Randy Allgaier on Ronald Reagan -- DeadParrot
With all of the tributes about former President Ronald Reagan that have been clogging newspapers, television, radio, internet --I wouldn't be surprised if some group like the Heritage Foundation will petition the Pope to canonize him.
There are many things that are part of the Regan legacy worth remembering such as The firing of the air traffic controllers, the philosophy of a winnable nuclear war, recallable nuclear missiles, trees that cause pollution, Elliott Abrams lying to Congress, ketchup as a vegetable, colluding with Guatemalan thugs, pardons for F.B.I. > lawbreakers, voodoo economics, budget deficits, toasts to Ferdinand Marcos, public housing cutbacks, red baiting the nuclear freeze movement, James Watt.
Getting cozy with Argentine fascist generals, tax credits for segregated schools, disinformation campaigns, "homeless by choice," Manuel Noriega, falling wages, the HUD scandal, air raids on Libya, "constructive engagement" with apartheid South Africa, United States Information Agency blacklists of liberal speakers, attacks on OSHA and workplace safety, the invasion of Grenada, assassination manuals, Drug tests, lie detector tests, Fawn Hall, female appointees (8 percent), mining harbors, the S&L scandal, 239 dead U.S. troops in Beirut, Al Haig "in control," food-stamp reductions, Debategate, White House shredding, Jonas Savimbi, tax cuts for the rich, "mistakes were made." Michael Deaver's conviction for influence peddling, Lyn Nofziger's conviction for influence peddling, Caspar Weinberger's five-count indictment, Ed Meese ("You don't have many suspects who are innocent of a crime"), Donald Regan (women don't "understand throw-weights"), education cuts, support for the Contras, illegal arms sales to Iran, massacres in El Salvador.
However, it was his six year silence on AIDS that is his most egregious act in an eight year presidency that was filled with egregious acts. Here is my "tribute" to Ronald Wilson Reagan:
The Man Responsible for the American AIDS Epidemic Dies at 93
Ronald Wilson Reagan, the man who single handedly ensured that the AIDS epidemic would be completely ignored by the federal government during the early years of the epidemic when it was critical to fund research, care and to develop prevention strategies, died on Saturday at the age of 93. Mr. Reagan's inaction delayed the eventual development of efficacious drug regimens and funding of effective prevention strategies by at least six years. Mr. Reagan's lack of leadership on AIDS makes him responsible for tens of thousands of AIDS deaths. He was also the 40th President of the United States.
Ronald 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 also notes that the San Diego Union Tribune quoted Reagan as telling the conference, "Final judgment is up to God." In a 2001 speech at the Kaiser Family Foundation's National Symposium on U.S. AIDS Policy, Dr. C. Everett Koop, Reagan's surgeon general, said that due to "intradepartmental politics" he was cut out of all AIDS discussions for the first five years of the Reagan Administration -- and that "because transmission of AIDS was understood primarily in the homosexual population and in those who abused intravenous drugs, the advisors to the President took the stand, they are only getting what they justly deserve."
"For Reagan apologists to act as if his record on AIDS was anything short of tragic is both inaccurate and deeply offensive to the memory of the 60,000 people who died of AIDS during Reagan's presidency," said Shana Naomi Krochmal, director of communications and public affairs for the STOP AIDS Project. "At a time when our nation could have led the way in preventing transmission and fighting stigma and discrimination against people with HIV, Reagan offered no leadership -- only silence."
"In the history of the AIDS epidemic, President Reagan's legacy is one of silence," said Michael Cover, Associate Executive Director for Public Affairs at Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, D.C. "It is the silence of tens of thousands who died alone and unacknowledged, stigmatized by our government under his administration."
According to Koop, the Reagan Administration's resistance to publicly discussing and addressing HIV and AIDS was the product of a larger reluctance to engage in frank discussion about matters of sexuality. Eerily, there is a distinct parallel between Reagan's AIDS policies and the current efforts to withhold funding from AIDS researchers and service organizations that explore and provide comprehensive education and prevention strategies.
In addition to the untold misery and death of thousands of Americans living with HIV/AIDS, there are other important avocations that define the man. Early in his adult life Mr. Reagan was an actor in some of America's worst films- such as "Bedtime for Bonzo". After his lackluster try at acting Mr. Reagan took the role of Governor of California. Thousands of Californians with mental illness will remember Reagan as the cause of their homelessness.
-Katherine Chillingworth-