The Big Lie of "David vs Goliath"

The American Cancer Society has purposely nurtured the big lie that their assault on tobacco is a grossly unequal fight against enormously powerful tobacco companies, with the ACS pretending to be David: "From then on, the tobacco companies perceived the American Cancer Society as the enemy [Note - but supposedly not vice-versa!] It is no exaggeration to use the David/Goliath analogy. The ACS had several powerful people on its board [Note - only some of the most powerful figures in banking, advertising, and the entertainment industry, to note a few], but never had been supported by industry in general. The tobacco companies represented a $6,182,000,000 industry with enormous political influence. Tobacco is a cash crop in sixteen states and dominates the economy in at least two -- North Carolina and Kentucky. Tobacco-supported congressmen are generally reelected time after time [as are they all!], and therefore had seniority on key committees. They gave the tobacco companies enormous political clout. Tobacco influence extended to all communications media because of the huge collective advertising budgets of the tobacco companies. They were also beginning to diversify, to buy up other industries, whose economic power pyramided that of tobacco. In short, the Society had taken on a formidable opponent with resources and influence far greater than anything it could muster. It had one powerful resource: the link between smoking and ill health, which was growing stronger every day." (From "Crusade: The Official History of the American Cancer Society," by Walter Ross. Arbor House Publishing Co., 1987.)

FACT: The tobacco companies have always been mere milch cows of the secret power elite that rules the US. They engineered the anti-smoking persecution in order to loot billions of extra dollars from smokers under the false pretext of economic damages. That is why they let the anti-smokers get away with perjury about health risks, and purposely threw the state tobacco lawsuits by settling when it appeared they were winning. And, the media have never told the public that Mary Woodard Lasker's stepson, Edward Lasker, was a director of Philip Morris from 1960 to 1980.

Ralph Moss, in his book, "The Cancer Industry," Ch. 17, "The Cancer Establishment, exposes the Lasker Lobby's political connections: "If Bobst spoke for the Society in Republican administrations, Mrs. Lasker was familiar with and at ease amid the heirs of the New Deal.... Bobst and Lasker introduced the most advanced Madison Avenue techniques into fund-raising. Bobst ran it 'like a business with a well-planned 'sales' campaign' (Bobst, 1973). "Dollars flooded the treasurer's office,' an ACS writer recollects, finally totalling more than $280,000 from a single story in Readers' Digest" (ACS, 1965).

"...The press has been carefully cultivated, an art [Albert] Lasker practiced in the 1920s, when he used his clients' clout to influence stories or even, it is said, 'to suppress... newspaper material hostile to [Lasker's] aims' (Lundberg, 1937).

"About three decades ago, Patrick McGrady, Sr., the Society's science editor, initiated national tours of cancer laboratories for science writers. When these became too crowded, in 1958 he initiated the Science Writers' Seminar. Originally a chance for leading science writers to meet prominent researchers in a congenial setting, McGrady came to believe the seminars became a 'medium of self-serving propaganda' for the ACS (cited in Chowka 1978c).

"So successful has been this media cultivation that the Associated Press once ran an ACS publicity piece as a ten-part 'objective' news series on cancer, without acknowledgement of its origin within the Society.

"Asked about the propriety of this, a top Associated Press executive replied, "I never considered the ACS to be a political organization... That's just like saying God is political" (Bloom, 1979).

"The Society is a power among researchers in the United States. Approximately one-quarter of its more than $300 million income is spent on research. As the number of applications has increased, the Society has been able to pick and choose among those research projects submitted. For example, in 1978, 1,912 scientists requested over $160 million in funds from the ACS. The Society awarded about $40 million to 639 of them. By 1987, the number of requests had risen to 2,385 and the Society was disbursing over $77 million to only 810 of them for research (ACS, 1988). Scientists thus must be responsive to the goals and thinking of the Society if they expect to be funded in this competitive situation. Conversely, although no strings are attached to these grants, ACS's wishes can often be translated into the direction of the research (ACS, 1979).

"ACS grants go out to most of the major research institutions in the country, and many around the world. One year (1978), some of the biggest recipients included the University of California, with 54 projects totaling almost $3 million; Sloan-Kettering, with 25 grants totaling $1.5 million; Yale University, which received 18 grants worth $1.3 million; and Yeshiva University in New York, which was given 17 grants woth in excess of $1 million. Cancer research laboratories in Switzerland, England, Scotland, and Israel spread the Society's influence abroad. In addition, the Society spent $375,000 in 1978 to support Eleanor Roosevelt-ACS International Cancer Fellowships (ibid.).

