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National Leadership Coalition on AIDS 3/29/90 [OA 4727] [2]
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National Leadership Coalition on AIDS 3/29/90 [OA 4727] [2]
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Originally Processed With FOIA(s):
FOIA Number:
Systematically Processed; 1998-0091-F
1998-0091-F
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used as an
administrative marker by the George Bush Presidential
Library Staff.
Record Group/Collection:
George H.W. Bush Presidential Records
Collection/Office of Origin:
Speechwriting, White House Office of
Series:
Speech File Draft Files
Subseries:
Chron File, 1989-1993
OA/ID Number:
13525
Folder ID Number:
13525-006
Folder Title:
National Leadership Coalition on AIDS 3/29/90 [OA 4727] [2]
Stack:
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Position:
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 26, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
DEPUTY ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT
FOR COMMUNICATIONS
FROM:
FREDERICK D. NELSON
FDN.
ASSOCIATE COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT
SUBJECT:
National Leadership Coalition on AIDS
Counsel's Office offers a few comments on the draft Presidential
remarks for the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS.
With regard to the second paragraph on page 4 (urging passage of
the Americans With Disabilities Act), we note that the
Administration has expressed concern over the remedies impact of
the ADA in light of other proposed legislation to alter the
remedial scheme of Title VII (which remedies the ADA adopts by
reference) the Administration supports the ADA with an
amendment to specify that the remedial structure originally
bargained for will obtain regardless of whether the Kennedy-
Hawkins changes to Title VII are made in other contexts. There
are several ways to make these draft remarks consistent with the
Administration's ADA position: perhaps the most simple approach
would be to add something like "as is incorporated in"
immediately after the first dash, so that the sentence would read
"today I call on the House of Representatives to get on with the
job of passing a law -- as is incorporated in the Americans with
Disabilities Act -- that prohibits discrimination against those
with HIV and AIDS. "
We would also recommend deleting the last sentence on page 3:
the ADA does not deal here with eviction, and insurance policies
would be affected only insofar as they are provided or withdrawn
as benefits of employment. The point of the remarks is clear and
the draft flows just as well without the sentence.
We also suggest two minor changes that are admittedly more in the
scientific than the legal realm. In light of AIDS babies, blood
transfusion recipients, etc., we would change the last sentence
in the first full paragraph on page 3 to begin with the words "In
most circumstances" (and we would be inclined to end the sentence
after the phrase "but by what you do"). Finally, because the
medical causes of AIDs still may not be perfectly understood, we
medical causes of AIDs still may not be perfectly understood, we
would change the absolutist language in the carryover paragraph
from pages 2-3 from "You can't get it from food
coughing.
sharing bathrooms or towels" to "There is not a
shred of evidence that you can get it from
"
Thank you for the opportunity to have reviewed these remarks.
CC: James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President and
Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Document No. 125786SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
3/23/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/26/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
LEE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Monday, March 26, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE: Brune 3am for Siy Rajist
Great Speech!
62:60 26 MAR 06
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
McNally/Simon
March 23, 1990
1990 MAR 23 AM IO: 59
Draft Three (B:AIDS)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1990, 11:15 A.M.
Thank you,
.
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
There could scarcely be a more important gathering, a more
important place for me to be than here with you -- the men and
women who guide business and industry as they focus on the best
way to help our people suffering with HIV and AIDS.
There are many team players in this struggle. Community
service organizations. Religious leaders of all persuasions.
AIDS service organizations created by volunteers, many of them
also infected with HIV. And corporations and private foundations
that together have given over $100 million to support literally
thousands of AIDS projects.
You make our hearts glad. And you make your country proud.
Other generations have faced life-threatening medical
crises, from polio to the plague. This virus is our challenge.
Not a challenge we sought. Not a challenge we chose. But today
our choice is simple:
We will meet this challenge. We will beat this virus. For
whether talking about a nation or an individual, character is
measured not by our tragedies -- but by how we respond to those
tragedies. III
And for those who are living with HIV and AIDS, our response
is simple: They deserve our compassion. They deserve our care.
And they deserve more than a chance -- they deserve a cure. III
2
America will accept nothing less. We are slashing red tape.
Accelerating schedules. Boosting research. And somewhere out
there, there's a Nobel prize -- and the gratitude of the planet
Earth -- waiting for the man or woman who peers into a microscope
and sees the answer that's eluded everyone else.
We pray that day will come soon. But until that day --
until this virus can be defeated in our hospitals -- there's a
battle to be waged in our homes. 111
Because in 1990, the single most effective weapon in our
arsenal against AIDS is not medication, 11 but education. \\\
We must increase our efforts to educate the public about
AIDS and how it is contracted. Our goal is to turn irrational
fear into rational facts.
Because this isn't just a fight against disease. It's also
a fight against ignorance. A fight against discrimination. III
Almost three years ago, I described our struggle against the
HIV virus as a battle against a "new and mysterious disease."
Today, HIV is not so new and not so mysterious. Today, HIV
has joined cancer, heart disease, and accidents as one of the
deadly realities of our time.
of these, HIV is one of the most lethal, one of the most
frightening. But HIV is also one of the most preventable.
Every American must learn what AIDS is -- and what AIDS is
not. And they must learn now. So let's shoot down some myths.
The HIV virus is not spread by handshakes or hugs. You can't get
3
it from food or drink. Coughing or sneezing. or by sharing
bathrooms or towels or conversation.
It's not like heart disease, where there's confusion over
ever-changing bits of advice on oat bran and olive oil, exercise
and eggs. The transmission of AIDS is as simple as it is deadly.
It's determined not by what you are -- but by what you do -- and
by what you fail to do. III
Let me state it clearly: People are placed at risk not by
their demographics, but by their deeds. By their behavior. III
And so it is our duty to make certain that every American
has the essential information needed to prevent the spread of HIV
and AIDS. Because while the ignorant may discriminate against
AIDS -- AIDS won't discriminate among the ignorant. III
Like many of you, Barbara and I have had friends who have
died of AIDS. Our love for them when they were sick and when
they died was just as great and just as intense as for anyone we
have lost to heart disease or cancer or accidents.
In this nation, in this decade, there is only one way to
deal with an individual who is sick. With dignity. Compassion.
Care. Confidentiality. And without discrimination. \\\\
Once disease strikes -- we don't blame those who are
suffering. We don't spurn the accident victim who didn't wear a
seatbelt. We don't reject the cancer patient who didn't quit
smoking. We try to love them and care for them and comfort them.
We do not fire them, or evict them, or cancel their insurance.
4
People with AIDS are no different than people with other
disabling and life-threatening diseases. They are our colleagues
and co-workers. Our friends. Our families. THEY ARE
US.
And today I call on the House of Representatives to get on
with the job of passing a law -- the Americans with Disabilities
Act -- that prohibits discrimination against those with HIV and
AIDS.
This is a fight against a disease -- not a fight against
people. III And we won't tolerate discrimination.
The disease is attacking our most precious resource -- our
people, our young. Unlike many of the diseases that cause
disability in our elderly, AIDS affects many Americans now in the
prime of life. Ninety-five percent of the 115,000 Americans with
AIDS are between the ages of 20 and 59. These were the years
they planned to work and create, and save for the future. Now
their struggle is to survive.
The statistics are numbing. You heard them this morning.
But just look at the amazing quilts which hang around us today.
They prove that no man is a statistic. Every life has its own
fabric. Its own colors. Its own purpose. Its own soul. And
like the quilts, no two are alike.
These quilts commemorate the dead. But the most important
part of our learning is with the living. And I hope that you
will go out and visit the AIDS wards. Meet with the patients and
their families. See the face of humanity in the face of AIDS.
5
When Barbara and I left Washington for the Christmas
holidays, our last stop was a clinic at the National Institutes
of Health. We were impressed by the mettle and determination of
the people there -- the doctors, nurses, and health care workers
-- and especially the brave people who are living with HIV. We
learned a lot about courage. A lot about family. And a lot
about hope.
Recently, we received a letter from seven who we visited.
They wrote: "Each of us looks for hope in very personal ways.
We seek comfort and warmth from those we love. We seek new
answers through participation in experimental drug studies. We
seek to enjoy the simplest of pleasures in everyday life. We
seek to make peace with ourselves and with those who don't
understand us. We seek a voice, a compassionate voice, that can
address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of people."
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice they seek must be your
voice. The voice of every American. III
Your employees will take their cues from you. You are in a
powerful, unique position to influence the response to HIV and
AIDS. When someone asks: "Who will volunteer to help care for
our co-workers with AIDS?" you should be the first to say, "I
will." Washing your hands of it won't help solve this problem.
But rolling up your sleeves will. III
The roster of participants at this Conference is an honor
roll. Allstate sponsored a landmark conference to help deal with
the impact of HIV at work. The magazine, Fortune, launched a
6
survey that helped us understand the attitudes and actions of
C.E.O.'s in responding to HIV. [An industrial giant] asked an
HIV expert to brief its key officers -- and pledged to conduct an
education program for employees. Others are fighting the spread
of HIV by fighting to keep schools and workplaces drug-free.
This is America responding to a crisis. This is America at its
best.
This epidemic is having a major impact on our health care
system. It is altering spending patterns by our government. In
1982, we knew little about AIDS -- and spent only $8 million. By
1990, that has grown to almost $3 billion -- more, even, than the
budget of the entire FBI -- and almost double what's spent for
the National Cancer Institute.
And I have asked Congress for still more money -- almost
$3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Money for basic research.
For HIV treatment and education. For protecting civil rights.
America has the most sophisticated health care system in the
world. But it's not enough. Our system depends on private
insurance and individual payments, as well as government
programs. AIDS magnifies the challenges, including the challenge
of providing fair access to care to all Americans, rich and poor.
In my State of the Union Address, I asked Dr. Louis Sullivan
to lead a Cabinet-level review of health care in the 1990's.
We don't know yet where this review will lead us. But we do
know that businesses like those you represent will be a big part
of the answer to improving health care and increasing access.
7
The epidemic is not over. We report tens of thousands of
new cases every year. And many predict we can expect to continue
to do so in this decade, and even into the next century.
And yet, as in every generation, no crisis is without
hopeful signs. To begin with, we can be encouraged by the news
that current projections of the infection rate will not be as
high as we thought just a year ago.
The use of new medicines such as A-Z-T means that more and
more people with HIV will be able to live and work because these
therapies offer the potential of making it a more manageable
disease. Keep them in your workforce. They can serve many, many
more productive years with no threat to you, your other workers,
or your companies. It will reduce costs for everyone. And it's
the right thing to do. III
The pace of progress is promising. The HIV virus has been
identified, isolated, and attacked with experimental treatments
in a span of less than 10 years. The normal, centuries-long
evolution of disease and treatment compressed into a decade.
And this race against time has produced an explosion in
knowledge and basic understanding about the nature of disease and
immunology. Like the unexpected technological boons from
Apollo's race to the moon, some physicians predict the race to
cure AIDS may even produce a cure for cancer.
We're going to continue to fight like hell. But we're also
going to fight for hope. America has a unique capacity for
beating the odds -- and astounding the world.
1
8
During my own childhood, the silent, whispered terror was a
mysterious killer called polio. Like HIV, the virus ignored
class distinctions and geographic boundaries. Monday would come,
and kids who'd been in school on Friday were simply never seen
again. Theaters were closed, summer camps, swimming pools.
As with AIDS, there was a lot of ignorance. Thousands of
stray cats and dogs put to death. Kids sleeping with camphor
inhalers. At least one town was fumigated with D.D.T. -- doing
nothing to stop polio -- and unknowingly helping endanger the
American eagle.
There were terrifying outbreaks in the teens, in the
thirties, in the fifties. A cure was so far distant the experts
refused to speculate. One doctor observed: "We have learned
very little that is new about the disease, but much that is old
about ourselves."
And then, suddenly, it was over. It happened so fast. The
dreaded iron lung, unused, cluttering hospital hallways.
Children again growing up in a world without fear.
Many comparisons have been made to epidemics past.
Cholera.
The Plague. Yellow fever. None of them perfect. So let me boil
down the lessons of polio to two:
There was a lot of ignorance -- let's learn from that. And
in the darkest of hours -- hope came unexpectedly, powerfully and
with finality. Let's work hard to see that day come to pass. 111
Together, we will make a difference, for those with HIV and
AIDS -- and for all Americans.
Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
Document No. 125786SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
3/23/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY:
3/26/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS:
NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
LEE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Monday, March 26, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
See P.
RESPONSE: See p. 7. Kese are the people.
wfd are now, t have been, becomp
the HIU + MAR
OS
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
Bay are the leaders in
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
this We Hand recompt this j thank them
prit.
Mhee
Common
Call me l you want details
But hee
to
Vael
McNally/Simon
4217
his
March 23, 1990
1990 MAR 23 AM ID: 59
Draft Three (B:AIDS)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
Я
CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT
THURSDAY MARCH 29 1990, 11:15 A.M.
Have
Thank you,
.
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
There could scarcely be a more important gathering, a more
important place for me to be than here with you -- the men and
women who guide business and industry as they focus on the best
way to help our people suffering with HIV and AIDS.
