Joycelyn Elders

Joycelyn Elders    (health official)
Born	Minnie Lee Jones 1933-08-13 Schaal, Arkansas, U.S.
Alma mater	Philander Smith College, University of Arkansas Medical School
Party	Democratic
Surgeon General of the United States In office September 8, 1993 - December 31, 1994

Minnie Joycelyn Elders (born Minnie Lee Jones) is an American pediatrician and public health administrator who was Surgeon General of the United States from 1993 to 1994. A vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, she was appointed by then-governor Bill Clinton to Director of the Arkansas Department of Health, then to Surgeon General of the United States.

Elders is best known for her frank discussion of her views on controversial issues such as drug legalization, masturbation, and distributing contraception in schools. She was forced to resign in December 1994 amidst controversy as a result of her views.

Director of Arkansas Department of Health

In 1987, then-governor Bill Clinton appointed Elders as Director of the Arkansas Department of Health, making her the first African-American woman in the state to hold this position. In office, she managed to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by increasing the availability of birth control, counseling, and sex education at school-based clinics; a tenfold increase in early childhood screenings from 1988 to 1992 and a 24 percent rise in the immunization rate for two-year-olds; and an expansion of the availability of HIV testing and counseling services, breast cancer screenings, and better hospice care for the elderly. She also worked hard to promote the importance of sex education, proper hygiene, and prevention of substance abuse in public schools. In 1992, she was elected President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers.

Surgeon General of the United States

Elders has received a National Institutes of Health career development award, also serving as assistant professor in pediatrics at the University of Arkansas Medical Center from 1967. She was promoted to associate professor in 1971 and professor in 1976. Her research interests focused on endocrinology, and she received board certification as a pediatric endocrinologist in 1978, becoming the first person in the state of Arkansas to do so. Elders received a D.Sc. degree from Bates College in 2002.

In January 1993, Bill Clinton appointed her as the United States Surgeon General. At her confirmation hearing, Elders responded to criticism over an incident in which she decided not to notify the public that condoms her department had been distributing in Arkansas had been found to be defective, with a failure rate ten times the allowed rate. Elders said that "I don't know" whether the decision had been correct, but she had believed at the time that public disclosure could lead to a public loss of faith in the efficacy of condoms, which would have been the greater danger. She was a controversial choice and a strong backer of the Clinton health care plan, so she was not confirmed until September 7, 1993. As Surgeon General, Elders quickly established a reputation for being controversial. Like many of the Surgeons General before her, she was an outspoken advocate of a variety of health-related causes. She argued for an exploration of the possibility of drug legalization, and backed the distribution of contraceptives in schools. President Clinton stood by Elders, saying that she was misunderstood.

Views on drug legalization

Elders drew fire, as well as censure from the Clinton administration, when she suggested that legalizing drugs might help reduce crime and that the idea should be studied. On December 15, 1993, around one week after making these comments, charges were filed against her son Kevin for selling cocaine in an incident involving undercover officers four months prior. Elders believes the incident was a frame-up and the timing of the charges was designed to embarrass her and the president. Kevin Elders was convicted, and he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, of which he served four months.

Comments on human sexuality and abortion

In January 1994 in the context of abortion, Elders said, "We really need to get over this love affair with the fetus and start worrying about children."

Later that year, she was invited to speak at a United Nations conference on AIDS. She was asked whether it would be appropriate to promote masturbation as a means of preventing young people from engaging in riskier forms of sexual activity, and she replied, "I think that it is part of human sexuality, and perhaps it should be taught." This remark caused great controversy and resulted in Elders losing the support of the White House. Clinton's chief of staff, Leon Panetta, remarked, "There have been too many areas where the President does not agree with her views. This is just one too many." In December 1994, Elders was forced to resign by President Clinton.

She is currently a professor emerita of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

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