The smog is commonly cited as one of the most-visible and most-discussed environmental disasters of the 1960s in the United States , alongside the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill and the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire . National public awareness of the smog and its health effects spurred the nascent environmental movement in the United States and galvanized support for legislation to regulate air pollution . Vernon McKenzie , chief of the air pollution division of the federal Public Health Service , called the smog " a warning of what can happen — and will happen — with increasing frequency and in wider areas unless something is done to prevent it . " In the 1968 book '' Killer Smog '' , William Wise warned that the 1966 smog and the 1952 London smog represented a vulnerability to air pollution disasters among American cities : At the time of the smog event , only half of the urban population of the United States lived with local protections on air quality ; the smog event catalyzed the call for federal regulation on the issue . Spencer R. Weart of the American Institute of Physics said the American public " did not take the problem of air pollution seriously " until the 1966 smog . According to Weart , an important factor driving awareness of the smog was its location , as events in New York " always had a disproportionate influence on the media headquartered there . " Before the 1966 smog , the city government had been slow to act to regulate air pollution . Despite general awareness of the health and environmental impacts of smog , other problems took priority : as '' The New York Times '' reported , issues like " housing , crime , education and keeping the city ' cool ' were at the forefront of city government concerns . " But the 1966 smog impelled a swift response by the city government , who now felt pressure to respond " in the aftermath of disaster . " Lindsay , then a liberal Rockefeller Republican , had run as a supporter of stronger air pollution control in his 1965 mayoral campaign , and the 1966 smog reinforced Lindsay 's position on the issue
1969 Santa Barbara oil spill
1969 Santa Barbara oil spill
1966 New York City smog