President Clinton's Apology for the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment: A Narrative of Remembrance, Redefinition, and Reconciliation

Abstract

Employing a narrative framework, this article explores President Clinton's speech of apology for the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment. Catalysts leading to the experiment, how the experiment was enacted, and the lingering impact of the experiment on African Americans' perceptions of the public health system are described. The U.S. government's rhetorical stance toward the experiment is analyzed in terms of how it creates a narrative of remembrance, redefinition, and reconciliation. The article argues the discourse serves to redefine the role of the Tuskegee Institute in the experiment while embracing the grand narrative of modernism.