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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Leon Napok. I'm the host of Fiasco,

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Speaker 1: but you may also know me from the podcasts Slowburn,

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Speaker 1: Think Twice, Michael Jackson, and Backfired the Vaping Wars. I'm

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Speaker 1: excited to be sharing with you the next season of Backfired,

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Speaker 1: titled Attention Deficit, which is now available exclusively on Audible.

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Speaker 1: Backfired is a podcast about the business of unintended consequences.

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Speaker 1: In the first season, my co host Ril Pardess and

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Speaker 1: I dove deep into the world of vaping and how

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Speaker 1: the well intentioned quest for a safer cigarette went awry.

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Speaker 1: Now we're tackling ADHD and how the push to destigmatize

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Speaker 1: this hard to define childhood diagnosis has led to an

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Speaker 1: explosion of stimulant use in kids as well as adults.

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Speaker 1: It's a story about the promise of psychiatry to fix

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Speaker 1: our brains and the power of the pharmaceutical industry to

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Speaker 1: shape how we and our doctors think about what's wrong

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Speaker 1: with us. To hear both seasons of Backfired, go to

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Speaker 1: audible dot com slash Backfired and start a free trial

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Speaker 1: that's audible dot com slash Backfired. Fiasco is intended for

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Speaker 1: mature audio. For a list of books, articles and documentaries

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Speaker 1: we used in our research. Follow the link in the

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Speaker 1: show notes. Previously on fiasco.

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Speaker 2: It's mysterious, it's deadly, and it's baffling medical science.

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Speaker 3: The Food and Drug Administration has recommended that any man

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Speaker 3: who has had sex with another man since nineteen seventy

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Speaker 3: seven not donate blood.

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Speaker 4: You had many people from the radical right expressing really

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Speaker 4: extreme measures.

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Speaker 5: And I do believe that AIDS is a violation of

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Speaker 5: God's laws.

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Speaker 6: How many of us have to die before you get

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Speaker 6: off your ass?

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Speaker 7: We had no other resources but ourselves.

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Speaker 4: Rock Hudson magnificently proving the power of love and faith

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Speaker 4: in a great performance and lovely.

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Speaker 1: When Rock Hudson appeared in the romantic comedy Pillow Talk

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Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty nine, he was already one of the

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Speaker 1: most famous leading men in America.

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Speaker 8: A Beverly Hills, California, It's Rock Hudson honored again with

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Speaker 8: Photoplays Gold Medal the most Popular Actor Award.

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Speaker 1: Hudson was the very model of the mid century American man, Tall, stoic,

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Speaker 1: and transcendently good looking. According to Life Magazine, he was

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Speaker 1: a towering hunk of handsomeness.

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Speaker 9: Rock Hudson, six Street four of Fighting Man, Enter, Tame

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Speaker 9: a Wildcat, Beauty makes will read this is Rock Hudson.

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Speaker 9: My new picture, Pillow Talk, brings me together with Doris Day.

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Speaker 1: But the Pillow Talk was a milestone in Hudson's career,

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Speaker 1: his first romantic comedy and the first of several starring

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Speaker 1: roles opposite Doris Day. The premise of the movie was

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Speaker 1: that Hudson's character was pretending to be gay as part

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Speaker 1: of a ploy to win Day's heart.

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Speaker 10: Don't you find me attractive?

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Speaker 4: Why yes, ma'am, of course.

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Speaker 6: Then why haven't you ever ever what? I'm sorry, foolish.

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Speaker 1: The characters made repeated references to homosexuality, all of them

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Speaker 1: disguised in wordplay and innuendo.

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Speaker 4: Either you're not.

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Speaker 9: Telling the truth or or what. Well, there are some

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Speaker 9: men who just they're very devoted to their mothers, you know,

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Speaker 9: the type that likes to collect cooking recipes, exchange bits

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Speaker 9: of gossip.

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Speaker 1: But there was a layer of irony to Pillow Talk

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Speaker 1: that few audience members would have known to look for.

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Speaker 11: Here's a real life gay man playing a straight man

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Speaker 11: who at one point is pretending to be a gay

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Speaker 11: man to Lord Doris Day into bed.

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Speaker 1: This is Mark Griffin, author of the Rock Hudson biography

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Speaker 1: All That Heaven Allows.

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Speaker 11: So it's definitely a hall of mirrors, like you know,

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Speaker 11: several layers of surreal.

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Speaker 1: As a star in the Hollywood studio system, Hudson was

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Speaker 1: an expert presenting a broadly appealing and inoffensive version of

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Speaker 1: himself to the world, but the details of his private

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Speaker 1: life were known to many of the people he worked

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Speaker 1: and socialized with.

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Speaker 11: It was sort of this silent agreement that nobody was

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Speaker 11: going to talk about homosexuality unless you were among your

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Speaker 11: own and you felt very safe in discussing that.

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Speaker 1: Hudson's sexuality was something of an open secret in the

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Speaker 1: film industry, and everyone, including Hudson, knew that it would

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Speaker 1: ruin his career if moviegoers ever found out about it.

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Speaker 11: There was this ironclad expectation that a star, especially one

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Speaker 11: of that magnitude, would never do anything in his private

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Speaker 11: life to embarrass his bosses or worse. At that time,

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Speaker 11: there was a morals clause in each contract player's contract

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Speaker 11: which forbade engaging in any behavior that might be deemed

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Speaker 11: socially unacceptable or immoral, and from there on in for

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Speaker 11: much of his career, Rock is working what I would

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Speaker 11: describe as a sort of very dangerous tight rope act.

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Speaker 1: The main threat to Hudson's career came from the tabloid press.

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Speaker 1: Hudson's agent is rumored to have once given a journalist

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Speaker 1: damaging information about another one of his own clients in

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Speaker 1: exchange for killing a story about Hudson's sexuality. Another time,

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Speaker 1: there was gossip going around that Hudson might be romantically

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Speaker 1: involved with an actor named Jim Nabors. The truth was

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Speaker 1: they were just close friends, but Hudson was so worried

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Speaker 1: about the potential fallout that he stopped talking to neighbors entirely.

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Speaker 1: The stakes of keeping Hudson's identity as secret were perhaps

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Speaker 1: highest during the pillow talk era, but even as time

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Speaker 1: passed and his leading man days started the dwindle, Hudson

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Speaker 1: worked hard to maintain his public image. As long as

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Speaker 1: he did that he could live his life the way

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Speaker 1: he wanted to in private. One of the people who

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Speaker 1: got to see Hudson in that context was Ken Jilson,

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Speaker 1: a longtime fan who turned into one of Hudson's friends.

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Speaker 1: Jilson had worked at a movie theater when he was

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Speaker 1: a teenager, and he had loved Hudson's movies ever since.

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Speaker 12: We would play these Rock Hudson movies Lover, Come Back

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Speaker 12: and things like that, and I had the strangest feeling

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Speaker 12: when I would look at the screen that I knew him.

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Speaker 12: I can't explain that.

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Speaker 1: When Jillson and Hudson met in the early seventies, it

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Speaker 1: turned out that Hudson had just installed a home movie theater.

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Speaker 12: He had a complete movie theater in his home with

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Speaker 12: thirty five millimeter projection equipment. And I said, well, you

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Speaker 12: know what, I used to work in a movie theater.

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Speaker 12: I know how to run the machines. I'll teach you

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Speaker 12: how to do it.

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Speaker 1: Jillson and his partner grew close to Hudson. They even

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Speaker 1: convinced him to become the first investor in their gift

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Speaker 1: trapping business. Over the years, he would invite them to

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Speaker 1: dinner parties at his Beverly Hills estate, which boasted a

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Speaker 1: one hundred and eighty degree view of Los Angeles and

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Speaker 1: which Hudson called the Castle.

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Speaker 12: It had a whole two story Spanish hacienda field to it,

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Speaker 12: and he had a piano in the movie theater. And

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Speaker 12: he loved to have his friends over and entertain. They'd

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Speaker 12: all come over, people like Carol Burnett, and they would.

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Speaker 1: Sing, could I wave the years?

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Speaker 12: And I'll do like little shows on the stage.

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Speaker 13: It was really cool, tears away when your eyes.

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Speaker 5: Are drunk.

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Speaker 14: Seek.

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Speaker 1: By the time he was in his mid forties, Hudson

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Speaker 1: was spending less of his time making big movies and

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Speaker 1: more of it on stage, acting in musical theater.

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Speaker 12: He was in several musicals and he did on the

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Speaker 12: twentieth Century. He did Camelot and he couldn't I mean,

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Speaker 12: he could sing okay, And he just was in seventh

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Speaker 12: Heaven on the theater stage.

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Speaker 1: He even released an album of covers called rock Gently.

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Speaker 15: Now that the Summer is come and gone, I'll say

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Speaker 15: goodbye now that the Winner.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty four, Hudson got a chance to catch

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Speaker 1: up with a couple he had first gotten to know

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Speaker 1: decades earlier in Hollywood, Ronald and Nancy Reagan. As Mark

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Speaker 1: Griffin writes in his book, the two former actors invited

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Speaker 1: Hudson to the White House for an official state dinner

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Speaker 1: to honor the President of Mexico.

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Speaker 5: President Missus del Madrid Mikaza Essukazza.

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Speaker 1: At the event, Hudson chatted with the first Lady and

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Speaker 1: took photos with her.

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Speaker 11: And of all people, Nancy Reagan noticed that when they

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Speaker 11: were posing for photos that he had a blemish on

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Speaker 11: his neck, and that she advised him to have it checked.

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Speaker 1: Hudson would later tell friends that after he was diagnosed

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Speaker 1: with AIDS, he went home and cried for a week.

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Speaker 1: There were so many unknowns, how long he could keep working,

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Speaker 1: how quickly the disease would progress. The one thing was obvious,

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Speaker 1: Hudson would be living this part of his life the

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Speaker 1: same way he had lived so many others in private.

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Speaker 1: I'm Leon Napock from Audible Origins and Prologue Projects. This

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Speaker 1: is fiasco.

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Speaker 16: Just what is wrong with Rock Hutson? The nature of

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Speaker 16: his illness has become clouded in mystery and confusion.

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Speaker 4: Rock.

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Speaker 13: The news media are clamoring for information. What do you

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Speaker 13: think I should do?

