MD
Tobacco Control, vol. 1, no. 1, front cover and pages 5-6
March 1992

“Anti-tobacco postage stamps”

Cover by James H. Lutschg, MD
Tobacco Control, vol. 1, no. 3, front cover
1992

“Anti-tobacco postage stamps”

Cover by James H. Lutschg, MD
Tobacco Control, vol. 1, no. 4, front cover
1992