Henry Geller, who helped ban cigarette ads on TV, dies at 96
Geller was general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission from 1964 to 1970 and was assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information from 1978 to 1980. In the second role, under President Jimmy Carter, he was the first administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where his work included developing a legal basis for the regulation of cable TV.
At the FCC in the 1960s, Geller persuaded the commission to rule that TV stations had to broadcast public service announcements warning of the health hazards of smoking to offset cigarette advertisements.
The messages said smoking was "the main cause of lung cancer and emphysema and a huge
contributor to heart disease," Geller recalled in a self-published memoir. The FCC ruling was
subsequently upheld in court appeals.
"The industry desperately wanted to stop these counter ads and did so by eliminating its own ads, thus saving $250 million," he added. "From April 1, 1970, forward, all cigarette advertising was eliminated from radio and television."
Read more: https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/national/story/2020/apr/21/henry-geller-who-helped-ban-cigarette-ads-tv-dies-96/824962/
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When Nixon Republicans took over the FCC, they moved him to a bleak, little interior office. Colleagues humorously installed in his office a lavish, fake window to cheer him up .
Fine guy, generous, philosophical in his humor, irrepressible.
