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Smoke in Their Eyes: Lessons in Movement Leadership from the Tobacco Wars

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In this book, Pertschuk attempts to rewrite history with
himself as a hero. He also demonstrates how little he
has learned from that history. The two may be related.

Fortunately, the history is well documented; we are
not dependent on unreliable accounts of it. The key
fact is: the tobacco industry killed the McCain bill
as soon as it started to get tough on tobacco and
good for the public. 3 out of 4 members of the Congress that
killed the bill, had taken money from the tobacco industry.
So it wasn't too hard for the industry to kill a bill it
didn't like.

Pertschuk's rewrite would have us believe that victory
for public health was almost within our grasp. The
key fact is, the industry had a veto at all times,
which it didn't hesitate to use. In this battle
there was no danger at any time of public health
prevailing over industry profits. No historic
opportunity was missed; the opportunity never existed.
Not with this Congress.

On the contrary: if anything was narrowly missed,
it was a federal bailout of Big Tobacco. This
same Congress that killed a bill that was getting
too good for the public, also had the power to give
the tobacco industry a get-out-of-jail-free card:
legal immunity, special rights in court. That
was what the industry wanted, because it would
keep it safe and profitable.

This was no hypothetical danger: various forms of
immunity appeared in the McCain bill at different times.
Indeed it was without immunity in the bill that
the industry turned against the bill and killed it.
So what was missed, if anything, was a legal device
to keep Big Tobacco profitable and powerful into
the next century.

This history forms a pattern: the tobacco industry
has many times, in many states and localities, tried
to enter into closed-door, private negotiations.
The history of such closed-door deals also forms a
pattern: they turn out to protect industry profits
and do little to protect public health. Secret
negotiations with tobacco industry lawyers have
a long, sad, history: they don't tend to produce
results notably in the public interest.

It is sad that Pertschuk has not learned from
this history. It is even sadder that he attempts
to rewrite a recent instance of it. But perhaps
this is not a coincidence. Perhaps it would indeed
be difficult to write "I later realized that
I was mistaken in my approach, and that the
predictions that I differed with at the time,
were proven correct by the plain facts of history."

And perhaps we could apply Santayana here:
those who rewrite the past, surely will not learn
from it, and are then condemned to repeat it.
That would be saddest of all, because the tobacco
industry is still fighting hard to get
special rights in court. And is still a master
of closed-door negotiations. All it needs is
a couple of public health figures to endorse them.

Mike Pertschuk's new book provides tremendously important lessons to all of us working on social justice issues. His story makes you wonder what could have been possible in the tobacco wars if people on the side of the angels worked together, strategized together, honestly communicated with one another, and avoided personal attacks.

As one who actively fought with many tobacco prevention activists to kill the settlement and "improve" the McCain bill, even I found value in reading the tale from the perspective of Matt Myers.

Mike's book in no way changed my mind about the final outcome (i.e,, I think the settlement deal flopping was a good thing for the movement. And while I feel bad that the McCain bill died, I remain skeptical that the industry would have allowed it to pass even with some liability relief). That said, there are lessons to be learned.

Smoke in Their Eyes did make me wonder about what could have been possible had movement leaders developed strong, trusting relationships with each other, and if they communicated actively, openly, and honestly. The lack of communication between both leadership camps was most telling, in my opinion.

Besides its critical lessons, SMOKE IN THEIR EYES is a wonderful, gripping, story that makes you feel like you are right in the middle of the biggest national anti-tobacco battle in US history.

Michael Pertschuk's book is a must-read for anyone who is working to accomplish significant social change in America, particularly on issues where there is a powerful, monied opposition. He gives us critical insights into how a progressive movement can hurt itself by unneccessary personal attacks and ideological rigidity. He also teaches us how a progressive movement can overcome these obstacles and become a powerful unified force for good in our society. Over the years, I have seen the kind of internicine warfare so artfully described by Mr. Pertschuk undermine efforts to reduce gun violence and health care expansion. I hope that his book will help all of learn how to work together to achieve our common goals.

As a platoon leader of fearless tobacco control activists on the Northern California front in the national Tobacco Wars, I have valued Mike Pertschuk's advice and writings over the last dozen years as my small band and I steadfastly fought the powerful multi-headed enemy while having minimal loses while slowly gaining ground locally, statewide and finally nationally.

It is to bad that over time my and many others efforts have been counteracted not only by the clever tactics of the tobacco industry and its allies and surrogates but also by our supposed comrades in arms within the tobacco control movement itself. In his work and writings at the Advocacy Institute and now with "Smoke in Their Eyes: Lessons in Movement Leadership from the Tobacco Wars", Mike Pertschuk eloquently describes and dissects these industry tactics and internal conflicts within the movement.

In turning a spotlight on tobacco industry tactics that helped the industry, let's hope for just the time being, win this phase of the war, Pertschuk's book shows how the tobacco control movement was both massively out-gunned and out-smarted in nearly every national battle.

And like many great movements for social and economic justice, in this case for public health, it was unfortunate that self-appointed and overly doctrinaire splinter groups within the movement spun off loudly and arrogantly from the main movement in pursuit of their own agenda, fame and fortune, no matter what damage it did to the movement as a whole and accomplishment of the endgame of defeating Big Tobacco.

