John P. McGovern, MD,
Oral History Project
Behind-the-scenes stories of the effort to end the smoking pandemic over the past century.
John P. McGovern, MD,
Dr. Blum relates meeting great physicians during his career, notably Dr. Alton Ocshner, one of the earliest physicians to speak out about the hazards of smoking in the 1930s. (08:22)
Dr. Blum recounts his encounters in 1987 with Dr. Donald “D.A.” Henderson, dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and a leader of the effort to end smallpox. Henderson turned down–twice– Dr. Blum’s offer to donate to Hopkins his vast collection on the tobacco industry, cigarette advertising, and anti-smoking efforts that he believed could serve as the foundation for an international resource on the tobacco industry, aimed at educating developing nations not to emulate the fear and foot-dragging of institutions in the US in confronting the tobacco industry. (03:37)
Meeting Sir George Godber, former Chief Medical Officer of the United Kingdom, at the Fifth World Conference on Smoking and Health in 1983. (02:45)
Dr. Blum describes his early correspondence with US Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop after he had been opposed for the position by nearly all major public health organizations. (02:39)
Alan Blum, MD, interviews Edward J. Sweda, Senior Attorney at the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) of Northeastern University School of LawBoston, MA.
Gus Miller, an Edinboro State professor, was one of the first to expose the myth that low-tar, filter cigarettes reduce harm . (06:51)
Dr. Blum discusses the origins and objectives of DOC. (02:26)
Dr. Blum tells about meeting Eric Solberg, who would head the national DOC office in Houston, and describes how the learning curve soon switched as Solberg’s ideas influenced him. (23:48)
Remembrances of two outstanding physicians who made fighting cigarette smoking a priority. (09:42)
Dr. Blum describes DOC’s first house calls on the Benson & Hedges 101 Film Series at the Riviera Cinema across from the University of Miami; The Miami Herald for its many cigarette ads; and the Virginia Slims Tennis Tournament in Hollywood, Florida. (05:13)
Dr. Alan Blum recounts his interview with Thomas Garrett, a professor at the University of Scranton, a former Jesuit priest, and one of the earliest critics of the ethics of cigarette advertisers. (06:48)
Dr. Blum relates how he became the editor of the Medical Journal of Australia and his experiences working in Sydney. He also discusses his friendship with individuals, including other physicians, in the guerrilla movement, BUGA-Up–Billboard-Utilizing Graffitists to End Unhealthy Promotions. (35:59)
Inspired by the pioneering efforts of Washington, DC attorney John Banzhaf III in the late-1960s to oppose cigarette commercials on TV, Ron Bloomberg, who owned an advertising agency in Philadelphia, contacted Banzhaf to offer assistance…
In 1980, the American Medical Association Resident Physicians Section Governing Council’s support for anti-smoking efforts only went so far… (13:21)
From 1953 to 1955, New York City radio announcer and actor Stan Sawyer starred as Captain Jet in “Space Funnies,” a popular Saturday and Sunday morning children’s TV show. At the same time, he was the voice of Salem cigarette TV commercials. Los Angeles family physician Howard Sawyer, MD, shares stories about about his father. (24:50)
Dr. Blum recounts the strange environment he encountered as a fellow in medical journalism at the American Medical Association (AMA). (03:09)
Dr. Blum discusses National Public Radio’s acceptance of funds from Philip Morris and how his comments about this were omitted from a broadcast interview. (07:51)
Dr. Blum discusses how restrictions on tobacco advertising in the United Kingdom led to the most creative cigarette ads of the century. (09:19)
Dakota was a brand of cigarettes, test-marketed in Houston, to get young women to switch from Marlboro, Dr. Blum describes DOC’s counteradvertising campaign and his presentation at the World Conference on Smoking and Health, in which a quote from RJ Reynolds’ marketing plans for targeting young women was misheard by a vocal member of the audience. (07:36)
Dr. Blum tells how revealing his Camel boxer shorts at the close of his presentation at the 1989 Scientific Assembly of the American Academy of Family Physicians brought down the house, but this same effect proved embarrassing to another physician who spoke at a nurses meeting. (03:53)
Dr. Blum describes the origins of DOC’s “house calls” on events sponsored by cigarette companies, including one that benefited the American Cancer Society. (07:32)
Dr. Blum tells how executives at ABC Films reacted to DOC’s approach to getting teenagers not to smoke. (02:26)
Philip Morris, which owned Miller Brewing Company and the Miller Lite brand, files a lawsuit against DOC over its Killer Lite parody T-shirts. (10:12)
Dr. Blum explains how Philip Morris’ acquisition of the Seven-Up Bottling Company was an early example of diversification–and a way to insulate its identity in layers of sheep’s clothing. (04:39)
In 1988 the American Academy of Family Physicians offered Dr. Blum the editorship of its monthly journal American Family Physician. But the contract he was offered came with a catch. He sought the advice of US Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop. (02:39)
