Nancy Reagan Turned Down Rock Hudson’s Plea For Help Nine Weeks Before He Died

[kpete]

Nancy Reagan Turned Down Rock Hudson’s Plea For Help Nine Weeks Before He Died[/b



............

Although more than 5,500 people had died from the disease by the start of 1985, the government had taken few significant steps toward addressing the disease — with the Reagan administration recommending a $10 million cut in AIDS spending down to $86 million in its federal budget proposal released in February 1985.


And so, Hudson traveled to France, hoping to see Dr. Dominique Dormant, a French army doctor who had secretly treated him for AIDS the past fall. Dormant, though, was unable to get the actor transferred to the military hospital. Initially, the doctor wasn’t even able to get permission to see Hudson at the American Hospital.

......................

One key part of this story, though, has never been told until now — not discussed at the time and lost in piles of paperwork from the Reagan administration. As Hudson lay deathly ill in the hospital, his publicist, Olson, sent a desperate telegram to the Reagan White House pleading for help with the transfer:





“Only one hospital in the world can offer necessary medical treatment to save life of Rock Hudson or at least alleviate his illness,” Olson wrote. Although the commanding officer had denied Hudson admission to the French military hospital initially, Olson wrote that they believed “a request from the White House … would change his mind.”


First Lady Nancy Reagan turned down the request.



http://www.buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/nancy-reagan-turned-down-rock-hudsons-plea-for-help-seven-we#.ujoWE9mRMr

[dsc]

1. and gays are routinely taken to task for pointing out that

those who voted for that administration as adults owe some explanation for that behavior.

[SidDithers]

34. +1...nt

Sid

[shenmue]

2. :(

[ryan_cats]

3. Since when did Nancy have the power to do anything?

Since when did Nancy have the power to do anything? Once Ronnie got Alzheimers, was she the one in charge. I sure hope she had a good astrologer.

[tblue37]

18. She had tremendous influence in R's administration. nt

[Bluenorthwest]

4. I've had a series of attack pm's from the Reagan Was a Great Guy Defense Crew on DU

the last few days. Straights of the center sort get very upset at anyone who points out that Reagan was a monster and while they have nothing good to say about him, they do not want any of the truth spoken. Some defend Reagan because Obama praised him or because Hillary did, others because Warren was a Reagan/Bush Republican.

987

41,027 persons are dead and
71,176 persons diagnosed with AIDS in the US.


After years of negligent silence, President Ronald Reagan finally uses the word "AIDS" in public. He sided with his Education Secretary William Bennett and other conservatives who said the Government should not provide sex education information. (They are still saying it!)

On April 2, 1987, Reagan said: "How that information is used must be up to schools and parents, not government. But let's be honest with ourselves, AIDS information can not be what some call 'value neutral.' After all, when it comes to preventing AIDS, don't medicine and morality teach the same lessons."
http://www.actupny.org/reports/reagan.html

And of course Reagan was a defender of Apartheid and called Mandela a terrorist and all of that. Vetoed the sanctions. It's not like he was wonderful, except for AIDS and 'the gay'. He was a monster. A racist of the first order, Drug Warrior out to arrest those Welfare Queens in Cadillacs.
Those who defend him define themselves with extreme clarity.

[lunasun]

16. The Horrible Histories of Reagan & spouse should not be rewritten. I have had teenagers ask me

Questions about him. Many are led to believe he was our greatest president.
Ever .
When I ask why they can not tell me much , just that is whT they hear...Some even think he was a great democrat !
I did not know there was a Reagan Democrat contingent here ....there were plenty of those for his elections, so I guess they never moved on
Sad imo

[stevenleser]

19. Thousands of AIDS deaths and tens or hundreds of thousands of HIV infections are Reagan's fault

He effectively delayed the US response to the disease by eight years. Anyone who refuses to acknowledge that can go !@#$ themselves.

[LuvNewcastle]

22. It galls me that anyone on this site would

defend that evil fuck. You are correct in your estimation of them; there's really nothing more to say.

[bullwinkle428]

24. +1000. Reagan's presidency was hardly ancient fucking history.

[BrotherIvan]

48. Exactly

Anyone who defends that fucking devil can kiss my ass.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

51. Gall aint even strong enough for me, not at all...

And not only to defend those vile fucks, but to pretend that Nancy couldnt have snapped her fingers and INSTANTLY had that taken care of

OF COURSE SHE COULD

[Enthusiast]

62. Have DUers defended Reagan?

Tell me their names so I can hate 'em too.

