The Reagan Administration

Nancy Reagan

First Lady Nancy Reagan's [b. Anne Frances Robbins in New York City, daughter of Kenneth Seymour Robbins] stepfather was neurosurgeon Dr. Loyal Davis, "Chicago's first brain surgeon and chairman of Northwestern University's department of Surgery for 31 years." The Neuroscience Center at the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, DC, was named for him. She was a nurses' aide in a Chicago Hospital during World War II. Dr. Richard A. Davis was her brother. (Neuroscience Center Dedicated On April 7, 1986. NRH 86, Summer 1986.) The Tobacco Institute donated a DEC 20 20 Main Frame computer to the hospital in 1988. (N.J. MacLaughlan to Susan Lewis, of NRH, Apr. 13, 1988.)

Mrs. Loyal Davis and Mrs. Eames MacVeagh [whose husband was the son of Franklin MacVeagh, Skull & Bones 1862], were in charge of the fundraising benefit for Passavant Hospital in Chicago. (Boxes Sold For Tibbett Concert. By Judith Cass. Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 12, 1932; Tea Table Is Lovely. By Judith Cass. Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 18, 1932.) Mrs. Davis was chairman of a card party by the Women's Faculty Club of Northwestern University to benefit the medical school's free clinic. (Club Notes; and: Two Benefits Scheduled on Club Calendar. Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 13, 1932.) She was chairman of a women's committee raising funds for the Salvation Army, with Mrs. Walter P. Paepcke and Mrs. Charles H. Lord. (Circus to Help the Needy Harks Back to P.T. Barnum. Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 26, 1932.) She was president of the Women's Faculty Club (Pons Concert to Aid Clinic. By Judith Cass. Chicago Daily Tribune, Mar. 23, 1933; Work for Northwestern University Clinic Benefit. Chicago Daily Tribune, Mar. 31, 1933; Lovely Voice of Pons Thrills Big Audience; Proves Coloratura Singing Is Lively Art. Chicago Daily Tribune, Apr. 4, 1933.)

At the 39th clinical congress of the American College of Surgeons, Dr. Loyal Davis was one of four representatives of the College who participated in a round-table discussion program conducted by Northwestern University, who "declared that many medical men suspected there was some relationship between lung cancer and smoking of cigarettes, but no relationship between cancer and cigar or pipe smoking. In these circumstances, they declared, it is the clear responsibility of the cigarette manufacturers to finance the research necessary to prove or disprove the point. The surgeons asserted that two past presidents of the American College of Surgeons had conducted research projects that showed strong evidence of a relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. These projects were the pioneering studies of Dr. Evarts A. Graham of Washington University, St. Louis, and who is now chairman of the board of regents of the college, and Dr. Alton Ochsner of the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans. Both these projects, which have been published, state that the relationship between smoking and cancer has not been proved but it is strongly suggested by statistical analysis of lung cancer victims." The other surgeons were Dr. I.S. Ravdin, Professor of Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Owen H. Wangensteen, Professor of Surgery at the University of Minnesota Medical School; and Dr. Robert N. Janes of the University of Toronto. (Cigarette makers prodded on cancer. By Robert K. Plumb. New York Times, Oct. 5, 1953.)

As Governor of California, Reagan was an ex officio Regent of the University of California when the Institute for Health Policy Studies - the Employer of anti-smoker Stanton A. Glantz - was created at U.C. - San Francisco in 1972, under Philip R. Lee.

Reagan Toadies for the the Cancer Society

"It was apparent that President Reagan hated smoking of all kinds. He told about his brother, who had been a two- or a three-pack-a-day smoker. One of his vocal cords had been surgically removed and he had also had triple-bypass heart surgery. The President felt this was a case where lifestyle made the difference between health and illness. Their genes were similar, but their lifestyles were quite different. The President himself never smoked anything but a pipe and he gave that up." (A State Dinner with President Reagan. By Cory Ser Vaas, Saturday Evening Post, 274/5, Sep/Oct 2002.) Michael DeBakey was also a guest at this dinner. Note that human papillomavirus, a known carcinogenic virus, is now implicated as a cause of laryngeal cancer.

"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.) In fact, the Cancer Society effectively controlled the resources National Cancer Institute since it was created in 1937.

