Petrelis Files

Many thanks to all of you who have helped me determine when Reagan first publicly said the word AIDS and addressed the epidemic.

At first, I believed he said something about AIDS at an AmFAR benefit hosted by Liz Taylor in Washington in May of 1987.

Next, I found the text of a written message Reagan sent to Congress on February 6, 1986, and mistakenly thought he had spoken the words.

Now, as you can read below, Reagan was asked about the AIDS epidemic at a news conference in 1985.

Although he finally spoke about AIDS at that time, in my opinion, it simply wasn't enough of an effort to halt the spread of AIDS and find effective treatments to keep people with AIDS alive.

Regardless of when Reagan initially said the word AIDS, for many of us, his legacy on AIDS is a shameful one and shouldn't be ignored by reporters and historians.

^^^

Reagan's Speeches

The President's News Conference
September 17, 1985

The President. Good evening. Please be seated. I have a statement here.

[snip]

Federal Support for AIDS Research

Q. Mr. President, the Nation's best-known AIDS scientist says the time has come now to boost existing research into what he called a minor moonshot program to attack this AIDS epidemic that has struck fear into the Nation's health workers and even its schoolchildren. Would you support a massive government research program against AIDS like the one that President Nixon launched against cancer?

The President. I have been supporting it for more than 4 years now. It's been one of the top priorities with us, and over the last 4 years, and including what we have in the budget for '86, it will amount to over a half a billion dollars that we have provided for research on AIDS in addition to what I'm sure other medical groups are doing. And we have $100 million in the budget this year; it'll be 126 million next year. So, this is a top priority with us. Yes, there's no question about the seriousness of this and the need to find an answer.

Q. If I could follow up, sir. The scientist who talked about this, who does work for the Government, is in the National Cancer Institute. He was referring to your program and the increase that you proposed as being not nearly enough at this stage to go forward and really attack the problem.

The President. I think with our budgetary constraints and all, it seems to me that $126 million in a single year for research has got to be something of a vital contribution.

[snip]