By 1987 the various branches of the University of California were receiving $7.4 million for 69 projects. The University of Texas, with 36 awards, got $3.6 million. And Memorial Sloan-Kettering (including the Walker Laboratory in Rye, New York) came in third with 29 grants and fellowships worth nearly $3 million. In addition, grants were made to laboratories in England and France and to the International Union Against Cancer (ACS, 1988). "The ACS also supports twenty-five prominent scientists around the world in what is known as its Research Professorship Program, a lifetime stipend that frees these individuals to spend their full time on cancer research (ibid.).

"The Society has numerous committees and holds many seminars and panels. By incorporating leading cancer specialists into these bodies, the ACS has involved the medical profession in its administrative and fund-raising apparatus, and made many of them committed to the Society's success. Many of those who have served on ACS committees have also benefited -- either personally or institutionally -- from the Society's largess (Chowka, 1978c).

"Mary Lasker, the longtime honorary chairman of the ACS, who continues on as an honorary life member, has been considered by some the 'most powerful person in modern medicine' (Medical Dimensions, March 1976). Veteran science writer Barbara J. Cullitan called the National Cancer Act 'Mrs. Lasker's War' (Harper's, June 1976).

"The days are gone when a cancer specialist would think of opposing the leadership of his field by businessmen, bankers, and advertising people. The Society now has tens of millions of dollars to those who favor its hegemony, and many powerful connections to disconcert those who oppose it."

The National Cancer Institute

"In terms of dollars the most powerful force in the cancer field is the National Cancer Institute, which has the primary responsibility for funding the so-called war on cancer. NCI's budget in 1978 was $910 million, most of which was spent in support of scientists at various institutions. By 1988 that had increased to almost $1.5 billion.

"Although NCI is larger than either Memorial Sloan-Kettering or the American Cancer Society, it is not as powerful as either. In fact, historically, the smaller private organizations have interlocked with the federal giant and guide its thinking on many matters.

"...NCI's budget skyrocketed from $600,000 per year in 1946 to $92 million in 1960. It was no secret that Mary Lasker and the ACS were largely responsible for this phenomenal growth (Strickland, 1971). ACS influence within NCI grew proportionally.

"'The Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute work as partners,' Dr. John R. Heller, former director of NCI, declared in 1960. 'The Director of the Institute is a member of the board of directors of the American Cancer Society, and the scientific advisory committees of both organizations interlock'" (Richard Carter, 1961:142).

"In the 1970s NCI's funds quadrupled, as a result of the 'war on cancer' legislation. Passage of the National Cancer Act of 1971 increased ACS (and MSKCC) influence over the Institute." And Moss lists the Lasker Syndicate membership and ACS/MSKCC affiliations of the framers and panel members of the post-1971 National Cancer Act NCI.

An anecdote illustrating Mary Lasker's power

From "Cancer Crusade: The Story of the National Cancer Act of 1971, by Richard Rettig (1977, Princeton University Press, pp. 33-34): "The budget prospects for NIH in fiscal 1971, moreover, appeared as bleak as the previous year.... Most of the NIH research institutes, especially those supporting basic research, faced further budget reductions. The acute distress being experienced by the life-science community was diagnosed in clinical detail in February by three NIH officials. The implied prescription was more money, but prospects for therapy being administered in a timely manner were not good.

"The National Cancer Institute fared much better than did the NIH as a whole. The 1971 budget request was for $202 million, up $20 million over the expected appropriation for fiscal 1970. But Mary Lasker was not satisfied. She invited Robert Marston and Robert Berliner to luncheon at Deeda Blair's home in March. Cryptically, as the two NIH officials were leaving, she asked, 'You don't mind if we get you some more money for cancer, do you?' Neither man quite knew what she had in mind. What she had in mind became more apparent when the House appropriations subcommittee, in July, recommended $227 million for NCI. The Senate, three months later, recommended $235 million. The fiscal 1971 appropriations bill, signed into law on Jan. 11, 1971, represented a compromise of $230 million."

The CTR

Many of the members of the Scientific Advisory Board of the tobacco industry-funded Council for Tobacco Research were also officals of the American Cancer Society; its preecessor, the American Society for the Control of Cancer; or its foreign puppet, the International Union for the Control of Cancer (UICC). They included McKeen Cattell, Kenneth M. Lynch, Edwin B. Wilson, William U. Gardner, Roswell K. Boutwell, Wolfgang K. Joklik, and Peter K. Vogt. Numerous other received grants from the ACS. And, Mary Woodard Lasker was an old acquaintance of CTR Director Clarence Cook Little, dating from their days together in the birth control movement in the 1930s.

So, the anti-smokers' obsession with supposed tobacco industry influence is really just a smokescreen to blot out any awareness that smokers themselves might be unhappy about their persecution. It operates in tandem with their media accomplices' lionization of the snivelings of stupid, ignorant, and credulous smokers who regurgitate the anti-smokers' lies, while censoring informed smokers' advocates. It is a deliberate conspiracy to eliminate dissent against the Syndicate's agenda, and to disenfranchise over 50 million people to achieve their goal of outlawing tobacco.

