America Experiences Pandemic Influenza, 1918-1920. a Social History
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University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Winter 1976 A CRUEL WIND: AMERICA EXPERIENCES PANDEMIC INFLUENZA, 1918-1920 A SOCIAL HISTORY DOROTHY ANN PETTIT Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation PETTIT, DOROTHY ANN, "A CRUEL WIND: AMERICA EXPERIENCES PANDEMIC INFLUENZA, 1918-1920 A SOCIAL HISTORY" (1976). Doctoral Dissertations. 1145. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1145 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This material was produced from a microfilm copy of the original document. 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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA St. John’s Road, Tyler’s Green High Wycombe, Bucks, England HP10 8HR Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 77-10,263 PETTIT, Dorothy Ann, 1931- A CRUEL WIND: AMERICA EXPERIENCES PANDEMIC INFLUENZA, 1918-1920. A SOCIAL HISTORY. University of New Hampshire, Ph.D., 1976 History, United States Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 @ 1977 DOROTHY ANN PETTIT ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE A CRUEL WIND: AMERICA EXPERIENCES PANDEMIC INFLUENZA 1918-1920 A SOCIAL HISTORY A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE DIVISION OF THE HUMANITIES IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY EY DOROTHY ANN PETTIT DURHAM, NEW HAMPSHIRE DECEMBER 1976 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. Dissertation director, Charles A. Jellison, Robert M. Mennel, Assoc. Prof. of History Philip Niccjloff, Prajfy of English ^^ ______________________________ Edward R. Pierce/ Assoc. Prof. of Health Studies 7 /t-v? "2 “2, / $ y C Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ...................................... iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS .............................. V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................... vi ABSTRACT ..... ................................ viii INTRODUCTION ......................................... 1 Chapter I. THE RIDDLE OF INFLUENZA ..................... 12 II. THE SILENT FOE (SPRING 19 1 8 ) .................. 50 III. A KIND OF PLAGUE (FALL 1918) .................. 89 IV. ONE WAR E N D S .................................... 134 V. THE "PARIS C O L D " ................................ 173 VI. THE AFTERMATH (1919) ........................... 204 VII. A TIRED NATION (1920) 238 AN AFTERWORD ......................................... 269 APPENDIX A. Members of Influenza Commission Appointed by Governor W hitman .......................... 274 B. "Letters From the Belgian Missions and From Taikuhsien".............................. 276 FOOTNOTES ..............................................280 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................. 313 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF TABLES 1. Antigenic Subtypes of Hemagglutinin and Neuraminidase of Influenza A Viruses of Human Origin .......................... ...... 24 2. Type B and C Influenza Viruses .................. 25 3. Historic Epidemics and Pandemics of Influenza . 29 4. Epidemics and Pandemics of Influenza in the United States, 1889 to 1969 33 5. Detroit: Excess Monthly Death Rates (Annual Basis) per 10G,000 From Influenza and Pneumonia in 1917-20 .......................... 61 6. Spring 1918: Months in Which Excess Monthly Death Rates (Annual Basis) per 100,000 From Influenza and Pneumonia Peaked in Forty-Six Cities of the United S t a t e s ................. 62 7. Excess Monthly Mortality Rates From Influenza and Pneumonia in Eight United States Cities From November 1917 to May 1 9 1 8 ............... 62 8. Camp Lewis, Tacoma, Washington: All Acute Respiratory Disease by Month 1917-18; Admission Rate per 1,000 ...................... 68 9. The Rise and Fall of the Epidemic at Camp D e v e n s ........................................... 102 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Time Sequence of Influenza Virus Replication...............................18 Figure 2. "Colonel House is Reported Dead Abroad" . 193 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I sincerely appreciate the assistance and many courte sies extended to me by the archivists and librarians whom I met in the process of doing the research for this study, in particular those at the Yale Sterling Library; the Dartmouth Medical Library; the Countway Medical Library; the Yale Library of Medicine; the Rockefeller University Archives; Columbia University's Oral History Division; the Library of the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia; the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and in Suitland, Mary land; the Archives Division of the Library of Congress; and the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland. I wish to specially thank Dr. John B. Blake, Chief of the History of Medicine Division of the National Library of Medicine, for making available to me the valuable letters written by his father, Dr. Francis G. Blake, during the pandemic period. Dr. Blake's letters would help to make any history of the pandemic come alive. I am also indebted to Mrs. Lillian Kidwell and Mr. Rudolph Clemen of the Archives of the American National Red Cross, Wash ington, D.C., and the Jenkins family at the Parsonage Gallery, Durham, New Hampshire. And, of course, I must thank Carol Fred riksen of Project HOPE for her months of hospitality in Washing ton, D.C. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. to the various medical specialists and staff at the Center For Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia, who provided me with con siderable help in researching the technical part of my study. Another person to whom I am deeply indebted is Ira Vaughan Eiscock, M.D., Professor of Public Health, Emeritus, Yale University, who has read the chapters and offered encour agement along the way. Also deserving my gratitude is L. Carrington Goodrich, Professor of History, Emeritus, Columbia University, who made suggestions for my research regarding China's role in the pandemic. All of the above-mentioned research would have been im possible had not the University of New Hampshire provided me with graduate assistantships, a dissertation year fellowship, and a travel grant from the Central University Research Fund (CURF). I wish to publicly thank the University for its will ingness to support my extensive research, and to thank as well the personnel at the Reference Desk and Inter-Library Loan and Microfilm Sections o JL U.X10 Library of New Hampshire for their continued interest and assistance. Finally, I wish to acknowledge my large debt to my two doctoral advisors, the late Professor William Greenleaf and Professor Charles A. Jellison of the Department of History, University of New Hampshire. The burden