Nazi Germany initiated the first public anti-smoking campaign in modern history. Hitler smoked in his younger years, but unfortunately gave it up when he got older. He viewed smoking as “the wrath of the red man against the white man, vengeance for having been given hard liquor.” Could also be the highly addictive nicotine, but whatever. Hitler expressed that “so many excellent men have been lost to tobacco poisoning.” Wow, what a humanitarian. Inversely, many cigarettes felt that too many good men had been lost to Hitler poisoning.