There are many team players in this struggle. Community
service organizations. Religious leaders of all persuasions.
Belinda Ras aids
AIDS service organizations created by volunteers, many of them
also infected with HIV. And corporations and private foundations
that together have given over $100 million to support literally
thousands of AIDS projects.
You make our hearts glad. And you make your country proud.
Other generations have faced life-threatening medical
crises, from polio to the plague. This virus is our challenge.
Not a challenge we sought. Not a challenge we chose. But today
our choice is simple:
We will meet this challenge. We will beat this virus. For
whether talking about a nation or an individual, character is
measured not by our tragedies -- but by how we respond to those
tragedies. III
And for those who are living with HIV and AIDS, our response
is simple: They deserve our compassion. They deserve our care.
And they deserve more than a chance -- they deserve a cure. III
2
America will accept nothing less. We are slashing red tape.
Accelerating "schedules. Boosting research. And somewhere out
there, there's a Nobel prize -- and the gratitude of the planet
Earth -- waiting for the man or woman who peers into a microscope
and sees the answer that's eluded everyone else.
We pray that day will come soon. But until that day --
until this virus can be defeated in our hospitals -- there's a
battle to be waged in our homes. III
Because in 1990, the single most effective weapon in our
arsenal against AIDS is not medication, 11 but education. III
We must increase our efforts to educate the public about
AIDS and how it is contracted. Our goal is to turn irrational
fear into rational facts.
Because this isn't just a fight against disease. It's also
a fight against ignorance. A fight against discrimination. III
Almost three years ago, I described our struggle against the
HIV virus as a battle against a "new and mysterious disease."
Today, HIV is not so new and not so mysterious. Today, HIV
has joined cancer, heart disease, and accidents as one of the
deadly realities of our time.
Of these, HIV is one of the most lethal, one of the most
frightening. But HIV is also one of the most preventable.
Every American must learn what AIDS is -- and what AIDS is
not. And they must learn now. So let's shoot down some myths.
The HIV virus is not spread by handshakes or hugs. You can't get
3
it from food or drink. Coughing or sneezing. or by sharing
bathrooms or towels or conversation.
It's not like heart disease, where there's confusion over
ever-changing bits of advice on oat bran and olive oil, exercise
and eggs. The transmission of AIDS is as simple as it is deadly.
It's determined not by what you are -- but by what you do -- and
by what you fail to do. III
Let me state it clearly: People are placed at risk not by
their demographics, but by their deeds. By their behavior. III
And so it is our duty to make certain that every American
has the essential information needed to prevent the spread of HIV
and AIDS. Because while the ignorant may discriminate against
AIDS -- AIDS won't discriminate among the ignorant. III
Like many of you, Barbara and I have had friends who have
died of AIDS. Our love for them when they were sick and when
they died was just as great and just as intense as for anyone we
have lost to heart disease or cancer or accidents.
In this nation, in this decade, there is only one way to
deal with an individual who is sick. With dignity. Compassion.
Care. Confidentiality. And without discrimination. 111
Once disease strikes -- we don't blame those who are
suffering. We don't spurn the accident victim who didn't wear a
seatbelt. We don't reject the cancer patient who didn't quit
smoking. We try to love them and care for them and comfort them.
We do not fire them, or evict them, or cancel their insurance.
4
People with AIDS are no different than people with other
disabling and life-threatening diseases. They are our colleagues
and co-workers. Our friends. Our families. THEY ARE US.
And today I call on the House of Representatives to get on
with the job of passing a law -- the Americans with Disabilities
Act -- that prohibits discrimination against those with HIV and
AIDS.
This is a fight against a disease -- not a fight against
people. III And we won't tolerate discrimination. IIII
The disease is attacking our most precious resource -- our
people, our young. Unlike many of the diseases that cause
disability in our elderly, AIDS affects many Americans now in the
prime of life. Ninety-five percent of the 115,000 Americans with
AIDS are between the ages of 20 and 59. These were the years
they planned to work and create, and save for the future. Now
their struggle is to survive.
The statistics are numbing. You heard them this morning.
But just look at the amazing quilts which hang around us today.
They prove that no man is a statistic. Every life has its own
fabric. Its own colors. Its own purpose. Its own soul. And
like the quilts, no two are alike. 111
These quilts commemorate the dead. But the most important
part of our learning is with the living. And I hope that you
will go out and visit the AIDS wards. Meet with the patients and
their families. See the face of humanity in the face of AIDS.
5
When Barbara and I left Washington for the Christmas
holidays, our last stop was a clinic at the National Institutes
of Health. We were impressed by the mettle and determination of
the people there -- the doctors, nurses, and health care workers
-- and especially the brave people who are living with HIV. We
learned a lot about courage. A lot about family. And a lot
about hope.
Recently, we received a letter from seven who we visited.
They wrote: "Each of us looks for hope in very personal ways.
We seek comfort and warmth from those we love. We seek new
answers through participation in experimental drug studies. We
seek to enjoy the simplest of pleasures in everyday life. We
seek to make peace with ourselves and with those who don't
understand us. We seek a voice, a compassionate voice, that can
address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of people."
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice they seek must be your
voice. The voice of every American. III
Your employees will take their cues from you. You are in a
powerful, unique position to influence the response to HIV and
AIDS. When someone asks: "Who will volunteer to help care for
our co-workers with AIDS?" you should be the first to say, "I
will." Washing your hands of it won't help solve this problem.
But rolling up your sleeves will. III
The roster of participants at this Conference is an honor
roll. Allstate sponsored a landmark conference to help deal with
the impact of HIV at work. The magazine, Fortune, launched a
6
survey that helped us understand the attitudes and actions of
C.E.O.'s in responding to HIV. [An industrial giant] asked an
HIV expert to brief its key officers -- and pledged to conduct an
education program for employees. Others are fighting the spread
of HIV by fighting to keep schools and workplaces drug-free.
This is America responding to a crisis. This is America at its
best.
This epidemic is having a major impact on our health care
system. It is altering spending patterns by our government. In
1982, we knew little about AIDS -- and spent only $8 million. By
1990, that has grown to almost $3 billion -- more, even, than the
budget of the entire FBI -- and almost double what's spent for
the National Cancer Institute.
And I have asked Congress for still more money -- almost
$3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Money for basic research.
For HIV treatment and education. For protecting civil rights.
America has the most sophisticated health care system in the
world. But it's not enough. Our system depends on private
insurance and individual payments, as well as government
programs. AIDS magnifies the challenges, including the challenge
of providing fair access to care to all Americans, rich and poor.
In my State of the Union Address, I asked Dr. Louis Sullivan
to lead a Cabinet-level review of health care in the 1990's.
We don't know yet where this review will lead us. But we do
know that businesses like those you represent will be a big part
of the answer to improving health care and increasing access.
Hand keeping you
7
for
The epidemic is not over. We report tens of thousands of
new cases every year. And many predict we can expect to continue
to do so in this decade, and even into the next century.
And yet, as in every generation, no crisis is without
Rave
hopeful signs. To begin with, we can be encouraged by the news
leader
that current projections of the infection rate will not be as
high as we thought just a year ago.
been X No the
The use of new medicines such as A-Z-T means that more and
more people with HIV will be able to live and work because these
therapies offer the potential of making it a more manageable
as
you
know
disease. Keep them in your workforce. They can serve many, many
V
more productive years with no threat to you, your other workers,
or your companies. It will reduce costs for everyone. And it's
the right thing to do. III
The pace of progress is promising. The HIV virus has been
identified, isolated, and attacked with experimental treatments
in a span of less than 10 years. The normal, centuries-long
evolution of disease and treatment compressed into a decade.
And this race against time has produced an explosion in
knowledge and basic understanding about the nature of disease and
immunology. Like the unexpected technological boons from
Apollo's race to the moon, some physicians predict the race to
cure AIDS may even produce a cure for cancer.
We're going to continue to fight like hell. But we're also
going to fight for hope. America has a unique capacity for
beating the odds -- and astounding the world.
8
During my own childhood, the silent, whispered terror was a
mysterious killer called polio. Like HIV, the virus ignored
class distinctions and geographic boundaries. Monday would come,
and kids who'd been in school on Friday were simply never seen
again. Theaters were closed, summer camps, swimming pools.
As with AIDS, there was a lot of ignorance. Thousands of
stray cats and dogs put to death. Kids sleeping with camphor
inhalers. At least one town was fumigated with D.D.T. -- doing
nothing to stop polio -- and unknowingly helping endanger the
American eagle.
There were terrifying outbreaks in the teens, in the
thirties, in the fifties. A cure was so far distant the experts
refused to speculate. One doctor observed: "We have learned
very little that is new about the disease, but much that is old
about ourselves."
And then, suddenly, it was over. It happened so fast. The
dreaded iron lung, unused, cluttering hospital hallways.
Children again growing up in a world without fear.
Many comparisons have been made to epidemics past. Cholera.
The Plague. Yellow fever. None of them perfect. So let me boil
down the lessons of polio to two:
There was a lot of ignorance -- let's learn from that. And
in the darkest of hours -- hope came unexpectedly, powerfully and
with finality. Let's work hard to see that day come to pass. III
Together, we will make a difference, for those with HIV and
AIDS -- and for all Americans. 1111
Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
Document No. 125786SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
3/23/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/26/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
LEE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Monday, March 26, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
ninor
comments
XA
29 : Olv 26 MAY 06
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
McNally/Simon
March 23, 1990
1990 MAR 23 AM ID: 59
Draft Three (B:AIDS)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1990, 11:15 A.M.
Thank you,
.
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
There could scarcely be a more important gathering, a more
important place for me to be than here with you -- the men and
women who guide business and industry as they focus on the best
way to help our people suffering with HIV and AIDS.
There are many team players in this struggle. Community
service organizations. Religious leaders of all persuasions.
AIDS service organizations created by volunteers, many of them
also infected with HIV. And corporations and private foundations
that together have given over $100 million to support literally
thousands of AIDS projects.
You make our hearts glad. And you make your country proud.
Other generations have faced life-threatening medical
crises, from polio to the plague. This virus is our challenge.
Not a challenge we sought. Not a challenge we chose. But today
our choice is simple:
We will meet this challenge. We will beat this virus. For
whether talking about a nation or an individual, character is
measured not by our tragedies -- but by how we respond to those
tragedies. III
And for those who are living with HIV and AIDS, our response
is simple: They deserve our compassion. They deserve our care.
And they deserve more than a chance -- they deserve a cure. 111
2
America will accept nothing less. We are slashing red tape.
Accelerating 'schedules. Boosting research. And somewhere out
there, there's a Nobel prize -- and the gratitude of the planet
Earth -- waiting for the man or woman who peers into a microscope
and sees the answer that's eluded everyone else.
We pray that day will come soon. But until that day --
until this virus can be defeated in our hospitals -- there's a
battle to be waged in our homes. III
Because in 1990, the single most effective weapon in our
arsenal against AIDS is not medication, 11 but education. \\\
We must increase our efforts to educate the public about
AIDS and how it is contracted. Our goal is to turn irrational
fear into rational (facts). foresight?
Because this isn't just a fight against disease. It's also
a fight against ignorance. A fight against discrimination. III
Almost three years ago, I described our struggle against the
HIV virus as a battle against a "new and mysterious disease."
Today, HIV is not so new and not so mysterious. Today, HIV
has joined cancer, heart disease, and accidents as one of the
deadly realities of our time.
Of these, HIV is one of the most lethal, one of the most
frightening. But HIV is also one of the most preventable.
Every American must learn what AIDS is -- and what AIDS is
Together
not. And they must learn now. So ^ let's shoot down some myths.
The HIV virus is not spread by handshakes or hugs. You can't get
You in This room already
know what so many American do not.
3
it from food or drink. Coughing or sneezing. or by sharing
bathrooms or towels or conversation.
It's not like heart disease, where there's confusion over
ever-changing bits of advice on oat bran and olive oil, exercise
and eggs. The transmission of AIDS is as simple as it is deadly.
It's determined not by what you are -- but by what you do -- and
by what you fail to do. III
Let me state it clearly: People are placed at risk not by
their demographics, but by their deeds. By their behavior. III
And so it is our duty to make certain that every American
has the essential information needed to prevent the spread of HIV
and AIDS. Because while the ignorant may discriminate against
AIDS -- AIDS won't discriminate among the ignorant. 111
Like many of you, Barbara and I have had friends who have
died of AIDS. Our love for them when they were sick and when
they died was just as great and just as intense as for anyone we
have lost to heart disease or cancer or accidents.
In this nation, in this decade, there is only one way to
deal with an individual who is sick. With dignity. Compassion.
Care. Confidentiality. And without discrimination. 111
Once disease strikes -- we don't blame those who are
suffering. We don't spurn the accident victim who didn't wear a
seatbelt. We don't reject the cancer patient who didn't quit
smoking. We try to love them and care for them and comfort them.
We do not fire them, or evict them, or cancel their insurance.
