Reagan: Silent on AIDS for 6 years/60,000 die during his administration

[Duncan Grant]

My condolences to his family but his administration was the greatest public health failure in the history of our nation. He tacitly enabled the right wing to vilify gay men for years and years.

I remember 1981-1989 all too well.

<snip>
Reagan did not publicly utter the word "AIDS" during the first six years of his administration (his first public mention of the disease was made to the Third International AIDS Conference on May 31, 1987). The Kaiser Family Foundation's Daily HIV/AIDS Report for June 7, 2001 (see ARTICLES & RESOURCES below) also notes that the San Diego Union Tribune quoted Reagan as telling the conference, "Final judgment is up to God."
<snip>
http://www.glaad.org/media/newspops_detail.php?id=3518

[Walt Starr]

1. I think the AIDS death toll in Africa belongs to him, too

Had he begun to do something when it all first started, maybe the death toll in Africa wouldn;t be so bad.

And once you add that to his numbers of dead, mayber he'll top several million....

[Stephanie]

4. I agree with you

Reagan could have stopped it.

[crossroads]

20. He could have done something. It wasn't important to him...

More on his legacy...
http://liberalslikechrist.org/a-JesusNoRepublican/reagan.html
:eyes:

[Duncan Grant]

22. Great link, crossroads!

I love liberalslikechrist.org . Thank-you! :hi:

[crossroads]

29. Thanks, I found it here on DU...

Cool site...
:hi:

[kenth]

8. Doesn't the onus of responsibility for preventing AIDS

in Africa belong to the African people? Why would the United States be responsible for preventing AIDS in Africa? More specifically, do not the people engaging in behaviors that carry a higher risk of infection bear some responsibility too?

[Susang]

16. Only if they knew their behavior could cause AIDS

Due to the Reagan administration's silence on the public health crisis in front of them, people were not educated and did not know what caused AIDS for quite some time. There was much misinformation at the time, made worse by the government's connection to the Moral Majority, who were spreading a lot of their trademarked fear and anger against homosexuals.

It wasn't until a few highly publicized juvenile and heterosexual AIDS cases, that the mainstream media and the government began to get involved in educating the public in earnest.

Those of us who lived through that time will never forget ACT UP and their campaign Silence = Death. It sure did and I have the stack of funeral cards to prove it.

[Emmanuel Goldstein]

41. Doesn't the onus of blame fall to the victims?

Why would the United States be responsible for preventing AIDS in Africa?

You're right: prolonging the crisis indefinitely has proven to be much more profitable.

More specifically, do not the people engaging in behaviors that carry a higher risk of infection bear some responsibility too?

Like those perinatally infected babies for instance? Transfusion recipients? Medical professionals infected in the line of duty? Got just what they deserved for their disgusting and immoral perversions, didn't they?

[NewYorkerfromMass]

45. condoms were cheap

a hell of a lot cheaper than drugs like interferon, untold deaths, and phony religious moralism.

[TexasMexican]

2. AIDS Question

I posted this in another thread but I guess this one would be more appropriate.

AIDS really isnt a big issue for me.

That being said, what do you think could have been done differently?

Do you think a cure would have been found by now if Reagan made a bigger deal of AIDs? Or what?

[Stephanie]

6. Not a big issue for you? That's just how Reagan felt.

The first reports about unexplained immune deficiency among a cluster of gay men appeared scarcely half a year into Reagan's eight-year presidency. Yet even as the death toll grew -- from 184 people in June 1982, to 7,799 in December 1984, to 20,849 in June 1987 -- Reagan remained silent. Rumor had it that Reagan placed a sympathetic personal phone call to his old Hollywood friend Rock Hudson when it became known that Hudson had AIDS. But Reagan the public figure remained mute.

Meanwhile, throughout the early 1980s -- the Reagan administration steadfastly opposed increased funding into AIDS research or HIV prevention. Even as the epidemic escalated out of control, there remained a near-total vacuum of leadership at the national level.

<snip>

Reagan would probably have preferred to leave office without ever addressing AIDS, but by mid-1987 much of the general public had grown fearful of a devastating "heterosexual epidemic." Once AIDS began to threaten people who mattered to him and to the Republican Party, Reagan finally decided to give a speech, using the platform offered by the Third International AIDS Conference held in Washington D.C. He addressed the crowd of researchers, politicians, service providers, and activists on May 31, 1987.

