Tobacco in America

Thesis: The perception and use of tobacco in America has gone through a complete reversal due to federal legislation on tobacco use, despite the reverent opposition given by the tobacco industry through advertisement. (I need to integrate the significance of the shift more into the thesis - I could either focus on the shift causing a public that is more concerned with the safety of what it puts in its body, or how the blatantly untrue advertisements precipitated a distrust of advertisement in the public)

General Structure: After going through the introduction, I will briefly talk about the use of tobacco early in the American colonies (it was seen as a healthful medicine) before jumping forward to the early 1900s and the use of tobacco before/around the World Wars. This along with the mid 1950's is where a lot of content will lie, as it is where the government started to institute legislation combating tobacco due to scientific studies that had started to come out against the healthfulness of tobacco. I will trace the legislative actions that were taken as well as what effect they had on the public. There is a gap between these and the late 1900's/early 2000s where there were further acts like the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. Throughout this, I would be supplying statistics that back up the change in perception that I talk about. After the shift is identified and traced, I will talk about the significance and other movements we see that come out of the same central change in public ideologies on what is healthy.

Sources I've found:

• The Story of Tobacco in America by Joseph C. Robert. The book was published in 1949 so more recent developments will not be included in the volume, but for getting a better idea of the state of tobacco in America before the 1940s it seems invaluable. It also contains statistics that could prove to be useful like consumption per capita
• "Increasing Tobacco Cessation in America: A Consumer Demand Perspective" This article in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine takes a closer look at the various legislation that was put in place in the past decades to curtail tobacco use, especially within the younger demographic. This article can serve as a jumping off point for delving deeper into the more recent changes that put the capstone on the shift.
• 20th century tobacco advertisements: This rather brief article from the National Museum of American History gives a good sense of the tobacco advertisements that were utilized in that golden age.
• Cigarette Smoking Behavior in the United States: a statistical study put out by the National Cancer Institute. May be good for some statistics, but no real 'meat' here.
• Gallup Poll on Tobacco: very useful Gallup poll on tobacco and smoking; can pull current perception of tobacco out of this.