4
People with AIDS are no different than people with other
disabling and life-threatening diseases. They are our colleagues
and co-workers. Our friends. Our families. THEY...ARE... US.
And today I call on the House of Representatives to get on
with the job of passing a law -- the Americans with Disabilities
Act -- that prohibits discrimination against those with HIV and
AIDS.
we're in
50
This is a fight against a disease -- not a fight against
people. III And we won't tolerate discrimination. 1111
The disease is attacking our most precious resource -- our
people, our young. Unlike many of the diseases that cause
disability in our elderly, AIDS affects many Americans now in the
prime of life. Ninety-five percent of the 115,000 Americans with
AIDS are between the ages of 20 and 59. These were the years
they planned to work and create, and save for the future. Now
their struggle is to survive.
The statistics are numbing. You heard them this morning.
But just look at the amazing quilts which hang around us today.
They prove that no man is a statistic. Every life has its own
fabric. Its own colors. Its own purpose. Its own soul. And
like the quilts, no two are alike. III
These quilts commemorate the dead. But the most important
part of our learning is with the living. And I hope that you
will go out and visit the AIDS wards. Meet with the patients and
their families. See the face of humanity in the face of AIDS.
5
When Barbara and I left Washington for the Christmas
holidays, our last stop was a clinic at the National Institutes
of Health. We were impressed by the mettle and determination of
the people there -- the doctors, nurses, and health care workers
-- and especially the brave people who are living with HIV. We
learned a lot about courage. A lot about family. And a lot
about hope.
Recently, we received a letter from seven who we visited.
They wrote: "Each of us looks for hope in very personal ways.
We seek comfort and warmth from those we love. We seek new
answers through participation in experimental drug studies. We
seek to enjoy the simplest of pleasures in everyday life. We
seek to make peace with ourselves and with those who don't
understand us. We seek a voice, a compassionate voice, that can
address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of people."
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice they seek must be your
voice. The voice of every American. III
Your employees will take their cues from you. You are in a
powerful, unique position to influence the response to HIV and
AIDS. When someone asks: "Who will volunteer to help care for
our co-workers with AIDS?" you should be the first to say, "I
will." Washing your hands of it won't help solve this problem.
But rolling up your sleeves will. III
The roster of participants at this Conference is an honor
roll. Allstate sponsored a landmark conference to help deal with
the impact of HIV at work. The magazine, Fortune, launched a
6
survey that helped us understand the attitudes and actions of
C.E.O.'s in responding to HIV. [An industrial giant] asked an
HIV expert to brief its key officers -- and pledged to conduct an
education program for employees. Others are fighting the spread
of HIV by fighting to keep schools and workplaces drug-free.
This is America responding to a crisis. This is America at its
best.
This epidemic is having a major impact on our health care
system. It is altering spending patterns by our government. In
1982, we knew little about AIDS -- and spent only $8 million. By
1990, that has grown to almost $3 billion -- more, even, than the
budget of the entire FBI -- and almost double what's spent for
the National Cancer Institute.
And I have asked Congress for still more money -- almost
$3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Money for basic research.
For HIV treatment and education. For protecting civil rights.
America has the most sophisticated health care system in the
world. But it's not enough. Our system depends on private
insurance and individual payments, as well as government
programs. AIDS magnifies the challenges, including the challenge
of providing fair access to care to all Americans, rich and poor.
In my State of the Union Address, I asked Dr. Louis Sullivan
to lead a Cabinet-level review of health care in the 1990's.
We don't know yet where this review will lead us. But we do
know that businesses like those you represent will be a big part
of the answer to improving health care and increasing access.
7
The epidemic is not over. We report tens of thousands of
new cases every year. And many predict we can expect to continue
to do so in this decade, and even into the next century.
And yet, as in every generation, no crisis is without
hopeful signs. To begin with, we can be encouraged by the news
that current projections of the infection rate will not be as
high as we thought just a year ago.
The use of new medicines such as A-Z-T means that more and
more people with HIV will be able to live and work because these
therapies offer the potential of making it a more manageable
disease. Keep them in your workforce. They can serve many, many
more productive years with no threat to you, your other workers,
or your companies. It will reduce costs for everyone. And it's
the right thing to do. III
The pace of progress is promising. The HIV virus has been
identified, isolated, and attacked with experimental treatments
in a span of less than 10 years. The normal, centuries-long
evolution of disease and treatment compressed into a decade.
And this race against time has produced an explosion in
knowledge and basic understanding about the nature of disease and
immunology. Like the unexpected technological boons from
Apollo's race to the moon, some physicians predict the race to
cure AIDS may even produce a cure for cancer.
We're going to continue to fight like hell. But we're also
going to fight for hope. America has a unique capacity for
beating the odds -- and astounding the world.
8
During my own childhood, the silent, whispered terror was a
mysterious killer called polio. Like HIV, the virus ignored
class distinctions and geographic boundaries. Monday would come,
and kids who'd been in school on Friday were simply never seen
again. Theaters were closed, summer camps, swimming pools.
As with AIDS, there was a lot of ignorance. Thousands of
stray cats and dogs put to death. Kids sleeping with camphor
inhalers. At least one town was fumigated with D.D.T. -- doing
nothing to stop polio -- and unknowingly helping endanger the
American eagle.
There were terrifying outbreaks in the teens, in the
thirties, in the fifties. A cure was so far distant the experts
refused to speculate. One doctor observed: "We have learned
very little that is new about the disease, but much that is old
about ourselves."
And then, suddenly, it was over. It happened so fast. The
dreaded iron lung, unused, cluttering hospital hallways.
Children again growing up in a world without fear.
Many comparisons have been made to epidemics past. Cholera.
The Plague. Yellow fever. None of them perfect. So let me boil
down the lessons of polio to two:
There was a lot of ignorance -- let's learn from that. And
in the darkest of hours -- hope came unexpectedly, powerfully and
with finality. Let's work hard to see that day come to pass. 111
Together, we will make a difference, for those with HIV and
AIDS -- and for all Americans. 1111
Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
McNally/Simon
March 20, 1990
Draft Two (B:AIDS)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1990, 11:15 A.M.
Thank you,
.
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
There could scarcely be a more important gathering, a more
important place for me to be than here with you -- the men and
women who guide business and industry as they focus on the best
way to help our people suffering with HIV and AIDS.
Community
There are many team players in this struggle. The American
service organizations.
Red Cross and the United Way. Religious leaders of all
persuasions. AIDS service organizations created by volunteers,
many of them also infected with HIV. And corporations and
private foundations that together have given over $100 million to
support literally thousands of AIDS projects.
You make our hearts glad. And you make your country proud.
Other generations have faced life-threatening medical
crises, from polio to the Plague. This virus is our challenge.
Not a challenge we sought. Not a challenge we chose. But today
our choice is simple:
We will meet this challenge. We will beat this virus. For
whether talking about a nation or an individual, character is
how we respond to those agedest
measured not by our tragedies -- but by our responso, \\\\
And for those who are living with HIV and AIDS, our response
is simple: They deserve our compassion. They deserve our care.
And they deserve more than a chance -- they deserve a cure. III
America will accept nothing less. We are slashing red tape.
2
Accelerating schedules. Boosting research. And somewhere out
there, there's a Nobel prize -- and the gratitude of the planet
Earth -- waiting for the man or woman who peers into a microscope
and sees the answer that's eluded everyone else.
We pray that day will come soon. But until that day --
until this virus can be defeated in our hospitals -- there's a
battle to be waged in our homes. III
Because in 1990, the single most effective weapon in our
arsenal against AIDS is not medication, 11 but education. III
We must increase our efforts to educate the public about
AIDS and how it is contracted. Our goal is to turn irrational
fear into rational facts.
Because this isn't just a fight against disease. It's also
a fight against ignorance. A fight against discrimination. III
Almost three years ago, I described our struggle against the
HIV virus as a battle against a "new and mysterious disease."
Today, HIV is not so new and not so mysterious. Today, HIV
has joined cancer, heart disease, and accidents as one of the
deadly realities of our time.
Of these, HIV is one of the most lethal, one of the most
frightening. But HIV is also one of the most preventable.
Every American must learn what AIDS is -- and what AIDS is
not. And they must learn now. So let's shoot down some myths.
The HIV virus is not spread by handshakes or hugs. You can't get
it from food or drink. Coughing or sneezing. Or by sharing
bathrooms or towels or conversation.
3
It's not like heart disease, where there's confusion over
ever-changing bits of advice on oat bran and olive oil, exercise
and eggs. The transmission of AIDS is as simple as it is deadly.
It's determined not by what you are -- but by what you do -- and
by what you fail to do. III
Let me state it clearly: People are placed at risk not by
their demographics, but by their deeds. By their behavior. III
And so it is our duty to make certain that every American
has the essential information needed to prevent the spread of HIV
and AIDS. Because while the ignorant may discriminate against
AIDS -- AIDS won't discriminate among the ignorant.
Like many of you, Barbara and I have had friends who have
died of AIDS. Our love for them when they were sick and when
they died was just as great and just as intense as for anyone we
have lost to heart disease or cancer or accidents.
In this nation, in this decade, there is only one way to
deal with an individual who is sick. With dignity. Compassion.
Care. Confidentiality. And without discrimination. III
Once disease strikes -- we don't blame those who are
suffering. We don't spurn the accident victim who didn't wear a
seatbelt. We don't reject the cancer patient who didn't quit
smoking. We try to love them and care for them and comfort them.
We do not fire them, or evict them, or cancel their insurance.
People with AIDS are no different than people with other
disabling and life-threatening diseases. They are our colleagues
and co-workers. Our friends. Our families. THEY
ARE
US.
4
And today I call on the House of Representatives to get on
the americans with Disabilities
act
with the job of passing a law -- a good, fair, and effective law
that prohibits discrimination against those with HIV and AIDS.
This is a fight against a disease -- not a fight against
people. III And we won't tolerate discrimination. 1111
The disease is attacking our most precious resource -- our
people, our young. Unlike many of the diseases that cause
disability in our elderly, AIDS affects many Americans now in the
prime of life. Ninety-five percent of the 115,000 Americans with
AIDS are between the ages of 20 and 59. These were the years
they planned to work and create, and save for the future. Now
their struggle is to survive.
The statistics are numbing. You heard them this morning.
But just look at the amazing quilts which hang around us today.
They prove that no man is a statistic. Every life has its own
fabric. Its own colors. Its own purpose. Its own soul. And
like the quilts, no two are alike. III
When the AIDS Quilt was spread out over 14 acres behind the
White House last fall, people out just to take a curious stroll
suddenly found themselves wiping away tears. I hope you have a
chance to display some of the panels at your businesses. And I
hope we have a chance to display some at the White House.
The quilts commemorate the dead. But the most important
part of our learning is with the living. And I hope that you
will go out and visit the AIDS wards. Meet with the patients and
their families. See the face of humanity in the face of AIDS.
5
Christmas
When Barbara and I left Washington for the holidays, our
last stop was a clinic at the National InstituteSof Health. We
were impressed by the mettle and determination of the people
there -- the doctors, nurses, and health care workers -- and
especially the brave people who are living with HIV. We learned
a lot about courage. A lot about family. And a lot about hope.
Recently, we received a letter from seven who we visited.
They wrote: "Each of us looks for hope in very personal ways.
We seek comfort and warmth from those we love. We seek new
answers through participation in experimental drug studies. We
seek to enjoy the simplest of pleasures in everyday life. We
seek to make peace with ourselves and with those who don't
understand us. We seek a voice, a compassionate voice, that can
address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of people."
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice they seek must be your
voice. The voice of every American. III
Your employees will take their cues from you. You are in a
powerful, unique position to influence the response to HIV and
AIDS. When someone asks: "Who will volunteer to help care for
our co-workers with AIDS?" you should be the first to say, "I
will." Washing your hands of it won't help solve this problem.
But rolling up your sleeves will. III
The roster of participants at this Conference is an honor
roll. Allstate sponsored a landmark conference to help deal with
the impact of HIV at work. A A magazine, Fortune, launched a survey that
The
helped us understand the attitudes and actions of C.E.O.'s in
6
responding to HIV.
An industrial giant asked an HIV expert to
brief its key officers -- and pledged to conduct an education
program for employees. Others are fighting the spread of HIV by
fighting to keep schools and workplaces drug-free. This is
America responding to a crisis. This is America at its best.
This epidemic is having a major impact on our health care
system. It is altering spending patterns by our government. In
1982, we knew little about AIDS -- and spent only $8 million. By
has
1989, that had grown to almost $3 billion -- more, even, than the
what
budget of the entire FBI -- and double what's spent for the
National Cancer Institute.
And I have asked Congress for still more money -- almost
$3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Money for basic research.
For HIV treatment and education. For protecting civil rights.
America has the most sophisticated health care system in the
world. But it's not enough. Our system depends on private
insurance and individual payments, as well as government
programs. AIDS magnifies the challenges, including the challenge
of providing fair access to care to all Americans, rich and poor.
In my State of the Union Address, I asked Dr. Louis Sullivan
to lead a Cabinet-level review of health care in the 1990's.
