NEW YORK (AP) – Hillary Clinton apologized Friday after gay-rights and AIDS activists assailed her for saying Nancy Reagan helped start a “national conversation” about AIDS in the 1980s, when protesters were struggling to get more federal help in fighting the disease.
Clinton, one of two contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, made her initial comments in an interview with MSNBC during its coverage of Nancy Reagan’s funeral.
Soon after the interview aired, MSNBC’s Twitter feed was flooded with comments accusing Clinton of misrepresenting history and insulting the 1980s activists who pressured elected officials to step up the response to AIDS. Clinton soon apologized.
“While the Reagans were strong advocates for stem cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS. For that, I am sorry,” Clinton said on her Twitter account.
Many activists remain bitter at Ronald Reagan and his administration for what they view as a devastatingly slow response to AIDS. Though initial reports of the disease surfaced in 1981, President Reagan did not make his first public speech about it until 1987, by which time it had killed more than 20,000 Americans