DH Ep:60 AIDS
Published: January 22, 2026
Duration: 58:15
In June of 1981, the CDC published a brief report about five young gay men in Los Angeles diagnosed with a rare pneumonia. Two were already dead. That report marked the official beginning of the AIDS epidemic in America, though the virus had been killing long before anyone noticed.This episode examines how a preventable health crisis became a catastrophe through government neglect, institutional indifference, and moral condemnation.
President Reagan refused to publicly say the word AIDS until 1985, by which time over 12,000 Americans had died. He didn't give a major speech on the epidemic until 1987, when the death toll...
President Reagan refused to publicly say the word AIDS until 1985, by which time over 12,000 Americans had died. He didn't give a major speech on the epidemic until 1987, when the death toll...