Which United States Surgeon General issued the first Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health?

On January 11, 1964, Luther L. Terry, M.D., Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service, released the first report of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health. This was the first such report issued by the Surgeon General and it has been followed by reports on such varied subjects as HIV/AIDS, Mental Health, Bone Health, Addiction, Oral Health, and Suicide Prevention.

Dr. Terry was the ninth Surgeon General of the United States from 1961 to 1965, appointed by Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Terry was born on September 15, 1911 in Alabama and died at the age of 73 on March 29, 1985 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His interest in cardiovascular research led to his work with the National Heart Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. Dr. Terry was an instructor and then assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 1944 to 1961.

The report showed that on the basis of more than 7,000 articles relating to smoking and disease already available at that time in the biomedical literature, the Advisory Committee concluded that cigarette smoking is a cause of lung cancer and laryngeal cancer in men, a probable cause of lung cancer in women and the most important cause of chronic bronchitis.

The report was one of the top news stories of 1964 and 50 years later the subject is still being studied with frequent follow-up Advisory Reports issued by the Surgeon General.