Surgeon General C. Everett Koop releases “The Surgeon General’s Report on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome” after being muzzled by the Reagan administration for five years. The groundbreaking 36-page report provides frank, explicit guidance on AIDS prevention including …
Hollywood icon Rock Hudson dies at age 59 of AIDS complications, becoming the first major U.S. celebrity to die of the disease and forcing President Reagan to finally acknowledge the epidemic publicly. Hudson’s death marks a turning point: Reagan had maintained complete public silence on AIDS …
The CDC publishes the first report on unusual immune system failures in five previously healthy gay men in Los Angeles, marking the medical recognition of what becomes the AIDS epidemic. President Ronald Reagan’s administration responds with years of complete public silence while the epidemic …
The Reagan administration prohibits Surgeon General C. Everett Koop from publicly addressing the emerging AIDS epidemic from 1981 through early 1986, demonstrating deliberate suppression of public health information during a catastrophic disease outbreak. Journalists receive advance instructions …