Otis R. Bowen

Life & Legacy

Otis Ray Bowen (February 26, 1918 – May 4, 2013) was an American politician and physician who served as the 44th governor of Indiana from 1973 to 1981 and as Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Cabinet of President Ronald Reagan from 1985 to 1989.
Bowen began his medical career in 1942. He served in the United States Army medical corps from 1943 to 1946 rising to the rank of captain. After World War II, he set up a medical practice in Bremen, Indiana and later became involved in Republican Party politics, serving as a member of the Indiana House of Representatives from 1956 to 1958 and 1960 to 1972, including as Speaker of the House from 1967 to 1972. Bowen was elected Governor of Indiana in 1972 and re-elected in 1976. He also taught at Indiana University until his appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1985.
At the time of his appointment, criticism was rising that the Reagan Administration was not doing enough to respond to AIDS. During his term, Bowen offered explicit warnings about the threats posed by the disease. By 1987, he warned that the threat posed by AIDS could rival deadly health disasters like the Black Death, smallpox, and typhoid if more was not done to combat the threat posed by the disease but the following year he also commented "we do not expect any explosion into the heterosexual population." Bowen served as Secretary of Health and Human Services until his retirement in 1989.