they voluntarily requested regulation by Congress. The gambit had a deeply calculated logic. Congress, it was well-known, would inherently be more sympathetic to the interests of tobacco makers. Tobacco was the economic lifeblood of Southern states, and the industry had bribed politicians and funded campaigns so extensively over the years that negative political action was inconceivable. Conversely, the FTC’s unilateral activism on tobacco had turned out to be such a vexing embarrassment to politicians that Congress was expected to at least symbolically rap the wrist of the vigilante
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