The deluded beliefs of the Republican Party:

"You are the greatest and most effective private voluntary health organization in the world, a lesson for all who would learn the power of volunteer commitment.

"In my own case, I know that the American Cancer Society was involved. One way I can return the favor is by saying - thanks, thanks for the rest of my life.

"I am proud of your total independence - you don't take a dime from federal, state or local governments. Your research and all your other great work that has rolled back cancer is done through volunteer contributions of money, time and dedication. (President Ronald Reagan, Annual Meeting of the American Cancer Society, November 5, 1985.)

The reality

"When I asked my husband for money for the American Cancer Society to do research, he said, "No, I'm not going to give you any money" -- although he did. But he said, "The place to get money is the federal government." And I said, "I don't know anything about the government." And he said, "There are unlimited funds. I'll show you how to get them." (Interview with Mary Lasker.)

"Says Dr. Michael B. Shimkin of the University of California School of Medicine at San Diego, who worked at the National Cancer Institute from 1938 to 1963:

"'The Lasker fortune could have established a research institution, along the format of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. But Albert Lasker thought in bigger terms of involving the national treasury through appropriations. And the way to that goal was to organize a lobby for biomedical research allocations. The Society represented a ready-made lobby group that already extended into the National Advisory Cancer Council of the National Cancer Institute. (MB Shimkin, "As Memory Serves: Six Essays on a Personal Involvement with the National Cancer Institute, 1938 to 1978." NIH Publication no. 83-2217 (Washington DC: US Government Printing Office, 1983), p. 38.)

How much of that conservative belief in the efficacy of "volunteers" is based on the delusion that the American Cancer Society, et al., are "volunteers" who "don't take a dime from federal, state or local governments?" It so happens that we in the smokers' rights movement are true volunteers, who have never gotten a penny from the government for our work. See how much efficacy we enjoy, as the Republican Party joins with the Democratic Party in showering financial blessings - and undeserved praise - upon our enemies!

In short, the US Congress has always been the Lasker Syndicate's whorehouse. The American Cancer Society has controlled the National Cancer Institute ever since its founding in 1937, and Congress has poured billions upon billions of tax dollars into the hands of these health fascist ideologues. The ACS and its cronies have defined the nation's health policy, while the tobacco companies have involved themselves only with narrowly defined business interests, of the type of which any industry placed in similar circumstances could be expected to be concerned, such as the labeling of their product. And the Lasker Syndicate's media propaganda machine has gotten away with portraying this normal functioning of democracy as illegitimate, and the Syndicate's dictatorship as beyond reproach.

Goliath's Mighty Wurlitzer

By 1947, the Cancer Society could boast, through pollster George Gallup, that "The public's most dreaded diseases show no close relation with bureau of census figures on actual causes of death. The five leading causes in 1945 were: heart diseases responsible for 424,328 deaths; cancer and malignant tumors (177,464); strokes and cerebral hemorrhages, etc. (120,144), nephritis (88,078) and pneumonia and influenza (68,386)." When a national cross section of adults was asked, "What disease or illness would you dread having most?" 57% feared cancer, 15% tuberculkosis, 5% heart trouble, 5% infantile paralysis, 2% venereal diseases, 15% other, 4% no answer don't know, 2% none. A poll the previous year found that 87 percent of voters approved the Neely-Pepper bill to appropriate $100,000,000 for cancer research and control. (Cancer Is Dreaded By Public Above All Other Diseases. By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Puiblic Opinion, Princeton, N.J. La Crosse Tribune, Aug. 20, 1947.)

Clifton R. Read

"Clifton R. Read, a retired media and information director of the American Cancer Society, died on Sunday at Charlotte Hungerford Hospital in Torrington, Conn. He was 86 and lived in Cornwall Bridge, Conn. The cause of death was heart failure, the society said. Mr. Read, a native of St. Paul, was a history honors graduate of Princeton University and worked in New York as a radio writer and publicity representative for the American Civil Liberties Union during the Depression. In 1936 he became the first publicity director of the American Society for the Control of Cancer. In World War II he served with the Office of War Information in New York and with the Psychological Warfare Branch in the Mediterranean [emphasis added]. After the war he established and directed a United States Information Service center in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He rejoined the reorganized American Cancer Society in 1948 and was named national publicity director the next year. He built up a staff of broadcast, science and news writers and directed educational campaigns against smoking, for Pap tests, for breast self-examination and for early diagnosis. He retired in 1972. He is survived by his wife, the former Alice Winslow Meade; two daughters, Alison Read of Greater Barrington, Mass., and Sheila Botein of Washington, and two granddaughters." (Clifton R. Read, 86, A Publicity Director. New York Times, Feb. 2, 1994.) He was a radio writer for NBC and program manager for WEVD before the war. His first wife was Paula O'Connell. (Clifton R. Read '29, Princeton Alumni Weekly.)

