Or, I also think he had a son die of AIDS. Might have joined in with the activist crowd that blamed Reagan. I saw Johnson and his wife interviewed on the subject once.
You are correct; Johnson’s son was gay and served as the first policy adviser to then-LA Mayor Tom Bradley on AIDS. Mr. Johnson’s son died from the disease in 1994, when the “Blame Reagan for AIDS” was still a convenient smear in Hollywood.
Of course, the vast majority of AIDS cases were entirely preventable, but give the gay community credit: they turned the disease into a crusade and demonized anyone who opposed them or their lifestyle. I often wonder how much progress might have been made in the battles against diseases like ALS and various cancers, if researchers had only a fraction of the funding that was devoted to AIDS.
RIP, Mr. Johnson. I enjoyed his work, and everything I’ve read about him suggests he was a devoted friend, husband and father. And, if you watch your child die decades before they should, I suppose there is a temptation to blame someone else, particularly if it is in vogue in your profession and community. But Russell Johnson was wrong about Reagan, and history proves it.