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Luther L. Terry Papers

 Collection
Identifier: MS C 503

Abstract

Luther Terry was U.S. Surgeon General from 1961-1965. The collection primarily documents his professional activities and most notably contains all the speeches he gave while Surgeon General. The largest single portion of the collection documents the numerous organizations and government agencies in which Terry was either a member or advisor on the issue of anti-smoking.

Dates

  • Creation: 1935-2004 (bulk 1965-1983)

Extent

31.76 Linear Feet (28 boxes)

Creator

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Language of Materials

Collection materials primarily in English

Restrictions

Collection is not restricted. Contact the Reference Staff for information regarding access.

Copyright and Re-use Information

Donor's copyrights were transferred to the public domain. Archival collections often contain mixed copyrights; while NLM is the owner of the physical items, permission to examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. It is the user's responsibility to research and understand any applicable copyright and re-publication rights not allowed by fair use. NLM does not grant permissions to publish.

Privacy Information

Archives and manuscript collections may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in any collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications for which the National Library of Medicine assumes no responsibility.

Biographical Note

Luther Leonidas Terry was born on September 15, 1911 in Red Level, Alabama. He earned a B.S. degree at Birmingham Southern University in 1931, followed by an M.D. degree at Tulane University in 1935. After interning at the Hillman Hospital in Birmingham and serving a residency in Cleveland Hospitals, Terry moved to Washington University in St. Louis in 1938 for an internship in pathology. The following year, he became an instructor at that institution, and subsequently served as instructor and assistant professor of preventive medicine and public health at the University of Texas in Galveston from 1940 to 1942.

In 1942, Terry joined the staff of the Public Health Service Hospital in Baltimore, becoming Chief of Medical Services there the following year. His interest in cardiovascular research led him to accept the position of Chief of General Medicine and Experimental Therapeutics at the National Heart Institute in Bethesda in 1950, at first on a part-time basis while continuing his work at the Baltimore hospital. When the National Institutes of Health's Clinical Center opened in 1953, Terry's Heart Institute program was moved to the new facility and he devoted his full time to the job. He also served as the first Chairman of the Medical Board of the Clinical Center (1953-1955) and was concurrently instructor and then assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine from 1944 to 1961. Terry and his team laid the foundations for what has been called the golden era of cardiovascular clinical investigation.

In 1958, Terry became the Assistant Director of the National Heart Institute. He came to public prominence when President Kennedy selected him as Surgeon General of the Public Health Service, effective March 2, 1961. Although there had long been an awareness that smoking might be detrimental to health, it was not until the 1950s that significant scientific evidence began to be published suggesting that cigarette smoking caused lung cancer and other diseases. At the end of the decade, the Royal College of Physicians in Britain appointed a committee to investigate the relationship between smoking and health. The committee's report, issued on March 7, 1962, clearly indicted cigarette smoking as a cause of lung cancer and bronchitis and argued that it probably contributed to cardiovascular disease as well.

Shortly after the release of this report, Terry established the Surgeon General's Advisory Committee on Smoking and Health, which he chaired, to produce a similar report for this country. Smoking and Health: Report of the Advisory Committee to the Surgeon General of the United States, released on January 11, 1964, concluded that lung cancer and chronic bronchitis are causally related to cigarette smoking. The report also noted out that there was suggestive evidence, if not definite proof, for a causative role of smoking in other illnesses such as emphysema, cardiovascular disease, and various types of cancer. The committee concluded that cigarette smoking was a health hazard of sufficient importance to warrant appropriate remedial action.