CLIFTON R. READ Vice President for Public Education and Information. Radio Writing and Publicity (1930-35); Publicity Director, American Society, Control of Cancer (1936-41); Office of War Information, New York, Algiers, Belgrade (1941-46). Rejoined ACS in 1945." (1966 House of Delegates and Board of Directors. American Cancer Society Inc.; Read Retires. ACS Press Release, Oct. 25, 1972.) The Office of War Information, headed by William J. Donovan, wasn't officially created until June 1942; however, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) was created by the OWI in 1941.

The World Conference on Smoking and Health in 1967 decreed the agenda which the anti-smoking movement has followed for the last four decades - including brainwashing techniques explicitly aimed at "making smoking socially unacceptable." "The Conference grew out of efforts under Alton Ochsner, M.D., longtime pioneer against cigarettes [and longtime ACS activist], to set up an international congress. Originally a congress was scheduled for June of 1966 and later for June of 1967. Finally the organizing committee headed by Dr. Ochsner sought the support of the American Cancer Society, which agreed to manage the meeting, with the National Interagency Council on Smoking and Health as sponsor. The Conference was financed by the American Cancer Society, The American Heart Association, the Boys Club of America, the National Tuberculosis Association [predecessor of the American Lung Association], and the U.S. Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.

"Sixty-one reporters from magazines, newspapers, television and radio covered the meeting. Daily and weekend stories, and many magazine articles, appeared throughout the country and abroad. Delegates from individual countries held press conferences for their own national journalists. The Columbia Broadcasting System, the National Broadcasting Company, and the American Broadcasting Company covered large segments of the meeting under bright lights that were the despair of many delegates. ABC's 'Issues and Answers' did a final roundup. One of the early goals, to focus public attention and to create news on cigarette smoking [emphasis added], was certainly realized. Joseph Clark, ACS Press Chief, handled the press room." Surgeon General Luther Terry was the honorary chairman."

One of their phony newsmakers was John F. Banzhaf, half-truthully described as "the plaintiff whose letter to the Federal Communications Commission became the occasion for the ruling that the Fairness Doctrine be extended to advertising" - that is, after the F.C.C. was stacked by the political pull of Mary W. Lasker and her cronies. Banzhaf's "news" consisted of whining about the health agencies for not going to court against the F.C.C. "Reporters and TV cameramen were fascinated as he flailed at the health agencies and the National Interagency Council... Generally ignored by the media was the fact that the Federal Communications Commission's own strong law department and the Department of Justice seem able to defend the fairness ruling without help from voluntary health agencies." This is open gloating about a successful disinformation scam!

"Social functions included a pleasant and crowded opening reception, as the guests of Emerson Foote, Mrs. Albert D. Lasker, and Sol Baker, M.D., at the Carnegie Endowment Internatrional Center, opposite the United Nations, and smaller cocktail parties for those from outside of the United States given by Mrs. Lester D. Robbins and Mrs. William G. Maguire and the New York Heart Association. A most successful bus tour of New York was organized by Mrs. Merle A. Gulick for wives of visitors and a luncheon for them was held at the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States. Mrs. Robbins, Mrs. Maguire, and Mrs. Gulick are volunteers with the New York City Division of the American Cancer Society...."

"A principal role for government, a chief exemplar, was seen by all the work groups who looked to their governments for more generous financial support for cigarette control and research and for scientific and political leadership [emphasis added] ...." Ironically, their major goals included "Development of low tar and nicotine tobacco" and "Research in filtration (without implying that a "safe" cigarette is possible)" for which the anti-smokers condemn the tobacco industry as "deceiving the public." In fact, the American Health Foundation, headed by former former Army Intelligence officer Ernst L. Wynder and funded largely by the National Cancer Institute, held a virtual monopoly on that field of research.

"...The Planning Committee solved its problems in eight well-attended meetings held from August 2, 1966 to September 7, 1967 under Sol R. Baker, MD., Chairman, ACS Committee on Tobacco and Cancer. The Planning Committee, in addition to Dr. Baker, included Dr. John Cooper, Associate Executive Secretary, American Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation; Nathanlel H. Cooper, M.D., Director, Community Program, American Heart Association; Thomas R. Dawber, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Boston University Medical Center; Dewitt C. Daughtry, M.D., Miami, Fla. ; Harold S. Diehl, M.D., Vice President, ACS and of Interagency Council; Dr. William Ellena, Associate Secretary, American Association of School Administrators; Dr. Daniel Horn, Director, National Clearinghouse on Smoking & Health; Sol Lifson, Director, Education, Public Relations and Materials Development, National Tuberculosis Association; Clifton R. Read, Secretary; and James L. Troupin, M.D. Director of Professional Education, the American Public Health Association. Emerson Foote, former advertising executive and former head Of the Interageney Council, presided at the first luncheon." (First World Conference Calls For Action On Many Fronts Against Cigarettes. By Clifton R. Read. Cancer News, 1967 Winter, pp. 3-10.)

