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THE HILL and KNOWLTON DOCUMENTS: 

 HOW THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY LAUNCHED ITS DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN 



A Staff Report, Majority Staff 

 Subcomnittee on Health and the Environment 



This aajority staff report of ths Subconnittes on Health 

 and the Environment analyzes doctiaents that describe in detail 

 the formation and early years of the Tobacco Industry Research 

 Committee, a joint tobacco industry group now known as the 

 Council for Tobacco Research. 



The ostensible purpose of the Tobacco Industry Research 

 Committee was to provide "aid and assistance to the research 

 effort into all phases of tobacco use and health." In a full- 

 page advertisement run in over 4 00 newspapers on January 4, 

 1954, the major tobacco companies explained that they formed 

 the Research Committee because they "accept an interest in 

 per-)ie's health as a basic responsibility, paramount to every 

 other consideration in our business." 



The documents obtained by the Subcommittee were written by 

 top officials at the Hill and Knowlton public relations firm, 

 an advisor to the Tobacco Industry Research Committee during 

 its formative years. The documents show that contrary to the 

 industry's public assertions, the real purpose of the Tobacco 

 Industry Research Committee was to "sponsor a public relations 

 campaign which is ... entirely *pro-cigarettes. ' * The goal was 

 "reassurance of the public" through "communication of . . . the 

 existence of weighty scientific views which hold there is no 

 proof that cigarette smo)cing is a cause of lung cancer." The 

 public relations campaign was so extensive that in 1955 the 

 Tobacco Industry Research Council hired 35 staff members of 

 Hill and Knowlton to conduct the campaign. 



The documents describe in detail the massive campaign 

 undertaken from 1954 through 1956 by the Tobacco Industry 

 Research Committee to influence public opinion. They explain 

 how during these early years the Tobacco Industry Research 

 Committee: 



transformed obscure scientific reports favorable to 

 the industry into headline news across the country; 



courted the editors of the nations' major news 

 organizations, advising then in personal meetings of 

 "the need for editorial responsibility in handling 

 stories that rouse unwarranted fears"; 



influenced the content of news reports in major 

 newspapers, magazines, and television shows, 

 including the New York Times , the Washington Post, 

 and the Edward R. Murrow Television Show ; 



planned a 17-step public relations campaign to 

 respond to one particularly unfavorable report; 



influenced medical opinion by sending hundreds of 

 thousands of copies of booklets prepared by the 



