Dr. Marcus Conant, one of the first physicians to diagnose and treat AIDS, attempted to raise awareness for the virus during a meeting with the White House liaison in 1983, The Guardian reports.

Conant said Reagan’s representative dismissed the concern, saying it was “a legal problem, not a medical problem” because gay men were breaking the law when choosing their partners.

Conant also wrote to the president in 1987.

“Dear President Reagan, I have all these patients and they are dying and no one’s doing anything. It is incumbent on your administration to direct the Centers for Disease Control and National Institutes of Health to begin efforts to find the cause and treatment for this disease,” the medical expert said he wrote in the letter, according to The Guardian.

Former President Ronald Reagan, according to Conant, responded in a brief letter.

“Nancy and I thank you for your support,” the president allegedly wrote.

nancy reagan

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