Introduction

The Moakley Archive and Institute at Suffolk University has many resources that explore Congressman Moakley’s twenty-year effort to create a national standard for the production of fire-safe cigarettes. Moakley’s interest in the issue stemmed from a fatal, cigarette-caused fire in his district in 1979 that killed a family in Westwood, Mass. In an effort to prevent similar tragedies, Moakley began a legislative campaign to tighten regulations on the tobacco industry and to require the production of self-extinguishing cigarettes.

Fire-safe cigarette (FSC) related documents in Congressman Moakley’s papers (MS 100) can serve as a case study to understand the process by which laws are created, put before Congress and ratified (or not); an illustration of bipartisanship, and to examine the influence of lobbyists on Congress.

A .pdf version of the guide is available here.