The Secret Story of How a Revered Future Surgeon General Inspired the Tuskegee Syphilis Study

[Judi Lynn]

2. Clinton Apologizes To Tuskegee Experiment Victims

Clinton Apologizes To Tuskegee Experiment Victims

President says he's sorry the federal government sponsored a study 'so clearly racist'


WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, May 16) -- President Bill Clinton offered an emotional apology today for the U.S. government's notorious Tuskegee syphilis study, calling it shameful and racist. (320K wav sound)

In a ceremony at the White House's East Room, Clinton said the government lied to and betrayed hundreds of African-American men who thought they were getting free medical care.

Instead, their syphilis went untreated for decades so medical researchers could study how the disease progressed. Even when it was known that penicillin could cure the disease, the men in the study didn't get it.

"What was done cannot be undone, but we can end the silence," Clinton said. "We can stop turning our heads away. We can look at you in the eye, and finally say, on behalf of the American people, what the United States government did was shameful and I am sorry." (384K wav sound)

More:
http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/05/16/tuskegee.apology/