Dr. Blum comments on DOC’s receiving the Surgeon General’s Medallion from Dr. Koop; the “Tar Wars” poster contest started by DOC board member Jeff Cain with the Denver Museum of Science; and the call from Dr. Koop in 1997 about incorporating DOC’s tobacco collection into a new National Health Museum if he were named as overseer of funding from the Master Settlement Agreement between the state attorneys general and the tobacco industry. (10:20)
Dr. Blum shares his love of newspapers and discusses how headlines he collected tell the story of the nefarious tobacco industry and efforts to counteract it. (4:13)
In an effort to garner public support and influence policymakers Philip Morris began sponsoring art exhibitions, ballet companies, opera companies, and and cultural organizations in the 1950s. Dr. Blum reviews his study and critique of tobacco sponsorship of the arts. (18:25)
Dr. Blum relates the story of how he acquired a “Philip Morris Sponsors the Arts” sweatshirt, one of his favorite items in the collection. (02:33)
Dr. Blum discusses meeting with officials from Philip Morris, including Marlboro brand manager Ellen Merlo. He recounts how DOC and the AIDS awareness group ACT UP showed up simultaneously at the Marlboro Country Music Festival in Houston to mock the cigarette sponsor. (Philip Morris was a major donor to homophobic North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms.) He also talks about a California university researcher who applied for a $1 million grant from the National Cancer Institute in the early 2000s to do “the seminal” research on the history of tobacco sponsorship of the arts, which DOC had already done over 20 years. Spoiler alert: she didn’t get the grant…and didn’t do any research. (08:43)
Dr. George Gitlitz was an early critic of The New York Times’ acceptance of cigarette advertising. Dr. Blum discusses the newspaper’s decades-long hypocrisy by editorializing against smoking while actively soliciting cigarette advertising. (21:10)
Dr. Blum reflects on the irony of items distributed by the major tobacco companies for use by the medical community as well as the boldness of big tobacco advertising in medical journals. (07:54)
Dr. Blum discusses his preparations for a conference on tobacco at the New York Botanical Garden, the sudden cancellation of which may have been due to the Garden’s historical ties to cigarette maker Lorillard. (5:21)
University of Alabama (UA) student Will Kenan documents his conversation with an Altria/Philip Morris USA representative at the UA Career Fair at Coleman Coliseum in 2015. (08:00)
Dr. Blum discusses how religious leaders and denominations have mostly failed to warn against smoking. (17:22)
In 1977, after billboard companies refused DOC’s offer of payment to post parodies of cigarette ads, Miami bus bench advertising company owner Jack Waxenberg welcomed this opportunity to promote public health. (11:10)
After serving as editor of the New York State Journal of Medicine from 1983-1986, during which he produced the first two theme issues on the world tobacco pandemic at any US journal, Dr. Blum was fired. (31:24)
While speaking with a representative from the Mid-America Art Alliance, part of Exhibits USA, about the possibility of a touring exhibition of satirical anti-smoking artworks, Dr. Blum discover that Marlboro-maker Altria is a major sponsor. (01:40)
A tough night as a guest in a debate with Tobacco Institute spokespersons on Larry King’s Miami radio talk show inspires Dr. Blum to create a more media-savvy organization, Doctors Ought to Care, to counter the disinformation of The Tobacco Institute and other purveyors of lethal lifestyles. (06:13)
Proponents of increasing cigarette taxes to deter teenagers from smoking might consider whether the high price of sneakers has cut sales. (03:50)
This conversation between Dr. Rick Richards and Dr. Alan Blum reviews the hypocrisy of anti-tobacco organizations and companies such as Siemens, Conde Nast, Hearst Magazines, and the Safeway Foundation which support Stand Up 2 Cancer while profiting from the sale or promotion of cigarettes. (24:27)
Dr. Alan Blum recalls how he and Dr. Rick Richards met at the National Conferenced of Family Practice Residents at the Alameda Plaza Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri, after Dr. Blum had been told he was not permitted to talk to the group about his effort to educate Miami teenagers about cigarette advertising. (02:15)
Drs. Richards and Blum recount the complicated history between DOC and the American Medical Association. (7:50)
Dr. John Cannell, a family doctor in Beckley, West Virginia, courted controversy and gained national attention by refusing to see any new patients who smoked. (02:07)
Professor J. Fred Macdonald made a major contribution to DOC and the collection of the Center for the Study of Tobacco and Society through his donation of dozens of filmed TV and radio news stories on smoking as well as TV cigarette commercials. (03:54)
Dr. Blum comments on the mixed message of the famous anti-drug public service announcement, “This is your brain on drugs,” as well as his experiences with Parent Resource Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE). (04:27)
A conversation between Sam Blum and his father, Dr. Alan Blum, about Sam’s letter at age 7 in The New England Journal of Medicine pointing out depictions of characters smoking in Marvel Masterpieces trading cards. (21:03)
Dr. Blum discusses the misplaced hysteria over the introduction of Camel No. 9 cigarettes in 2007. (05:03)