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Speaker 17: They are violating the laws of nature, and nature is

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Speaker 17: striking back.

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Speaker 18: Luis, does anybody in the White House know about this epidemic?

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Speaker 5: I think we just have to do the best we

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Speaker 5: can with this problem. I can understand both sides of it.

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Speaker 1: In this episode, what happened when one of Hollywood's biggest

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Speaker 1: stars became sick with AIDS and what it took to

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Speaker 1: get President Reagan to pay attention to the epidemic. Michael Gottlieb,

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Speaker 1: an immunologist at UCLA, was used to getting referrals for

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Speaker 1: new patients, but it was a new experience for him

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Speaker 1: when a dermatologist in Beverly Hills called him on behalf

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Speaker 1: of an A list celebrity and.

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Speaker 13: She mentioned his name, Rock Cuts, in which of course

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Speaker 13: a name I knew. So I climbed into my Dodge

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Speaker 13: Aspen that leaked and drove to U Cannon Drive or

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Speaker 13: Rodeo Driver or one of those places.

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Speaker 1: Gottlieb met with Hudson at the dermatologist's office, and.

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Speaker 13: Then they left me alone with Rock, and he and

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Speaker 13: I talked, and then I examined him. He showed me

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Speaker 13: this capasi sarcoma lesion that he had on his left forearm.

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Speaker 1: Gottlieb went through his standard questions, just like he would

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Speaker 1: have with anyone.

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Speaker 13: Else, and so at one point I asked Roc to

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Speaker 13: hop up on the exam table, and as he did that,

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Speaker 13: I had to look up because he was so tall,

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Speaker 13: and I said, my, you're tall, and he sort of

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Speaker 13: shrugged in a boyish way and said yeah, six ' four.

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Speaker 1: After a short exam, Gottlieb confirmed what his new patient

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Speaker 1: had already guessed.

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Speaker 13: I told him I thought he probably did have AIDS.

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Speaker 13: He knew what it was. We talked about the sexual

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Speaker 13: transmission of whatever was causing this, and he had already

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Speaker 13: prepared three or four anonymous letters to go to people

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Speaker 13: with whom he had had intercourse, telling them that they

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Speaker 13: had been exposed to someone who had AIDS, and he

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Speaker 13: was going to mail them once he had confirmation.

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Speaker 1: Got Leeb diagnosed Rock Hudson with AIDS on June fifth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty four. By that point, more than five thousand

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Speaker 1: other Americans had received the same diagnosis, and roughly three

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Speaker 1: thousand of them had died, but President Ronald Reagan had

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Speaker 1: never once mentioned the disease in public. Reagan had met

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Speaker 1: Rock Hudson back when they were both working actors, but

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Speaker 1: while Hudson was able to make the leap to leading man,

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Speaker 1: Reagan never quite broke through. His most notable role came

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Speaker 1: in nineteen forty, when he played a football player in

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Speaker 1: Canute Rockney All American, the movie that gave gave him

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Speaker 1: a lifelong nickname, ask him to go.

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Speaker 5: In there with all it win, just one for the Kipper.

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Speaker 1: Even though Reagan was never especially famous as an actor,

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Speaker 1: he was able to parlay his name recognition into a

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Speaker 1: career in politics. In nineteen sixty six, he ran for

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Speaker 1: governor of California.

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Speaker 15: The biggest shot in the arm for the American Republican

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Speaker 15: Party in the election of Ronald Reagan as governor of California.

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Speaker 1: Reagan was unapologetically right wing on issues like crime and welfare,

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Speaker 1: but when it came to gay rights, Reagan's views were

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Speaker 1: not totally caught and dry. Here's historian Rick Pearlstein, author

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Speaker 1: of the book Reaganland.

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Speaker 6: The first scandal of Reagan's gubernatorial term in nineteen sixty

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Speaker 6: seven happened when several of his aides trapped one of

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Speaker 6: his aids that they considered a bureaucratic rival in a

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Speaker 6: gay relationship in a motel room, you know, using listening devices,

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Speaker 6: and leaked it to the press.

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Speaker 4: Drew into a publishery board that homosexual reignan been uncovered

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Speaker 4: amongst your administration.

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Speaker 6: And when this got out, people thought that Reagan's future

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Speaker 6: political ambitions might be checked by this scandal, and instead

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Speaker 6: Ronald Reagan said, you know, this is ridiculous. I'm not

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Speaker 6: going to, you know, through my administration and hold this

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Speaker 6: kind of witch hunt. This is stooping to destroy human beings,

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Speaker 6: innocent people.

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Speaker 1: According to poles from this time, the vast majority of

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Speaker 1: Americans said they did not know any gay people personally.

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Speaker 1: Reagan was not one of them. He actually had friends

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Speaker 1: he knew were gay.

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Speaker 6: But the same token he made the same kind of

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Speaker 6: homophobic jokes everyone did. Or he would say, I have

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Speaker 6: no problem with gay's working in state government, but of

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Speaker 6: course they shouldn't be working for the Department of Parks

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Speaker 6: and Recreation. You know, the suggestion that you know, gays

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Speaker 6: were forging through the bushes to kind of, you know,

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Speaker 6: do naughty things.

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Speaker 1: Reagan reportedly panicked when his son, Ron Junior told him

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Speaker 1: that he wanted to be a ballet dancer, fearing that

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Speaker 1: it meant he might be gay. At the same time,

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Speaker 1: Reagan made a point of opposing an anti gay ballot

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Speaker 1: initiative in California that would have given the school board

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Speaker 1: the right to fire people over their sexuality.

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Speaker 8: Politicians from Jimmy Carter Torontald Reagan argued, which Hunt said

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Speaker 8: one cheering celebrant. It's obvious gays have a lot of

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Speaker 8: friends in California.

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Speaker 6: He very specifically debunks the operative argument of the anti

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Speaker 6: gay right side in this huge, defining political fight, which

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Speaker 6: is that gays were trying to recruit young people, you know,

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Speaker 6: into their awful tribe. And he specifically said being gay

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Speaker 6: isn't a choice, which was a very progressive view for

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Speaker 6: the time.

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Speaker 1: It all gave the impression that Reagan had a certain

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Speaker 1: amount of personal tolerance for gay people, but he was

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Speaker 1: also quick to tell angry constituents that his position wasn't

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Speaker 1: so much about tolerance as it was about opposing government overreach,

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Speaker 1: and he.

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Speaker 6: Would always reassure them that while he was, you know,

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Speaker 6: against this specific initiative, you know, as an unwarketed government

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Speaker 6: intrusion for lives of individuals, he was absolutely opposed to

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Speaker 6: gay people quote unquote promoting their lifestyle, and that he

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Speaker 6: didn't believe sodomy's statutes should be overturned and that sort

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Speaker 6: of thing.

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Speaker 1: As President, Reagan preferred to delegate most policy specifics to

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Speaker 1: his cabinet secretaries and other officials. A lot of Reagan's

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Speaker 1: closest advisors were part of the Republican establishment, and as

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Speaker 1: strange as it may sound now, they were worried that

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Speaker 1: aligning too closely with social conservatives like Jerry Folwell would

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Speaker 1: alienate moderate voters. Still, they had to give them something.

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Speaker 1: In the new administration, here again is Rick Pearlstein.

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Speaker 6: And the solution they arrive at is to make their

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Speaker 6: most prominent patronage hire this guy. See ever Coop.

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Speaker 19: Ronald Reagan's choice for a surgeon general one of the

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Speaker 19: most controversial decisions taken by the new administration.

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Speaker 6: I think for precisely the reason that the surgeon General

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Speaker 6: is his very powerless role traditionally that a lot of

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Speaker 6: presidents didn't even bother to fill, you know it kind

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Speaker 6: of like manages, you know, quarantine expections at ports and

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Speaker 6: things like that.

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Speaker 1: Coop had made a name for himself touring the country

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Speaker 1: as an anti abortion advocate. As surgeon General, he was

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Speaker 1: best known for his crusade against smoking and for his

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Speaker 1: distinctive appearance picture Colonel Sanders in a Navy uniform.

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Speaker 6: He has this biblical temperament where everything is just kind

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Speaker 6: of black and white. He had this kind of prophetic

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Speaker 6: mean to him. George will described him in a gushing

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Speaker 6: profile as resembling an Old Testament prophet who has just

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Speaker 6: discovered his neighbors making graven images.

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Speaker 4: Cigarette smoking is clearly identified as the chief preventable cause

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Speaker 4: of death in our society.

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Speaker 8: He attacked family planning programs for converting adolescent innocence into

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Speaker 8: sexually active teenagers.

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Speaker 3: Coop said pro.

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Speaker 8: Abortion statements by Protestant denominations show their superficial theology, lack

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Speaker 8: of morality, and an insensitivity to the eventual reward for

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Speaker 8: their deprivative.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen eighty two, a reporter at a White House

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Speaker 1: briefing asked Reagan's Press Secretary Larry Speaks about the mysterious

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Speaker 1: disease that had emerged in California, New York, Miami and elsewhere.

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Speaker 1: There were already hundreds of diagnosed cases, but Speaks said

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Speaker 1: he hadn't heard about it.

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Speaker 18: Does the President have.

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Speaker 19: Any reactions with the announced from the Center for Disease

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Speaker 19: Control of Atlanta that AIDS is now an epidemic of

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Speaker 19: six over six hundred cases. It's known as gay play.

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Speaker 12: Oh it is.

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Speaker 18: I mean, it's a pretty serious thing that one and

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Speaker 18: every three people that get this have died. And I

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Speaker 18: wondered if the President is aware.

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Speaker 13: I don't have it?

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Speaker 15: Are you you?

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Speaker 18: You don't have it? Well, I'm relieved to hear that you.

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Speaker 14: Didn't answer my question.

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Speaker 15: How do you know?

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Speaker 18: The president of the work the White House looks on this

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Speaker 18: as a great joke.

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Speaker 20: Now I don't know anything about it, leans Ter.

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Speaker 18: The president, does anybody in the White House know about

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Speaker 18: this epidemic?

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Speaker 15: Lauri, I don't think so.

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Speaker 20: I don't think any There been no personal experience here, Leicester.

