On March 4, 1918 at the Fort Riley, Kansas military base, the first outbreaks in the US were reported. On October 1, 1918, the U.S. Surgeon General, Rupert Blue, decided the nationwide outbreak (of what was thought or proclaimed to be severe influenza) warranted a national response, so he telegraphed the American Red Cross (ARC) national headquarters in Washington, D.C. The message requested that the organization “assume charge of supplying all the needed nursing personnel” to combat the pandemic, and that it “furnish emergency supplies” when local authorities could not do …
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