Civility in Government

Joseph  A. Califano, Jr. is Founder of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, an independent non-profit research center affiliated with Columbia and Yale Universities in New York City and New Haven.  He served as President Lyndon Johnson’s chief domestic policy assistant from 1965 to 1969 and as Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1977 to 1979 in the Carter Administration.

He has been Adjunct Professor of Public Health (Health Policy and Management) at Columbia University's Medical School and School of Public Health and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.  In 2010, he received the Gustav O. Lienhard Award (the Academy’s highest honor) from the National Academy of Medicine for his contributions to improving public health, his leadership in catalyzing federal action to curb smoking and his broader efforts to reduce the toll of addiction and substance abuse.

Mr. Califano is the author of twelve books.  His widely acclaimed book, The Triumph and Tragedy of Lyndon Johnson: The White House Years, published by Simon and Schuster in 1991, was republished in 2015 with a new 8,000 word introduction. The New York Times Book Review said, “Johnson leaps out of the pages in all his raw and earthy glory,” and the Washington Post called it “A joy to read. Oh what anecdotes…recommended without reservation.”

His memoir, Inside—A Public and Private Life, was published in 2004 by PublicAffairs Press.  The New York Times Book Review called it “a vivid and frank memoir of his remarkable life,” and Publishers Weekly said it was “the most revealing political memoir from a Washington insider since Katherine’s Graham’s Personal Diary….a revealing self-portrait filled with vivid scenes from four decades near the center of American government.”

Two editions of Mr. Califano’s  book, How To Raise A Drug Free Kid—The Straight Dope for Parents, were published by Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone/Fireside Division in 2009 and 2014. His book, High Society—How Substance Abuse Ravages America and What To Do About It, was published in 2007 by PublicAffairs Press. 

The Civility in America Series is sponsored by The Dilenschneider Group, the Hearst Media Group in Connecticut and The Ferguson Library.