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Speaker 1: These comments came against the backdrop of a struggle over

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Speaker 1: AIDS funding that was playing out across various federal agencies,

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Speaker 1: but the President stayed out of the fray. At this point,

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Speaker 1: he had never even said the word AIDS in public,

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Speaker 1: not in a speech, not in a press conference, not

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Speaker 1: in any recorded conversation. It was not until June of

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three, at another White House briefing that Reagan's

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Speaker 1: press secretary indicated that the President was at least aware

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Speaker 1: of AIDS.

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Speaker 20: President has been involved in brief down the AIDE situation

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Speaker 20: a number of months ago in a cabinet meeting, and

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Speaker 20: we have recently, as said, twelve million dollars be reprogrammed

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Speaker 20: for research on age. That's extent of the president's INVOLVMA,

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Speaker 20: which has been.

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Speaker 19: Laurie, does the President think that it might help if

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Speaker 19: he suggested that gays cut down on their cruising.

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Speaker 21: Told you.

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Speaker 1: It's worth mentioning here that the reporter asking this question,

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Speaker 1: the same one you heard in the earlier press conference,

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Speaker 1: was a conservative provocateur named Lester Kinsolving. So while it

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Speaker 1: may sound like he's righteously standing up for people with AIDS,

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Speaker 1: it's more like he was worried that the disease would

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Speaker 1: spread to straight people. He wanted the president to condemn

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Speaker 1: the gay community for endangering everyone else.

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Speaker 18: I didn't hear your answer.

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Speaker 20: I just was acknowledge engineer and your interest in this set.

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Speaker 19: You don't think that it would help if the gays

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Speaker 19: cut down on their cruising.

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Speaker 20: We're researching if we come up with any any any

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Speaker 20: research that shed some light on whether the gay should

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Speaker 20: cruise or not. Crude were not available to you.

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Speaker 1: Through the end of his first term. That was the

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Speaker 1: extent of Reagan's involvement in the AIDS epidemic. Confirmation to

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Speaker 1: his press secretary that he had been briefed on the

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Speaker 1: matter for Michael Gottlieb Rock Hudson's new doctor these were

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Speaker 1: exhausting years. Gottlieb had been taking care of people with

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Speaker 1: AIDS as long as anyone. He had co authored the

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Speaker 1: first ever article about it, the one you heard about

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Speaker 1: in Episode one, that was published in the CDC's newsletter

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Speaker 1: on New Diseases. As more and more of his patients died,

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Speaker 1: Gottlieb grew increasingly frustrated by the lack of urgency around AIDS,

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Speaker 1: and so he began wearing two hats, one as a doctor,

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Speaker 1: the other as an activist. In that capacity, he pushed

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Speaker 1: for more research funding and attention to an epidemic that

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Speaker 1: was still being largely ignored.

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Speaker 13: The stigma outweighed everything else. As AIDS and all its baggage,

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Speaker 13: Gottlieb was in a tricky position. As far as he

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Speaker 13: could tell, The UCLA Medical Center was like most hospitals

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Speaker 13: and cities dealing with major AIDS breaks. None of them

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Speaker 13: wanted to be known as an AIDS hospital, And the

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Speaker 13: more Gottlieb used his platform to talk about AIDS, the

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Speaker 13: more he felt the scrutiny of UCLA administrators. In retrospect,

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Speaker 13: it might seem strange that a hospital wouldn't want to

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Speaker 13: draw attention to the fact that its doctors were working

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Speaker 13: at the forefront of a major new disease, But Gottlieb

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Speaker 13: says administrators were worried about their bottom line, that being

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Speaker 13: known as an AIDS hospital would scare away patients with

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Speaker 13: other conditions. If I was too proactive, you know, questions

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Speaker 13: might have been raised as to my loyalties or the

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Speaker 13: reasons for my being so proactive amongst the faculty at

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Speaker 13: my institution. Then I was frustrated by the obstacles put

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Speaker 13: in our way.

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Speaker 1: When Gottlieb first met Rock Hudson and realized he had AIDS,

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Speaker 1: he understood right away what a big deal it was,

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Speaker 1: or at least could be. If Hudson's died diagnosis ever

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Speaker 1: became public, he would be by far the most famous

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Speaker 1: person known to have AIDS. Real attention might finally be

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Speaker 1: paid to the cause Gottlieb had been dedicating his life

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Speaker 1: to for now. Though Hudson wasn't very sick and he

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Speaker 1: didn't have kapasis sarcoma legians that he couldn't cover up,

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Speaker 1: he had no intention of sharing his diagnosis with the world.

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Speaker 13: He was doing okay, he had very little ks. It

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Speaker 13: wasn't even worthy of treatment that was so minor it

407
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Speaker 13: wasn't in any cosmetically sensitive location. Now he could continue

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Speaker 13: his work.

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Speaker 1: Gottlieb continued to check in on Hudson's symptoms and update

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Speaker 1: him on the latest developments in AIDS research. There were

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Speaker 1: some experimental treatments being tested in the US, but Gottlieb

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Speaker 1: had very little faith in them. Then he heard about

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Speaker 1: a French drug called HPA twenty three that had shown

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Speaker 1: some promise against leukemia in mice.

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Speaker 13: That was a very large leap of faith to think

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Speaker 13: that it might be effective against HIV and man. However,

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Speaker 13: the French doctors were making it available to certain American

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Speaker 13: patients who were traveling there to receive it as intravenous infusions.

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Speaker 1: Hudson's condition was worsening, so Gottlieb thought the treatment was

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Speaker 1: worth a try.

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Speaker 13: Yes, it was a long shot, but he was willing

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Speaker 13: to fly to Paris and take this experimental drug.

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Speaker 1: So Hudson made the trip to Paris, ostensibly to attend

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Speaker 1: a film festival. After receiving the treatment, he flew back

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Speaker 1: to the United States to appear in the hit TV

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Speaker 1: show Dynasty.

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Speaker 5: And You feel wonderful, Yes, product very you shouldn't.

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Speaker 15: Why not because you got a long way to go

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Speaker 15: before you can feel so damn good about yourself.

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Speaker 13: I remember, you know, seeing Rock on Dynasty and saying

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Speaker 13: to myself, you know, he really shouldn't be on TV

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Speaker 13: right now because he looked so well.

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Speaker 1: In the summer of nineteen eighty five, Hudson met up

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Speaker 1: with his old friend and pill Talk co star Doris Day.

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Speaker 1: She was hosting a new TV show about animals on

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Speaker 1: the Christian Broadcast Network, and she brought Hudson on as

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Speaker 1: a special guest.

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Speaker 4: He look great.

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00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:19,760
Speaker 1: Day would later describe being shocked by Hudson's appearance at

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Speaker 1: the taping. He was only fifty nine, but he somehow

441
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Speaker 1: looked older, and he sounded weak and tired.

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Speaker 5: We really had fun making movies, Yeah, didn't we?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 14: What was your favorite movie?

445
00:24:32,640 --> 00:24:35,560
Speaker 6: What was my favorite? I think I like Pillow Talk?

446
00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 15: Yeah?

447
00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:39,480
Speaker 22: Did you No?

448
00:24:39,680 --> 00:24:41,919
Speaker 5: I liked High Stage in Zebra.

449
00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:47,159
Speaker 1: At a promotional event for the show, reporters noticed the

450
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:51,080
Speaker 1: changes in Hudson's appearance. Hudson's agent told them he was

451
00:24:51,119 --> 00:24:53,920
Speaker 1: in perfect health and at the weight he had shed

452
00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 1: was the result of a new diet, but the actor's

453
00:24:57,119 --> 00:24:59,159
Speaker 1: appearance still made national news.

454
00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:00,440
Speaker 3: It takes it's no.

455
00:25:00,400 --> 00:25:03,240
Speaker 23: Expert to see that something is seriously wrong with a

456
00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:05,879
Speaker 23: fifty nine year old actor. Here he is just a

457
00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,760
Speaker 23: few years ago on a Live at five set, and

458
00:25:08,920 --> 00:25:12,160
Speaker 23: here just last week with a former co star, Doris Day,

459
00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:16,240
Speaker 23: down considerably from the two hundred pounds Hudson normally carried

460
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:19,160
Speaker 23: on his six foot four inch frame.

461
00:25:19,240 --> 00:25:22,719
Speaker 1: Michael Gottlie was watching all of this press coverage and

462
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:26,199
Speaker 1: seeing Hudson's reps lie about his patient's health made him

463
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:29,199
Speaker 1: acutely aware of the tension between his two roles as

464
00:25:29,240 --> 00:25:30,760
Speaker 1: a doctor and an activist.

465
00:25:31,200 --> 00:25:34,239
Speaker 13: My primary job is to be a physician and to

466
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:38,879
Speaker 13: hold to the tenets and the oaths of our profession.

467
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,720
Speaker 13: And the patient is number one, and he's entitled to

468
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,600
Speaker 13: his privacy and what other people say publicly, whether it's

469
00:25:46,640 --> 00:25:50,920
Speaker 13: the truth or a lie, as of no consequence to me. Yes,

470
00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:54,879
Speaker 13: As someone who's interested in social justice, someone who sees

471
00:25:55,359 --> 00:25:59,160
Speaker 13: HIV AIDS as a cause, Yes, of course, it would

472
00:25:59,200 --> 00:26:02,640
Speaker 13: be a shot in the arm to have a celebrity

473
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:06,800
Speaker 13: diagnosed with AIDS and go public. On the other hand,

474
00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:10,600
Speaker 13: it's not going to go public through me without his permission.

475
00:26:18,240 --> 00:26:21,359
Speaker 1: A major potential benefit of a famous person disclosing his

476
00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,400
Speaker 1: diagnosis was that it would help educate the general public.

477
00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:28,280
Speaker 1: Misinformation about AIDS and how it could be spread was rampant.

478
00:26:29,160 --> 00:26:31,919
Speaker 1: Even though the science said AIDS could only be transmitted

479
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 1: through blood or other bodily fluids, there was still widespread

480
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:38,240
Speaker 1: fear that one could get it just by touching someone.

481
00:26:39,040 --> 00:26:41,800
Speaker 1: The confusion was fueled in part by comments made in

482
00:26:41,880 --> 00:26:44,520
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty three by a high ranking official at the

483
00:26:44,600 --> 00:26:48,880
Speaker 1: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci.

