William W Shinn
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Bill Shinn was the main tobacco operator at the Shook Hardy & Bacon Kansas City law firm. He mainly looked after the corrupt scientists and worked in witness development. His son, David W Shinn, also worked for the tobacco companies through Shook Hardy & Bacon.
The secret accounts of the Council for Tobacco Research (CTR) known as 'Special Accounts" #3 or #4 or #5 had originally been handled by Edwin Jacob at the small law partnership of Jacob Medinger & Finnegan (aka Jacob Medinger). After April 1971, at a time when the tobacco industry systems were being restructured, the Jacob Medinger also took over the role of storing all the secret research data that had originally been handled by the Information Storage & Retrieval system (IS&R)
As he faced retirement Jacob became the firm's senior legal guru and Timothy Finnegan gradually assumed control of the tobacco industry work. But at a later (indefinite) date Jacob Medinger merged into Shook Hardy and Bacon, and Bill Shinn came to control the Special Project #4 (and other) payments for the Council for Tobacco Research.
Documents and Timeline
1969 June 4 The Minutes of the Committee of Counsel (Lawyers servicing the tobacco companies + top legal executives). This regular meeting is to allow the companies to share knowledge, coordinate activites and joinly run programs (CTR, etc) without being charged with conspiracy. The lawyers in attendance are
- Arnold & Porter -- Abe Krash, Jerome I Chapman, ? Schneiderman
- Covington & Burling -- Tommie Austern, T Oghol
- Phillip Morris -- Shepard P Pollack, Paul D Smith
- American Tobacco Co - Cyril F Hetsko
- RJ Reynolds -- Henry Ramm
- B&W/BAT -- H DeBaun Bryant, Addison Yeaman,
- Shook Hardy & Bacon -- Bill Shinn
- Tobacco Institute -- William Kloepfer, ex-Senator Earle Clements
- Liggett & Myers -- Frederick P Haas
- Lorrilard -- Arthur J Stevens
1. First item discussed by Abe Krash is the FCC's rule-making plans to kick cigarette advertising off the TV.
- RJ Reynolds has been served with 3 subpoenas (re:) the development of advertising themes.
- Clements says he understands that Harley O Staggers (D-WV) has written a letter to both the FTC and FCC to hold up action until the Congressional proceedings are completed.
2. Kurt Enslein has a proposed a project to analyse the Doll data. Henry Ramm handed out a memo entitled "Proposal for Analysis of Doll Data"
- Richard S Doll was the famed British scientist who identified the link between smoking and ill-health with satistician Austin Bradford Hill. They were planning to get access to his original data and have computer scientist Enslein 'mine' it for defects (real, or imagined).
- Richard S Doll was the famed British scientist who identified the link between smoking and ill-health with satistician Austin Bradford Hill. They were planning to get access to his original data and have computer scientist Enslein 'mine' it for defects (real, or imagined).
3. Tommie Austern [C&B] reported on:
- Chemsol development (A tobacco modification claimed to reduce the carcinogenicity of smoke.)
- FTC trade regulation and rules
- 3i information retrieval.
4. Bill Shinn [SH&B] reported on Theodor D Sterling's air pollution project. They had previously assumed the cost would be $3,000, whereas it will now be about $10,000. Approved. (It may have a bearing on the Hammond data).
5. Paul Smith (PM) reported that:
"Rune Cederlof who testified at the Commerce Committee hearings here also testified in Canada where he did an excellent job. He will read a paper in Rome in September on his twin studies that indicates that mortality of smoking and non-smoking identical twins does not show any correlation related to smoking.
The Karolinska Institute of Stockolm Sweden with which he is affiliated intends to have a symposium in Virgin Islands (Henry] Ramm says that the CTR turned down a request on this."
- [The SAB had rejected Lars Friberg's $20,000 proposal (temporarily) -- Friberg and Cederlof worked together and Cederlof would give airing to their views there. Carl Seltzer (of Harvard) also favoured this project and Shinn recommended it.
Addison Yeamans and Bill Kloepfer point out that the Karolinska Institute is a highly prestige organisation that also has financial support from Swedish government. So they approved funding of $20,000. [They turned this into a Special Project #4 grant]
6. Leonard Zahn (science/media lobbyist) has made a request ...
... in connection with possible employment or retainer of him by CTR. Zahn says he thinks it would be prefereable for him to be 'retained' rather than 'employed' by CTR (He could get other clients). He says he has excellent relations with the science writers and has good contacts inside and outside of government. [He received a two-year contract at $4,000 a month + travel, entertainment.]
MUCH MORE HERE . [2]
1972 Feb 29 Theodor Sterling is writing to Bill Shinn at Shook Hardy & Bacon, seeking $5,000 to support a panel at a Pollution: Engineering conference being held in Tel Aviv. He has asked for the payment to be laundered through the ALEPH Foundation. [3]
- [The AELPH Foundation was run by Ervin Y Rodin (Washington University professor) and Gerald L Esterson (Exec Director). They say they are a non-profit foundation fostering international cooperation and dialog among professionals and scientific groups. They were willing to act as an 'intermediary' for Theodor Sterling running a tobacco funded conference in Israel.[4]
1972 Mar 1 Bill Shinn of Shook Hardy & Bacon is writing to the Committee of Counsel members, who handle the allocation of Special Account #4 money to their scientific hirelings.
The work which Dr. Theodor Sterling has been doing in connection with air pollution became unusually valuable following the President' s transmission on January 31 of an air pollution message to Congress, which you have received, that attempted to implicate cigarette smoking in 95% of lung cancer and 90% of chronic obstructive lung disease.
Dr. Sterling has consulted with us in connection with this message and has also, at Jack Mills request, attended meetings in Washington.
- (John ('Jack') Mills was Senior VP for Federal Relations at the TI and a Republican apparatchik)
We would like for him to have every opportunity to continue his work in this area and he has recently submitted a request to us to help fund a panel on "Effects of Pollutants on Human Health." This panel will meet in connection with an International Meeting of the Society of Engineering Science in Tel Aviv, Israel, during June. A copy of the program, is enclosed.
Dr Sterling is requesting a grant to the ALEPH Foundation, which will administer the funds. Copies of both the letter from Dr Sterling requesting support and the ALEPH Foundation's letter to Dr Sterling are also enclosed. We recommend a grant of $5,000 as a special project (non-CTR) and would appreciate your letting us know your views by March 10.
I have just received, and also enclose a copy of Dr Sterling's latest published article "The Incidence of Lung Cancer in the US Since 1955 in Relation to the Etiology of the Disease." [5]
1972 Aug 31 The audit of the Secret Special Project #4 account show that the $5,000 was paid to ALEPH. Also another $11,385 directly to Theodor Sterling for his considerable contributions to the financial health of the tobacco industry. [6]