Throughout his speech, Reagan seemed blithely unaware of the severity of the crisis around him. He cracked a few jokes, then proposed widespread HIV testing but no new AIDS education initiatives or additional funding. He lamented the sad fates of many HIV-positive hemophiliacs, transfusion recipients, and spouses of injecting drug users, all without a word about the single hardest-hit population: gay men. Reagan's only concrete, substantive proposal, if it can even be called that, was the formation of a Presidential Commission on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus Epidemic.

<snip>

Reagan's presidential commission eventually issued several hundred recommendations, only ten of which made it past the administration's censors. And while Reagan did subsequently accede to Democratic demands for increased funding, the 1987 speech was essentially the beginning and the end of his "leadership" on AIDS.

http://www.thebody.org/bp/jan01/decades_02.html

[dsc]

7. a cure would be highly unlikely

but a vaccine would be very likely. In additon, the measure we now have (drugs such as AZT) would have come sooner. Finally, some more effective prevention could have been done and he is responsible for the blood problem.

[Duncan Grant]

9. I don't know if a cure would have been found by now.

Reagan's inability to respond to AIDS is well documented here: http://www.thebody.com/encyclo/presidency.html

<snip>
Reagan and his close political advisers also successfully prevented his surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, from discussing AIDS publicly until Reagan's second term. Congress mandates that the surgeon general's chief responsibility is to promote the health of the American people and to inform the public about the prevention of disease. In the Reagan administration, however, the surgeon general's central role was to promote the administration's conservative social agenda, especially pro-life and family issues.

At a time when the surgeon general could have played an invaluable role in public health education, Koop was prevented from even addressing AIDS publicly. Then, in February 1986, Reagan asked Koop to write a report on the AIDS epidemic. Koop had come to the attention of conservatives in the Reagan administration because of his leading role in the anti-abortion movement. Reagan administration officials fully expected Koop to embrace conservative principles in his report on AIDS.

When the Surgeon General's Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome was released to the public on October 22, 1986, it was a call for federal action in response to AIDS, and it underscored the importance of a comprehensive AIDS education strategy, beginning in grade school. Koop advocated the widespread distribution of condoms and concluded that mandatory identification of people with HIV or any form of quarantine would be useless in addressing AIDS. As part of Koop's broad federal education strategy, the Public Health Service sent AIDS mailers to 107 million American households. Koop's actions brought him into direct conflict with William Bennett, Reagan's secretary of education. Bennett opposed Koop's recommendations and called for compulsory HIV testing of foreigners applying for immigration visas, for marriage license applicants, for all hospital patients, and for prison inmates.

The Reagan administration did little to prohibit HIV/AIDS discrimination. The administration placed responsibility for addressing AIDS discrimination issues with the states rather than with the federal government. In the face of federal inaction, some states and localities passed laws that prohibited HIV/AIDS discrimination. It took the Supreme Court, in its 1987 School Board of Nassau County, Fla. v. Arline decision, to issue a broad ruling that was widely interpreted as protecting those with HIV or AIDS from discrimination in federal executive agencies, in federally assisted programs or activities, or by businesses with federal contracts.

<snip>

[BeFree]

Damn that's callous, texmex

The deaths of thousands of people is 'not a big issue'

Thank God the people who find preventions and cures for all the things which afflict humans don't have the same attitude as RR and now, you.

[Forkboy]

13. The death of Ronnie seems to have many,uh,people

coming unglued.The jig is up for many :D

[comsymp]

61. Yup, have noticed that on several threads today-

thought the big, uh, climax was supposed to be on Election night...

Typical, tho, if you think about it- always just a LIT-tle too soon... ;-)

[TexasMexican]

14. Well I'm not going to lie

there are alot of things that arent all that important to me.

I dont particularily give cancer, heart disease, or diabetes much thought.

Diabetes is the only one that really runs in my family (my grandmother has it but its not too bad).

I never personally knew anyone with AIDS, my Aunt had a distant cousin in San Antonio who died of it in the early 90s but thats about it.

Not much of an issue in my family.

[Forkboy]

18. What a guy!

[Stephanie]

19. Oh well then never mind

As long as it doesn't affect you personally no need to give a thought to the many THOUSANDS, eventually MILLIONS who died because of Reagan's homophobia. You're talking like a Republican now and it's not attractive.

[TexasMexican]

23. I dont feel the need to mourn every person in the world who dies

In fact I generally dont mourn anyone unless I know them or read or hear something about them that makes me particularily emotional.

You may say that millions of people have died, but I dont know anything about those millions of people. I cant mourn a million people that I dont know thats impossible.

Also do you think I'm an evil person because AIDS isnt a big issue to me? AIDS may be a big issue to you or other people for various reasons, but it isnt a big issue to everyone nor should you expect it to be.