484
00:26:49,520 --> 00:26:52,560
Speaker 7: Doctor Anthony Fauci, writing in the Journal of the AMA,

485
00:26:52,600 --> 00:26:55,520
Speaker 7: says his study shows some children have picked up AIDS

486
00:26:55,560 --> 00:26:58,639
Speaker 7: within their families, and that means, says doctor Fauci, the

487
00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:00,840
Speaker 7: scope of the syndrome be enormous.

488
00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:04,879
Speaker 1: Children were getting AIDS from their parents through in uterotransmission,

489
00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:08,840
Speaker 1: but Fauchi didn't know that for sure, and he speculated

490
00:27:08,840 --> 00:27:12,320
Speaker 1: that it might be spread through close physical contact. Rick

491
00:27:12,400 --> 00:27:16,080
Speaker 1: Pearlstein again, and this was really a panic watershed. This

492
00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:20,680
Speaker 1: is when cops and firefighters start wearing masks and gloves.

493
00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:23,160
Speaker 3: People are afraid of AIDS because they don't know much

494
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,000
Speaker 3: about it except that it kills. So when a person

495
00:27:26,080 --> 00:27:27,080
Speaker 3: contracts the disease.

496
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:29,600
Speaker 5: He often finds people try to get away from him

497
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 5: or to get rid.

498
00:27:30,400 --> 00:27:33,800
Speaker 6: Of him, you know, kind of panicked newspaper articles Long

499
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,719
Speaker 6: Island Grammar dead of AIDS, which was from her blood transfusion.

500
00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:39,280
Speaker 6: But it was easy to kind of imagine from the

501
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:41,359
Speaker 6: headline that she was just kind of like walking around

502
00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:43,400
Speaker 6: and came too close to someone or something like that.

503
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:46,359
Speaker 17: This man is also a flight attendant. He does not

504
00:27:46,520 --> 00:27:49,720
Speaker 17: have AIDS, but he lost his job anyway. He has

505
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:52,679
Speaker 17: swollen glens and that caused the airline to suspect he

506
00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 17: might have the disease.

507
00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 3: I am a healthy gay man and I went through

508
00:27:56,920 --> 00:27:58,000
Speaker 3: the same discrimination.

509
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,560
Speaker 6: This is really when the Christian right itself really kind

510
00:28:02,560 --> 00:28:08,919
Speaker 6: of begins to go gaga. You begin to see vigilante violence.

511
00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 6: You have this terrible controversy over the holding of a

512
00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:15,280
Speaker 6: gay rodeo and reno in which a minister there says,

513
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:17,439
Speaker 6: I think we should do what the Bible says and

514
00:28:17,480 --> 00:28:18,440
Speaker 6: cut their throats.

515
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 24: Well, you could have typhoid Mary's.

516
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:23,440
Speaker 4: They are violating the laws of nature, and nature is

517
00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:24,560
Speaker 4: striking back.

518
00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 6: And it's very easy to conclude if you're a normal

519
00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:30,520
Speaker 6: American reading normal newspapers and not just the Christian right

520
00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:35,680
Speaker 6: that we have this kind of invasion of the body snatchers,

521
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 6: invisible population among us that might even devour the earth.

522
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,040
Speaker 1: By the time Rok Hudson made his appearance with Doris

523
00:28:44,120 --> 00:28:47,480
Speaker 1: Day in the middle of nineteen eighty five, thirteen thousand

524
00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,160
Speaker 1: Americans have been diagnosed with AIDS. More than half of

525
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:55,920
Speaker 1: them had died. Meanwhile, the President was facing increased pressure

526
00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:00,520
Speaker 1: from Congress to act more decisively against the disease. Some

527
00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:02,800
Speaker 1: of that pressure was coming from lawmakers on the right,

528
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: who seemed to be more worried about protecting the healthy

529
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 1: from the sick than about providing additional funding for AIDS

530
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:10,120
Speaker 1: research or patient care.

531
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 13: We want to identify every person who's a carrier, and

532
00:29:13,120 --> 00:29:15,600
Speaker 13: we want to be open and honest about this disease

533
00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,400
Speaker 13: before it becomes a really serious national health threat.

534
00:29:18,560 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 1: Some of Reagan's conservative allies tried to convince the president

535
00:29:21,640 --> 00:29:24,720
Speaker 1: to increase testing and surveillance and to ban people with

536
00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:26,560
Speaker 1: HIV from entering the country.

537
00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:31,000
Speaker 24: But more controversial are proposals to find and segregate those

538
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 24: exposed to AIDS, to prohibit those with AIDS from working

539
00:29:34,920 --> 00:29:37,800
Speaker 24: in healthcare, to make it a felony for those in

540
00:29:37,840 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 24: an aide's high risk group, to knowingly donate blood, and

541
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:44,720
Speaker 24: to prohibit children with AIDS from attending school.

542
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:47,440
Speaker 1: The people pushing these policies felt like they had a

543
00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:50,480
Speaker 1: potential ally in the administration who's well positioned to help

544
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:53,680
Speaker 1: their cause Surgeon General see Effett Coup.

545
00:29:56,480 --> 00:30:00,360
Speaker 6: When AIDS begins to raise up as a public is shoe,

546
00:30:01,240 --> 00:30:04,840
Speaker 6: the Christian right actually reaches out to the Vagan administration

547
00:30:05,640 --> 00:30:08,200
Speaker 6: and says, why aren't you letting see if Ittt Coops

548
00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:11,080
Speaker 6: speak out on this issue, assuming that he's going to

549
00:30:11,080 --> 00:30:14,240
Speaker 6: be an ally of theirs, and as a matter of fact,

550
00:30:14,240 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 6: as he writes in his memoir, he'd been very explicitly

551
00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 6: instructed that he wasn't to say a word about AIDS.

552
00:30:20,120 --> 00:30:23,160
Speaker 1: In response to growing fear of AIDS transmission among the

553
00:30:23,200 --> 00:30:26,880
Speaker 1: general public and mounting criticism from multiple sides about the

554
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 1: lack of federal response, the White House decided it was

555
00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 1: time for the President to say something, so in September

556
00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:38,120
Speaker 1: of nineteen eighty five, the Press Office started putting together

557
00:30:38,280 --> 00:30:41,920
Speaker 1: some talking points, But when a copy of the President's

558
00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,880
Speaker 1: briefing was circulated to the White House Council's Office for review,

559
00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:49,240
Speaker 1: a lawyer named John Roberts, suggested several passages be taken

560
00:30:49,280 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 1: out or changed. In a memo, Roberts and a colleague

561
00:30:53,760 --> 00:30:57,000
Speaker 1: flagged a talking point that said scientists didn't think AIDS

562
00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:01,640
Speaker 1: could be transmitted through casual or routine contact. Their legal

563
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,000
Speaker 1: opinion was that the president should not be taking a

564
00:31:04,040 --> 00:31:09,600
Speaker 1: position on quote a disputed scientific issue. Years later, Roberts

565
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:13,000
Speaker 1: explained his reasoning during his confirmation hearing to become Chief

566
00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:14,880
Speaker 1: Justice of the US Supreme Court.

567
00:31:15,760 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 2: I have to remember this was at the very beginning

568
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,880
Speaker 2: of the AIDS coming into public consciousness, and I was

569
00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:26,719
Speaker 2: just concerned that the President not be giving out medical

570
00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 2: statements if people weren't absolutely sure that.

571
00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 3: It was correct.

572
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:34,040
Speaker 1: In any event, the talking point about casual contact was

573
00:31:34,080 --> 00:31:37,560
Speaker 1: removed at the end of the day. Who could argue

574
00:31:37,560 --> 00:31:41,320
Speaker 1: with going above and beyond to protect America's kids?

575
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:49,640
Speaker 5: What do you need? Please be seated? I have a

576
00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:50,440
Speaker 5: statement here.

577
00:31:51,360 --> 00:31:54,560
Speaker 1: At a press conference on September seventeenth, nineteen eighty five,

578
00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 1: Reagan defended his administration's response to the AIDS crisis and

579
00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:00,600
Speaker 1: called it a top priority.

580
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:04,000
Speaker 5: It will amount to over half a billion dollars that

581
00:32:04,040 --> 00:32:07,160
Speaker 5: we have provided for research on AIDS in addition to

582
00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 5: what I'm sure other medical groups are doing this.

583
00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 1: It was the first time Reagan had ever said the

584
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:17,320
Speaker 1: word AIDS in public, four years after the first cases

585
00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,840
Speaker 1: emerged and two years after his press secretary first said

586
00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 1: he was aware of it. Then Reagan said something that

587
00:32:24,240 --> 00:32:27,240
Speaker 1: made public health experts wins. When it came to the

588
00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: school's issue, the President said he could understand both sides.

589
00:32:31,600 --> 00:32:33,800
Speaker 5: I also have compassionate and I think we all do

590
00:32:33,960 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 5: for the child that has this and doesn't know and

591
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:40,280
Speaker 5: can't have it explained to him, why somehow he is

592
00:32:40,720 --> 00:32:43,600
Speaker 5: now an outcast and can no longer associate with his

593
00:32:43,680 --> 00:32:47,680
Speaker 5: playmates and schoolmates. On the other hand, I can understand

594
00:32:47,680 --> 00:32:50,160
Speaker 5: the problem of the parents. It is true that some

595
00:32:51,000 --> 00:32:54,920
Speaker 5: medical sources have said that this cannot be communicated in

596
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:57,040
Speaker 5: any way other than the ones we already know in

597
00:32:57,120 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 5: which would not involve a child being in the school.

598
00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:04,000
Speaker 5: And yet medicine has not come forth unequivocally and said

599
00:33:04,560 --> 00:33:09,040
Speaker 5: this we know for effect that it is safe, and

600
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 5: until they do.

601
00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,760
Speaker 1: In truth, doctors had come forth and said exactly that.

602
00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:17,800
Speaker 1: But the president's comment gave anyone who wanted it permission

603
00:33:17,880 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 1: to be afraid. During the summer of nineteen eighty five,

604
00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 1: Rock Hudson's health was rapidly deteriorating. Days after his appearance

605
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 1: with Doris Day in California, he flew back to Paris,

606
00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,880
Speaker 1: hoping to receive another transfusion of the experimental drug HPA

607
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,560
Speaker 1: twenty three. Hudson had booked a room at the Ritz Carlton.