We don't know yet where this review will lead us. But we do
know that businesses like those you represent will be a big part
of the answer to improving health care and increasing access.
The epidemic is not over. We report tens of thousands of
new cases every year. And many predict we can expect to continue
7
to do so in this decade, and even into the next century.
And yet, as in every generation, no crisis is without
hopeful signs. To begin with, we can be encouraged by the news
that current projections of the infection rate will not be as
high as we thought just a year ago.
The use of new medicines such as A-Z-T means that more and
more people with HIV will be able to live and work because these
therapies offer the potential of making it a more manageable
disease. Keep them in your workforce. They can serve many, many
more productive years with no threat to you, your other workers,
or your companies. It will reduce costs for everyone. And it's
the right thing to do. III
The pace of progress is promising. The HIV virus has been
identified, isolated, and attacked with experimental treatments
in a span of less than 10 years. The normal, centuries-long
evolution of disease and treatment compressed into a decade.
And this race against time has produced an explosion in
knowledge and basic understanding about the nature of disease and
immunology. Like the unexpected technological boons from
Apollo's race to the moon, some physicians predict the race to
cure AIDS may even produce a cure for cancer.
We're going to continue to fight like hell. But we're also
going to fight for hope. America has a unique capacity for
beating the odds -- and astounding the world.
During my own childhood, the silent, whispered terror was a
mysterious killer called polio. Like HIV, the virus ignored
8
class distinctions and geographic boundaries. Monday would come,
and kids who'd been in school on Friday were simply never seen
again. Theaters were closed, summer camps, swimming pools.
As with AIDS, there was a lot of ignorance. Thousands of
stray cats and dogs put to death. Kids sleeping with camphor
inhalers. At least one town was fumigated with D.D.T. -- doing
nothing to stop polio -- and unknowingly helping endanger the
American eagle.
There were terrifying outbreaks in the teens, in the
thirties, in the fifties. A cure was so far distant the experts
refused to speculate. One doctor observed: "We have learned
very little that is new about the disease, but much that is old
about ourselves."
And then, suddenly, it was over. It happened so fast. The
dreaded iron lung, unused, cluttering hospital hallways.
Children again growing up in a world without fear.
Many comparisons have been made to epidemics past. Cholera.
The Plague. Yellow fever. None of them perfect. So let me boil
down the lessons of polio to two:
There was a lot of ignorance -- let's learn from that. And
in the darkest of hours -- hope came unexpectedly, powerfully and
with finality. Let's work hard to see that day come to pass. III
Together, we will make a difference, for those with HIV and
AIDS -- and for all Americans.
Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 20, 1990
TO: CHRISS WINSTON
Attached are some points which may prove
helpful in drafting the AIDS speech.
This particular group is high-powered,
and has been largely organized as a
means of involving the business
community in the fight against AIDS.
I think Burt Lee can vouch for them.
Thanks.
Jim Jim Cicconi
Copy
original toed 3/20/90
NATIONAL
LEADERSHIP
COALITION
1990 MAR 20 AM 10: 51
ON AIDS
19 March, 1990
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Officers
John R. Taylor
Chairman N CEO Ret.:
The Principal Financial Group
Via Messenger
Charr
J. Richard Munro
Chairman & CEO
Time Warner Inc.
Jim Cicconi
Vice Chair
David N. Sundwall, M.D.
The White House
Vice President
Washington, D.C.
AmHS Institute
Vice Chair
Karen Ignagni
Dear Jim:
Assoc. Dir. Occupational Sarety and
Environmental Attairs. AFL-CIO
Secretary
Thanks for your interest in the National Business Leader-
Michael Pollard
Partner
ship Conference which President Bush will address March 29th.
Micraels & Wishner. F (
Treasurer
The program for the conference, and a one-page description
B.J. Stiles
of our goals and purposes are enclosed.
President
Members
You agreed to take a look at suggested highlights for the
Gwynn C. Akin, Ph.D.
Syntex Corporation
speech. I've done such a draft, which is attached.
Lewellys F. Barker, M.D.
American Red Cross
One component not in this draft is a roster of companies,
Nora Kizer Bell, Ph.D.
University of South Cardina
CEOs, and business group which warrant specific acknowledg-
Erline Belton
ment for their outstanding responses to AIDS. I did not
Pignal Equipment operation
Edward N. Brandr, Jr.. M.D., Ph.D.
include such citations, as someone advised that it was against
College of Medicine. Oklahoma University
White House policy to include such specific citations without
Health Sciences Center
prior approval from such sources. I assure that we could
Sharon Canner
National Association : Manufacturers
obtain such approval, or direct the appropriate office at
Glenn E. Haughie. M.D.
the White House to the source if that is the preferred mechan-
International Business Machines Chep.
William R. Hendee, Ph.D.
ism. Generic thank-you's aren't quite sufficient for AIDS,
American Medical Association
and I know that those in the vanguard of providing business
Stephen E. Herbits
Joseph E. Seagram & Sens. Inc
and civic leadership will find their jobs far easier if
Stanley G. Karson
Presidential acknowlegments are possible.
Center for Corporate Public Invoivement
Larry Kessler
AIDs Action Comm Her Mass.
Some of those in the vanguard are cited in the enclosed
Bryan Lawton, Ph.D.
publication, Business and Labor Speak Out on AIDS. But
Wells Fargo Bank
there are others.
Sam S. McKeel
The Sun-Times Company
Stephen T. Moskey
Thank you for any counsel you can provide.
Aetna Life & Cusumry
T.M. (Terry) Mulready
Pacine Bell
Cordially
Emilio R. Nicolas, Jr.
KMEX-TV. Los Angeles
Beny J. Primm, Jr., M.D.
Addiction Research Treatment Corporation
Mervyn F. Silverman, M.D.
B.J. Stiles
American Foundation :.: AIDS Research
The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing
President
I prospal Diocess
Larry H. Williford
BJS/st
Allstate Insurance mp-ny
Enc.
1150 17th Street N.W.
Suite 202
Washington, D.C. 20036
202/429-0930
FAX: 202/872-1977
NATIONAL
19 March 1990
LEADERSHIP
COALITION
ON AIDS
National Business Leadership Conference on AIDS
March 29, 1990
I.
The AIDS epidemic is far from over; we face great challenges
ahead. We must work together.
This is a painful, difficult disease and we're losing far too
many Americans.
You heard the specifics earlier this morning from Secretary
Sullivan, Dr. Fauci, and Dr. Curran. Just as important are the
panels (of the Quilt) which hang around us today. Like each of
you, Barbara and I have lost too many friends to AIDS, and
these celebrations of their lives remind us that each number we
hear is about a human being.
Although AIDS is a fatal disease, we will have far more people,
living and working longer with AIDS. That means the
opportunity to live and work together, and to help one another.
II. Private sector responses to AIDS have been outstanding, but the
job isn't finished. We must do more.
Business and labor have stepped forward, and in some
communities you have been among the pioneers. Yet, it seems
that only about 20 percent of the largest companies are doing
much about AIDS, and we must get others to follow your lead.
Most of the business response has been from the nation's
largest companies, but as the epidemic spreads and worsens,
small and medium sized businesses will also be affected.
Corporate giving to AIDS has grown, and I am pleased to know
that private foundations and corporations have given over $100
million to support thousands of AIDS projects. But now is not
the time to slack off or abandon these important commitments.
I believe that the next $100 million or more-will bring us
closer to winning this battle.
Press and media have been important allies in getting the AIDS
message to everyone. But some are tired of the story, or
believe there isn't a new angle or hook. Please don't stop
now. The message is too urgent. The lives of countless
-
Americans depends upon understanding how the HIV virus is and
is not transmitted, and the mass media plays a critical role in
helping change behaviors and attitudes.
The churches, synagogues, and spiritual leaders of America are
getting involved, and I hope that more will come forward. We
need you to help ensure that people with AIDS aren't rejected
by their families and neighbors: to help provide care--to
literally offer food, clothing and shelter for those suffering
from AIDS. I call upon America's religious leaders--lay and
clergy--to increase the love and compassion SO badly needed and
to dispel the anger and rejection directed toward those with
AIDS.
We must all resist the instinct to blame the sufferer, and
instead find solutions for the suffering.
III. Federal, state and municipal resources have been marshaled to
provide critical support, but the job isn't finished. We in
government must do more, too.
We are committed to federal support for all the core components
of the epidemic: research, education, care and services, and
treatment.
We must ensure that no person with AIDS or affected in any way
by AIDS is subjected to discrimination. That is one of the
foremost messages from Admiral Watkins and his colleagues on
the Presidential AIDS Commission, and this Administration is in
complete agreement. I want to restate my full support for
passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act still pending
before Congress, and ask you to join me in seeking swift
passage of this important bill.
Although we remain opposed to categorical approaches to solving
problems, I believe that the special impact of AIDS on parts of
our society are SO burdensome and costly that I am today
announcing support, in principle, for legislation to help
locales especially burdened by AIDS, and for individuals with
AIDS who fall outside the health care system in this country.
We have the mechanisms to respond promptly to disasters like
hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes. We must consider how
to provide similar assistance for those hardest hit by the AIDS
epidemic.
I return to the importance of education, and commend you in the
business community who are providing excellent HIV information
for your employees, their families, and the communities in
which they live. Today I am asking each Member of the Cabinet
to identify how we as government employers can increase our
effectiveness in helping to educate all federal government
2
employees about AIDS. The guidelines already developed by the
Office of Personnel Management are excellent; we now need to
make them known throughout the government workforce.
In conclusion, I want to strongly endorse the work of those here
today, and those you represent, in marshaling support from the private
sector to help us resolve the pain, fear, and stigmatization surrounding
AIDS. This nation has never shirked a challenge of this magnitude, and
we will not turn our back on this one.
We have the mechanisms at our disposal. This Administration does
care and is resolved to work together with you and others in containing
this threat to our personal and social welfare.
We will work diligently with the Congress and leaders of both
parties to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, and to develop any
other legislation required to ensure that persons with AIDS do not
suffer discrimination.
We welcome the work of the National AIDS Commission and look
forward to close communication with one another as they continue to
examine what is needed to resolve this painful, costly, and complex
epidemic.
We urge you who are here today to return to your places of work,
and take this message to your co-workers and bosses: The AIDS epidemic
is not over, and we cannot sit back and leave this challenge to others.
We must do our share.
3
NATIONAL
LEADERSHIP
COALITION
ON AIDS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Officers
NATIONAL BUSINESS LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE
John R. Taylor
Chairman & CEO Rer.)
ON AIDS
The Principal Financial Group
Chair
March 29, 1990
J. Richard Munro
Chairman & CEO
Time Warner Inc.
Purpose of this meeting:
Vice Chair
David N. Sundwall, M.D.
Vice President
1) To convene 400 top business executives, labor leaders,
AmHS Institute
Vice Chair
and others in a one-day session to address the impact
Karen Ignagni
of AIDS in the 1990s, with special focus on the
Assoc. Dir.. Occupational Safety and
consequences for the business community.
Environmental Affairs. AFL-CIO
Secretary
Michael Pollard
2) To provide a platform for the President to address the
Partner
Michaels & Wishner. P.C.
nation on this critical subject.
Treasurer
B.J. Stiles
President
3) To marshal further support from the private sector to
Members
respond to the growing needs stemming from the AIDS
crisis.
Gwynn C. Akin, Ph.D.
Syntex Curporation
Lewellys F. Barker, M.D.
American Red Cross
Goals for this meeting:
Nora Kizer Bell, Ph.D.
University or South Carolina
1. To underscore the considerable impact of AIDS on all
Erline Belton
Digital Equipment C rporation
Americans, and to highlight the necessity for an
Edward N. Brandr, Jr.. M.D., Ph.D.
ongoing response to the epidemic.
College or Medicine. Oklahoma University
Health Sciences Center
Bottom line: AIDS is not over; even more will be
Sharon Canner
National Association of Manuracturers
required from all of us in the decade ahead.
Glenn E. Haughie. M.D.
International Business Machines Curp.
William R. Hendee, Ph.D.
2. To acknowledge the role which the private sector has
American Medical Association
played in reducing infections; providing support; and
Stephen E. Herbits
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons. Inc.
creating a compassionate and favorable response to all
Stanley G. Karson
those affected by AIDS.
Center for Corporate Public Involvement
Larry Kessler
Bottom line: Many in the private sector--especially
AIDS Action Committee or Mass.
corporate America--are likely to back away from
Bryan Lawton, Ph.D.
Wells Fargo Bank
continuing attention to AIDS unless there is strong
Sam S. McKeel
Presidential encouragement and new incentives.
The Sun-Times Company
Stephen T. Moskey
Aetna Lite & Casuary
3. To send participants in this meeting back to their
T.M. (Terry) Mulready
offices with a clear Presidential mandate, and some new
Pacific Bell
Emilio R. Nicolas, Jr.
insights which will provide their bosses and colleagues
KMEX-TV. Los Angeles
with a renewed understanding of the nature and scope of
Beny J. Primm, Jr., M.D.
the epidemic.
Addiction Research Treatment Corporation
Mervyn F. Silverman, M.D.
