William Kloepfer

William "Bill" Kloepfer was Senior Vice President of Public Affairs Relations for the Tobacco Institute c. 1969-1999.

Biography
William Kloepfer, Jr. was born and educated in Illinois and received a bachelor of science degree in political science from Northwestern University in 1949, following four years of service in the U.S. Army during World War II. He started in the newspaper business as a reporter for a small daily newspaper in east Texas, and within a year was invited to join the editorial staff of the Washington Times-Herald, later absorbed by the Washington Post. His job was covering the U.S. Congress from a desk in the Senate press gallery.

During the 1952 Presidential campaign, Mr. Kloepfer joined the publicity staff of the Republican National Committee, and remained in that post until 1955. During the 1954 Congressional and gubernatorial campaigns, he served as press secretary for Vice President Richard Nixon throughout the latter's national campaign tour. This was followed by two years as administrative assistant to U.S. Representative Laurence Curtis of Boston, and in late 1956 Mr. Kloepfer was appointed director of public information and Congressional liaison for the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board.

In a speech at an INFOTAB workshop in 1989, William Kloepfer highlighted the industry's tactic of broadening tobacco issues to encompass many other issues. Kloepfer stated,

Over the years, since we saw the first workplace smoking restriction legislation in the United States in the early 1970's, the anti-smokers'arguments, and their tactics, have grown more and more sophisticated. But then, so have ours. Our strategy [on secondhand smoke] has been to broaden the issue, to involve as many other issues, interest groups and decision makers as possible...

Other Sourcewatch Resources

 * Tobacco industry

Document resources
search_term=William Kloepfer
 * Report on Public Smoking Issue Executive Committee 19850410 William Kloepfer, Jr. (CBS TAPE)