1981: Docs in LA and New York reported the first Kaposi’s sarcoma (KS) and PCP cases among gay men to the CDC.

1983: Newsweek’s “EPIDEMIC” cover made AIDS a mainstream national news story.

1985: Atlanta, home of the CDC, hosted the first International Conference on AIDS.

1987: On April Fool’s, President Reagan said AIDS publicly for the first time, proposing “A” stand for abstinence.

1992: Tennis great Arthur Ashe pre-empted USA Today’s planned outing by reluctantly telling the press he got HIV from a transfusion. The next day, April 9, the FDA set up fast-track approval for new AIDS meds, after five years of “drugs into bodies!” demos.