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American Perceptions of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic

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American Perceptions of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--History History 2016 Epidemic and Opportunity: American Perceptions of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic Jonathan Chilcote University of Kentucky, [email protected] Digital Object Identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2016.338 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Chilcote, Jonathan, "Epidemic and Opportunity: American Perceptions of the Spanish Influenza Epidemic" (2016). Theses and Dissertations--History. 39. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/history_etds/39 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the History at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--History by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STUDENT AGREEMENT: I represent that my thesis or dissertation and abstract are my original work. Proper attribution has been given to all outside sources. I understand that I am solely responsible for obtaining any needed copyright permissions. I have obtained needed written permission statement(s) from the owner(s) of each third-party copyrighted matter to be included in my work, allowing electronic distribution (if such use is not permitted by the fair use doctrine) which will be submitted to UKnowledge as Additional File. I hereby grant to The University of Kentucky and its agents the irrevocable, non-exclusive, and royalty-free license to archive and make accessible my work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I agree that the document mentioned above may be made available immediately for worldwide access unless an embargo applies. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of my work. I understand that I am free to register the copyright to my work. REVIEW, APPROVAL AND ACCEPTANCE The document mentioned above has been reviewed and accepted by the student’s advisor, on behalf of the advisory committee, and by the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS), on behalf of the program; we verify that this is the final, approved version of the student’s thesis including all changes required by the advisory committee. The undersigned agree to abide by the statements above. Jonathan Chilcote, Student Dr. Lien-Hang Nguyen, Major Professor Dr. Scott Taylor, Director of Graduate Studies EPIDEMIC AND OPPORTUNITY: AMERICAN PERCEPTIONS OF THE SPANISH INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC DISSERTATION A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Kentucky by Jonathan David Chilcote Georgetown, Kentucky Directors: Dr. Lien-Hang Nguyen, Associate Professor of History Lexington, Kentucky Copyright © Jonathan David Chilcote 2016 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATON EPIDEMIC AND OPPORTUNITY: AMERICAN PERCEPTIONS OF THE SPANISH INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC During the final months of the Great War, the loss of human life was not confined to the battlefields of Western Europe. The Spanish Influenza virus was rapidly spreading around the globe¸ and would ultimately leave millions dead in its wake. Some American groups, both public and private, saw the pandemic as a blessing in disguise. They interpreted the pandemic as a sign that their work, whether religious, political, commercial, or health, was more vital to the world than ever before. Influenza reinforced their existing beliefs in the rightness and necessity of their causes, and used the pandemic as a call to increase their activities. American missionaries interpreted the pandemic and its spread as a sign of the backwardness of native peoples, and they argued that the United States and Americans had an increased duty after the War and pandemic to help foreign populations with education, sanitation, and religion. For American diplomats, the pandemic was a nuisance to their work of promoting and expanding American trade. Although it devastated societies, it was not destructive to international commerce. It did, though, provide an opportunity for Americans to teach foreign peoples about better health to protect them from future diseases, and to strengthen commercial ties with the rest of the world. The U.S. Government was greatly distracted with the war effort when the epidemic hit, and refused to take it seriously. They appropriated a small amount of money to the United States Public Health Service (PHS) to deal with the epidemic. This appropriation, although small, continued a trend of the federal government becoming more involved in health efforts at the expense of states, and was used as a justification for later federal health initiatives. The PHS actively used the influenza epidemic to push for their own expansion, arguing that their success in combatting influenza showed their merit, and used it to ensure that they would maintain their power and authority after the epidemic ceased. For all of these groups, the Spanish influenza epidemic provided an opportunity for their work, and reinforced their beliefs that their efforts were needed and vital to the nation and world. Keywords: Spanish Influenza, Pandemic, Public Health, U.S. Consuls, American Missionaries Jonathan Chilcote________________ July 25, 2016___________________ EPIDEMIC AND OPPORTUNITY: AMERICAN PERCEPTIONS OF THE SPANISH INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC By Jonathan David Chilcote Lien-Hang Nguyen______________ Director of Dissertation Scott Taylor___________________ Director of Graduate Studies July 25, 2016__________________ To Kristen, Abigail, and Benjamin- the best support team in the world ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project has been many years in the making, and completing something like this requires a great deal of assistance from a great many sources. I was fortunate to receive generous grants from the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, the University of Kentucky Association of Emeriti Faculty, and the University of Kentucky History Department, which funded my frequent research trips and made all of my travel possible. Helpful individuals at the National Archives in Kansas City and the National World War I Museum and Memorial directed me to wonderful resources. The late Carlton Jackson of Western Kentucky University opened his personal archives to me of his own research on Spanish influenza, which proved extremely helpful. Numerous library staffs and archival teams also were and generous with their knowledge and expertise. Thank you for all of your help. There are many people who have given me the academic foundation to complete my graduate education, professors at every step of my career who encouraged me and directed my often-wayward ideas to something of substance. There are too many to name individually, but each helped me immeasurably. My dissertation committee was patient with me, and I am grateful for the work of Eric Christianson in the History Department and Matthew Gentry of the Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Department. I was also fortunate to have the two best advisors in the History Department. Paul Chamberlin and Lien-Hang Nguyen deserve so much praise that I cannot write it all here. But, hopefully it will suffice to say that from the first day I arrived at the University of Kentucky they took me under their wings, taught me about not only foreign relations but also the academic world as a whole, and used their expertise and connections for my betterment every step of the way. I am indebted to them both and hope that I can make them proud as I begin my career. My parents have been constant supporters of mine and have been with me since the beginning of my scholastic journey, and have put up with my never-ending desire to stay in school. I cannot repay them enough for everything they have done for me. My two children, Abigail and Benjamin, were born during this project and have provided motivation, focus, and at times, much needed distractions when I became overwhelmed. They taught me that in order to stay sane, sometimes I needed to color, build with blocks, or watch cartoons to de-stress. I love them both so much and am glad that I was blessed with kids who were patient with their father as I was often consumed with my work. Words cannot express my gratitude for the most important person in my life, my wife, Kristen. She uprooted her life in Florida to move to Kentucky so that I could chase my dream, and she worked tirelessly to keep our lives together as I once again became a graduate student. There cannot be a more devoted wife than her, and I am forever grateful that she has put up with my continual reading, writing, and absences. As I wrote in the acknowledgements for my master’s thesis, this project, like that one, would simply not have been completed without her. She is as much a part of this final work as I am, because no one gets to this point alone. If I did not have her supporting me, I might have drifted off into something else or quit a long time ago. This work is dedicated to her, iii because she has been my constant supporter and the love of my life. My career will be spent trying to understand the past and how it affects both the present and the future, attempting to make sense of it all. But, I already understand that she is my past, present, and future. And that makes all the sense in the world to me. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgments………………………………………………………………………..iii Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………1
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