HIV WILL BE CURED—BY MEDICINE AND ACTIVISM.

AT A PRESS CONFERENCE ON APRIL 23, 1984, then-president Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, Margaret Heckler, made a significant announcement: First, that scientists had identified the virus that caused acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; second, that a blood test to identify people living with the virus had been developed; and third, that a vaccine for HTLV III (or human lymphotropic virus 3, which would later be called human immunodeficiency virus) could be produced within two years.

When Heckler made her address, Reagan had yet to say the word “AIDS” in public. ACT UP New York would not be formed for another three years, meaning there was no collective organization holding the federal government or