Hillary Clinton Apologizes for Praising Nancy Reagan’s Response to HIV/AIDS (Video)
“While the Reagans were strong advocates of stem-cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS,” Clinton says
Itay Hod | March 11, 2016 @ 2:38 PM
Last Updated: March 11, 2016 @ 3:05 PM
Hillary Clinton had to walk back comments she made on Friday praising former First Lady Nancy Reagan’s “effective, low-key advocacy” of HIV/AIDS.
Clinton was speaking to MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell about Mrs. Reagan’s legacy right before her funeral in Simi Valley, California. The former secretary of state had nice things to say about Reagan. Perhaps a little too nice.
“It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS back in the 1980s. And because of both President and Mrs. Reagan — in particular, Mrs. Reagan — we started a national conversation when, before, no one would talk about it, no one wanted to do anything about it. And that too is something that I really appreciate, with her very effective, low-key advocacy, but it penetrated the public conscience, and people began to say ‘Hey, we have to do something about this too.'”
Both Ronald and Nancy Reagan have been widely criticized for ignoring the AIDS epidemic, which started during Reagan’s second year in office. Reagan didn’t even mention the word AIDS publicly until late into his second term. By then scores of people were infected with and dying from the virus, among them Reagans’ close friend, actor Rock Hudson, on whom Nancy reportedly turned her back when he asked for help to secure treatment.
Not even Reagan’s press secretary Larry Speakes had much to say about the AIDS crisis beyond laughter.
When asked by a reporter about a horrifying new disease called AIDS that was ravaging the gay community in October of 1982, Speakes shot back, “I don’t have it … Do you?”
The room erupted in laughter, this as more than 700 cases of AIDS were reported in the U.S. and more than 600 people died of the disease, according to amfAR.
13 Unforgettable Hillary Rodham Clinton Moments: Secretary of State, Candidate and First Lady (Photos)
Photos of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checking her email went viral in 2011. When Clinton joined Twitter last month, she chose a shot like this for her profile page, quickly racking up 650,000 followers.
In December 2011 Hillary joyfully greeted Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma. Suu Kyi led the fight against military rule in Burma, where she spent years under house arrest.
Hillary Rodham Clinton made her debut in politics back in 1974 during the Watergate Scandal as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff. She was a recent Yale Law School graduate and not yet married to Bill Clinton.
Hillary Clinton became a lightening rod on the 1992 campaign trail, drawing criticism for remarks that she could have "stayed home and baked cookies and had tea but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession" and that she was not a "some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette."
In 1996, then First Lady HIllary Clinton was put on the cover of Time magazine, with the story depicting the truth about the Whitewater real-estate scandal.
Hillary Clinton delivers a speech on the Monica Lewinsky affair with her husband and former President Bill Clinton standing by her side.
After taking on two ads that she claims misrepresented her stance on healthcare plans, an enraged presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivers a speech on the shameful tactics used by rival Barack Obama in 2008. "Shame on you, Barack Obama!"
After losing the race for the Democratic candidacy for the 2008 election, Clinton ended her campaign with a memorable speech. "Even though we were not able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it's got about 18 million cracks in it, and the light is shining through like never before."
Alongside President Obama and other senior members of the White House staff, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton watches as the US Naval Seals take down terrorist Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011.
Hillary Clinton and actress Meryl Streep share a laugh at the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors gala.
After returning to work from hospitalization from a blood clot, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received joke gifts from her colleagues to celebrate her return. She received a football jersey and helmet.
In January, Clinton delivered a fiery speech to Congress about the Benghazi attacks on U.S. soldiers.
In 2013, Hillary Clinton joined the Human Rights Campaign for same sex marriage. Her support for equal marriage was received as one of her biggest contributions to the campaign upon retiring as Secretary of State in February 2013.
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A look at 10 of former First Lady's biggest moments in the White House, as Secretary of State and as Democractic candidate for president.
Photos of then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton checking her email went viral in 2011. When Clinton joined Twitter last month, she chose a shot like this for her profile page, quickly racking up 650,000 followers.