Future ETS study author Takeshi Hirayama was a participant. (Program of the World Conference on Smoking and Health, Sep. 11-13, 1967.)

The agenda: "Work Group 9: Government Action and Legislation" (Chapter VII, Proceedings of the World Conference on Smoking and Health.)

1. Product and Dosage Control
    a. Development of low tar and nicotine tobacco
    b. Outlaw over-length cigarettes
    c. Research in filtration (without implying that a "safe" cigarette is possible) [NOTE THE DUPLICITY]
2. Insurance Ratings
    Following the lead of some private insurers, government should study their own life table data for smokers and non-smokers
    and the resulting insurance premium implications.
3. Advertising
    a. Bar where legally feasible.
    b. Discourage effect of indirect attempts, both deliberate and otherwise, to influence people in behalf of cigarette smoking               (i.e., cigarettes as movie props)
    c. Include warning in all advertising
    d. Restrict exposure of children
4. Regulations
    a. Restrictions on smoking in government facilities and other public places: schools, hospitals, transportation media, etc.
    b. Restrictions of sales to minors (distribution of free cigarettes, vending machines, and health facilities)
    c. Urge promotion of communications media time to counteract cigarette advertising.
5. Education
    a. Government support for special education for the health and other concerned professions, e.g. teachers.
    b. Lay education and information--including schools and military populations.
6. Labeling
    a. Require strong warning on all packages, including those in foreign trade.
    b. Tar and nicotine content labels on packages and in advertising (add other toxic agents as identified)
7. Taxes
    a. Differential taxation on basis of tar and nicotine content (add other toxic agents as identified)
    b. Differential for cigars and pipes.
    c. Urge consideration of advantages in central government levy of cigarette taxes.
8. Production
    a. National governments and international agencies adopt as agricultural policy the discouragement of the cultivation of
         tobacco and as economic policy the discouragement of cigarette production.
    b. National governments and international agencies encourage conversion of tobacco growing land to other purposes and
         diversification.
    c. End all promotion of cigarette industry abroad.
9. Therapy
    Intensify the use of all effective services to assist smokers to break the habit and remain free of it.
10. Research
    a. Fundamental research on all aspects of the smoking and health problem.
    b. Promotion of continual research into the differential effect of all measures established to curb cigarette smoking.

Work Group 9 included John F. Banzhaf III; Dr. Vsevolod Bilyk, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Roumania; Lester Breslow MD, California State Department of Public Health; David T. Carr MD, Mayo Clinic; Branko Cebin, Onkoloski Institut, Yugoslavia; Nils Christie, University of Oslo, Norway; Johannes Clemnesen, Finsen Institute, Denmark; Carlos Diaz Coller MD MPH, Pan American Health Organization/WHO; Howard Ennes, Executive Vice President Equitable Life Assurance Society; Gosta W. Funke, Chairman National Smoking & Health Association, Sweden; Bohdan Ganicky MD, Ministry of Health, Czechoslovakia; Leo F. Gerber, Ohio Division ACS; Eugene H. Guthrie, Associate Surgeon General; Clarence A. Imboden Jr. MD, National Center for Chronic Disease Control; Hollis S. Ingraham MD, New York State Commissioner of Health; Gyrogy Karpati MD, Ministry of Health, Hungary; Sidney R. Katz, Executive Director Beth-El Center; Albert C. Kolbye MD, Staff Director of the National Clearinghouse for Smoking and Health; William B. Lewis, Vice Chairman of the American Cancer Society; Berwyn F. Mattison, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association; Marilyn J. Mitchell of Cambridge, Mass.; P.J. Murray of the Department of Health, Dublin, Ireland; Clyde L. Ogg of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Leo Noro, Institute of Occupational Health, Finland; Dr. Stanley Reiser, William L. Ross, US Public Health Service; Harvard University; Mefford R. Runyon, former Executive Vice President ACS; David D. Rutstein MD, Harvard Medical School; Dr. Ernst Schedy, Bundesministerium fur soziale Verwaltung, Austria; H. Carl Smith, National Congress of Parents and Teachers; Edward J. Speno, New York State Senator; Charles F. Tate Jr. MD, Miami, Fla.; Wallace F. Toronto, Utah Division ACS; James L. Troupin MD, American Public Health Association; Prof. Carlo Vetere, Ministry of Health, Italy; John T. Walden, Assistant to Associate Surgeon General; and Nina Woodside MD, Bureau of Chronic Disease Control.

