William H. Stewart, 86, U.S. surgeon general from 1965 to 1969, died April 23 of kidney failure at Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans. Stewart led the federal anti-smoking crusade and called for warning labels on cigarette advertising and used the introduction of Medicare to desegregate hospitals throughout the country.
Stewart was a career Public Health Service officer who became surgeon general one year after his predecessor, Luther Terry, released a landmark report that drew an explicit link between smoking and lung cancer and other diseases.
Expanding on the 1964 report, Stewart commissioned studies that hammered the tobacco industry by spelling out the toll that cigarettes exacted. Many of his recommendations, including stricter warning labels on cigarette packages and advertising, were adopted despite fierce opposition.
Stewart, who was a pediatrician and epidemiologist, did more than speak out against smoking. Like few surgeons general before or since, he became a medical activist. He called for an end to racial discrimination in health care and advocated for expanded services for the poor.
After President Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law in 1965, Stewart used the programs to compel Southern hospitals to desegregate.
The Washington Post
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