In 1907, the American Tobacco Company absorbed over 90% of the world market, the American government was worried by expansion of discount cigarettes. And then, at this stage, the special services got involved into the fight to crash the nicotine monopoly and preserve the market capacities against expansions of discount cigarettes.
During the investigation it turned out that the company managed to violate the anti-trust legislation several times. After some long proceedings, the US Supreme Court had issued a decision to separate the American Tobacco Company into separate smaller corporations. Among others, the Liggett & Myers had also managed to return to the market, taking the Chesterfield brand as a bonus.
After the collapse of the monstrous corporation, some active and to some extent aggressive approaches were specially developed for the US tobacco market. Companies began to invest a lot into advertising and promotion of their products. To survive, Chesterfield had to change a lot. In principle, nothing but the old brand could remain after the modification. The components of the tobacco mixture also had to change. As well as the decoration. Very soon, owing to a reasonable approach to promotion, the brand managed to occupy the leading market positions, only sharing its popularity with such promoted cigarettes as Camel and Lucky Strike.
Despite constant attacks, Chesterfield managed to survive and simultaneously rise up. This brand has been rising owing to thoroughly developed advertising campaigns. First of all, the mass attraction of movie stars. Old-guard monsters alike Humphrey Bogart, James Dean, Lucille Ball, they all took part in the advertising of cigarettes. Also Chesterfield was for several years a sponsor of the radio show led by famous Glen Miller and the television series Gunsmoke. Being young, even Ronald Reagan did not hesitate to promote Chesterfield.
Of course, this happened when he was just a famous actor, not a selected president of the United States.