The US Public Health Service followed 600 Black men in Macon County, Alabama: 399 with syphilis and 201 controls. They were told they had 'bad blood' and weren't told their diagnosis. Penicillin, the standard cure by the mid-1940s, was withheld so the disease could be studied to autopsy. PHS investigator Peter Buxtun raised objections internally from 1966, then gave the story to AP's Jean Heller, published July 25, 1972. The study ended in 1972. A 1974 settlement followed, and Clinton formally apologized on May 16, 1997.