[msanthrope]

42. We don't have private messaging anymore...we have DU mail. I'd feel free to publish any such

nonsense in a heartbeat. Name and shame.

Reagan was a sociopath.

[Sanity Claws]

5. Just said no

"No" came easy to Nancy.

[benz380]

6. Her psychic told her no. n/t

[closeupready]

13. She was going to say yes, but Gary Morton talked her out of it.

[Orrex]

7. How would they have saved his life or alleviated his illness?

[edhopper]

9. In hindsight

probably nothing.
But at the time this was his best chance for help, and she didn't lift a finger.

[Orrex]

10. Ah.

Crappy, but unsurprising. It's not like we suspected Mr. or Mrs. Gipper of being fonts of compassion.

[edhopper]

14. This is true. nt

[deutsey]

21. Her astrologer probably cautioned her against doing so

[hughee99]

17. It wouldn't have, but celebrities and the politically connected deserve more

consideration than other people. Shame on Nancy for not realizing that.

[Orrex]

20. Snap!

[LuvNewcastle]

25. I don't know, but Hudson was supposed to have been

a friend of the Reagans. I would do just about anything for a friend, but I doubt that Ron and Nancy ever really knew the meaning of the word. She could have at least picked up a damned phone for her old 'friend.'

[Orrex]

27. That's undeniably true, but it's a separate issue.

Any functional human being would reach out to comfort a dying friend, but the claim seems to suggest that the Reagans were withholding some vital treatment that would have saved Hudson's life or eliminated his illness.

[11 Bravo]

31. Nancy was the kind of friend who would always be there when she needed you.

[Orrex]

33. Nice!

[Demit]

30. They were kiss-up, kick-down kinds of friends.

They cultivated rich friends who would give THEM things.

[rhett o rick]

26. That's not the point. nm

[Orrex]

29. Obviously, but that was the claim.

[rhett o rick]

32. I still am missing your point. nm

[Orrex]

36. Well, what's the point of the article?

To show us that the Reagans were horrendous creatures?


The claim was made that Reagan's intervention would save Hudson's life or alleviate his illness. Neither of these is true, so the claim is false.

The claim is not "Reagan was such a vile monster that he wouldn't lift a finger to save a friend." That claim would have been true.

That's kind of my point.

[rhett o rick]

41. You misquoted the message writer.

Here is the quote, “Only one hospital in the world can offer necessary medical treatment to save life of Rock Hudson or at least alleviate his illness,” It did not say or even insinuate that his life would be saved. It said his only chance was at this hospital.

You imply that Reagan knew it was hopeless and therefore chose not to intervene. I see no evidence of that.

[Orrex]

45. "Only one hospital in the world can offer necessary medical treatment to save life of Rock Hudson"

To me, that sounds an awful lot like an assertion that the hospital offered necessary medical treatment to save life of Rock Hudson, and that's the point I am addressing.

You imply that Reagan knew it was hopeless and therefore chose not to intervene.

No, you infer that. Instead, I state that it was hopeless and is therefore pointless to complain 30 years later that Reagan didn't intervene.

What would have been different if he had intervened? He still cut AIDS funding by $10M, so this would simply have been a case of Reagan helping an old friend while fatally screwing countless others.

[rhett o rick]

46. Nothing was "hopeless" as you claim. Nothing indicates that it was "hopeless".

At the minimum it would alleviate his suffering "at least alleviate his illness,”.

I had to guess why you thought Reagan didn't respond as you won't say. My guess is that the Reagan were heartless conservatives that didn't give a crap about their gay friend. What's your guess?

[Orrex]

52. "Nothing was "hopeless" as you claim." Really? What was the recovery rate for AIDS at that time?

Pretty hopeless, I'd say.

At the minimum it would alleviate his suffering "at least alleviate his illness,”.

But now you're misquoting. The article didn't say "alleviate his suffering" but said "alleviate his illness." I'm honestly not sure how they might have done that. Alleviate his symptoms? Maybe. Alleviate his suffering? Maybe. But alleviate his illness? Not really.

What's your guess?

I've indicated my guess several times, though admittedly I didn't come right out and say "Here's my guess."

Instead I wrote

Any functional human being would reach out to comfort a dying friend.

and

It's not like we suspected Mr. or Mrs. Gipper of being fonts of compassion.

and I have stated that it is true that

Reagan was such a vile monster that he wouldn't lift a finger to save a friend.

