Warning: The Surgeon General May Be Good for Your Health

Another example of the several feature-length portraits of the Surgeon General that appeared in the press during the 1980s in response to the outspoken position that Koop took on a number of controversial issues, above all AIDS. In this sympathetic portrait of a man who remained true to his principles even under political pressure, the author explained why Koop's stance on AIDS alienated erstwhile conservative allies while gaining him new supporters among liberals, and why Koop insisted that this shift in political support result from the fact that both conservatives and liberals had misunderstood his approach to public health policy, which was based on science, not on moral judgment.