The Enemy Within free essay sample

The United States had to enter the war to stand up for what was right, even though President Wilson wanted to stay clear out of European affairs, which corresponded with his foreign policies and beliefs. Author Christine M. Kreiser stated in the article â€Å"The Enemy Within† between the months of September and June, the Spanish flu swept through America killing 675,000, however this epidemic was not just apparent in America, but all over the world with the death toll summing up to about 40 million. The men and woman who were our nurses, young factory workers, and soldiers were swept up by this flu, and immobilized completely. Not only were the Americans on our soil getting affected but also the brave men on the frontlines in Europe. The United States entered the war with relish, German U-boats were sinking American ships, and killing American citizens in an effort to cut off American supplies going into Europe. † Kreiser portrays the affirmation of the Influenza in 1918 during World War I when the Influenza flu disease was in effect.Lastly, in the article itself General John pushed to build up the troop’s strength, Rupert Blue who thought the outbreak was possible, the flu pandemic mitigation where quarantines were enacted with the interaction of the influenza disease and focus on the nation at war. Rupert Blue was an American physician and soldier who was appointed the fourth Surgeon General of the United States from 1912-1920. He was aware that an outbreak of the Influenza flu was however possible. In that instinct he was given 10,000 dollars to continue and do further research but e denied the request that they offered him in July 1918. This was the ignorance on the governments and the government’s official’s behalf and all he did was tell people what to avoid and gave them gauze masks. In all the honesty, the government officials were not seen wearing that protective gear and no one took it seriously through the aspect of this flu that was going on during the war. The government had took their part into consideration to enforce the dangers and the outcomes of the flu but no one forbidden the deadly flu germs it caused.This devoted the investigating claims that it brought through that was manifested in the states under a German –held patent. Then, there comes through the quarantine due to the flu had spread rapidly from military camp sites. But the director of the city’s Health and Charities by the name of Wilmer Krusen declined. Quarantines were regularly enacted during the terrifying polio epidemic in 1916. There were two basic components that insisted for this to be denied, which were the ignorance of the government do to the required research of the flu.This left the public’s head in the clouds and from the dangers at hand. Then the other reason behind this is that the idea was shut down due to the fact that there was a parade being held in Philadelphia as a fundraiser. This was used to cash in money to fund for the war. After this parade had happened, six hundred thirty five new civilians cases came about and one hundred and seventeen deaths from all the 200,000 spectators who came to the parade. General John was the commander in chief of the American forces in Europe.He pushed all his might to build up troop strength. The belief was that the flu wasn’t the only obstacle that was happening at this point it had to deal with at war. At the beginning of the war their weren’t enough troops because of British and French lines. Pershing needed more men and more materials for this were but the fact behind this was that most people had the disease of Influenza. The request for the troops were quite frankly in great demand by General Pershing in the rate of 250,000 troops per month even though the flu was going through the troop’s ships.Those who survived simply spread the disease at the front line for everyone else to inherit it and spread it on. The public itself downplayed the seriousness of the Influenza flu and focused on the more enemies of a nation at war. At the end, everyone just gave up and put the flu behind to winning the war. Nothing could stop a disease that infected everyone in the battlefields, and the public for weeks and carried of thousands of people in life. Some people fought through and died and others caught the flu but then spread it to everyone else.By the end of 1918, the deaths from the flu have raised greatly in the knowledge of influenza and the way it works. The people who were exposed to the flu however developed the immunity to the disease but didn’t have the lasting regrets from what the disease caused. Researchers have said â€Å"it’s probably impossible to prevent an outbreak of the flu, but it’s possible to prepare for if the government agencies agree on a plan of action to prevent it from for coming. † Carol R. Byerly presents a history of the epidemic in the U. S. Army that incorporates several distinct themes.First, the influenza epidemic was inextricably linked to the war. Indeed, the war created the epidemic by producing an ecological environment in which the virus could thrive and mutate to unprecedented virulence. Second, army medical officers were caught between their responsibilities to protect the health of soldiers and at the same time carry out the Wilson administrations war aims. Such dual responsibilities were often in conflict; the prevention of disease sometimes clashed with the goal of having the strongest possible military force.Third, there were inevitable pressures within and without the federal government as Congress, the public, and medical officers sought to shape policy. Finally, cultural ideologies and political interests shaped the experience of medical officers and their subsequent interpretations of events. Confidence in their ability to fight infectious disease proved illusory. Consequently, they ignored the epidemic as a meaningful event, excised it from the national memory, and thus preserved a faith in their ability to control disease during war.The selective memory of events also glorified the American role in World War I, which was drastically overstated. â€Å"The flu lurking in the midst of this patriotic fervor, however, would prove far more lethal than trench warfare and poison gas. † In essence to this, the author states that the disease of the flu tended the sick people and fought the wars and insisted on an effect for the disease. However, the flu was to be cause by bacteria and there were no vaccines for the flu. The author states that at the end â€Å"The Enemy Within† focused on the more tangible enemies of a nation at war rather than the Influenza disease.