President Clinton and the American Tobacco Industry by Bente Tangvik A Thesis Presented to The Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages The University of Oslo In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Cand. Philol. degree Spring Term 2007 1 Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................................................... 3 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 PRESIDENT CLINTON’S FIGHT AGAINST THE AMERICAN TOBACCO INDUSTRY..................................... 5 Clinton’s first period.................................................................................................................................................. 7 Tobacco and the 1996 presidential election............................................................................................................. 12 Clinton’s Second Term ............................................................................................................................................ 18 THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY EMBRACES THE REPUBLICAN PARTY ............................................................. 31 The Tobacco Industry and GOP ideology................................................................................................................ 31 THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY'S INFLUENCE IN CONGRESS DURING CLINTON'S TENURE......................... 40 Embracing the Republican Congress in the mid 1990s............................................................................................ 44 CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS DISTANCING THEMSELVES FROM THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY IN THE MID-1990s.......................................................................................................................................................... 52 SWAYING PUBLIC OPINION.................................................................................................................................. 55 "Neutral" Mouthpieces of the Tobacco Industry ..................................................................................................... 55 The Tobacco Companies and the American Media ................................................................................................. 62 Fighting the media through the Court system.......................................................................................................... 65 Media and Tobacco Entwined.................................................................................................................................. 69 SUMMARY OF THE CLINTON SCANDALS AND THE IMPEACHMENT PROCESS....................................... 73 The Whitewater Scandal.......................................................................................................................................... 73 Travelgate and Filegate............................................................................................................................................ 75 The Paula Jones Case............................................................................................................................................... 75 The Lewinsky Scandal............................................................................................................................................. 76 The Impeachment process........................................................................................................................................ 77 THE CLINTON SCANDALS AND THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY.......................................................................... 78 The Appointment of Kenneth Starr.......................................................................................................................... 78 Kenneth Starr and the Tobacco Industry.................................................................................................................. 80 The Paula Jones Case and Tobacco Interests........................................................................................................... 81 Impeachment and Tobacco Interests........................................................................................................................ 83 CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................................ 84 WORKS SITED........................................................................................................................................................... 88 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When I started working on my thesis in 1999, the Clinton presidency had not yet become history. Few books were written on the subject, and the internet therefore became my main source. Relatively short inserts became small pieces of a large jigsaw puzzle. Gradually I had insight into Clinton’s anti-tobacco commitment, and eventually I had an understanding of how the tobacco companies responded to Clinton’s steps. A number of books have provided me with useful background information and have helped me to get an overall picture of the Clinton era. Some of these books are relatively recent publications. The Political scandals in the USA by Robert Williams helped me understand how scandals are used as political weapons. Fools for Scandal: How the Media Invented Whitewater by Gene Lyons taught me how mass media’s search for profit may damage their credibility. Civil warriors: The Legal Siege on the Tobacco Industry by Dan Zegart provided useful information about the legal battles which led to the 1997 tobacco settlement. The biographies of the Clintons, Living History and My Life gave me further insight in the Clinton presidency. Blinded by the Right by repenting right-wing scandal reporter David Brock and The Clinton Wars by White House insider Sidney Blumenthal helped me gain understanding of the American Right’s attempts to destroy Clinton. 3 INTRODUCTION In the following I will give an account of President Clinton’s steps against the American tobacco industry. I will also try to clarify why Bill Clinton became America’s first anti-tobacco president, taking into account his character and strategic skills. Influence from staff members and health agencies as well as revelations that altered the public view on the tobacco industry will also be dealt with. Furthermore, I will demonstrate how the tobacco companies fought back against Clinton by means of their political influence. The relationship between the Republican Party and the tobacco industry will be given special attention. I will also reflect upon whether regulation of tobacco could be in accordance with Republican ideology. In this respect, I will cast a critical eye on the effect the entrance of the religious right into the GOP had on the party’s stance on tobacco. The tobacco industry’s financial support to the two main political parties and the connection between contributions to members of Congress and voting patterns in tobacco issues will also be dealt with. I will also examine the effect Clinton’s commitment in the tobacco issue had on the Democratic Party. Moreover, I will explain how the tobacco companies tried to sway public opinion on tobacco issues by influencing and controlling the media. I will also exemplify how tobacco companies sued media outlets which printed or broadcast information that could have a detrimental effect on the tobacco industry. After having given a summary of the Clinton scandals, I will try to detect possible links between the investigation of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and tobacco interests. Finally, I will try to uncover a possible connection between impeachment- drive in Congress and tobacco interests. 4 PRESIDENT CLINTON’S FIGHT AGAINST THE AMERICAN TOBACCO INDUSTRY Bill Clinton was the first American president to take a major confrontation with the American tobacco industry. The industry’s political efforts, which have been quite bipartisan, though with a slight preference for the laissez-faire traditions of the Republican Party, have been giving it protection.1 Clinton's Democratic predecessor, Jimmy Carter, whose political base was almost identical with the geographical region of the tobacco industry, was not able or willing to resist the pressure from the tobacco manufacturers. According to Richard Klüger, the author of "Ashes to Ashes", Jimmy Carter played a hypocritical game on the smoking issue. Carter, reportedly sacrificed Joseph Califano, the secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and the most vocal anti-smoking advocate at the time, for fear of loosing North Carolina and perhaps other Southern states if Califano stayed in office.2 Califano, who had been told by Carter to give priority to "preventive medicine," started to pay attention to the smoking issue at the end of his first year in office. Even though Jimmy Carter was an advocate of preventive public health measures, Califano's proposed initiatives against smoking fell flat with the president and his staff. Carter was apparently worried about his voter base. In August 1978, Carter gave a speech in North Carolina, the heart of "tobacco country." He said that he first would have brought Califano, but that he had realized that North Carolina was the top tobacco growing state. He boasted "the beautiful quality of your tobacco" and even if Carter had lost his heavily smoking