Everyone has thier own things that they thing are important, and thats good. We cant all be clones who all thing and feel the same about everything.

[Stephanie]

24. I'm sorry to tell you

That one day you will look back on those words and be filled with shame. That's a horrendous sentiment that reveals more about you than you know. Or maybe you do know.

[Forkboy]

30. You feel no emotion when you hear about 6 million dead in ovens?

I cant mourn a million people that I dont know thats impossible.

I'd seek help.

[TexasMexican]

31. OMG

Yes I should mourn people who died before I was born. :eyes:

I suppose I should mourn every person who ever lived and died thoughout history too. :eyes:

[Forkboy]

37. You are one disturbing person

I mean that.

[Forkboy]

38. kick

because every DUer needs to see this one.This post is one for the ages.

[minkyboodle]

agreed

talk about showing ones true colors...
KICK

[noiretextatique]

58. i predict that you wil know someone with AIDS in your lifetime

and AIDS should be of concern to you because HIV is a virus that someone you know (perhaps even you) could be infected with.

[Susang]

25. Don't worry

You'll probably end up giving one of them a thought sooner or later. The odds are in favor of it. Heart disease is the #1 killer of Latinos in this country and cancer is the 2nd. Adult onset diabetes is rising at record rates and is prevelant in Mexican Americans. New cases of AIDS are rising in the Latino population faster than in the general population, particularly cases of pediatric AIDS.

http://www.cdc.gov/omh/Populations/HL/HL.htm

[TexasMexican]

28. Your probably right...

but for the meantime I dont give them much thought.

[Susang]

32. Shortsighted, don't you think?

Or are you very young? By asking that, I'm not trying to be condescending, I just know that different ages have different perspectives on health issues. When you're younger, it really does seem like you'll never have to worry about these issues. Unfortunately, that doesn't last long.

[TexasMexican]

33. My Age

is 23.

I have no illusions that I will never face any health problems, however worrying about them now will do nothing for me.

[Susang]

34. Actually, it can do quite a lot for you now

Your actions and behavior now can determine much of your future health. You choose whether to smoke, take drugs, practice unsafe sex, eat fast food, etc. See what I'm getting at?

[JayS]

35. "Unfortunately, that doesn't last long"

Is that not the truth! I've always been athletic and a healthy eater. When I turned 35 I thought I would see a doctor to start a baseline history, since I had not gone to a doctor since I was about five or so. When the doctor told me that the only thing worse than my chloresterol level was my blood pressure it did not register as serious until my doctor did some straight talking to me. Had I not gone to the doctor I most likely would be dead by now.

The obesity issue is hitting the state hard now and the medical costs from it are expected to bankrupt us in about twenty years when all the problems from this start to hit. Not many are listening.

[Susang]

39. Similar thing happened to me

I had a severe virus at 34, followed by years of chronic fatigue. Turned out that I had Hashimoto's disease, an autoimmune disorder that causes your body to attack it's own thyroid gland. Turns out, it's pretty common in women in their thirties, particularly of Eastern European descent (like me). So, now I'm on daily thyroid pills for the rest of my life. The same girl who could stay up for three days straight now falls asleep at work if she forgets to take her medication.

BTW, did your doc check your thyroid? Abnormal high cholesterol is how they ended up finding my problem. Turns out, it's a symptom of thyroid disease. Who knew?

[JayS]

40. I think they checked my thyroid...but after reading what you wrote...

...I'm going to make sure!

[Straight Shooter]

53. TexasMexican, you've given me one less thing to worry about

See, whenever I read about some incident where some Mexicans are trying to get into this "wonderful" country and instead end up dying of suffocation in some hot-as-hell abandoned trailer driven by someone who doesn't give a rat's dick about them, I'll just tell myself not to worry. After all, I'm not Mexican. So why should I care?

You're too young to be so brutally callous. It's a very unflattering character trait. We're all in this together.

Jesus never said, "I don't have leprosy, neither does anyone in my family. So why should I care?"

[unfrigginreal]

26. Your Aunt's distant cousin would be alive today...

had Reagan funded research sooner. There still isn't a cure but AIDS is treated as a chronic but treatable disease with the new medicines on the market.

Of course it was just a distant cousin, so why should you give a fuck?

[put out]

49. Diabetes is not much of an issue in your family.

Let's all hope it remains as such: not much of an issue.

But, if it becomes an issue, let's hope you will be an activist. If you are physically able to be active in any way.

