The Reagan administration thought Surgeon General C. Everett Koop would put his faith above public health. Instead, Koop sent all Americans a mailer on AIDS.
His nomination had been incredibly contentious, sparking protests on the left, in the public health community and among organizations such as Planned Parenthood. But his appointment had cemented the Reagan administration’s commitment to the Christian right.
During his tenure, Koop used his position as a bully pulpit. Making “a special point of wearing my uniform,” he wrote, he appeared on talk shows, at high schools and at churches to share his views on everything from smoking to nutrition. As Time magazine put it, “Surgeon General C. Everett Koop has an opinion, which he will give you with great certainty at high speed.
Now Koop, with the assistance of a few public health officials, wrote a detailed and explicit report about HIV and how Americans could and should protect themselves.The federal government had been creating sex-education materials since 1918, pamphlets that typically had taken one of two approaches. Those intended for the general public relied heavily on euphemisms and vague language. Those intended for the military used slang terms, warning to avoid “whores” for fear of contracting “the clap.
Frustrated by the administration’s approach, legislators in Congress turned to Koop. They asked for information about AIDS to be distributed directly to every American, regardless of where they lived or who they were, and appropriated $20 million for the effort — to be cleared by health leaders, not the White House. The seven-page “Understanding AIDS” mailer, a highly condensed version of Koop’s 1986 report, was the result, made available in English and Spanish..
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