William B. Lewis

WILLIAM B. LEWIS* New York, N. Y.; Director-at-Large (1952-). Board Chairman, Kenyon & Eckhardt, Inc. ACS Vice Board Chairman (1963-) Former Assistant Director, Domestic Branch; Former Chief, Domestic Radio Bureau, Office of War Information [emphasis added]. Former Vice President in Charge of Programs, Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc." (1966 House of Delegates and Board of Directors. American Cancer Society Inc.)

His original name was Wilbur. "Raised in St. Louis, he had entered the University of Missouri, but disagreements with his stepfather prompted him in the mid-1920s to quit college and leave home to tackle New York City. After ten years in various advertising agencies he and a friend decided to start a new agency, but at the last moment the friend pulled out, and Lewis launched a disaster. Fortunately his wife had a job and kept him afloat, but he had to liquidate the firm and look for work." He was an admirer of William S. Paley and wrote a long letter which he mailed to Paley's home address. Paley's assitant at CBS supposedly mistakenly put it among the short list of applicants for the position of CBS program chief. One of his big projects was "The Fall of the City," by Archibald MacLeish, S&B 1915, a prophetic play broadcast in 1937 about a city of free people who meekly accept subjugation to a hollow conqueror without a fight - much like America's subjugation to the American Cancer Society. (The Golden Web. By Erik Barnouw. Oxford University Press, 1968.)

Fifteen writers resigned from the OWI in 1943, charging that it was impossible for them to tell the "full truth" and that "domestic activities of the OWI were controlled by 'high-pressure promoters who prefer slick salesmanship to honest information.'" They criticized Gardner Cowles Jr., head of domestic operations, and his two main assistants were James Allen and William B. Lewis, "but especially Mr. Lewis." "Mr. Cowles is a member of the family which publishes the Des Moines Register and Tribune, The Minneapolis Star-Journal, Tribune and Times, and the magazine Look. Mr. Allen was in charge of public relations, first for the Securities and Exchange Commission, and then for the Department of Justice, before joining the OWI. Mr. Lewis is a former vice president of the Columbia Broadcasting System." The writers were said to have come from the former Office of Facts and Figures, headed by Archibald MacLeish [Skull & Bones 1915]. (Writers Who Quit OWI Charge It Bars 'Full Truth' For 'Ballyhoo.' By Lewis Wood. New York Times, Apr. 16, 1943.)

"[I]n 1957, the Board of Directors of the [American Cancer] Society established an Ad Hoc Committee on Smoking and Health. Its members were: Dr. Warren H. Cole, of the University of Illinois College of Medicine; Dr. John R. Heller, then Director of the National Cancer Institute; Dr. Ochsner; Dr. Ernest L. Stebbins, of Johns Hopkins University; Dr. Howard C. Taylor, Jr., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; Rutherford L. Ellis, Chairman of the Board of Lipscomb-Ellls Co., Atlanta, Ga.; William B. Lewis, Chairman of the Board of Kenyon & Eckhardt, Inc., New York City; Monroe J. Rathbone, President and Director of Standard Oil of New Jersey; Dr. Ira DeA. Reid, Professor of Sociology, Haverford College, and Frank L. Taylor, Executive Vice President and Director of the New York Herald Tribune [CIA connections]. The Society reafflrmed the importance of presenting basic findings on the link between cigarettes and lung cancer to the public. The Board authorized production of suitable educational materials, including materials designed specifically for high school and college students, and authorized a one-year study of the smoking habits of teen-agers in the Portland, Oregon, school system which would involve nearly 22,000 high school students. Action followed. In December of 1957, the Society began distribution of its leaflet, 'To Smoke Or Not To Smoke.'" (The Position of the American Cancer Society Regarding Tobacco and Lung Cancer. To the City Editor [form letter]. American Cancer Society News Service, Jan. 7, 1964.)

The "Smoking Dogs" Hoax - ACS researchers Dr. Oscar Auerbach and Dr. E. Cuyler Hammond claimed to have produced lung cancer among 12 out of 84 dogs which smoked through tracheostomies. Lewis refused to release their data. The New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association returned the work for revision. Auerbach and Hammond later reduced the claimed number of lung cancers to two. The Archives of Environmental Health was to have published it. ("Smoking Dogs"--Case History of An Attack On Advertising That Failed. Prepared for the Staff of Advertising Age. The Tobacco Institute, Nov. 1970 [a chronology with documents].)

