Abstract:
In the late 1970s, anti-smoking efforts in the United States had stalled. The effects of the landmark 1964 Surgeon General's report linking smoking and lung cancer appeared to have leveled off. Officials at the Department of Health, Education and Welfare--chief among them Secretary Joseph Califano--were looking for ways to mount a new and effective anti-smoking effort. It was in that context that John Pinney, head of the Office of Smoking and Health, had to decide whether to try a dramatically new tactic--whether to cite the health effects "second-hand smoke," or passive smoking, as the rationale for strict new smoking regulations, including a smoking ban on airlines. As common as such regulations have since become, the decision was an exceedingly difficult one at the time, this case reveals.
Learning Objective:
This case is designed to force consideration of when the timing is right to try to affect the public agenda, and what factors influence one's consideration about that timing.