"Reagan's 16-member health policy advisory group includes includes two former asst. sectys. for health - Theodore Cooper, recently named Upjohn exec VP, and Charles Edwards, Scripps Medical Institute president. Others include former Pharmaceutical Mf'rs. Assn. president Joseph Stelter; James Cavanaugh, Allergan senior VP for science and planning; Alain Enthoven, Stanford public and private management prof; former AMA Legislative Council chairman William Felch, and American Pharmaceutical Assn. board chairman Mary Runge. Chairman of the Reagan group is William Walsh, president and medical director of the People-to-People Foundation (Project Hope). Edwards is also a former Becton-Dickinson senior VP for medical affairs and research; Enthoven is a former president of Litton Medical Products, and Cooper will assume his Upjohn post Oct. 1 after completing his tenure as Cornell medical dean. Cavanaugh is a former deputy asst. secty. for health and served the Ford Administration as White House deputy chief of staff. Cooper is a former director of the Natl. Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Edwards served as FDA commissioner. Other members of the Reagan health team are Rita Campbell, Hoover Institution senior fellow; Isaac Ehrlich, SUNY (Buffalo) economics prof; Clark Havighurst, Duke law prof; Helen Jameson, asst. administrator, Rochester (Minn.) Methodist Hospital; Cotton Lindsay, Emory economics prof; Wade Mountz, president, Norton-Children's Hospitals, Louisville, Ky.; Lee Shelton, health services, Health 1st, Atlanta, and Robert Shira, Tufts senior VP." (Research Notes. The Blue Sheet, Aug. 20, 1980; and: GOP Creates Health Policy Advisory Panel. By Mary Jane Fisher. The National Underwriter Aug. 23, 1980.)

U.S. Government Funding for Anti-Tobacco

Between 1983 and 1989, official estimates of federal spending against tobacco increased from $17,413,000 to $81,000,000. They rose even higher after his vice president and successor, George H.W. Bush (S&B 1948) took office. (Federal Tobacco Control Effort. By Dr. Sam Simmons, Director of Smoking and Health at R.J. Reynolds, July 8, 1992.)

David A. Winston

David A. Winston was President of the National Committee on Quality Health Care. "He was one of the founding members of the Committee and because of his extensive background in health policy issues and close connections with the White House, commands a great deal of respect. Winston served as health policy advisor to Reagan in California and in Washington. He was a minority staff director of the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources." He was vice president of American Health Capital Inc. Members of the Board of Trustees of the Committee included Michael E. DeBakey; Karl D. Bays, Chairman and CEO American Hospital Supply Corp.; Theodore Cooper, M.D. Vice President Upjohn Company; and Winfield C. Dunn, D.D.S. Senior Vice President Hospital Corporation of America. (Memo from Rick Sullivan to Pete Sparber, Oct. 30, 1984.) "It was formed in 1981 to mobilize the various and diverse hospital groups and suppliers against expensive government regulated congres- sional cost containment proposals." (Memo from Rick Sullivan to Pete Sparber, Sep. 24, 1984.)

As "a special unpaid consultant to the White House," Winston proposed taxing employer-paid health insurance premiums as income. "At present, an employer who buys health insurance for employees may deduct the cost of the premiums as a business expense on his tax return, but the benefits are not counted as taxable income for the employees.... Alain C. Enthoven of Stanford University, a health economist, endorsed the tax proposal. The current tax subsidy, he said, was inequitable because its value increased with income. The exclusion of health insurance benefits from taxable income is worth, on the average, only $83 a year to a family with income of $10,000 to $15,000, but it is worth more than $600 a year to a family with income of $50,000 to $100,000, he said." A wide range of business, labor and professional organizations disapproved. "Mr. Winston, who is a vice president of Blyth Eastman Paine Webber Health Care Funding, was selected as a consultant by Edwin Meese 3d, the counselor to President Reagan. Mr. Winston served as an aide to Richard S. Schweiker, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, when Mr. Schweiker was a Senator from Pennsylvania." (Reagan Considering Taxing Health Premiums. New York Times, Jan. 11, 1983.) Winston was punched in the mouth by an angry motorist and landed in the hospital in "extremely critical condition" and on life support. "According to police reports, Winston was crossing against the light shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday morning when a vehicle approaching the intersection had to brake suddenly to avoid hitting him." (Ex-Reagan Aide Hurt in S.F. Fracas. By J.L. Pimsleur. San Francisco Chronicle, Sep. 10, 1986.) "Winston was vice president of Voluntary Hospitals of America Inc., a group of 650 hospitals. He headed Reagan's transition team on health care and was a special assistant in organizing and staffing the Health and Human Services department." He was variously claimed to be from Boise, Idaho, or Manteca, Calif. (David A. Winston. San Francisco Chronicle, Sep. 12, 1986; David Winston Dies; Health Policy Expert. New York Times, Sep. 14, 1986.)

C. Everett Koop Was A Pawn

Contrary to the popular illusion, C. Everett Koop was not the instigator of the intensified anti-smoking persecution of the 1980s. The 1982 Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health written by others during Koop's prolonged confirmation process, and he just performed his role as an actor. Koop was an epidemiologic incompetent, devoid of skepticism, and a mere puppet of the Lasker conspirators.

James B. Wyngaarden

A Lasker crony dating from at least 1952, Wyngaarden was director of the National Institutes of Health from 1982 to 1989, and served in Bush #1's Office of Science and Technology Policy, Executive Office of the President 1989-90.

cast 10-13-07