Does none of these qualify, in your estimation, as my guess? Ok.

If it will make you feel better, I will add that the Reagans made a cynical political calculation and determined that showing compassion for a gay man would have damaged their Conservative credibility, and therefore they made no effort at all to comfort their dying friend.

[rhett o rick]

55. Somewhere I lost your point. This is the post I initially responded to:

"How would they have saved his life or alleviated his illness?" Made me think that you were defending their position of not helping. I still have no idea what your point of that question was or is. But never mind, I've spent too long going around this merry-go-round. Not your fault. Have a good day.

[Orrex]

56. I may have been guilty of a little word salad.

Not your fault either.

[rhett o rick]

57. Hey, let's not get all maudlin about this.

[Orrex]

58. Jerk!

(Is that better?)

[rhett o rick]

59. Yeah, thanks. nm

[Terra Alta]

8. Nancy is just as bad as -- if not worse than -- her husband

Her "Just Say No" campaign led to draconian mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders, including a good friend of mine.

Fuck Nancy Reagan.

[Octafish]

11. IF this is how Reagan and Co. treat their friends...

...no wonder they crapped all over America and the planet during their time in office -- from AIDs to El Salvador

Seeing how "Trickle Down" is still the dominant paradigm, they're still crapping all over America and the planet.

[BlueCaliDem]

38. Rock Hudson was a friend AND supporter of Reagan. He was a registered Republican.

But I surmise he wasn't toward the end of his life, though.

[Octafish]

39. Reagan wasn't a very nice person.

Odd this isn't mentioned in my grand-nephew's history text.

[BlueCaliDem]

43. Meese was your grand-nephew?

And I agree...Ronald Reagan was not a nice person. Can't be when you're a Republican - or so I believe, based on my experiences with Republicans throughout my entire life. But I never knew he was a racist and xenophobe to boot. Then again, I should have, considering how cruel he was toward the mentally ill in our State when he was Governor and had them thrown out of the institutions and onto the street.

Ronald Reagan will go down in history as the president who began the downward spiral of the United States.

[PeaceNikki]

12. One of the most shameful periods in our history. Any positive talk of RR makes me seethe with rage.

[SamKnause]

15. Republicans are cruel evil people.

Last edited Tue Feb 3, 2015, 12:28 PM - Edit history (1)

[stillwaiting]

23. Ah, come on. It's just tough love. They'll love you to death!

How is that not love?!?!

[BlueCaliDem]

44. Yep. Just as long as you don't think you can return that "tough love" because that would

piss them off BIG TIME. They're huge fans of double standards - and appear to be proud of it.

[Johonny]

28. I thought of the Aids epidemic and Reagans response all through the Ebola scare

Republicans really have no clue what their party is and has done. (or in this case didn't do)

[Arugula Latte]

35. And yet Nancy the evil you-know-what lives on ...

[BrotherIvan]

49. She's still alive?!?!?!?!

Alright, she's going on my Die Already! list. Not because she can still do much damage like Barbara B., but because she just deserves it.

[Arugula Latte]

50. Definitely. And she can take Phyllis Schlafly with her!

[Demit]

37. Her spokeswoman says "I spoke with her and she simply does not recall the incident in question."

Maybe she's senile now, I don't know, she's in her 90s, but she always was a despicable person.

[HughBeaumont]

40. Nasty to the core, even in the December of her career . . . .

She endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on May 31, 2012, explaining that her husband would have liked Romney's business background and what she called "strong principles".[179] Following the April 2013 death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, she said that, "The world has lost a true champion of freedom and democracy. ...Ronnie and I knew her as a dear and trusted friend, and I will miss her."

[City Lights]

47. What lovely people those Reagans were.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

54. In Southern Calif there are shrines to these horrible people

There are rich, white assholes who will fight you (or have their staff do it for them) if you say a bad word about them.


There is a particular hotel I like to stay at because I can get really good deals, and the first time I was there while walking down the hall I saw a god damn statue of the motherfucker with info on how to get to his library or whatever the fuck it is.

They worship him because he destroyed the middle class for their benefit, that IS why they love him so!

They loved him because he hated kids who went to school and protested the war and his hate drove him to make higher educations so costly that it is now one of the biggest problems we have.

He was a really bad guy, super bad, So was, so is Nancy

[City Lights]

60. And the GOPee isn't satisfied with the current number of shrines.

They want more!

Ugh!

[William769]

53. Oh the Reagan years, how I miss them.

Really

[countryjake]

61. kickety