American Foundation :*: AIDS Research
Bottom line: Don't back away; get more of your
The Rt. Rev. William E. Swing
associates and neighbors involved. Don't go it alone;
Episcopal Discuss Comman
work with others, especially public health and
Larry H. Williford
Allstate Insurance cipany
community service organizations, religious leaders, and
other business and labor groups.
1150 17th Street N.W.
Suite 202
Washington, D.C. 20036
202/429-0930
FAX: 202/872-1977
or
The National Business Leadership Conference on AIDS
March 29, 1990
Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, VA
Tentative Agenda
7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m.
Registration
Continental Breakfast
8:30 a.m.
Welcome and Introduction
Speakers:
Lawrence H. Williford
Senior Vice President
Allstate Insurance Company
John R. Taylor
Chair, Board of Directors
National Leadership Coalition on AIDS
David E. Rogers, M.D.
Chair
National Community AIDS Partnership
AIDS and the Federal Agenda
Speaker:
The Honorable Louis W. Sullivan
Secretary
Department of Health and Human Services
A Critical Look at AIDS in the '90s
Research and Treatment Issues
Speaker:
Anthony S. Fauci, M.D.
Director
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
The Numbers and What They Mean
Speaker:
James W. Curran, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, Division HIV/AIDS
Center for Infectious Diseases
Centers for Disease Control
AIDS From A CEO's Perspective
Speaker:
Robert D. Haas
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Levi Strauss & Co.
SPECIAL KEYNOTE ADDRESS (CONFIRMED)
Speaker:
PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH
Tentative Agenda, Page Two
Luncheon
Luncheon Speaker
J. Richard Munro
Co-Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer
Time Warner, Inc.
Belinda A. Mason
President, National Association of People
With AIDS, and Member, National Commission
on AIDS
Health Care Costs and the HIV Epidemic
Speaker:
Carl J. Schramm
President
Health Insurance Association of America
Labor Responses to AIDS
Speaker:
John J. Sweeney
International President
Service Employees International Union
Living and Working with AIDS
Interviewer:
Renée Poussaint
News Anchor
WJLA-TV
Panelists:
Erline Belton
Manager, Corporate Employee Relations
Digital Equipment Corporation
Cleve Jones
Founder
The NAMES Project
Phil K. Morrow
Founder and President, IMDT, Inc.
Board of Directors, AIDS Services of Dallas
3:30 p.m. Close
Document No. 125786SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
3/23/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/26/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
LEE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Monday, March 26, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
Please see suggestions
3/26/90
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
McNally/Simon
March 23, 1990
1990 MAR 23 AM ID: 59
Draft Three (B:AIDS)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1990, 11:15 A.M.
Thank you,
. [ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
There could scarcely be a more important gathering, a more
important place for me to be than here with you -- the men and
who work with American business to help 2 those
women who guide business and industry as they focus\on the best
way to help our people suffering with HIV and AIDS.
There are many team players in this struggle. Community
service organizations. Religious leaders of all persuasions.
AIDS service organizations created by volunteers, many of them
also infected with HIV. And corporations and private foundations
that together have given over $100 million to support literally
thousands of AIDS projects.
You make our hearts glad. And you make your country proud.
Other generations have faced life-threatening medical
crises, from polio to the plague. This virus is our challenge.
Not a challenge we sought. Not a challenge we chose. But today
our choice is simple:
must
must
We will meet this challenge. We will beat this virus. For
whether talking about a nation or an individual, character is
measured not by our tragedies -- but by how we respond to those
tragedies. III
And for those who are living with HIV and AIDS, our response
is simple: They deserve our compassion. They deserve our care.
And they deserve more than a chance -- they deserve a cure. III
2
America will accept nothing less. We are slashing red tape.
Accelerating 'schedules. Boosting research. And somewhere out
there, there's a Nobel prize -- and the gratitude of the planet
Earth -- waiting for the man or woman who peers into a microscope
and sees the answer that's eluded everyone else.
We pray that day will come soon. But until that day --
until this virus can be defeated in our hospitals -- there's a
battle to be waged in our homes.
Because in 1990, the single most effective weapon in our
arsenal against AIDS is not medication, 11 but education. \\\
We must increase our efforts to educate the public about
AIDS and how it is contracted. Our goal is to turn irrational
fear into rational facts.
Because this isn't just a fight against disease. It's also
a fight against ignorance. A fight against discrimination.
why
?
Almost three years ago, I described our struggle against the
highlight
HIV virus as a battle against a "new and mysterious disease."
Today, HIV is not so new and not so mysterious. Today, HIV
has joined cancer, heart disease, and accidents as one of the
deadly realities of our time.
Of these, HIV is one of the most lethal, one of the most
frightening. But HIV is also one of the most preventable.
Every American must learn what AIDS is -- and what AIDS is
not. And they must learn now. So let's shoot down some myths.
The HIV virus is not spread by handshakes or hugs. You can't get
beyond circumstances
Counsel's office
3
it from food or drink. Coughing or sneezing.
O
bathrooms or towels or conversation.
edit improved
suggested an
It's not like heart disease, where there's conrusion over
ever-changing bits of advice on oat bran and olive oil, exercise
and eggs. The transmission of AIDS is as simple as it is deadly.
people are plaud at a greater risk
It's determined not by what you are -- but by what you do -- and
blood
by what you fail to do.
they
they
They
Let me state it clearly: People are placed at risk not by
their demographics, but by their deeds. By their behavior
And so it is our duty to make certain that every American
has the essential information needed to prevent the spread of HIV
and AIDS. Because while the ignorant may discriminate against
AIDS -- AIDS won't discriminate among the ignorant. III
Like many of you, Barbara and I have had friends who have
died of AIDS. Our love for them when they were sick and when
they died was just as great and just as intense as for anyone we
have lost to heart disease or cancer or accidents.
In this nation, in this decade, there is only one way to
deal with an individual who is sick. With dignity. Compassion.
Care. Confidentiality. And without discrimination. III
Once disease strikes -- we don't blame those who are
suffering. We don't spurn the accident victim who didn't wear a
seatbelt. We don't reject the cancer patient who didn't quit
smoking. We try to love them and care for them and comfort them.
We do not fire them, or evict them, or cancel their insurance.
4
People with AIDS are no different than people with other
disabling and life-threatening diseases. They are our colleagues
and co-workers. Our friends. Our families. THEY...ARE...US.
And today I call on the House of Representatives to get on
with the job of passing a law -- the Americans with Disabilities
Act -- that prohibits discrimination against those with HIV and
AIDS.
This is a fight against a disease -- not a fight against
people. III And we won't tolerate discrimination. \\\\
The disease is attacking our most precious resource -- our
people, our young. Unlike many of the diseases that cause
disability in our elderly, AIDS affects many Americans now in the
prime of life. Ninety-five percent of the 115,000 Americans with
AIDS are between the ages of 20 and 59. These were the years
they planned to work and create, and save for the future. Now
their struggle is to survive.
The statistics are numbing. You heard them this morning.
But just look at the amazing quilts which hang around us today.
They prove that no man is a statistic. Every life has its own
fabric. Its own colors. Its own purpose. Its own soul. And
like the quilts, no two are alike. III
These quilts commemorate the dead. But the most important
part of our learning is with the living. And I hope that you
will go out and visit the AIDS wards. Meet with the patients and
their families. See the face of humanity in the face of AIDS.
5
When Barbara and I left Washington for the Christmas
holidays, our last stop was a clinic at the National Institutes
of Health. We were impressed by the mettle and determination of
the people there -- the doctors, nurses, and health care workers
-- and especially the brave people who are living with HIV. We
learned a lot about courage. A lot about family. And a lot
about hope.
Recently, we received a letter from seven who we visited.
They wrote: "Each of us looks for hope in very personal ways.
We seek comfort and warmth from those we love. We seek new
answers through participation in experimental drug studies. We
seek to enjoy the simplest of pleasures in everyday life. We
seek to make peace with ourselves and with those who don't
understand us. We seek a voice, a compassionate voice, that can
address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of people."
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice they seek must be your
voice. The voice of every American. III
Your employees will take their cues from you. You are in a
powerful, unique position to influence the response to HIV and
AIDS. When someone asks: "Who will volunteer to help care for
our co-workers with AIDS?" you should be the first to say, "I
will." Washing your hands of it won't help solve this problem.
But rolling up your sleeves will. III
The roster of participants at this Conference is an honor
roll. Allstate sponsored a landmark conference to help deal with
the impact of HIV at work. The magazine, Fortune, launched a
6
survey that helped us understand the attitudes and actions of
C.E.O.'s in responding to HIV. [An industrial giant] asked an
HIV expert to brief its key officers -- and pledged to conduct an
education program for employees. Others are fighting the spread
of HIV by fighting to keep schools and workplaces drug-free.
This is America responding to a crisis. This is America at its
best.
This epidemic is having a major impact on our health care
system. It is altering spending patterns by our government. In
when
uss
we
In
1982, a we knew little about AIDS -- and spent only $8 million. By
Today
1990, that has grown to almost $3 billion -- more, even, than the
budget of the entire FBI -- and almost double what's spent for
the National Cancer Institute.
And I have asked Congress for still more money -- almost
$3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Money for basic research.
For HIV treatment and education. For protecting civil rights.
America has the most sophisticated health care system in the
world. But it's not enough. Our system depends on private
insurance and individual payments, as well as government
programs. AIDS magnifies the challenges, including the challenge
of providing fair access to care to all Americans, rich and poor.
In my State of the Union Address, I asked Dr. Louis Sullivan
to lead a Cabinet-level review of health care in the 1990's.
We don't know yet where this review will lead us. But we do
know that businesses like those you represent will be a big part
of the answer to improving health care and increasing access.
7
The epidemic is not over. We report tens of thousands of
new cases every year. And many predict we can expect to continue
to do so in this decade, and even into the next century.
this
And yet, as in every generation, no crisis is without
hopeful signs. To begin with, we can be encouraged by the news
that current projections of the infection rate will not be as
high as we thought just a year ago.
The use of new medicines such as A-Z-T means that more and
more people with HIV will be able to live and work because these
therapies offer the potential of making it a more manageable
disease. Keep them in your workforce. They can serve many, many
more productive years with no threat to you, your other workers,
or your companies. It will reduce costs for everyone. And it's
the right thing to do. III
The pace of progress is promising. The HIV virus has been
identified, isolated, and attacked with experimental treatments
in a span of less than 10 years. The normal, centuries-long
evolution of disease and treatment compressed into a decade.
And this race against time has produced an explosion in
knowledge and basic understanding about the nature of disease and
immunology. Like the unexpected technological boons from
Apollo's race to the moon, some physicians predict the race to
cure AIDS may even produce a cure for cancer.
We're going to continue to fight like hell. But we're also
going to fight for hope. America has a unique capacity for
beating the odds -- and astounding the world.
8
During my own childhood, the silent, whispered terror was a
mysterious killer called polio. Like HIV, the virus ignored
class distinctions and geographic boundaries. Monday would come,
and kids who'd been in school on Friday were simply never seen
again. Theaters were closed, summer camps, swimming pools.
As with AIDS, there was a lot of ignorance. Thousands of
stray cats and dogs put to death. Kids sleeping with camphor
inhalers. At least one town was fumigated with D.D.T. -- doing
human
health.
nothing Bald to stop polio -- and unknowingly helping endanger the
American eagle
There were terrifying outbreaks in the teens, in the
Should service be move 100.
thirties, in the fifties. A cure was so far distant the experts
refused to speculate. One doctor observed: "We have learned
very little that is new about the disease, but much that is old
about ourselves."
And then, suddenly, it was over. It happened so fast. The
dreaded iron lung, unused, cluttering hospital hallways.
Children again growing up in a world without fear.
Many comparisons have been made to epidemics past. Cholera.
The Plague. Yellow fever. None of them perfect. So let me boil
down the lessons of polio to two:
There was a lot of ignorance -- let's learn from that. And
in the darkest of hours -- hope came unexpectedly, powerfully and
with finality. Let's work hard to see that day come to pass. III
Together, we will make a difference, for those with HIV and
AIDS -- and for all Americans. 1111
Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
90 MAR26 Pl: 37
See Porter's memo,
(A 7.) Rogers says
March 26, 1990
"Pink would like to
insert a line or two"
on this - not a
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
pages or two
FROM:
JIM PINKERTON
SUBJECT:
National Leadership Coalition on AI (This audience is
business - and industry
For purposes of the speech, Roger Porter asked r
not community
come up with a few examples of volunteers who are
/
in fighting AIDS and who represent the spirit of
looking mood for
service groups
Thousand Points of Light. Accordingly, I have dr
health care policies
short insert (below) for your consideration which than service ideas)
reference to these examples. The fourth paragraph on page
five, which ends: "Washing your hands of it won't help
solve this problem. But rolling up your sleeves will,"
seems a logical place for such an insert to follow.
"Ordinary Americans across this country have joined
together and rolled up their sleeves in response to
the AIDS crisis. Last month I was pleased to name
one such effort as a "Point of Light" -- an
exemplar of the spirit of serving others, what I
call the Thousands Points Of Light, that is SO
uniquely American.