608
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,440
Speaker 1: When he got there, he collapsed in the lobby and

609
00:33:43,520 --> 00:33:46,960
Speaker 1: was rushed to the American Hospital outside of Paris. The

610
00:33:47,040 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 1: scene made headlines around the world.

611
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 16: Just what is wrong with Rock Hudson? The nature of

612
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:55,200
Speaker 16: his illness has become clouded in mystery and confusion. Yesterday

613
00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:58,280
Speaker 16: it was reported that Hudson had liver cancer and possibly A's,

614
00:33:58,680 --> 00:34:01,440
Speaker 16: but today the hospital denied the cancer story and said

615
00:34:01,440 --> 00:34:02,760
Speaker 16: nothing about the A's rumor.

616
00:34:03,840 --> 00:34:06,480
Speaker 1: Hudson's pr rep, who had accompanied him to the hospital,

617
00:34:06,760 --> 00:34:09,480
Speaker 1: insisted that everything was fine and he looks wonderful.

618
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:13,239
Speaker 4: I must say, you guess you did?

619
00:34:13,239 --> 00:34:14,279
Speaker 1: He said, how are you?

620
00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:15,840
Speaker 15: I said, I'm fine.

621
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:20,600
Speaker 1: Tomorrow, nearly four thousand miles away in Washington, d c

622
00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:25,040
Speaker 1: Ronald Reagan watched the coverage as he himself recuperated from

623
00:34:25,120 --> 00:34:28,920
Speaker 1: cancer surgery. It was then that he asked his physician

624
00:34:29,120 --> 00:34:31,879
Speaker 1: to explain AIDS to him for the very first time.

625
00:34:36,880 --> 00:34:40,799
Speaker 1: Behind the scenes, Rock Hudson's handlers were desperate. They tried

626
00:34:40,840 --> 00:34:43,520
Speaker 1: to get their client transferred to a French military hospital,

627
00:34:43,560 --> 00:34:45,719
Speaker 1: where they believed he'd be able to get his experimental

628
00:34:45,760 --> 00:34:49,320
Speaker 1: drug treatment, but because he was not a French citizen,

629
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:54,160
Speaker 1: Hudson was denied the transfer by the commanding General. Hudson's

630
00:34:54,160 --> 00:34:56,960
Speaker 1: agent thought that if the White House intervened, the military

631
00:34:56,960 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 1: hospital in France would admit his client. Agents sent an

632
00:35:00,640 --> 00:35:03,759
Speaker 1: urgent telegram to Nancy Reagan saying that Hudson's life could

633
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 1: depend on getting into the hospital, but the First Lady

634
00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:10,919
Speaker 1: declined to intervene on Hudson's behalf, though the President did

635
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:16,839
Speaker 1: call him that day to wish him well. In the end,

636
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:19,640
Speaker 1: it turned out that Hudson was too sick to receive

637
00:35:19,680 --> 00:35:23,960
Speaker 1: the HPA twenty three treatments anyway, so his team scrambled

638
00:35:24,000 --> 00:35:26,920
Speaker 1: to get him back home. And someone called Hudson's doctor,

639
00:35:27,080 --> 00:35:28,440
Speaker 1: Michael Gottlieb.

640
00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,439
Speaker 13: And he said, we're making arrangements for Rock to come

641
00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:35,320
Speaker 13: back to you. We've chartered this seven forty seven. They've

642
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 13: pulled out all the seats from the first class compartment

643
00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:42,120
Speaker 13: and they have bolted in a hospital bed and he's

644
00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:44,600
Speaker 13: going to be flying back to Los Angeles at a

645
00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:46,720
Speaker 13: cost of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

646
00:35:47,239 --> 00:35:50,920
Speaker 1: When Hudson's plane landed in Los Angeles, hundreds of reporters

647
00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:52,360
Speaker 1: were there waiting for him.

648
00:35:52,480 --> 00:35:55,719
Speaker 24: In the darkness before dawn. On Air France jumbo jet

649
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,920
Speaker 24: arrived in Los Angeles, bringing Rock Hudson home for what

650
00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:00,520
Speaker 24: maybe the last time.

651
00:36:00,960 --> 00:36:04,920
Speaker 1: Cameramen with telescopic lenses were perched on rooftops at the airport.

652
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,440
Speaker 1: They filmed Hudson as he was wheeled to a helicopter,

653
00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:11,240
Speaker 1: which took off for UCLA Medical Center. At this point,

654
00:36:11,280 --> 00:36:13,919
Speaker 1: Michael Gottlieb had been seeing Hudson in secret for over

655
00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:17,480
Speaker 1: a year. Now it looked like the secret was about

656
00:36:17,480 --> 00:36:17,920
Speaker 1: to come out.

657
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,520
Speaker 13: It's two or three in the morning, and I'm standing

658
00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:27,560
Speaker 13: on the roof waiting for him, and the skies are

659
00:36:27,600 --> 00:36:31,880
Speaker 13: a wash. In helicopters, there's news crews flying back and forth,

660
00:36:32,000 --> 00:36:34,400
Speaker 13: and so it was a dramatic moment, not knowing what

661
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:37,719
Speaker 13: his condition's going to be, but knowing that you're going

662
00:36:37,800 --> 00:36:40,879
Speaker 13: to have to bring out the full court press if

663
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:45,200
Speaker 13: he's going to survive, and the first time I look

664
00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:48,399
Speaker 13: at him, I just see he's mortally ill.

665
00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:53,160
Speaker 1: Hudson was delirious. Gottlieb got him hooked up to an

666
00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:57,520
Speaker 1: IV and treated his nu missists pneumonia with antibiotics. When

667
00:36:57,560 --> 00:37:00,440
Speaker 1: Hudson was lucid, Gottlieb knew that it was time for

668
00:37:00,480 --> 00:37:01,120
Speaker 1: the conversation.

669
00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:05,360
Speaker 13: I'm getting flooded with calls from the press or somehow

670
00:37:05,400 --> 00:37:07,520
Speaker 13: coming through to my office, and so then I have

671
00:37:07,600 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 13: a conversation with Rock. The news media are clamoring for information.

672
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:16,279
Speaker 13: What do you think I should do? And sitting by

673
00:37:16,280 --> 00:37:18,759
Speaker 13: his bedside, you know, we have a conversation about the

674
00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:21,920
Speaker 13: fact that in Paris they made an announcement that you

675
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,919
Speaker 13: had aids. What do you want me to do here?

676
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,640
Speaker 13: Do you want me to confirm that? And he says, look,

677
00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:30,600
Speaker 13: if it will do some good, go ahead.

678
00:37:31,360 --> 00:37:34,760
Speaker 1: With the green light from Hudson, UCLA Medical Center alerted

679
00:37:34,760 --> 00:37:36,560
Speaker 1: the media that there would be a press conference.

680
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:40,000
Speaker 13: It's kind of a pivotal moment. And I'm an ordinary guy.

681
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:44,799
Speaker 13: I'm thrust in the limelight, not exactly by choice. I'm

682
00:37:44,800 --> 00:37:49,120
Speaker 13: a guy who expected to spend his life with patients

683
00:37:49,120 --> 00:37:53,920
Speaker 13: and in the lab and not a public figure. Am

684
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,640
Speaker 13: I ready for prime time? I didn't train for prime time?

685
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,760
Speaker 1: Given how famous rock Hudson was, the announcement was staged

686
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:05,040
Speaker 1: in a way that, to Gottlieb, seemed conspicuously muted.

687
00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,160
Speaker 13: So they organized a press conference in the auditorium of

688
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:13,080
Speaker 13: the Neuropsychiatric Institute, which is on Westwood Boulevard. It's kind

689
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:15,160
Speaker 13: of out of the way. We're not doing a press

690
00:38:15,160 --> 00:38:19,480
Speaker 13: conference in front of the medical center like other hospitals

691
00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:23,360
Speaker 13: would do for acceptable diseases. In this instance, they send

692
00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:27,080
Speaker 13: out this junior professor, Michael Gottlieb, to break the news

693
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:31,960
Speaker 13: without anyone being there to provide moral or other support.

694
00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:38,640
Speaker 10: Let me introduce rock Cousin's attending physician at UCLA, doctor

695
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:42,400
Speaker 10: Michael Gottlieb, who is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in

696
00:38:42,480 --> 00:38:45,600
Speaker 10: Immunology in the UCLA School of Medicine.

697
00:38:46,440 --> 00:38:50,080
Speaker 1: Finally, the national media was clamoring for information about AIDS,

698
00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:53,480
Speaker 1: but instead of taking the opportunity to educate the public

699
00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:57,400
Speaker 1: or answer questions, all Gottlieb felt he could do was

700
00:38:57,440 --> 00:38:58,560
Speaker 1: read a short statement.

701
00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:05,520
Speaker 22: Rock Hudson was transferred from the American Hospital in Paris

702
00:39:05,800 --> 00:39:10,600
Speaker 22: to the UCLA Medical Center early today, mister Hudson is

703
00:39:10,640 --> 00:39:15,320
Speaker 22: being evaluated and treated for complications of acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

704
00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,960
Speaker 13: And it's a very brief statement which I read, and

705
00:39:20,000 --> 00:39:25,160
Speaker 13: then we didn't take questions. Sorry, I cannot do.

706
00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:25,799
Speaker 22: That at this time.

707
00:39:27,040 --> 00:39:31,040
Speaker 13: It's a total embarrassment because you've invited the press to

708
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:37,600
Speaker 13: hear some news of substance, and I felt constrained. I

709
00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:41,120
Speaker 13: felt as if there was a lot to say with

710
00:39:41,160 --> 00:39:44,480
Speaker 13: regards to Rock Hudson, with regards to AIDS, and it

711
00:39:44,560 --> 00:39:47,160
Speaker 13: was an opportunity that was missed.

712
00:39:48,200 --> 00:39:51,960
Speaker 1: Nevertheless, the announcement had an immediate seismic impact.

713
00:39:52,640 --> 00:39:55,560
Speaker 21: Hudson, in becoming the first celebrity to have a publicly

714
00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:58,279
Speaker 21: acknowledged case of age, has brought a new round of

715
00:39:58,320 --> 00:39:59,800
Speaker 21: attention to the fatal disease.

716
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:03,920
Speaker 1: Now that a household name had gotten sick, America's attention

717
00:40:04,239 --> 00:40:08,759
Speaker 1: was on AIDS. As journalist Randy Schiltz later wrote, there

718
00:40:08,800 --> 00:40:11,880
Speaker 1: were two clear phases to the disease in the United States.

