[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 20 (Monday, May 19, 1997)]
[Pages 718-721]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in Apology to African-Americans on the Tuskegee Experiment

May 16, 1997

    Ladies and gentlemen, on Sunday, Mr. Shaw will celebrate his 95th 
birthday. I would like to recognize the other survivors who are here 
today and their families: Mr. Charlie Pollard is here. Mr. Carter 
Howard. Mr. Fred Simmons. Mr. Simmons just took his first airplane ride, 
and he reckons he's about 110 years old, so I think it's time for him to 
take a chance or two. [Laughter] I'm glad he did. And Mr. Frederick 
Moss, thank you, sir. I would also like to ask three family 
representatives who are here--Sam Doner is represented by his daughter, 
Gwendolyn Cox. Thank you, Gwendolyn. Ernest Hendon, who is watching in 
Tuskegee, is represented by his brother, North Hendon. Thank you, sir, 
for being here. And George Key is represented by his grandson, 
Christopher Monroe. Thank you, Chris.
    I also acknowledge the families, community leaders, teachers and 
students watching

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today by satellite from Tuskegee. The White House is the people's house; 
we are glad to have all of you here today. I thank Dr. David Satcher for 
his role in this. I thank Congresswoman Waters and Congressman Hilliard, 
Congressman Stokes, the entire Congressional Black Caucus; Dr. Satcher; 
members of the cabinet who are here, Secretary Herman, Secretary Slater; 
a great friend of freedom, Fred Gray, thank you for fighting this long 
battle all these long years.
    The eight men who are survivors of the syphilis study at Tuskegee 
are a living link to a time not so very long ago that many Americans 
would prefer not to remember but we dare not forget. It was a time when 
our Nation failed to live up to its ideals, when our Nation broke the 
trust with our people that is the very foundation of our democracy. It 
is not only in remembering that shameful past that we can make amends 
and repair our Nation, but it is in remembering that past that we can 
build a better present and a better future. And without remembering it, 
we cannot make amends and we cannot go forward.
    So today America does remember the hundreds of men used in research 
without their knowledge and consent. We remember them and their family 
members. Men who were poor and African-American, without resources and 
with few alternatives, they believed they had found hope when they were 
offered free medical care by the United States Public Health Service. 
They were betrayed.
    Medical people are supposed to help when we need care, but even once 
a cure was discovered, they were denied help, and they were lied to by 
their Government. Our Government is supposed to protect the rights of 
its citizens; their rights were trampled upon--40 years, hundreds of men 
betrayed, along with their wives and children, along with the community 
in Macon County, Alabama, the City of Tuskegee, the fine university 
there, and the larger African-American community. The United States 
Government did something that was wrong, deeply, profoundly, morally 
wrong. It was an outrage to our commitment to integrity and equality for 
all our citizens.
    To the survivors, to the wives and family members, the children, and 
the grandchildren, I say what you know: No power on Earth can give you 
back the lives lost, the pain suffered, the years of internal torment 
and anguish. What was done cannot be undone. But we can end the silence. 
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.
    The American people are sorry--for the loss, for the years of hurt. 
You did nothing wrong, but you were grievously wronged. I apologize, and 
I am sorry that this apology has been so long in coming.
    To Macon County, to Tuskegee, to the doctors who have been wrongly 
associated with the events there, you have our apology, as well. To our 
African-American citizens, I am sorry that your Federal Government 
orchestrated a study so clearly racist. That can never be allowed to 
happen again. It is against everything our country stands for and what 
we must stand against is what it was.
    So let us resolve to hold forever in our hearts and minds the memory 
of a time not long ago in Macon County, Alabama, so that we can always 
see how adrift we can become when the rights of any citizens are 
neglected, ignored, and betrayed. And let us resolve here and now to 
move forward together.
    The legacy of the study at Tuskegee has reached far and deep, in 
ways that hurt our progress and divide our Nation. We cannot be one 
America when a whole segment of our Nation has no trust in America. An 
apology is the first step, and we take it with a commitment to rebuild 
that broken trust. We can begin by making sure there is never again 
another episode like this one. We need to do more to ensure that medical 
research practices are sound and ethical and that researchers work more 
closely with communities.
    Today I would like to announce several steps to help us achieve 
these goals. First, we will help to build that lasting memorial at 
Tuskegee. The school founded by Booker T. Washington, distinguished by 
the renowned scientist George Washington Carver and so many others who 
advanced the health

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and well-being of African-Americans and all Americans, is a fitting 
site. The Department of Health and Human Services will award a planning 
grant so the school can pursue establishing a center for bioethics in 
research and health care. The center will serve as a museum of the study 
and support efforts to address its legacy and strengthen bioethics 
training.
    Second, we commit to increase our community involvement so that we 
may begin restoring lost trust. The study at Tuskegee served to sow 
distrust of our medical institutions, especially where research is 
involved. Since the study was halted, abuses have been checked by making 
informed consent and local review mandatory in federally funded and 
mandated research.
    Still, 25 years later, many medical studies have little African-
American participation and African-American organ donors are few. This 
impedes efforts to conduct promising research and to provide the best 
health care to all our people, including African-Americans. So today, 
I'm directing the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Donna Shalala, 
to issue a report in 180 days about how we can best involve communities, 
especially minority communities, in research and health care. You must--
every American group must be involved in medical research in ways that 
are positive. We have put the curse behind us; now we must bring the 
benefits to all Americans.
    Third, we commit to strengthen researchers' training in bioethics. 
We are constantly working on making breakthroughs in protecting the 
health of our people and in vanquishing diseases. But all our people 
must be assured that their rights and dignity will be respected as new 
drugs, treatments and therapies are tested and used. So I am directing 
Secretary Shalala to work in partnership with higher education to 
prepare training materials for medical researchers. They will be 
available in a year. They will help researchers build on core ethical 
principles of respect for individuals, justice, and informed consent, 
and advise them on how to use these principles effectively in diverse 
populations.
    Fourth, to increase and broaden our understanding of ethical issues 
and clinical research, we commit to providing postgraduate fellowships 
to train bioethicists especially among African-Americans and other 
minority groups. HHS will offer these fellowships beginning in September 
of 1998 to promising students enrolled in bioethics graduate programs.
    And finally, by Executive order I am also today extending the 
charter of the National Bioethics Advisory Commission to October of 
1999. The need for this commission is clear. We must be able to call on 
the thoughtful, collective wisdom of experts and community 
representatives to find ways to further strengthen our protections for 
subjects in human research.
    We face a challenge in our time. Science and technology are rapidly 
changing our lives with the promise of making us much healthier, much 
more productive and more prosperous. But with these changes we must work 
harder to see that as we advance we don't leave behind our conscience. 
No ground is gained and, indeed, much is lost if we lose our moral 
bearings in the name of progress.
    The people who ran the study at Tuskegee diminished the stature of 
man by abandoning the most basic ethical precepts. They forgot their 
pledge to heal and repair. They had the power to heal the survivors and 
all the others, and they did not. Today, all we can do is apologize. But 
you have the power, for only you, Mr. Shaw, the others who are here, the 
family members who are with us in Tuskegee--only you have the power to 
forgive. Your presence here shows us that you have chosen a better path 
than your Government did so long ago. You have not withheld the power to 
forgive. I hope today and tomorrow every American will remember your 
lesson and live by it.
    Thank you, and God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 2:26 p.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Tuskegee Experiment survivors 
Herman Shaw, who introduced the President, and Frederick Moss; and Fred 
D. Gray, attorney for the Tuskegee Experiment participants. The study 
was the ``Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male.''

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