The landmark Surgeon General's report on smoking and health stimulated a greatly increased concern about tobacco on the part of the American public and government policymakers and led to a broad-based anti-smoking campaign. It also motivated the tobacco industry to intensify its efforts to question the scientific evidence linking smoking and disease. The report was also responsible for the passage of the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1965, which, among other things, mandated the familiar Surgeon General's health warnings on cigarette packages. Luther Terry himself continued to play a leading role in the campaign against smoking after leaving the post of Surgeon General, which he occupied through October 1, 1965. He chaired the National Interagency Council on Smoking and Health, a coalition of government agencies and non-government organizations, from 1967 to 1969, and served as a consultant to groups such as the American Cancer Society. Terry helped to obtain a ban on cigarette advertisements on radio and television in 1971. Late in his life he led the effort to eliminate smoking from the workplace.

When Terry retired from government service in 1965, he became Vice President for Medical Affairs, as well as Professor of Medicine and Community Medicine, at the University of Pennsylvania. Terry was responsible for managing the University's health sciences schools, comprising some 40 percent of the University's budget, until he gave up the position of Vice President in 1971. He retained his professorial appointment until 1975, when he became Adjunct Professor, and then in 1981 Emeritus Professor. From 1970 to 1983, he also served as President of University Associates, a nonprofit consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.

Terry's last years were spent as Corporate Vice President for Medical Affairs for ARA Services of Philadelphia (1980-1983) and then as a consultant. He died on March 29, 1985 in Philadelphia.

(excerpted from: http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/history/bioterry.htm)

Collection Summary

Correspondence, speeches, reports, minutes, drafts and notes, photographs, motion pictures, printed material, and other records make up the Luther L. Terry Papers (1957-1995; 26.5 linear feet). The collection primarily documents his professional activities from 1965 through 1984, and most notably contains all the speeches he gave while Surgeon General (1961-1965). The largest single portion of the collection is Series 3: Smoking and Health Subject Files (1964-1984; 7.15 lf), documenting the numerous organizations and government agencies in which Dr. Terry was either a member or advisor on the issue of anti-smoking. Included are the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, the National Interagency Council for Smoking and Health, Action on Smoking and Health, Environmental Associates, Inc., Non-Smokers Rights Association and the World Health Organization. The largest government agency within the series that dealt with smoking related materials is the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

In addition to smoking issues, Dr. Terry was involved with several other causes. Correspondence and administrative documents, mostly with the National Society for Medical Research, reflect his concern with animal testing (1967-1984). Mostly correspondence, agendas, minutes and newsletters document Dr. Terry's time on the boards of Medic Alert (1972-1984) and the Nutrition Foundation (1972-84). Also, he combined his position as a corporate vice president of ARA food services (1974-1984) with a study of health care for senior citizens. Though he was president of University Associates, Inc. from 1970 to 1983, only a relatively small amount of this material rests in the University Associates files (1972-1984), as much of the correspondence he generated there involved his other professional concerns and are filed with those respective series. As a board member of the Hearing, Educational Aid and Research Foundation (1974-1984), Dr. Terry investigated causes and cures for deafness, and community noise control issues.

Abstract

Luther Terry was U.S. Surgeon General from 1961-1965. The collection primarily documents his professional activities and most notably contains all the speeches he gave while Surgeon General. The largest single portion of the collection documents the numerous organizations and government agencies in which Terry was either a member or advisor on the issue of anti-smoking.

Physical Location

Materials stored onsite. History of Medicine Division. National Library of Medicine

Provenance

Gift from Jan Terry Kollock. Accessions #157 and 803.

Gift, Michael Terry, Accession #2022-003.

General

Processed by
James Labosier; John Rees
Processing completed
December 2001; Oct. 2022
Encoded by
John P. Rees
Title
Finding Aid to the Luther L. Terry Papers, 1935-2004 (bulk 1965-1983)
Status
Unverified Partial Draft
Author
James Labosier
Date
February 2002
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latn
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English
Edition statement
Version 2.0

Revision Statements

  • July 2004: PUBLIC "-//National Library of Medicine::History of Medicine Division//TEXT (US::DNLM::MS C 503::Luther L. Terry Papers)//EN" "terry" converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15).

Collecting Area Details

Part of the Archives and Modern Manuscripts Collections Collecting Area

Contact:
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