That effort was the ActionAIDS organization, a non-
profit group based in Philadelphia. ActionAIDS is
made up of a professional staff and numerous
volunteers who work directly, one-on-one, with
patients, and who provide information about AIDS
and HIV-related diseases to the community.
Meanwhile, down in Florida, a remarkable man, the
Reverend Michael Lewis, decided to do something
about a heartbreaking tragedy: AIDS babies. He
mobilized his congregation and together they
transformed an abandoned crack house into a center
to recruit and train foster parents to care for
AIDS and HIV-infected babies, as well as cocaine-
addicted babies.
And in San Francisco, another group, Project Open
Hand, has taken on a simple but significant
mission: to provide meals to people with AIDS.
Two weeks ago, in a terrific example of volunteer
(more)
2
groups joining forces, Project Open Hand announced
a partnership with the Sonoma County 4-H Clubs.
The Sonoma 4-H'ers, teenagers 11 to 18 years old,
have started to expand their gardens and raise more
livestock in order to help Project Open Hand meet
the increased demand for its meals.
These Americans and millions more form a kind of
honor roll of selflessness. In each of their
achievements, however humble, they affirm the truth
of something you may have heard me say before: From
now on in America, any definition of a successful
life must include serving others. "
The roster of participants at this Conference is
itself an honor roll
"
###
CC:
Roger B. Porter
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
March 26, 1990
MEMORANDUM FOR CHRISS WINSTON
FROM:
ROGER B. PORTER RBP
Note: The literature
SUBJECT:
Presidential Remarks: National Leaders
on AIDS is replete us
Coalition on Aids
comparisons to the
speeches at HHS, etc .)dt'
Plague (books, Heckler's
I am pleased to provide my comments on the Presi
remarks to the National Leadership Coalition on Aids.
(although we could
a mainstream reference.
substitute "small
1. On page 1, in the paragraph that begins "(o) ther
generations the use of the term "plague" seems to me to be
both too extreme and too removed in time to be appropriate
Also, rather than talk about our "choices" in this context, I
think we should be talking about our "responsibility".
2. On the bottom of page 1, we should again be discussing
our responsibility to society. Most, if not all, individuals who
are "living with HIV and AIDS " will die before any cure is
found.
3. On page 2, the alliteration in the second paragraph is
both too narrow in its scope (the battle needs to be waged beyond
our homes) and could be misconstrued. I suggest substituting "by
science" for "in our hospitals" and "by society" for "in our
homes".
4. On page 2, in the sixth paragraph, the reference to
"almost three years ago" sounds like the President only recently
started thinking about something that has been of great concern
to many in the audience and the press for much longer than that.
My suggestion is to insert "some" for "almost three".
5. On page 3, in the first full paragraph, I think we
should omit the references to oat bran etc. Additionally, the
description in this paragraph of how one gets AIDS suggests that
it is within each person's power to prevent AIDS. This ignores
babies who contract it from their mothers and those who contract
it from blood transfusions.
6. On page 4, the last full paragraph, in the sentence that
begins "they prove " the word "person" should be inserted in
lieu of "man".
7. On page 5, Jim Pinkerton would like to insert a line or
two relating to "points of light" in the last full paragraph. He
-2-
will provide this language directly to you.
8. On page 6, perhaps there is another budget we can
compare the AIDS budget to other than the FBI. The FBI has
connotations for some people that are better left undisturbed.
Additionally, by referring to the National Cancer Institute, we
run the risk of people confusing the Institute with our total
spending to fight cancer.
9. I would like to see us drop the entire discussion of our
health care system and Dr. Sullivan's Cabinet-level review at
7
page 6. I will be happy to discuss the reasons in greater length
if you wish over the phone. The speech is already on the long
side and omitting these paragraphs should not be a problem.
10. At page 7, I recommend dropping the reference to
producing a cure for cancer from our search for a cure for AIDS.
I am uncertain of the origin of that type of speculation.
11. At page 8, the discussion about polio is quite good. I
think the reference to the American Eagle, however, is out of
place. D.D.T. endangered the very children the town was seeking
to protect. That seems more relevant to me than the American
Eagle, particularly because we are uncertain of whether it was
more than one town.
12. At page 8, again I recommend dropping the reference to
the plague.
13. Finally, although I agree we have a lot to learn from
our experience with polio, and that is a good way to end the
speech, I do not believe we ought to be promoting the notion
that someday we will simply wake up and the threat will be over.
We can hope that is the case, but we do not have enough
information to predict or suggest that it will be.
Attached is a copy of the remarks with several additional
comments and edits for your consideration.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
CC: James W. Cicconi
Document No. 125786SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
90 MAR 26 P2: 55
DATE:
3/23/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/26/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
LEE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Monday, March 26, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
See comments
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
McNally/Simon
March 23, 1990
1990 MAR 23 AM ID: 59
Draft Three (B:AIDS)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1990, 11:15 A.M.
Thank you,
.
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
There could scarcely be a more important gathering, a more
important place for me to be than here with you -- the men and
women who guide business and industry as they focus on the best
way to help our people suffering with HIV and AIDS.
There are many team players in this struggle. Community
service organizations. Religious leaders of all persuasions.
AIDS service organizations created by volunteers, many of them
also infected with HIV. And corporations and private foundations
that together have given over $100 million to support literally
thousands of AIDS projects.
You make our hearts glad. And you make your country proud.
Other generations have faced life-threatening medical
crises, from polio to the plague. This virus is our challenge.
Not a challenge we sought. Not a challenge we chose. But today
our choice is simple:
We will meet this challenge. We will beat this virus. For
whether talking about a nation or an individual, character is
measured not by our tragedies -- but by how we respond to those
tragedies. 111.
And for those who are living with HIV and AIDS, our response
is simple: They deserve our compassion. They deserve our care.
And they deserve more than a chance -- they deserve a cure. III
2
America will accept nothing less. We are slashing red tape.
Accelerating 'schedules. Boosting research. And somewhere out
there, there's a Nobel prize -- and the gratitude of the planet
Earth -- waiting for the man or woman who peers into a microscope
and sees the answer that's eluded everyone else.
We pray that day will come soon. But until that day --
until this virus can be defeated in our hospitals -- there's a
battle to be waged in our homes. III
Because in 1990, the single most effective weapon in our
arsenal against AIDS is not medication, 11 but education. III
We must increase our efforts to educate the public about
AIDS and how it is contracted. Our goal is to turn irrational
fear into rational facts.
Because this isn't just a fight against disease. It's also
a fight against ignorance. A fight against discrimination. III
Almost three years ago, I described our struggle against the
HIV virus as a battle against a "new and mysterious disease."
Today, HIV is not so new and not so mysterious. Today, HIV
has joined cancer, heart disease, and accidents as one of the
deadly realities of our time.
of these, HIV is one of the most lethal, one of the most
frightening. But HIV is also one of the most preventable.
Every American must learn what AIDS is -- and what AIDS is
not. And they must learn now. So let's shoot down some myths.
The HIV virus is not spread by handshakes or hugs. You can't get
3
it from food or drink. Coughing or sneezing. Or by sharing
bathrooms or towels or conversation.
It's not like heart disease, where there's confusion over
ever-changing bits of advice on oat bran and olive oil, exercise
and eggs. The transmission of AIDS is as simple as it is deadly.
It's determined not by what you are -- but by what you do -- and
by what you fail to do. 111
Let me state it clearly: People are placed at risk not by
their demographics, but by their deeds. By their behavior. III
And so it is our duty to make certain that every American
has the essential information needed to prevent the spread of HIV
and AIDS. Because while the ignorant may discriminate against
AIDS -- AIDS won't discriminate among the ignorant. 111
Like many of you, Barbara and I have had friends who have
died of AIDS. Our love for them when they were sick and when
they died was just as great and just as intense as for anyone we
have lost to heart disease or cancer or accidents.
In this nation, in this decade, there is only one way to
deal with an individual who is sick. With dignity. Compassion.
Care. Confidentiality. And without discrimination. 111
Once disease strikes -- we don't blame those who are
suffering. We don't spurn the accident victim who didn't wear a
seatbelt. We don't reject the cancer patient who didn't quit
smoking. We try to love them and care for them and comfort them.
We do not fire them, or evict them, or cancel their insurance.
on this ML liect
recommend beef in as exact parameters of bill/are unclear and
this way we cars true usagerial 4 endorsement for paramenters in this
mil on this subject or, more nroadly, for the House versins of bill that have
People with AIDS are no different than people with other
notyet accu endresed by the
Administration
disabling and life-threatening diseases. They are our colleagues
Damus
and co-workers. Our friends. Our families. THEY ARE
US.
hhost
And today I call on the House of Representatives to get on
with the job of passing a law -- the Americans with Disabilities
Act -- that prohibits discrimination against those with HIV and
AIDS.
This is a fight against a disease -- not a fight against
people. III And we won't tolerate discrimination. IIII
The disease is attacking our most precious resource -- our
people, our young. Unlike many of the diseases that cause
disability in our elderly, AIDS affects many Americans now in the
prime of life. Ninety-five percent of the 115,000 Americans with
AIDS are between the ages of 20 and 59. These were the years
they planned to work and create, and save for the future. Now
their struggle is to survive.
The statistics are numbing. You heard them this morning.
But just look at the amazing quilts which hang around us today.
They prove that no man is a statistic. Every life has its own
fabric. Its own colors. Its own purpose. Its own soul. And
like the quilts, no two are alike. III
These quilts commemorate the dead. But the most important
part of our learning is with the living. And I hope that you
will go out and visit the AIDS wards. Meet with the patients and
their families. See the face of humanity in the face of AIDS.
5
When Barbara and I left Washington for the Christmas
holidays, our last stop was a clinic at the National Institutes
of Health. We were impressed by the mettle and determination of
the people there -- the doctors, nurses, and health care workers
-- and especially the brave people who are living with HIV. We
learned a lot about courage. A lot about family. And a lot
about hope.
Recently, we received a letter from seven who we visited.
They wrote: "Each of us looks for hope in very personal ways.
We seek comfort and warmth from those we love. We seek new
answers through participation in experimental drug studies. We
seek to enjoy the simplest of pleasures in everyday life. We
seek to make peace with ourselves and with those who don't
understand us. We seek a voice, a compassionate voice, that can
address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of people."
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice they seek must be your
voice. The voice of every American. III
Your employees will take their cues from you. You are in a
powerful, unique position to influence the response to HIV and
AIDS. When someone asks: "Who will volunteer to help care for
our co-workers with AIDS?" you should be the first to say, "I
will." Washing your hands of it won't help solve this problem.
But rolling up your sleeves will. III
The roster of participants at this Conference is an honor
roll. Allstate sponsored a landmark conference to help deal with
the impact of HIV at work. The magazine, Fortune, launched a
6
survey that helped us understand the attitudes and actions of
C.E.O.'s in responding to HIV. [An industrial giant] asked an
HIV expert to brief its key officers -- and pledged to conduct an
education program for employees. Others are fighting the spread
of HIV by fighting to keep schools and workplaces drug-free.
This is America responding to a crisis. This is America at its
best.
This epidemic is having a major impact on our health care
system. It is altering spending patterns by our government. In
1982, we knew little about AIDS -- and spent only $8 million. By
1990, that has grown to almost $3 billion more, even, than the
Suggestion: budget of the entire FBI -- and almost double what's spent for
End sentence the
the National Cancer Institute.
Note: this includes tan
after
amount forthe national
$3billion as a
And I have asked Congress for still more money -- almost cancer
Institute
there is
$3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Money for basic research. $
lot of
150
flict
For HIV treatment and education. For protecting civil rights.
million
for AIDS over con AIDS spending us. for
that is
America has the most sophisticated health care system in the
for
AIDS
world. But it's not enough. Our system depends on private
research
insurance and individual payments, as well as government
programs. AIDS magnifies the challenges, including the challenge
Herl
HX5178
of providing fair access to care to all Americans, rich and poor.
In my State of the Union Address, I asked Dr. Louis Sullivan
to lead a Cabinet-level review of health care in the 1990's.
We don't know yet where this review will lead us. But we do
know that businesses like those you represent will be a big part
of the answer to improving health care and increasing access.
7
The epidemic is not over. We report tens of thousands of
new cases every year. And many predict we can expect to continue
to do so in this decade, and even into the next century.
And yet, as in every generation, no crisis is without
hopeful signs. To begin with, we can be encouraged by the news
that current projections of the infection rate will not be as
high as we thought just a year ago.
The use of new medicines such as A-Z-T means that more and
more people with HIV will be able to live and work because these
therapies offer the potential of making it a more manageable
disease. Keep them in your workforce. They can serve many, many
more productive years with no threat to you, your other workers,
or your companies. It will reduce costs for everyone. And it's
the right thing to do.
The pace of progress is promising. The HIV virus has been
identified, isolated, and attacked with experimental treatments
in a span of less than 10 years. The normal, centuries-long
evolution of disease and treatment compressed into a decade.
And this race against time has produced an explosion in
knowledge and basic understanding about the nature of disease and
immunology. Like the unexpected technological boons from
Apollo's race to the moon, some physicians predict the race to
cure AIDS may even produce a cure for cancer.
We're going to continue to fight like hell But we're also
guitaste
going to fight for hope. America has a unique capacity for
beating the odds -- and astounding the world.
HRIL X 5178
8
During my own childhood, the silent, whispered terror was a
mysterious killer called polio. Like HIV, the virus ignored
class distinctions and geographic boundaries. Monday would come,
and kids who'd been in school on Friday were simply never seen
again. Theaters were closed, summer camps, swimming pools.
As with AIDS, there was a lot of ignorance. Thousands of
stray cats and dogs put to death. Kids sleeping with camphor
inhalers. At least one town was fumigated with D.D.T. -- doing
nothing to stop polio -- and unknowingly helping endanger the
American eagle.
There were terrifying outbreaks in the teens, in the
thirties, in the fifties. A cure was so far distant the experts
refused to speculate. One doctor observed: "We have learned
very little that is new about the disease, but much that is old
about ourselves."
And then, suddenly, it was over. It happened so fast. The
dreaded iron lung, unused, cluttering hospital hallways.
Children again growing up in a world without fear.
Many comparisons have been made to epidemics past. Cholera.
The Plague. Yellow fever. None of them perfect. So let me boil
down the lessons of polio to two:
There was a lot of ignorance -- let's learn from that. And
in the darkest of hours -- hope came unexpectedly, powerfully and
with finality. Let's work hard to see that day come to pass. 111
Together, we will make a difference, for those with HIV and
AIDS -- and for all Americans. 1111
Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
Document No. 125786SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
3/23/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/26/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
LEE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Monday, March 26, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
McNally/Simon
March 23, 1990
1990 MAR 23 AM ID: 59
Draft Three (B:AIDS)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1990, 11:15 A.M.
Thank you,
. [ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
There could scarcely be a more important gathering, a more
important place for me to be than here with you -- the men and
women who guide business and industry as they focus on the best
way to help our people suffering with HIV and AIDS.
There are many team players in this struggle. Community
service organizations. Religious leaders of all persuasions.
AIDS service organizations created by volunteers, many of them
also infected with HIV. And corporations and private foundations
that together have given over $100 million to support literally
thousands of AIDS projects.
You make our hearts glad. And you make your country proud.
Other generations have faced life-threatening medical
SHOULD NETATION DRIVE.
crises, from polio to the
plague.
This virus is our challenge.
THE PLASUE:NOT
a challenge we sought. Not a challenge we chose. But today
RESPONSIBILITY CAN BE STATED SIMPLY:
our choice is simple:
MUST
We will meet this challenge. We will MUST beat this virus. For
whether talking about a nation or an ind 1 Good! Mc Clure is
measured not by our tragedies -- but by makes the same nose
tragedies. III
suggestion
And for those who are living with I
sponse
is simple: They deserve our compassion. They deserve our care.
And they deserve more than a chance -- they deserve a cure. III
BUT BEYOND COMPASSION AND CARE, WE MUST FIND
2
America will accept nothing less. We are slashing red tape.
Accelerating schedules. Boosting research. And somewhere out
there, there's a Nobel prize -- and the gratitude of the planet
DISCOVERS
Earth -- waiting for the man or woman who peers into a microscope
"science" and e answer that's eluded everyone else.
society - this
7 that day will come soon. But until that day --
is improvement terrific
BY SCIENCE
irus can be defeated in our hospitals -- there's a
BY SOCIETY.
waged in our homes. III
Because in 1990, the single most effective weapon in our
arsenal against AIDS is [not medication, 11 but but] education. \\\
We must i
to educate the public about
AIDS
and
how
i
He's right Good
fear into rati
change. (Mc Clure
r goal is to turn irrational
makes the some
Because t
point)
ht against disease. It's also
a fight agains
t against discrimination. III
SOME
Almost three years ago, I described our struggle against the
HIV virus as a battle against a "new and mysterious disease." "
Today, HIV is not so new and not so mysterious. Today, HIV
has joined cancer, heart disease, and accidents as one of the
deadly realities of our time.
Of these, HIV is one of the most lethal, one of the most
frightening. But HIV is also one of the most preventable.
Every American must learn what AIDS is -- and what AIDS is
not. And they must learn now. So let's shoot down some myths.
The HIV virus is not spread by handshakes or hugs. You can't get
3
it from food or drink. Coughing or sneezing. Or by sharing
bathrooms or towels or conversation.
[It's not like heart disease, where there's confusion over
OMIT. THIS
is A BATTLE
ever-changing bits of advice on oat bran and olive oil, exercise
WE DON'T
and eggs. The transmission of AIDS is as simple as it is deadly.
NEED.
It's determined not by what you are -- but by what you do -- and
MAITH AIDS.
by what you fail to do. III
1 Counsel's
: state it clearly: People are placed at risk not by
office has assem
[raphics, but by their deeds. By their behavior. III
that a solves this. ential information needed to prevent the spread of HIV
suggested edit, it is our duty to make certain that every American
Because while the ignorant may discriminate against
UNINFORMED.
AIDS -- AIDS won't discriminate among the ignorant. III
Like many of you, Barbara and I have had friends who have
died of AIDS. Our love for them when they were sick and when
they died was just as great and just as intense as for anyone we
have lost to heart disease or cancer or accidents.
In this nation, in this decade, there is only one way to
deal with an individual who is sick. With dignity. Compassion.
Care. Confidentiality. And without discrimination. III
Once disease strikes -- we don't blame those who are
suffering. We don't spurn the accident victim who didn't wear a
seatbelt. We don't reject the cancer patient who didn't quit
smoking. We [try to] love them and care for them and comfort them, *
We do not fire them, or evict them, or cancel their insurance.
* EVEN AS WE SEEK TO EDUCATE THE NEXT GENERATION.
4
People with AIDS are no different than people with other
disabling and life-threatening diseases. They are our colleagues
and co-workers. Our friends. Our families. THEY ARE US.
And today I call on the House of Representatives to get on
with the job of passing a law -- the Americans with Disabilities
Act -- that prohibits discrimination against those with HIV and
AIDS.
This is a fight against a disease -- not a fight against
people. III And we won't tolerate discrimination. 1111
The disease is attacking our most precious resource -- our
people, our young. Unlike many of the diseases that cause
disability in our elderly, AIDS affects many "Four score and seven he
prime of life. Ninety-five percent of the : years ago, our
th
AIDS are between the ages of 20 and 59. The fathers and brought
they planned to work and create, and save fo forth on this
their struggle is to survive.
The statistics are numbing. You heard them this morning.
But just look at the amazing quilts which hang around us today.
PERSON
They prove that no man- is a statistic. Every life has its own
fabric. Its own colors. Its own purpose. Its own soul. And
like the quilts, no two are alike. III
These quilts commemorate the dead. But the most important
part of our learning is with the living. And I hope that you
will go out and visit the AIDS wards. Meet with the patients and
their families. See the face of humanity in the face of AIDS.
5
When Barbara and I left Washington for the Christmas
holidays, our last stop was a clinic at the National Institutes
of Health. We were impressed by the [mettle and] determination of
the people there -- the doctors, nurses, and health care workers
-- and especially the brave people who are living with HIV. We
learned a lot about courage. A lot about family. And a lot
about hope.
Recently, we received a letter from seven who we visited.
They wrote: "Each of us looks for hope in very personal ways.
We seek comfort and warmth from those we love. We seek new
answers through participation in experimental drug studies. We
seek to enjoy the simplest of pleasures in everyday life. We
seek to make peace with ourselves and with those who don't
understand us. We seek a voice, a compassionate voice, that can
address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of people."
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice they seek must be your
voice. The voice of every American. III
Your employees will take their cues from you. You are in a
powerful, unique position to influence the response to HIV and
JIM POINTS THOUS PANOSIENT. of
AIDS. When someone asks: "Who will volunteer to help care for
our co-workers with AIDS?" you should be the first to say, "I
will." Washing your hands of it won't help solve this problem.
But rolling up your sleeves will. 111
The roster of participants at this Conference is an honor
roll. Allstate sponsored a landmark conference to help deal with
the impact of HIV at work. The magazine, Fortune, launched a
6
survey that helped us understand the attitudes and actions of
C.E.O.'s in responding to HIV. [An industrial giant] asked an
HIV expert to brief its key officers -- and pledged to conduct an
education program for employees. Others are fighting the spread
of HIV by fighting to keep schools and workplaces drug-free.
This is America responding to a crisis. This is America at its
best.
This epidemic is having a major impact on our health care
system. It is altering spending patterns by our government. In
1982, we knew little about AIDS -- and spent only $8 million. By
1990, that has grown to almost $3 billion [more, even, than the
budget of the entire FBI -- and almost double what's spent for
the National Cancer Institute.
1 the edit from
And I have asked Congress for still more Cabinet affails may
solve this
$3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Money
For HIV treatment and education. For protect
America has the most sophisticated health care system in the
world. But it's not enough. Our system depends on private
insurance and individual payments, as well as government
programs. AIDS magnifies the challenges, including the challenge
DROP
of providing fair access to care to all Americans, rich and poor.
In my State of the Union Address, I asked Dr. Louis Sullivan
to lead a Cabinet-level review of health care in the 1990's.
We don't know yet where this review will lead us. But we do
know that businesses like those you represent W
l agree these 3 It's
of the answer to improving health care and incr should be cut for
length (since Sullum
is speaking in the
A.M.). But the fair
access" is a good signal,
showing POTUS recognings
AIDS intend impact
the minority community my
7
The epidemic is not over. We report tens of thousands of
new cases every year. And many predict we can expect to continue
to do so in this decade, and even into the next century.
And yet, as in every generation, no crisis is without
hopeful signs. To begin with, we can be encouraged by the news
that current projections of the infection rate will not be as
high as we thought just a year ago.
The use of new medicines such as A-Z-T means that more and
more people with HIV will be able to live and work because these
therapies offer the potential of making it a more manageable
disease. Keep them in your workforce. They can serve many, many
more productive years with no threat to you, your other workers,
or your companies. It will reduce costs for everyone. And it's
the right thing to do. III
The pace of progress is promising. The HIV virus has been
identify McNallip comments line.
nd atta
al treatments
in this
"God" on AIDS at NIH.
soften ("bad to instead the of
10 year
(Fauci will also turies-long
evol
produce?); But up Dr. OK
treat address this group a decade.
knowl fauce
line confirmed by by
st tim in the A.M.)
plosion in
understand
:
of disease and
immunology. [Like the unexpected technological boons from
DROP
Apollo's race to the moon, some physicians predict the race to
cure AIDS may even produce a cure for cancer .]
We're going to continue to fight. like hell. But we're also
going to fight for hope. America has a
2 Cabinet offairs
beating the odds -- and astounding the
that's a nice
offers an edit
impronement on this.
8
During my own childhood, the silent, whispered terror was a
mysterious killer called polio. Like HIV, the virus ignored
class distinctions and geographic boundaries. Monday would come,
and kids who'd been in school on Friday were simply never seen
again. Theaters were closed, summer camps, swimming pools.
As with AIDS, there was a lot of ignorance. Thousands of
stray cats and dogs put to death. Kids sleeping with camphor
inhalers. At least one town was fumigated with D.D.T. -- doing
nothing to stop polio -- and unknowingly helping endanger the
American eagle.
There were terrifying outbreaks in the teens, in the
thirties, in the fifties. A cure was so far distant the experts
refused to speculate. One doctor observed: "We have learned
very little that is new about the disease, but much that is old
about ourselves."
And then, suddenly, it was over. It happened so fast. The
dreaded iron lung, unused, cluttering hospital hallways.
Children again growing up in a world without fear.
Many comparisons have been made to epidemics past. Cholera.
DROP
The Plague. Yellow fever. None of them perfect. So let me boil
down the lessons of polio to two:
vas a lot of ignorance -- let's learn from that. And
small
pox.
st of hours -- hope came unexpectedly, powerfully and
:-
Let's work hard to see that day come to pass. III
.
we will make a difference, for those with HIV and
r all Americans.
Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
Document No. 125786SS
WHITE HOUSE STAFFING MEMORANDUM
DATE:
3/23/90
ACTION/CONCURRENCE/COMMENT DUE BY: 3/26/90 2:00 PM
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
SUBJECT:
ACTION FYI
ACTION FYI
VICE PRESIDENT
MCCLURE
SUNUNU
NEWMAN
SCOWCROFT
PORTER
DARMAN
ROGICH
BATES
UNTERMEYER
CARD
ROGERS
CICCONI
WINSTON
DEMAREST
PINKERTON
FITZWATER
LEE
GRAY
HAGIN
REMARKS:
Please forward any comments directly to Chriss Winston, Rm. 122,
x2930, no later than 2:00 PM, Monday, March 26, with a copy to
my office. Thank you.
RESPONSE:
HITS winments in blereinle. 3-26-90
James W. Cicconi
Assistant to the President
and Deputy to the Chief of Staff
Ext. 2702
McNally/Simon
March 23, 1990
1990 MAR 23 AM ID: 59
Draft Three (B:AIDS)
PRESIDENTIAL REMARKS: NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
CRYSTAL GATEWAY MARRIOTT
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 1990, 11:15 A.M.
Thank you,
.
[ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS]
(sounds
This is a very important
and I
condescenting)
There could scarcely be a more important gathering, a more
am honored to be
important place for me to be than here with you -- the men and
women who guide business and industry as they focus on the best
way to help our people suffering with HIV and AIDS.
There are many team players in this struggle. Community
service organizations. Religious leaders of all persuasions.
AIDS service organizations created by volunteers, many of them
also infected with HIV. And corporations and private foundations
that together have given over $100 million to support literally (private funding
thousands of AIDS projects.
a mount too
close in text to
exclamation of
You make our hearts glad. And you make your country proud. approval.
Other generations have faced life-threatening medical
[People may
criticize
crises, from polio to the plague. This virus is our challenge. the amount
of Federal
Not a challenge we sought. Not a challenge we chose. But today Spending
Orlack
our choice is simple:
thereof!
We will meet this challenge. We will beat this virus. For
whether talking about a nation or an individual, character is
measured not by our tragedies but by how we respond to those
all this opens us
tragedies. III
up to criticom for lack
And for those who are living with HIV and AIDS, our response
of more visible Govt.
response.
is simple: They deserve our compassion. They deserve our care.
And they deserve more than a chance -- they deserve a cure. III
promises too much
our continued
(work or) efforts
for a cure.
a little sensitive because there is someone at NIH, Robertballow,
who is nobel prize material. But he is now under a
Congressional investigation for misconduct in science.
America will accept nothing less. We are slashing red tape.
Accelerating schedules. Boosting research. And somewhere out
there, there's a Nobel prize -- and the gratitude of the planet
Earth -- waiting for the man or woman who peers into a microscope
and sees the answer that's eluded everyone else.
a littledated
now us lazer' +
We pray that day will come soon. But until that day -- other
hightech
until this virus can be defeated in our hospitals -- there's a equip
Research
battle to be waged in our homes. III
Because in 1990, the single most effective weapon in our
arsenal against AIDS is not medication, 11 but education. III
We must increase our efforts to educate the public about
AIDS and how it is contracted. Our goal is to turn irrational
fear into rational facts.
Because this isn't just a fight against disease. It's also
a fight against ignorance. A fight against discrimination. III
Almost three years ago, I described our struggle against the
HIV virus as a battle against a "new and mysterious disease."
Today, HIV is not so new and not so mysterious. Today, HIV
has joined cancer, heart disease, and accidents as one of the
deadly realities of our time.
Of these, HIV is one of the most lethal, one of the most
frightening. But HIV is also one of the most preventable.
Every American must learn what AIDS is -- and what AIDS is
not. And they must learn now. So let's shoot down some myths.
The HIV virus is not spread by handshakes or hugs. You can't get
3
it from food or drink. Coughing or sneezing. or by sharing
bathrooms or towels or conversation.
It's not like heart disease, where there's confusion over
ever-changing bits of advice on oat bran and olive oil, exercise
and eggs. The transmission of AIDS is as simple as it is deadly.
It's determined not by what you are -- but by what you do -- and
by what you fail to do. III
Let me state it clearly: People are placed at risk not by
their demographics, but by their deeds. By their behavior. 111
And so it is our duty to make certain that every American
has the essential information needed to prevent the spread of HIV
and AIDS. Because while the ignorant may discriminate against
AIDS -- AIDS won't discriminate among the ignorant. III
Like many of you, Barbara and I have had friends who have
died of AIDS. Our love for them when they were sick and when
they died was just as great and just as intense as for anyone we
have lost to heart disease or cancer or accidents.
In this nation, in this decade, there is only one way to
deal with an individual who is sick. with dignity. Compassion.
Care. Confidentiality. And without discrimination. 111
Once disease strikes -- we don't blame those who are
suffering. We don't spurn the accident victim who didn't wear a
seatbelt. We don't reject the cancer patient who didn't quit
smoking. We try to love them and care for them and comfort them.
We do not fire them, or evict them, or cancel their insurance.
4
People with AIDS are no different than people with other
disabling and life-threatening diseases. They are our colleagues
and co-workers. Our friends. Our families. THEY ARE
US.
And today I call on the House of Representatives to get on
with the job of passing a law -- the Americans with Disabilities
Act -- that prohibits discrimination against those with HIV and
AIDS.
This is a fight against a disease -- not a fight against
people. III And we won't tolerate discrimination. IIII
The disease is attacking our most precious resource -- our
people, our young. Unlike many of the diseases that cause
disability in our elderly, AIDS affects many Americans now in the
diagnosed Since
prime of life. Ninety-five percent of the 115,000 Americans with 1981
AIDS are havebeen between the ages of 20 and 59. These were the years (67,000 of
they planned to work and create, and save for the future. Now the 15,000
their struggle is to survive.
are dead)
The statistics are numbing. You heard them this morning.
But just look at the amazing quilts which hang around us today.
person or no one
They prove that no man is a statistic. Every life has its own
fabric. Its own colors. Its own purpose. Its own soul. And
like the quilts, no two are alike. III
These quilts commemorate the dead. But the most important
part of our learning is with the living. And I hope that you
asinawedone anl
will go out and visit the AIDS wards/ Meet with the patients and
their families. See the face of humanity in the face of AIDS.
5
When Barbara and I left Washington for the Christmas
holidays, our last stop was a clinic at the National Institutes
of Health. We were impressed by the mettle and determination of
the people there -- the doctors, nurses, and health care workers
-- and especially the brave people who are living with HIV. We
learned a lot about courage. A lot about family. And a lot
about hope.
patients
Recently, we received a letter from seven we visited.
They wrote: "Each of us looks for hope in very personal ways.
We seek comfort and warmth from those we love. We seek new
answers through participation in experimental drug studies. We
seek to enjoy the simplest of pleasures in everyday life. We
seek to make peace with ourselves and with those who don't
understand us. We seek a voice, a compassionate voice, that can
address the concerns of hundreds of thousands of people."
Ladies and gentlemen, the voice they seek must be your
voice. The voice of every American. III
Your employees will take their cues from you. You are in a
powerful, unique position to influence the response to HIV and
AIDS. When someone asks: "Who will volunteer to help care for
our co-workers with AIDS?" you should be the first to say, "I
will." Washing your hands of it won't help solve this problem.
But rolling up your sleeves will. 111
The roster of participants at this Conference is an honor
roll. Allstate sponsored a landmark conference to help deal with
the impact of HIV at work. The magazine, Fortune, launched a
6
survey that helped us understand the attitudes and actions of
C.E.O.'s in responding to HIV. [An industrial giant] asked an
HIV expert to brief its key officers -- and pledged to conduct an
education program for employees. Others are fighting the spread
of HIV by fighting to keep schools and workplaces drug-free.
This is America responding to a crisis. This is America at its
best.
This epidemic is having a major impact on our health care
system. It is altering spending patterns by our government. In
1982, we knew little about AIDS -- and spent only $8 million. By
1990, that has grown to almost $3 billion -- more, even, than the
budget of the entire FBI and almost double what's spent for
the reference is inflammatory .5)
the National Cancer Institute.
because AIDS is now public health
And I have asked Congress for still more money -- almost
enemy #1
$3.5 billion in the next fiscal year. Money for basic research.
For HIV treatment and education. For protecting civil rights.
America has the most sophisticated health care system in the
world. But it's not enough. Our system depends on private
insurance and individual payments, as well as government
programs. AIDS magnifies the challenges, including the challenge
of providing fair access to care to all Americans, rich and poor.
In my State of the Union Address, I asked Dr. Louis Sullivan
Domestic Policy Council
the
delivery system.
to lead a Cabinet level review of health care in the 1990
We don't know yet where this review will lead us. But we do
must play a Key role in
know that businesses like those you represent will be a big part
pro viding the unswer to
of the answer to improving health care and increasing access.
7
The epidemic is not over. We report tens of thousands of
new cases every year. And many predict we can expect to continue
to do so in this decade, and even into the next century.
And yet, as in every generation, no crisis is without
hopeful signs. To begin with, we can be encouraged by the news
that current projections of the infection rate will not be as
high as we thought just a year ago.
The use of new medicines such as A-Z-T means that more and
more people with HIV will be able to live and work because these
therapies offer the potential of making it a more manageable
disease. Keep them in your workforce. They can serve many, many
more productive years with no threat to you, your other workers,
or your companies. It will reduce costs for everyone. And it's
the right thing to do.
The pace of progress is promising. The HIV virus has been
identified, isolated, and attacked with experimental treatments
in a span of less than 10 years. The normal, centuries-long
evolution of disease and treatment compressed into a decade.
And this race against time has produced an explosion in
knowledge and basic understanding about the nature of disease and
immunology. Like the unexpected technological boons from
Apollo's race to the moon, some physicians predict the race to
cure AIDS may even produce a cure for cancer.
The destruction, the death, the lost uppor-
We're going to continue to fight, like holl. But we're also tunities
going to fight for hope. America has a unique capacity for
beating the odds -- and astounding the world.
8
During my own childhood, the silent, whispered terror was a
mysterious killer called polio. Like HIV, the virus ignored
class distinctions and geographic boundaries. Monday would come,
and kids who'd been in school on Friday were simply never seen
again. Theaters were closed, summer camps, swimming pools.
indealing with polio.
As with AIDS, there was a lot of ignorance^ Thousands of
stray cats and dogs put to death. Kids sleeping with camphor
inhalers. At least one town was fumigated with D.D.T. -- doing
nothing to stop polio -- and unknowingly helping endanger the
American eagle.
There were terrifying outbreaks in the teens, in the
thirties, in the fifties. A cure was so far distant the experts
refused to speculate. One doctor observed: "We have learned
very little that is new about the disease, but much that is old
about ourselves."
And then, suddenly, it was over. It happened so fast. The
dreaded iron lung, unused, cluttering hospital hallways.
Children again growing up in a world without fear.
Many comparisons have been made to epidemics past. Cholera.
The Plague. Yellow fever. None of them perfect. So let me boil
down the lessons of polio to two:
There was a lot of ignorance -- let's learn from that. And
in the darkest of hours -- hope came unexpectedly, powerfully and
with finality. Let's work hard to see that day come to pass. 111
Together, we will make a difference, for those with HIV and
AIDS -- and for all Americans.
Thank you. And may God bless the United States of America.
#
#
#
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
NATIONAL LEADERSHIP COALITION ON AIDS
GENERAL COMMENTS ON THE PRESIDENT'S
ADDRESS
There is no mention made of the people who are HIV
infected due to blood transfusions, AIDS babies, etc. It
seems as if the speech is written to address the problems
of those who suffer from the HIV infection due only to
sexual practices.
--
The section where the President addresses how you
contract the AIDS virus, seems to be talking down to this
group. They are leaders and experts on the subject and
know how the disease is spread -- that seems more
appropriate for a group of college students.
Perhaps we can have an insert on Dr. Novello, the new
Surgeon General, who has specialized in pediatric AIDS.
The President just presided over her swearing-in this
month.
The President may want to acknowledge that Secretary
Sullivan is scheduled to speak to the group earlier in the
day.
--
You need to mention that the President will have just
come from a meeting with the leadership of the AIDS
Commission. This group, David Rogers, June Osborne and
Belinda Mason, will meet with the President at 10:45 a.m.
and will probably ride over to the Marriott in the
President's motorcade. Secretary Sullivan and Dr. Mason,
Assistant Secretary for Public Health (he oversees the
Public Health Service -- the Surgeon General works under
him) will also attend the meeting.
Labor's general comment was for an insert of the
following: The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration in the Department of Labor this year will
adopt a major new regulation to protect 5.3 million
American workers against the AIDs and hepatitis B viruses.
Included will be 4.7 million who work in health care
facilities such as hospitals and physicians' and dentists'
offices and another 600,000 who are employed in such areas
as law enforcement, fire and rescue operations,
correctional work, or research laboratories. Secretary of
Labor Elizabeth Dole terms this a dramatic move to reduce
the incidence of such diseases among workers.
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
:
One last comment, is John Schall, on the DPC, said he
thought this was one of the best speeches he has read.
BOB SIMON
Louis Sullivan
AIDS acknowledgements
Thank you. Before I start, I want to thank Larry Williford of
Allstate and B.J. Stiles from the National Leadership Coalition on AIDS
for making this conference possible. And I want to recognize my two
appointees to the National Commission on AIDS: Dr. David Rogers and
Belinda Mason. And also, my own personal physician, and a member of the
original HIV Commission, Dr. Burton Lee.
((I'm sorry I can't stay for lunch, but I understood they're
serving broccoli. ))
it's fine - but l suggest me
play this one w/ no jokes
whatsoever. (We gain nothing, and any
joke its opens the door a crack for an
attack by our critics on insensitivity.
We don't needit.)
- Ed
only agree and acknowled