the first time any major network show would devote significant time to discussing the federal government’s role in the epidemic. “Of course, if it turns out that Rock Hudson doesn’t have AIDS,” the producer said, “we’re going to cancel this show.” In New York, Dr. Mathilde Krim, besieged with interview requests, was privately disgusted that President Reagan was shedding “crocodile tears” over Hudson. Where was his concern for the thousands of others who had been dying all these years? she wondered.
