Here I placed the subject of smoking as one of the complex assignments given to the Surgeon General, right up there with the "Baby Doe" case . . . organ transplantation . . . care for the aged . . . AIDS, and so on.
One issue was waiting for me in my new office and after I was confirmed by the Senate back in November 1981. It had been part of my daily agenda for the past five and a half years: and that issue was smoking. You might say, "It comes with the territory."
The Lecture will appear after the next introductory page.