What happened with Ronald Reagan and AIDS?

Question

I have this project to do. One of the questions is: What role did Ronald Reagan play during the AIDS breakout. I'm not really sure what happened, but I think that he addressed this problem, but didn't really do anything about it. Tell me if I'm wrong because I'm really not sure.

Answer 1

Early on, Reagan did nothing about HIV. He didn't even mention it until a 1985 press conference where mentioned funding research but didn't discuss it again for another two years when he finally appointed an "AIDS czar" as he disgustingly called it. Reagan believed homosexuality was "a tragic illness" and there is film footage of him saying so during his presidential campaign.

Reagan, cow-towed to the religious right--primarily lead by Jerry Falwell--joining it's "leaders" in claiming that HIV/AIDS was "god's punishment for homosexuality" and when heterosexuals later become infected it was amended to "and a society that tolerates homosexuals."

Reagan wasted precious time early on in the AIDS crisis. If he had acted early on instead of moralizing, this virus could have possibly been contained or at least managed. Consider that today when a viral outbreak occurs, containment procedures are followed closely. It's the reason you don't know anyone who has died from SARS or avian Flu. Those procedures are in place because of the catastrophic failure the allowed HIV to become a pandemic.

And yes, Reagan should be blamed for his failure.

Answer 2

Reagan, a Republican, disliked gay issues. AIDS was considered a "gay" disease. The Republican party wanted nothing to do with gays or their diseases.

Consequently, next to nothing was done to study AIDS by the Reagan Administration. Almost no money was put into AIDS research.

There is a very good Showtime movie that you can rent called "And the Band Played On".

The movie follows a team of doctors at the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta who have discovered a strange, new, always fatal disease that is killing gay men.

The movie follows them as they try to figure out what's going on with a terrible plague which the Regan administration has absolutely no interest in.

Moreover the gay community wants to deny that this new disease is really the deadly threat that it is.

Since there's no money for research AIDS finds its way in the blood used for transplants.

Watching, And the Band Plays," would really help with you project because it captures the time and people that you are studying.

Good luck with your project!

Answer 3

He refused to mention it until 1987. (In fact, he may even have fired someone for mentioning it).

One of the sad things about AIDs is that he did not want to spend money to research a cure for it.

I fear that these days, governments don't do much about disease until things get urgent.

Examples:

- Antibiotic resistance: The government should have banned prescriptions of antibiotics for the common cold long ago (colds are caused by viruses, not bacteria, for which antibiotics are worthless against)

- H5N1: Not that much prepartion is actually occuring right now, despite all else.

- AIDS: Currently, the majority of the Bush administration's aid in the US goes to churches, most often Protestant ones, and this aid has strings attached: you've got to practice abstinence, must be faithful in god, and condoms (to its credit - the Catholic church has opposed condoms, desptie their use). Contrary to what the church claims, the largest spreader of AIDS is now heterogenous sex in some regions, not gay sex. AIDs assistance was only given when the scope of the disease became clear.

I'm afraid that Reagan really didn't do much in terms of trying to cure AIDS.

Answer 4

No, he pretty much ignored it until about 1987. For the longest time, people thought it was a gay disease, and since it was gays and IV drug users dying, Reagan didn't really care. But when people started contracting the virus from blood tranfusions, well, then it became a problem. Or his hand was forced. Something like that.

Answer 5

Bastard republicans dressed the aids virus up as a sign of God's wrath on gay people. They didn't just do nothing, they were damn happy about aids, because their small brains couldn't understand the implications of the disease, which as we all know, can kill just about anybody.

here is an article that is slightly less PO'ed than i am.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/06/08/EDG777163F1.DTL

Answer 6

reagan was too busy secretly selling arms to the iranians and funneling the money to terrorists in central america (iran/contra) to give a damn about anyone dying from aids.

Answer 7

Well Ron Reagan was "old" school he didn't like homosexuality but he tolerated it, or at least he knew of its existence but he didn't want to acknowledge it existed. So he conveniently ignored it. I truly think his mindset was like the saying goes the only good Indian is a dead Indian.

Answer 8

he watched thousands of people die, including a friend, Rock Hudson

and waited years before he even addressed the issue, losing valuable time in research, investigation and moral leadership

to prevent the cataclysmic, devastating pandemic we know AIDS to be

and he let the freaky religious right "condemn" sick human beings to death because they can't comprehend that some of us are born homosexual.

he's gone now. he can't hurt me anymore.

Answer 9

http://www.aegis.com/topics/timeline/default.asp

Answer 10

He raised awareness and brought it to the forefront. It was well known in the gay community, but not really out of those circles. Reagan helped educate people so that it was brought into the mainstream and help to prevent new infections.