Later that year, Lewis demanded that the American Cancer Society be given free advertising in the mass media. He praised Reader's Digest, the New Yorker, Good Housekeeping, The Saturday Review, National Geographic and Scholastic Magazines, the Boston Globe and the Trenton Times for barring all cigarette advertising. (Cancer Society Seeks Free Ads. By Robert D. McFadden. New York Times, Nov. 7, 1970.)

Lewis's first job was as an advertising representative at the J. Walter Thompson Company. "In 1935 he became commercial advertising representative for the Columbia Broadcasting System. In late 1936, he became head of all CBS programs and the network's youngest vice president." He took a leave of absence in 1941 to become chief of the radio division of the Office of Facts and Figures. When this was merged with the Office of War Information, he was named chief of the domestic radio bureau. He returned to CBS later during the war, then joined Kenyon & Eckhardt in 1944 as vice president in charge of radio. He was president from 1951 to 1960, and retired in 1967. "After his retirement from the agency, Mr. Lewis became board chairman of the American Cancer Society, which he had served in various capacities since 1953." He was a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism. (William B. Lewis, Headed Ad Agency. New York Times, Feb. 26, 1975.)

Also serving in the OWI was John R. Latham, former president of American Cigarette and Cigar Co. and the creator of American Tobacco's 'Sold American!' radio jingle in the 1930s, who created the Philip Morris country music radio show during the 1950s.

The Mellman Group, ACS Push Pollsters

Remember, in the first place, that these corrupt hucksters are polling people who've been systematically deceived by the anti-smoker-controlled mass media, who lie that lifestyle questionnaires are science, keep them ignorant about how the anti-smokers' studies falsely blame smoking for diseases caused by infection, spew the Hitler-like Big Lie that smoking is an economic burden, and fabricate a phony Potemkin Village pretense of "democracy" using only hand-picked lackeys.

"[Edward] Lazarus and his partner, Mark Mellman, did their first political poll in New Haven in 1981, when both were Ph.D. candidates in the political science department at Yale University [emphasis added]. It paid $200. The partnership had just three clients in 1982. But in 1984, when Lazarus and Mellman decided to do political polling full time, billings rose to about $250,000. This year, the firm, which has five employees, expects its billings to exceed $1 million.... What do the campaigns get for their money? In most cases, unless the campaign is just looking for the numbers, a pollster becomes a key member of the campaign's strategy team. The pollster's job is not only to administer the poll and accumulate the data but also to interpret that data and infuse that interpretation into an overall strategy." (There's Big Money To Be Made in Polls. San Francisco Chronicle, Feb 12, 1988.) "Mark Mellman got his start in the politics of polling as a graduate student at Yale. In 1981, Connecticut congressional candidate Bruce Morrison asked for Mellman's help on his campaign. The Democrat went on to win, and Mellman went to Washington, D.C., to form Information Associates, which became incorporated as The Mellman Group in 1986. The firm specializes in polling and focus groups for Democratic candidates and progressive organizations, as well as corporate and government clients. It performs research for candidates to see which messages will get through to voters. The group also performs public opinion surveys for corporations and interest groups, sometimes teaming with Republican polling firms such as Public Opinion Strategies. (Consultant Profile Mark Mellman (The Mellman Group). By Chris Landers. The Center for Public Integrity, Sep. 26, 2006.) Mark Mellman is a native of Ohio. (Ohio Democrats May Have to Look for Help in Congress. By Jonathan Riskind. Columbus Dispatch, Nov. 22, 1998.)

The Mellman group has been a polling lobby for the American Cancer Society since at least 1998, when Mark Mellman claimed that including the phrases "raising taxes" and "creating new bureaucracies" in the tobacco industry's poll on the McCain bill to raise the federal cigarette tax by $1.10 and impose FDA regulation supposedly "clearly biases the question" [while leaving them out supposedly would not], and sneered that the tobacco companies "have a pretty good history of buying the results they want, whether it's in politics or cancer research" - notwithstanding that the tobacco industry has never questioned the anti-smokers' lies and fraud, so the only purpose that their polls could serve is merely to measure how well the unopposed hate propaganda campaign is brainwashing the public. (Tobacco Supporters Admit: Anti-Smoking Bill Will Pass. By Bill Adair. St. Petersburg Times, May 19, 1998.) [Note: the trumpeted bill later failed. (Political Fallout From Tobacco Bill's Failure Is Unclear. Advocacy Institute News, Jun. 18, 1998).]

The Mellman Group conducted a poll on "Smoke-Free Laws in Wisconsin" on behalf of the American Cancer Society. The purpose of the poll was nothing but anti-smoking political propaganda, and pollsters' "expertise" reportedly consisted of hanging up on those who opposed the smoking ban so they could fabricate the product their client wanted. (Smoke-Free Laws in Wisconsin, Aug. 3, 2006.)

