Ronald Reagan and AIDS

Common card · No. 220775

Ronald Reagan, the President of the United States from 1981 to 1989, oversaw the United States response to the emergence of the HIV/AIDS crisis. His actions, or lack thereof, have long been a subject of controversy and have been criticized by LGBTQ and AIDS advocacy organizations. AIDS was first medically recognized in 1981, in New York and California, and the term AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) was adopted in 1982 to describe the disease. Lester Kinsolving, a reporter in the White House press pool, attempted to ask early questions on AIDS during White House press briefings, but his questions were not taken seriously. The 1985 illness and death of Rock Hudson from AIDS marked a turning point in how Reagan and much of the American public viewed AIDS, with major policy shifts and funding increases coming in the wake of his death. Reagan did not publicly acknowledge AIDS until 1985 and did not give an address on it until 1987. Reports on AIDS from Surgeon General C. Everett Koop...

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