Hey, woopsie, my hands and feet don't work! Hey, I can't see much because of retinopathy! Oh, and dang those old kidneys, who needs them anyway, you know, nothing dialysis two or three times a week can't fix! Did I mention the little stroke?

[Hamlette]

10. My dear friends Ralph and Donald might still be alive

if Reagan hadn't treated gays with contempt. I thought it odd at the time because he'd come from Hollywood. I thought he would have been less offended by gays. He pandered to the religous right. There was NO leadership, no resources, no spread of information. If money had been spent to discover the cause, we would have limited the spread.

It was a tragedy at the time, worse in retrospect.

[Duncan Grant]

47. Inhumane!

They pathologized tens of thousands with HIV while claiming a perverse "moral" majority. Why the media are unable to cast a critical eye at this chapter in our nation's history is beyond me.

I simply cannot stand in silent, dutiful, respect today. Reagan extended no such courtesy to my friends and lovers. :grr:

[Forkboy]

12. "AIDS really isnt a big issue for me."

After reading your posts lately this is anything but a shock :eyes:

[Zinfandel]

15. And the band played on!!!

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

48. Watch the movie "Bang the Drum Slowly" ..it answers the question well

As regards your comments that you don't care about conditions that don't affect you, thanks for the sorry ass state of America.

The next generation will be the first generation that does not do better than their parents due to those like you with an "I've got mine attitude."

The precise thing that has put blinders on America is the fact that people (unlike prior generations) are now living with ZERO commitment to future generations.

Hence the saying,(paraphrasing) all that is needed for evil to prevail os for "good men" to do nothing.

[Duncan Grant]

51. Re: for "good men" to do nothing.

Just wanted to add a quick thought to your post NSMA. It was the remarkable grassroots response from gays, lesbians, and their straight allies that created hospices and prevention efforts in response to HIV (while Reagan did nothing).

If there was ever a story of 'good men' doing the 'moral' thing...it was the people in the trenches responding to this crisis during the early years.

And a quick note about the "good women" of the grassroots. I haven't forgotten the thousands of lesbians who were primary caregivers, who were among the earliest activists, who organized meals on wheels, who raised money, who gave so much in a horrible crisis. They deserve as many accolades as Reagan but will probably never receive them.

edit: sp

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

52. Thanks...I took care of a great many of my friends that fell ill

from 1983 until services finally became available...

BTW..my appeals for people to temper rhetoric has nothing to do with Reagan's "accomplishments." As far as I am concerned, his "accomplishments" were negative not positive.

[dawn]

50. Well, that's lovely that it's not a big issue for you.

The millions of people dying from it must be heartened to hear that.

:puke:

[Liberal Veteran]

54. HIV wasn't a big issue for me either until 1985 when I was infected.

Guess that kinda made the difference.

[buddhamama]

60. medicine would have advanced quicker if Reagan had done more

health care and not just with regards to AIDS was non-existent in the Reagan administration.

Countless died because of his morally corrupt policies.

[Hamlette]

3. "and the band played on"

thanks for reminding us of this. For a great history of Aids and Reagan read the book by the above title. Tells it all. A shameful history.

[madmax]

5. Read the book or rent the movie

And The Band Played On" by Randy Shilts

In memory of my friends Ben, Tony, Lyle, Cliff, Thomas, Van, James and Jim.

Love and miss you guys. :cry:

[Zinfandel]

11. Come on, it was ONLY supposed to be infected on the "un-desirables"...

Gay people, Blacks, intravenous drug users...they are throw-aways...

Sorry if it got out of hand.

Right?

(Good thing there's not a virus for the hypocritical adulterers)!

[Duncan Grant]

17. Right! I mean why should our taxes be spent...

on any form of social program that would "promote the general welfare*".

*Preamble, The United States Constitution: September 17, 1787

(sarcasm/off) :hi:

[Zinfandel]

21. 1787, Indeed!

How easily we forget the Reagan administration leading us into this corporate fascism that were are now living with, (and will endure)...Hence, the sickening Reagan sentimentality post, I suppose.

Don't get in the way of facts (or death).

When would be the appropriate time to speak out?

FUCKING WAKE UP!

[JayS]

27. I remember when AIDS first began to enter conversations,...

...outside the medical community, in my area. My first thought was about an over-the-counter medicine called AYDS; I don't remember what the medicine was for but they changed the name of it, for obvious reasons.

Discussions about AIDS always seemed to be accompanied by jokes about gays and anal sex and became known as "that gay people's disease." Needless to say, it was taboo for most politicians and they tended to keep silent. To say too much led to accusations about one's sexual preferences, questions about morality, etc.