The Mellman Group did a similar poll on raising the cigarette tax in Connecticut in 2002. (Poll: Connecticut Voters Favor Tobacco Control Measures. Press Release, American Cancer Society, Feb. 25, 2002.)

"Nathan Henry is a Senior Analyst at The Mellman Group. He has conducted surveys, focus group research and Media-PULSE analysis for a wide range of political clients, including the Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Senator Frank Lautenberg, Congressmen Jim Langevin, Ben Chandler and Artur Davis, Governor Brian Schweitzer, and Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist. In addition to his political work, Henry has done extensive research on tobacco-control issues, including dozens of surveys and focus groups on tobacco taxes, clean-indoor air laws and FDA regulation of tobacco. His clients in this realm include the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, the Robert Woods [sic] Johnson Foundation and numerous state anti-tobacco coalitions.... Prior to working at The Mellman Group, Henry served as Field Director on two Congressional campaigns in Wisconsin, and as a finance assistant on a US Senate campaign in Delaware. He also served as a policy advisor and legislative aide for former Representative Doris Hanson in the Wisconsin State Assembly, working primarily on issues dealing with the state budget, tax policy and the state’s budget stabilization, or “rainy day” fund. Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Henry graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Political Science, and studied at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, Hungary, where he researched post-communist social and economic transformations in former Soviet-bloc countries. While in Hungary, Henry helped edit and organize a publication called “Fortifying the Foundations” for the Institute of International Education, which detailed the activities of US-funded NGOs involved in the democratization process in Central and Eastern Europe." (Nathan Henry bio, accessed Jul. 20, 2006.)

Doug Usher, Vice President, The Mellman Group: "His most recent campaign work includes Frank Lautenberg’s Senate victory in New Jersey, the reelection campaigns of Senator Carl Levin, Representatives Steny Hoyer and Richard Gephardt, and Milwaukee Mayor John Norquist. His current campaign work includes the re-election campaign of Senator Barbara Boxer, in addition to ongoing polling for the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. His corporate work includes projects for Coca Cola and Intuit, the makers of Quicken. He is also involved in work for a wide range of public interest groups and labor unions, including the California Teachers Association, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Council of Great City Schools, the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association, and the Trust for America’s Health... Usher holds a Masters and Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University, with a focus on American politics, advanced statistical techniques and survey methodology. A portion of his dissertation was recently published in Political Research Quarterly. While at Cornell, he taught introductory courses in American politics, the U. S. Congress and Constitutional Law. Originally from Washington, D.C., Usher received a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. Prior to joining The Mellman Group, he served as a research consultant for Clinton-Gore ‘96, and the Democratic National Committee. He has also been a researcher and staff writer at People for the American Way, a non-profit constitutional liberties group, and the Capitol Group, a lobbying firm in Washington." (Doug Usher bio, accessed Oct. 16, 2006.)

Jennifer Whelchel, former analyst, the Mellman Group: "She has conducted both quantitative and qualitative studies for a wide range of political, business, and non-profit clients, including Senator Barbara Boxer, California Teachers’ Association, Presidential candidate John Kerry, National Environmental Trust, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, Campaign For Tobacco-Free Kids, Coca Cola, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Representative Nita Lowey, and the Arizona Democratic Party. Jennifer has extensive experience in politics and research. Before joining The Mellman Group, Jennifer served as project coordinator for Progressive Strategies, an issue-advocacy political consulting firm specializing in message and fundraising strategies for non-profit organizations, political action committees and associations. Jennifer’s research experience also includes conducting and analyzing research for local television stations and Internet companies for Frank N. Magid Associates. Jennifer’s early experience in research and politics include conducting research as an interviewer for the Iowa Social Science Institute and media-buying for candidates and state referenda for political media-consulting firm Fenn & King Communications during the 1998 election cycle. Originally from Blairstown, Iowa, Jennifer graduated with a Bachelors degree in Political Science and Communication Studies from the University of Iowa and has a Masters degree in Political Management from George Washington University." (Jenifer Whelchel bio, accessed Jul. 20, 2006.)

The American Cancer Society is a corrupt, fascist, POLITICAL organization, which deliberately uses defective studies to falsely blame smoking (and other "lifestyle" targets) for diseases that are actually caused by infection.

The American Cancer Society's political advocacy group, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, a 501(c)(4). As a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit, the ACS supposedly can do only "limited" lobbying and no electioneering under IRS tax rules. (In reality, the Cancer Society dictatorship doesn't have to follow any rules - their media lackeys will cover up for them.) The American Cancer Society is already a longtime lobbying fixture in every state legislature, and they are behind every local smoking ban as well. In 2004, they boast that eleven states passed or implemented tobacco tax increases, four states passed smoking bans, and 1,900 communities had smoking bans ramrodded down their throats.

cast 04-07-08