Nancy Reagan will be laid to rest this week after passing away at the age of 94 on Sunday. Wife to Ronald Reagan, the nation’s 40th president, the former First Lady is often remembered for her start in Hollywood, her glamorous time in the White House, and her role as her husband’s trusted confidante and protector. But the Reagans also played a critical role in the HIV/AIDS crisis that ravaged the United States in the 1980s.

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS, originated in the Democratic Republic of Congo around 1920, according to Avert, a charity on the forefront of AIDS activism and treatment since the disease began to spread in the 1980s. While only 121 deaths from AIDS were reported in 1981, the number of cases skyrocketed to 100,000 in the U.S. by 1989.

Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is the virus that leads to AIDS. Today, people with HIV can live long and relatively healthy lives — without ever progressing to an AIDS diagnosis — if they adhere to a strict cocktail of medications, but in the '80s when no one really understood what was happening, HIV inevitably turned to AIDS, causing many deaths. That's why the Reagans' refusal to address the issue in a timely manner is often seen as the scarlet letter on their otherwise lauded time in office — the administration’s inaction, mainly due to the fact that most affected by the disease at the time were part of the LGBTQ community, led to many deaths, and so much suffering.

Though the World Health Organization was holding meetings about AIDS by 1983, the White House offered little support for awareness of the epidemic. Reagan, who first took office in 1981, didn’t publicly address AIDS until well into his second term. According to ABC, more than 20,000 Americans had died from the disease by the time he first spoke about it.

The first lady notoriously had enormous sway over her husband, and could have intervened if she wished. She infamously tried to champion another epidemic of the era, drugs, with the overly simplified and ultimately harmful "Just Say No" campaign. It failed due to ignoring the roots of the cause and not understanding that addiction is a disease, not a choice. [The Guardian] writes, "Much like abstinence-based sex education... 'Just Say No' spread fear and ignorance instead of information." Like HIV/AIDS, the White House failed to properly educate itself, and as a result, let down its most vulnerable citizens in another spectacular way.

In an obituary, Slate remembered Nancy as Reagan’s “protector” and the “greatest guardian of her husband’s reputation.” With that kind of influence over her husband, Nancy could likely have encouraged the president to speak out about the disease that was killing their country's citizens. It's not as though she was shy about the issues plaguing the country at that time.

"On a personal level, she was someone who was not against gay people," Richard Socarides, a former White House adviser for President Bill Clinton, told the Associated Press about Nancy Reagan. "But when the country needed leadership, President Reagan was not there, and his wife — who was able to do more — was not willing to step up. It reflects rather harshly on both of them."

With a history as an actress, and the wife of an actor-turned-politician, Nancy was known for her glamorous lifestyle and her fashion — she was also known for her Hollywood friends, including Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor.

Obituaries remember Nancy as the “first lady of style,” and counted down her best outfits, but her relationship with the fashion community was complex, as the industry is partially driven by many LGBTQ leaders. According to a 2005 piece by the New York Times, 20 of 29 men who, at that time, had received the Perry Ellis Award for Young Talent from the Council of Fashion Designers of America were gay.