719
00:40:12,320 --> 00:40:16,080
Speaker 1: There was AIDS before Rock Hudson, and AIDS after the.

720
00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:18,000
Speaker 8: Fact that Rock Hudson has AIDS.

721
00:40:18,360 --> 00:40:21,200
Speaker 13: Is that going to help public awareness? Now? We would hope.

722
00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,120
Speaker 22: That people across the country would take note and.

723
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:27,120
Speaker 20: Perhaps stimulate their interest to find out more about the disease.

724
00:40:28,040 --> 00:40:33,200
Speaker 1: The announcement provoked two seemingly contradictory reactions. First, that Hudson's

725
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:36,640
Speaker 1: diagnosis was tantamount to coming out as gay. That even

726
00:40:36,640 --> 00:40:39,799
Speaker 1: though Gottlieb hadn't said anything about Hudson's private life, the

727
00:40:39,880 --> 00:40:44,080
Speaker 1: rumors that had circulated about him were all but confirmed. Second,

728
00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 1: the news that Rock Hudson had AIDS meant that it

729
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:51,120
Speaker 1: wasn't just a gay disease after all. The convoluted logic

730
00:40:51,120 --> 00:40:53,600
Speaker 1: of this response was rooted in the belief that Hudson,

731
00:40:53,640 --> 00:40:56,680
Speaker 1: as a beloved public figure, was somehow different from other

732
00:40:56,719 --> 00:41:01,160
Speaker 1: gay people. Among AIDS activists, the announcement was received with

733
00:41:01,200 --> 00:41:04,239
Speaker 1: a measure of ambivalence. There's lots of sympathy in the

734
00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:07,399
Speaker 1: gay community for Rock Hudson, said one activist, but also

735
00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:10,400
Speaker 1: some annoyance too that it takes a famous person to

736
00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:14,880
Speaker 1: call the public's attention to this illness. After Hudson's disclosure,

737
00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:18,360
Speaker 1: AIDS started to become a popular cause among many Hollywood

738
00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,680
Speaker 1: A listers. At a star studded gala in Beverly Hills

739
00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:25,360
Speaker 1: that September, Hudson's friends raised more than one million dollars

740
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:26,200
Speaker 1: for AIDS research.

741
00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,360
Speaker 20: Hudson sent a statement read by actor Burt Lancaster.

742
00:41:29,680 --> 00:41:33,319
Speaker 21: I'm not happy that I have AIDS, but if that

743
00:41:33,440 --> 00:41:36,840
Speaker 21: is helping others, I can at least know that my

744
00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:40,000
Speaker 21: own misfortune has had some positive work.

745
00:41:46,280 --> 00:41:48,960
Speaker 1: Just two weeks later, Rock Hudson was dead.

746
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:52,319
Speaker 14: The carner arrived at Hudson's home in bel Air at

747
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:56,040
Speaker 14: ten forty five this morning. As friends gathered and emotions

748
00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:58,880
Speaker 14: ran high. News cameras were kept at a distance as

749
00:41:58,920 --> 00:42:00,799
Speaker 14: the body was moved into the Corner's van.

750
00:42:01,239 --> 00:42:03,320
Speaker 15: Towels were used to cover up the windows.

751
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:07,040
Speaker 1: Ken Jilson, the friend who had taught Hudson how to

752
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:09,719
Speaker 1: use a movie projector, was enlisted to help plan his

753
00:42:09,800 --> 00:42:14,160
Speaker 1: memorial service. At first, he was imagining a large event

754
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:17,040
Speaker 1: at Forest Lawn Cemetery, but then he got a call

755
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,520
Speaker 1: from a friend that Elizabeth Taylor was taking things in

756
00:42:19,560 --> 00:42:20,799
Speaker 1: a different direction.

757
00:42:21,040 --> 00:42:25,399
Speaker 12: And he goes, guess what, Elizabeth has changed the whole thing.

758
00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:29,319
Speaker 12: We're going to have a memorial in his backyard, and

759
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:34,560
Speaker 12: we'll have Margarita's Mariachi's, and it'll be a very upbeat

760
00:42:34,560 --> 00:42:37,319
Speaker 12: thing in the backyard with one hundred people I'll send

761
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,919
Speaker 12: telegrams to people, and that's what it will be.

762
00:42:41,600 --> 00:42:44,600
Speaker 1: The Margherita's and Mariachi Memorial was set up in Hudson's

763
00:42:44,600 --> 00:42:46,880
Speaker 1: backyard with the one hundred and eighty degree view of

764
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:50,440
Speaker 1: Los Angeles. It was guaranteed to be a media circus,

765
00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:53,920
Speaker 1: but special precautions were taken to keep things under control.

766
00:42:54,320 --> 00:42:56,880
Speaker 12: And they had a lot of security to try to

767
00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:01,319
Speaker 12: keep the paparazzi away, and there were helicopters, and what

768
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:04,279
Speaker 12: they had done, which was very smart, they put a

769
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:07,879
Speaker 12: big white tent in the backyard so that the whole

770
00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:10,440
Speaker 12: event could not be filmed from the air.

771
00:43:11,719 --> 00:43:15,239
Speaker 1: Despite these measures, a photographer dressed in camouflage tried to

772
00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:17,320
Speaker 1: climb up the side of the canyon behind the house,

773
00:43:17,920 --> 00:43:20,600
Speaker 1: and the neighbors sold access to her yard to reporters

774
00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:22,160
Speaker 1: for three hundred dollars each.

775
00:43:22,400 --> 00:43:26,360
Speaker 12: And Carol Burnett spoke. But Carol Burnett was so destroyed

776
00:43:27,320 --> 00:43:30,719
Speaker 12: when she finished her speech, she just ran out of

777
00:43:30,719 --> 00:43:34,799
Speaker 12: the house and couldn't deal with it. And no one

778
00:43:34,840 --> 00:43:38,439
Speaker 12: could believe it that, wow, this guy fifty nine years

779
00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:40,760
Speaker 12: old is really gone.

780
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:43,799
Speaker 1: The New York Daily News canvassed local rock huts and

781
00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:47,040
Speaker 1: fans for their reactions to his death. Most said their

782
00:43:47,040 --> 00:43:49,880
Speaker 1: favorite of his films was Pillow Talk. Some said they

783
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:53,279
Speaker 1: had heard rumors about him even before the announcement. Only

784
00:43:53,360 --> 00:43:55,080
Speaker 1: one said she would have nothing to do with the

785
00:43:55,120 --> 00:43:58,160
Speaker 1: man anymore. I think about him the way he is

786
00:43:58,200 --> 00:44:00,799
Speaker 1: on the screen, said one woman. That will always be

787
00:44:00,920 --> 00:44:13,759
Speaker 1: Rock Hudson. Hudson was approximately the ten thousandth person with

788
00:44:13,840 --> 00:44:16,719
Speaker 1: AIDS to die in the United States. He was the

789
00:44:16,760 --> 00:44:19,239
Speaker 1: first to be commemorated with an official statement from the

790
00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:22,560
Speaker 1: White House. Nancy and I are saddened by the news

791
00:44:22,600 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 1: of Rock Hudson's death. Reagan said he will be remembered

792
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:29,520
Speaker 1: for his humanity, his sympathetic spirit, and well deserved reputation

793
00:44:29,680 --> 00:44:34,200
Speaker 1: for kindness. The statement studiously avoided any mention of how

794
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:38,560
Speaker 1: or why Hudson had died. Still, Hudson's death had an

795
00:44:38,560 --> 00:44:42,680
Speaker 1: immediate impact on national AIDS funding. Literally within hours of

796
00:44:42,719 --> 00:44:43,440
Speaker 1: his death.

797
00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:46,240
Speaker 3: And on hearing of his death, the House of Representatives

798
00:44:46,239 --> 00:44:50,280
Speaker 3: agreed to double the amount of AIDS funds for research

799
00:44:50,440 --> 00:44:52,760
Speaker 3: next year. There will now be one hundred and ninety

800
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:53,600
Speaker 3: million dollars.

801
00:44:53,840 --> 00:44:57,320
Speaker 1: According to an analysis by The Los Angeles Times, Media

802
00:44:57,400 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 1: coverage of AIDS more than tripled in the six months

803
00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:04,319
Speaker 1: after Hudson's death. At the same time, the controversy over

804
00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:07,520
Speaker 1: kids with AIDS attending school was continuing to heat up.

805
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:10,920
Speaker 1: The most prominent case involved a name you may have

806
00:45:10,960 --> 00:45:11,560
Speaker 1: heard before.

807
00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:15,400
Speaker 3: These people are raising money and signing petitions in a

808
00:45:15,480 --> 00:45:17,840
Speaker 3: fight to keep Ryan White out of their school.

809
00:45:18,239 --> 00:45:22,520
Speaker 1: Ryan White was thirteen years old. He had contracted HIV

810
00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:25,520
Speaker 1: through the Factor eight he used to manage his humophilia.

811
00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:29,600
Speaker 1: Many of his classmate's parents wanted him banned from attending school.

812
00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:32,440
Speaker 21: He has a spill on a table, a chair, something,

813
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:33,120
Speaker 21: Your daughter comes in.

814
00:45:33,160 --> 00:45:35,600
Speaker 22: They say they wipe, but your daughter comes in touches it.

815
00:45:36,280 --> 00:45:39,160
Speaker 14: Hey, what's to say she is not going to get it.

816
00:45:39,480 --> 00:45:42,439
Speaker 1: The attention garnered by Rock Hudson and Ryan White led

817
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:45,480
Speaker 1: to increased awareness of AIDS and how it could be prevented,

818
00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:49,279
Speaker 1: but it also generated a lot of fear and misinformation

819
00:45:50,040 --> 00:45:53,000
Speaker 1: and knew so called safety measures that were not based

820
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:57,200
Speaker 1: in science. In Indiana, Ryan White's school forced him to

821
00:45:57,280 --> 00:46:01,960
Speaker 1: use a separate bathroom and disposable utensils. In Hollywood, concerns

822
00:46:01,960 --> 00:46:05,680
Speaker 1: about Rock Hudson's Dynasty kissing scene with Linda Evans led

823
00:46:05,680 --> 00:46:09,160
Speaker 1: to a panic about possible transmission through saliva. The Screen

824
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:12,560
Speaker 1: Actors Guild even created new rules around open mouthed kissing

825
00:46:12,600 --> 00:46:13,720
Speaker 1: scenes for its members.