I have heard AIDS called a disease that suffered from poor marketing. I guess there is truth to that as AIDS does not bring to mind anything like Jerry's Kids. Well, we know about AIDS now and we are paying dearly for learning late.

[Susang]

36. I remember AYDS

It wasn't a medicine, it was a OTC diet supplement that looked like chocolate.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

42. In 1987 I took a friend to the emergency room

He was running a very high fever. He told the doctor that there was a possibility he may have AIDS and the doctor backed away from him and refused to treat him. My friend exploded and asked me to take him home.
He didn't deserve to be treated like that.

[Duncan Grant]

43. It's good to remember the ignorance of those times.

Reagan's administration did nothing to address HIV/AIDS discrimination. I can remember families being ostracized by their communities because their children contracted AIDS through blood transfusion. One family in FL had 3 sons who were removed from school and their house was burned to the ground. I think it was Ryan White and his mother who were instrumental in turning the tide on this bigotry.

Where was the Presidential leadership on this issue during 1981-1987? I remember their silence.

[Susang]

46. Yes it is

My friend Steve was in the University of Michigan hospital with full blown AIDS in 1988. When I went to visit him, it was like entering a nuclear plant, everyone was wearing hazmat type suits. My poor little friend was sitting alone in a room where people in a supposedly progressive hospital wouldn't even touch him.

Many of the nurses, one evil, nasty one in particular, didn't even want to take care of him. Imagine her shock when I ran into the room, jumped on the bed and gave him a big kiss! I made sure that I addressed every comment and question regarding his health to her. Hell, even in 1988 we knew you couldn't get it from the air or saliva! But because of RR's (and therefore, the rest of the country's) contempt for the homosexuals who suffered from this disease, this woman felt justified in treating a seriously ill patient like shit.

No, I'll never forget that time.

[Stephanie]

59. And also to remember the ignorance of THESE times

As evidenced in this very thread. It's disheartening.

[BlackVelvetElvis]

62. That family in Fla lived next door to some friends of mine

They were also kicked out of their church.
The oldest son and my friend's daughter wished to marry before he died and the national press crucified them.
Reagan could've shown real compassion by speaking out loud.

[Joanne98]

44. He was so cold-blooded

He was probably hoping the number would go much higher. Look at the suffering in Africa and all the orphans. It's his legancy. He owns it.

[bread_and_roses]

55. Among the reasons I celebrate his death

...the callous, evil, shameful, cowardly do-nothing vacant puppet that he was. I can't believe the calls for compassion for his or his family's suffering. He lived his life, contemptible as it was, unlike the thousands his indifference and hypocrisy helped condemn to early deaths.

And to the 20-something poster who doesn't care, I suggest you take a look at the data on infection rates in young people. I suggest that you ponder the relationship between the infection rates of HIV and poverty, racism, homophobia, the insane drug war, and our total inability to come to terms as a society with human sexuality. And think of the ignorance and vicious racism and bigotry promulgated by the administration of this stupid, cruel man and those who created him.

You are indeed affected, as are we all, you just don't know it yet.

[Duncan Grant]

56. I'd especially like to remember the gay men...

who died while Reagan did nothing, absolutely nothing to provide for their care, security, or comfort. Seems to me that they deserve that small tribute this weekend (while Reagan is championed for his groundbreaking leadership and contributions to America's future).

Bullshit.

[Liberal Veteran]

57. I just don't feel anything.....except maybe sadness.

Not anger. Not hatred. Not glee. Not contempt.

What would it serve?

Would it cure the disease that has been destroying my immune system for the last 2 decades?


Would I wake up tomorrow and not have to take my meds?


Would the funerals I have attended be erased and be replaced with memories of years spent with those I have missed in the last couple of decades?


I just don't have it in me to hate that kind of misguidedness that allowed someone to ignore HIV for so long.

And even if I did, it would accomplish nothing. It's about 20 years too late to do anything about it, particularly in my own case.

I think it's a pity that and a burden on his soul and memory that he had so little compassion within him.

I won't be like that.

So I have pity and sadness and that's about all I have to feel about it.

[Duncan Grant]

63. I've been thinking about your post this afternoon.

For the last 8 years or so I've held similar thoughts and feelings (still do) but yesterday there was such an uproar about paying RR his due respect. I thought it was ironic that no one in his administration extended that courtesy to the thousands they ignored.

I do have empathy for his family but the memories of so much denial, suffering, loss, etc. surfaced again, after so many years. It was important to me to remember the history - the reality.

Thanks for your post liberal_veteran, it's food for thought. :hi: