Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton retracted a statement that she made about former President Ronald Reagan and former first lady Nancy Reagan starting “a national conversation” about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Clinton claimed she meant to praise Reagan for her work toward helping those with Alzheimer's disease.
“While the Reagans were strong advocates for stem cell research and finding a cure for Alzheimer's disease, I misspoke about their record on HIV and AIDS. For that, I'm sorry,” Clinton said in a statement posted on her Twitter account.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton follows the casket during funeral and burial services for former first lady Nancy Reagan at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, Friday. Mrs. Reagan is being buried at the library next to her husband, who died June 5, 2004. She died of heart failure at the age of 94. (David McNew/Getty Images)
"It may be hard for your viewers to remember how difficult it was for people to talk about HIV/AIDS back in the 1980s,” Clinton said during an interview on MSNBC on Friday. “And because of both President and Mrs. Reagan — in particular Mrs. Reagan — we started a national conversation.”
“When before nobody would talk about it, nobody wanted to do anything about it, and that too is something that I really appreciate with her very effective, low key advocacy but it penetrated the public conscience and people began to say, 'Hey, we have to do something about this too,'" Clinton added.
The former secretary of state and former first lady was in attendance at Nancy Reagan’s funeral in Simi Valley, California on Friday. First lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush, and former first lady Rosalyn Carter were also in attendance.