826
00:46:14,160 --> 00:46:18,240
Speaker 24: Caution is also advocated by Screen Actors Guild president ed Asna.

827
00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,720
Speaker 4: How wonderful be if everybody stopped kissing on film until

828
00:46:21,760 --> 00:46:24,600
Speaker 4: we know more about this horrible disease.

829
00:46:24,960 --> 00:46:28,080
Speaker 1: Rock Hudson was a beloved movie star and Ryan White

830
00:46:28,239 --> 00:46:31,640
Speaker 1: was an innocent kid. What they had in common was

831
00:46:31,640 --> 00:46:34,920
Speaker 1: that neither of them fit the stereotypes widely associated with

832
00:46:35,000 --> 00:46:39,160
Speaker 1: AIDS and homosexuality. Hudson and White made it clear that

833
00:46:39,239 --> 00:46:43,239
Speaker 1: AIDS could happen to anyone. In so doing, they helped

834
00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:45,920
Speaker 1: turn the disease into a cause among a lot of

835
00:46:45,960 --> 00:46:47,000
Speaker 1: influential people.

836
00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:49,600
Speaker 6: This songs for.

837
00:46:51,200 --> 00:46:51,520
Speaker 12: Elton.

838
00:46:51,600 --> 00:46:54,160
Speaker 25: John dedicated a song to him at Farm Made four,

839
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:57,960
Speaker 25: while Donald Trump and Michael Jackson visited his mother yesterday.

840
00:46:57,560 --> 00:46:58,319
Speaker 16: And consoled her.

841
00:46:58,760 --> 00:47:01,759
Speaker 25: Hollywood loved Ryan and White. The brave young man who

842
00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:05,520
Speaker 25: battled that dread disease and the infectious prejudice surrounding it,

843
00:47:05,600 --> 00:47:07,520
Speaker 25: inspired stars around the world.

844
00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:10,400
Speaker 6: His story.

845
00:47:10,520 --> 00:47:14,600
Speaker 1: About four months after Rock Hudson's death, Reagan asked Surgeon

846
00:47:14,640 --> 00:47:17,839
Speaker 1: General see Everett Coop to prepare a formal report on

847
00:47:17,880 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 1: the AIDS epidemic. The President was finally giving Coop the

848
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:24,880
Speaker 1: go ahead to speak to the American people about AIDS,

849
00:47:25,120 --> 00:47:28,239
Speaker 1: but when it came to federal funding, Reagan was less

850
00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:32,680
Speaker 1: inclined to change his tune. Here again is historian Rick Pearlstein.

851
00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:34,440
Speaker 6: And this is right around the times. You know, he's

852
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:38,400
Speaker 6: basically proposing his budget, and the headline in newsday is

853
00:47:38,480 --> 00:47:41,440
Speaker 6: sharp cuts and AIDS funding socked. And for fiscal nineteen

854
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,759
Speaker 6: eighty seven, he proposed spending about thirteen percent less than

855
00:47:44,760 --> 00:47:49,200
Speaker 6: the original nineteen eighty six level. So he's simultaneously calling

856
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:53,800
Speaker 6: for cuts and ordering a major government report on AIDS.

857
00:47:54,200 --> 00:47:57,279
Speaker 1: Coop had spent years following White House guidance not to

858
00:47:57,320 --> 00:48:01,319
Speaker 1: discuss AIDS publicly. Many of his servative allies expected that

859
00:48:01,360 --> 00:48:05,840
Speaker 1: his report would be similarly restrained, but much to their surprise,

860
00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:09,040
Speaker 1: that was not at all what Coop had in mind.

861
00:48:11,520 --> 00:48:13,880
Speaker 6: He spends nights and weekends at a stand up desk

862
00:48:13,920 --> 00:48:16,640
Speaker 6: in the basement of his townhouse, poring over every version,

863
00:48:17,120 --> 00:48:21,680
Speaker 6: carefully choosing every word. Anthony Fauci reviewed every draft, surely

864
00:48:21,719 --> 00:48:24,640
Speaker 6: with his earlier gaff right very much on his mind.

865
00:48:25,239 --> 00:48:27,440
Speaker 6: Fauci was quoted in the post, I was encouraging him

866
00:48:27,480 --> 00:48:29,200
Speaker 6: to push it to the limit of what he could

867
00:48:29,239 --> 00:48:29,879
Speaker 6: get away with.

868
00:48:30,080 --> 00:48:32,920
Speaker 3: The nation's most senior medical official has added his voice

869
00:48:32,920 --> 00:48:35,080
Speaker 3: to the increasingly vocal concern about AIDS.

870
00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:38,560
Speaker 1: When Coop released his report in October of nineteen eighty six,

871
00:48:39,120 --> 00:48:41,040
Speaker 1: he appeared to put his role as a public health

872
00:48:41,120 --> 00:48:44,920
Speaker 1: official ahead of any political loyalties. He wrote that the

873
00:48:44,920 --> 00:48:48,720
Speaker 1: country was fighting a disease, not people, and delivered information

874
00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:51,759
Speaker 1: about the epidemic in extraordinarily plain language.

875
00:48:52,080 --> 00:48:55,640
Speaker 6: He talks about seamen. He mentions anal sex right. He

876
00:48:55,719 --> 00:48:58,600
Speaker 6: talks about unprotected sex. He talks about condoms. He says

877
00:48:58,640 --> 00:49:01,919
Speaker 6: that sexual education and as frank as possible, should begin

878
00:49:02,239 --> 00:49:03,520
Speaker 6: an early childhood.

879
00:49:03,760 --> 00:49:07,239
Speaker 4: We're talking about death here. We're talking about death now.

880
00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:11,640
Speaker 4: Many people, especially our youth, are not receiving information that

881
00:49:11,760 --> 00:49:15,080
Speaker 4: is vital to their future health and well being because

882
00:49:15,120 --> 00:49:17,840
Speaker 4: of our reticence in dealing with the subjects of sex,

883
00:49:18,520 --> 00:49:21,000
Speaker 4: sexual practices, and homosexuality.

884
00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:24,800
Speaker 3: Coop says he's not advocating avoiding specific lifestyles.

885
00:49:25,040 --> 00:49:27,719
Speaker 4: If you are going to indulge in certain types of

886
00:49:27,719 --> 00:49:30,280
Speaker 4: sexual activity, there are ways to protect yourself.

887
00:49:30,640 --> 00:49:33,320
Speaker 1: Coop was now one of the country's most prominent advocates

888
00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:38,000
Speaker 1: for comprehensive sex education. If his explicit and straightforward approach

889
00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:42,200
Speaker 1: thrilled many AIDS experts protectors, it also infuriated many White

890
00:49:42,239 --> 00:49:45,239
Speaker 1: House officials who are wary of alienating Reagan's base.

891
00:49:45,760 --> 00:49:47,919
Speaker 6: This kind of civil war is breaking out over see

892
00:49:47,920 --> 00:49:48,440
Speaker 6: every Cooper.

893
00:49:48,680 --> 00:49:52,799
Speaker 16: Here's doctor Coop fronting for the homosexual lobby, and we

894
00:49:52,840 --> 00:49:56,920
Speaker 16: would like to see him dismissed as a public statement

895
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:58,400
Speaker 16: by President Reagan.

896
00:49:59,480 --> 00:50:01,440
Speaker 6: There is growth sentiment in the White House that Reagan

897
00:50:01,440 --> 00:50:03,800
Speaker 6: should deliver a major address to the nation about AIDS.

898
00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:06,560
Speaker 1: If the President were to go on TV and endorse

899
00:50:06,640 --> 00:50:09,759
Speaker 1: Coop's ideas about AIDS prevention, he could go a long

900
00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:13,280
Speaker 1: way towards changing cultural norms about condoms and sex education.

901
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:18,600
Speaker 1: But Gary Bauer, one of the President's top domestic policy advisors,

902
00:50:18,920 --> 00:50:22,360
Speaker 1: thought that idea was ridiculous and beneath the office of

903
00:50:22,400 --> 00:50:22,960
Speaker 1: the president.

904
00:50:23,480 --> 00:50:25,360
Speaker 6: Quote, I'm not sure I want to take the president

905
00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:28,480
Speaker 6: on nationwide TV saying well, the only two ways to

906
00:50:28,520 --> 00:50:32,000
Speaker 6: avoid AIDS are abstinence and masturbation. I mean, there are

907
00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:34,120
Speaker 6: some things that are presidential in things that are not.

908
00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:38,719
Speaker 1: On the whole Reagan took Gary Bauer's advice. Though he

909
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:41,320
Speaker 1: did start referring to AIDS as the number one public

910
00:50:41,320 --> 00:50:44,480
Speaker 1: health priority of his administration, he did not speak about

911
00:50:44,520 --> 00:50:51,680
Speaker 1: condoms or attempt to turn his advisors against abstinence only education. Meanwhile,

912
00:50:51,880 --> 00:50:56,759
Speaker 1: Rock Hudson's death had further multiplied private AIDS fundraising. In

913
00:50:56,840 --> 00:50:59,720
Speaker 1: his will, Hudson had designated two hundred and fifty thousand

914
00:50:59,719 --> 00:51:03,560
Speaker 1: dollars to start an AIDS foundation, and his doctor, Michael Gottlieb,

915
00:51:03,840 --> 00:51:06,440
Speaker 1: co founded that organization with a group that included some

916
00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:11,320
Speaker 1: of Hudson's Hollywood friends. The foundation AMPHAR became the country's

917
00:51:11,400 --> 00:51:15,480
Speaker 1: leading AIDS charity. AMPHAR planned its first major benefit to

918
00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:18,120
Speaker 1: take place in Washington, d C. In May of nineteen

919
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:21,719
Speaker 1: eighty seven. Michael Gottlieb went to Washington to attend the

920
00:51:21,760 --> 00:51:23,640
Speaker 1: event alongside Elizabeth Taylor.

