Cover image for
Title:
Smoke 'em if you got 'em : the rise and fall of the military cigarette ration / Joel R. Bius.
Author:
Bius, Joel R., 1974- author.
Publication Information:
Annapolis, Maryland : Naval Institute Press, [2018]
Call Number:
UH603 .B58 2018
Abstract:
"Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em describes the origins of the often comfortable, yet increasingly controversial relationship among the military, the cigarette industry, and tobaccoland politicians during the twentieth century. After fostering the relationship between soldier and cigarette for more than five decades, the Department of Defense and fiscally minded legislators faced formidable political, cultural, economic, and internal challenges as they fought to unhinge the soldier-cigarette bond they had forged. Using the manufactured cigarette as a vehicle to explore political economy and interactions between the military and American society, Joel R. Bius helps the reader understand this important, yet overlooked aspect of 20th century America."--Provided by publisher.
ISBN:
9781682473351
Physical Description:
xii, 302 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents:
The rise -- Smoke rising: "I'd give a boy the cigarettes." -- The damn Y Man: "The American Army is thoroughly molly-coddled." -- General March's ration: "Enlist and all will be well." -- The greatest generation of smokers: "Do you just assume that every soldier in the United States Army smokes?" -- The fall -- Operation Volar: "The taxpayer was being taken for a ride in two directions at once." -- Soldier-starters: "The renewal of the market stems almost entirely from 18-year-old smokers." -- Health care and the all-volunteer force: "Promises have been broken." -- The Beltway battle: "Our industry is under siege." -- The Reagonomics of smoking: "An economic burden we can no longer bear." -- The downfall: "This provision [does not] deny a benefit to the military community, unless lung cancer and heart disease are benefits." -- Conclusion.
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