Pertschuk's book takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster ride, first up and then down again, in chronicling the bright and promising events starting with early tobacco policy successes on the local level, to the brave efforts of now-deceased former Congressman Mike Synar getting the federal law named after him to hopefully financially leverage states to finally enforce their decades-old laws prohibiting tobacco sales to minors, then followed by the bold issuance and courageous defense of the FDA youth tobacco prevention regulations and the stellar work of the Koop-Kessler Advisory Commission on Tobacco Policy and Public Health.

But then we were forced to witness, including on national TV, the depressing sight of the McCain tobacco bill being publicly killed in the Senate by the tobacco lobby and its Republican allies, then followed by the double national tragedy of the sellout agreement by the state attorneys general to the tobacco industry while the Supreme Court was overturning all the FDA regulations and ground-breaking Massachusetts outdoor and retail tobacco ad and promotional restrictions.

And finally, we have the dismal final results, essentially the failure, of the federal Synar amendment due to overt and clandestine tobacco and retail industry sabotage tactics along with bureaucratic bumbling, incompetence and betrayal by a key federal agency and half-heartedly motivated Clinton administration.

Pertschuk's book gives an inside analysis of how the movement's brightest hour suddenly turned into its darkest moment when some of the guys in white hats became consumed by their own righteousness and self-importance, and wanted victory on their terms or on no terms at all. Instead of blaming and finger pointing, Pertschuk and few others tried to hold the movement together by the shear force of their intellect and personalities, but unfortunately to no avail.

Today there remains a residue of lingering resentments within the tobacco control movement, valid or not, including perceived inequities in funding, perceived self-promotion, perceived patronizing arrogance of some newcomers towards tobacco control veterans, perceived patronizing by some national leaders of state and local leaders, and perceived conflicts of interest.

And as Pertschuk also bleakly reports, there was no improvement in collaboration and cooperation among these warring factions within the movement, no reasoned debate or broad consensus on core issues, and no civil agreement to disagree on other issues that are critical if the tobacco control movement hopes to grow and fulfill its mission.

It is my hope that Pertschuk's analysis will help lead in such direction. We need to find ways to throw bombs at the industry, not at each other. Pertschuk and his book can help us achieve this goal.

Rick Kropp is a retired tobacco control program director and activist, and recipient of the 1993 Dr. C. Everett Koop National Health Award for his work in youth tobacco prevention and policy.(...)

Reviewer: Morton Mintz from Chevy Chase, MD United States. This is a riveting insider's account of an awesome snatching of defeat from the jaws of victory. The anti-tobacco movement had for decades soight legislation that would prevent the premature deaths of millions of Americans. On the brink of success--the McCain bill--the movement blew it. Michael Pertschuk's book--thoroughly researched, eloquently written, and scrupuously fair--tells how and why. It powerfully warns all humanitarian causes seeking legislation in a corrupted Washington: You can't get it all. Understand that the perfect is the enemy of the good. Embrace an imperfect compromise that takes giant strides in the right direction. And beware egomaniacal leaders: they can become best friends of your enemies.

"Lessons in Movement Leadership from the Tobacco Wars," is the telling subtitle to this deeply-searching book that examines the history of the 1997-1998 round-robin negotiations between the US tobacco companies, litigation lawyers, anti-tobacco advocates, the Clinton administration, and Congress. The matter finally came down to two votes against passage of Senator McCain's comprehensive tobacco control bill, which would have provided the greatest concessions to public health ever imagined, or indeed now imaginable. These included federally mandated regulation of tobacco by the Food and Drug Administration, a stiff increase in the price of cigarettes (the most potent measure to reduce the prevalence of smoking), severe strictures on advertising, penalties against the industry if teen-age smoking rates didn't fall, a national program for smokers who want to quit, among other provisions. The eventual settlement between the US Attorneys-General and the industry is a pale reflection of what could have been.

All advocacy and citizen movements have their "radical" and "moderate" wings. The rejectionists of the anti-tobacco movement refused to support the McCain bill in the end because
it provided the tobacco industry with a (large) annual cap on how much they would have to pay out in law suits each year, assuming they lost such suits. There were those movement leaders
who refused any concession that smelled at all of immunity for an industry whose products kill over 400,000 Americans each year, and castigated the moderates for even sitting down with the
industry to discuss a settlement. The failure of the McCain bill was also a set back to the nascent tobacco control movements in other countries, "because we are not able to stop tobacco aggression without success in the United States," as one Polish activist observed.

The author, former head of the Federal Trade Commission, founder of the Advocacy Institute, and long-time anti-tobacco activist, richly analyzes what went wrong with a primer on "Thirteen
Ways to Lead a Movement Backward," whose obvious inverse is how to lead a movement to victory. A successful movement strategically and knowingly blends vision and pragmatism,
engages in a "good cop-bad cop" approach to negotiations. The failed movement breaks out into factional war. The anti-tobacco movement yet to recover.

The other key lesson, is that all the principals but the rejectionists were willing to reconsider their roles in the debacle, to search deeply into their actions and motives, and to examine how they might have behaved differently. Pertschuk gives his own mea culpa. Even Ralph Nader learned something new. When the next opportunity comes, as it surely will, I would want these reflective persons to be out in front again.