Harry Hoxsey was a former coal miner who, in 1924, operated a number of cancer clinics using an herbal concoction handed down by his grandfather. This led to an ongoing battle with the newly formed AMA, which raged from 1924 to 1960 with much of it played out in the media. Hoxsey won a slander suit against Dr. Morris Fishbein, head of the Journal of the AMA. Hoxsey claimed that AMA officials went after him because he would not sell them his formula.