921
00:51:24,080 --> 00:51:26,719
Speaker 13: The interesting thing to me was we'd come into these

922
00:51:26,760 --> 00:51:30,640
Speaker 13: senators chambers and she would introduce me as the discoverer

923
00:51:30,640 --> 00:51:35,320
Speaker 13: of AIDS, and they would pay no attention to me whatsoever.

924
00:51:35,680 --> 00:51:38,960
Speaker 13: Elizabeth would be all gussied up and totally made up,

925
00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:42,319
Speaker 13: and her hair perfect and wearing her jewels, and they

926
00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:43,160
Speaker 13: just ate it up.

927
00:51:43,560 --> 00:51:47,080
Speaker 1: Before the event, Taylor communicated privately with the President an

928
00:51:47,120 --> 00:51:49,800
Speaker 1: old friend from Hollywood, and convinced him to give the

929
00:51:49,880 --> 00:51:57,719
Speaker 1: keynote address. The knight of the gala May thirty first,

930
00:51:57,880 --> 00:52:02,840
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty seven was warm and brief. Forty four thousand

931
00:52:02,880 --> 00:52:06,000
Speaker 1: Americans have been diagnosed with AIDS and nearly twenty seven

932
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:09,200
Speaker 1: thousand had died. The event was set up in a

933
00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:11,920
Speaker 1: big tent that was decorated with red and pink flowers.

934
00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:15,440
Speaker 4: Gentlemen, the President of the United States and Missus.

935
00:52:15,160 --> 00:52:22,960
Speaker 5: Reagan, I want to talk tonight about the disease that

936
00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:26,840
Speaker 5: has brought us all together. It has been talked about,

937
00:52:26,880 --> 00:52:30,200
Speaker 5: and I'm going to continue the The poet W. H.

938
00:52:30,280 --> 00:52:32,920
Speaker 5: Auden said that the true men of action in our

939
00:52:32,960 --> 00:52:37,160
Speaker 5: times are not the politicians and statesmen, but the scientists.

940
00:52:38,040 --> 00:52:40,319
Speaker 5: I believe that's especially true when it comes to the

941
00:52:40,360 --> 00:52:41,239
Speaker 5: AIDS epidemic.

942
00:52:42,200 --> 00:52:45,200
Speaker 1: Reagan's speechwriter had met with public health experts and political

943
00:52:45,239 --> 00:52:48,640
Speaker 1: advisors while he crafted the address. Safe and at first,

944
00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:51,800
Speaker 1: the President's remarks seem to closely track with the medical

945
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:52,760
Speaker 1: community's advice.

946
00:52:53,640 --> 00:52:56,840
Speaker 5: America faces a disease that is fatal and spreading, and

947
00:52:56,920 --> 00:53:01,239
Speaker 5: this calls for urgency, not panic. It calls for compassion

948
00:53:01,600 --> 00:53:05,239
Speaker 5: not blamed. We're still learning about how AIDS is transmitted.

949
00:53:05,400 --> 00:53:08,919
Speaker 5: But experts tell us you don't get it from telephones

950
00:53:09,040 --> 00:53:12,160
Speaker 5: or swimming pools or drinking fountains. You don't get it

951
00:53:12,200 --> 00:53:15,240
Speaker 5: from shaking hands or sitting on a bus or anywhere

952
00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:18,560
Speaker 5: else for that matter. As dangerous and deadly as AIDS is,

953
00:53:19,239 --> 00:53:23,360
Speaker 5: many of the fears surrounding it are unfounded. These fears

954
00:53:23,360 --> 00:53:24,440
Speaker 5: are based on ignorance.

955
00:53:25,080 --> 00:53:28,759
Speaker 1: Michael Gottlieb listened to these words with relief and satisfaction.

956
00:53:29,400 --> 00:53:32,000
Speaker 13: I was excited, but then he gives you a kick

957
00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:32,680
Speaker 13: in that. You know what.

958
00:53:33,480 --> 00:53:35,719
Speaker 1: The speech took a turn about three quarters of the

959
00:53:35,719 --> 00:53:36,520
Speaker 1: way through.

960
00:53:36,840 --> 00:53:41,880
Speaker 13: That same speech, announce the travel ban against people with HIV.

961
00:53:42,480 --> 00:53:46,279
Speaker 5: I've also asked HHS to add the AIDS virus to

962
00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:50,160
Speaker 5: the list of contagious diseases for which immigrants and aliens

963
00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:57,640
Speaker 5: seeking permanent residents in the United States can be denied entry.

964
00:53:59,040 --> 00:54:00,920
Speaker 5: They are presently entry for.

965
00:54:01,040 --> 00:54:03,880
Speaker 13: Other inciting a great deal of displeasure among the crowd.

966
00:54:04,239 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 5: Let me turn to what the States can.

967
00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:14,279
Speaker 1: Do once again. Reagan seemed to be siding with the

968
00:54:14,280 --> 00:54:18,680
Speaker 1: most reactionary voices in his administration for the AIDS activists

969
00:54:18,680 --> 00:54:21,120
Speaker 1: in the room. It was enraging to hear the President

970
00:54:21,200 --> 00:54:24,840
Speaker 1: talk about acceptance and compassion and keeping people with AIDS

971
00:54:24,880 --> 00:54:27,480
Speaker 1: out of the country. In the same breath, the President

972
00:54:27,560 --> 00:54:30,080
Speaker 1: gave his first major speech on the subject to night.

973
00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:33,359
Speaker 26: One that drew both cheers and jeers. The proposals, which

974
00:54:33,360 --> 00:54:36,880
Speaker 26: were championed by conservative factions in the administration, were unpopular

975
00:54:36,920 --> 00:54:40,320
Speaker 26: with many in the audience. Demonstrators outside marched in memory

976
00:54:40,360 --> 00:54:42,480
Speaker 26: of those who died of AIDS and called for more

977
00:54:42,520 --> 00:54:44,000
Speaker 26: research money We.

978
00:54:44,120 --> 00:54:52,240
Speaker 1: Got the The activists inside the amphar benefit who booed

979
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:56,200
Speaker 1: Reagan made national news, as did the hundreds of protesters

980
00:54:56,320 --> 00:55:00,279
Speaker 1: chanting and lighting candles outside. The groups that had begun

981
00:55:00,320 --> 00:55:03,279
Speaker 1: in New York, San Francisco and across the country were

982
00:55:03,360 --> 00:55:07,920
Speaker 1: now larger, bolder, and more professionalized. They were tired of

983
00:55:07,960 --> 00:55:12,120
Speaker 1: waiting years for incremental political developments. They were tired of

984
00:55:12,160 --> 00:55:14,640
Speaker 1: waiting years for the results of drug trials that were

985
00:55:14,680 --> 00:55:29,120
Speaker 1: conducted in complete secrecy. They were not going to wait anymore.

986
00:55:40,200 --> 00:55:46,200
Speaker 15: Now that the summer is come and gone, I'll say goodbye.

987
00:55:47,040 --> 00:55:53,279
Speaker 15: Now that the winter is coming on, I'll say goodbye.

988
00:55:54,400 --> 00:55:56,560
Speaker 15: I'm not the first man or.

989
00:55:56,520 --> 00:55:59,319
Speaker 1: The last on the next episode of Fiasco, a new

990
00:55:59,400 --> 00:56:03,840
Speaker 1: activist or organization forms and mounts a revolutionary fight for

991
00:56:03,920 --> 00:56:05,640
Speaker 1: access to experimental drugs.

992
00:56:05,840 --> 00:56:07,840
Speaker 6: We've tried to be good little boys and girls.

993
00:56:07,880 --> 00:56:09,680
Speaker 26: We've tried to work within the system.

994
00:56:10,200 --> 00:56:11,359
Speaker 13: We just want to.

995
00:56:11,400 --> 00:56:12,680
Speaker 6: Raise the issues.

996
00:56:12,719 --> 00:56:14,120
Speaker 4: We are dying.

997
00:56:16,040 --> 00:56:20,400
Speaker 15: For every star that falls to work on Lew and

998
00:56:20,719 --> 00:56:24,200
Speaker 15: Low for every Dream.

999
00:56:24,600 --> 00:56:28,600
Speaker 1: Fiasco is presented by Audible Originals and Prologue Projects. The

1000
00:56:28,640 --> 00:56:32,440
Speaker 1: show is produced by Andrew Parsons, Sam Graham, Felsen, Madewin, Kaplan,

1001
00:56:32,640 --> 00:56:37,440
Speaker 1: Ulla Colpa, and me Leon Nafock. Our researcher is Francis Carr.

1002
00:56:38,080 --> 00:56:42,520
Speaker 1: Editorial support from Jessica Miller and Nora waswas archival research

1003
00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:46,520
Speaker 1: by Michelle Sullivan. The vice president of Audible Studios is

1004
00:56:46,560 --> 00:56:49,759
Speaker 1: Mike Charzik. The editor in chief for Audible Originals is

1005
00:56:49,840 --> 00:56:54,120
Speaker 1: David Blum. This season's music is composed by Edith Mudge.

1006
00:56:54,600 --> 00:56:58,640
Speaker 1: Additional music by Nick Sylvester of Godmode, Billy libby Joel Saint,

1007
00:56:58,680 --> 00:57:03,040
Speaker 1: Julian and Danning, Noah Heckt and Joe Valley. Our theme

1008
00:57:03,120 --> 00:57:06,880
Speaker 1: song is by Spatial Relations. Our credit song this week

1009
00:57:07,000 --> 00:57:10,319
Speaker 1: is I'll Say Goodbye by Rock Hudson. You also heard

1010
00:57:10,400 --> 00:57:13,920
Speaker 1: Could I Leave You. Performed by Carol Burnett. Music licensing

1011
00:57:13,960 --> 00:57:17,520
Speaker 1: courtesy of Anthony Roman. Audio mix by Erica Wong, with

1012
00:57:17,560 --> 00:57:21,720
Speaker 1: additional support from Selina Urabe. Our artwork is designed by

1013
00:57:21,720 --> 00:57:25,120
Speaker 1: Teddy Blanks at Chips and y Thanks to the Vanderbilt

1014
00:57:25,120 --> 00:57:29,560
Speaker 1: Television Archive. Additional footage courtesy of ABC seven Los Angeles.

1015
00:57:30,320 --> 00:57:35,040
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Peter Yass and Dan Works. Thanks for listening,

1016
00:57:35,240 --> 00:57:35,959
Speaker 1: See you next week.