American Red Cross
The American National Red Cross,[5] is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. It is the designated US affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the United States movement to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Formation
May 21, 1881
53-0196605
Instrumentality of the United States and a body corporate and politic[1][2] 501(c)(3) organization
- Washington, D.C., United States
United States
Board of Governors
US$2.83 billion (2021)[4]
The organization offers services and development programs.[6]
Blood services[edit]
Blood donation[edit]
ARC supplies roughly 45% of the donated blood in the United States, which it sells to hospitals and regional suppliers.[36] Community-based blood centers supply nearly 50% and approximately 5% is collected directly by hospitals.[37] In December 2004, ARC completed its largest blood processing facility in the United States in Pomona, California, on the campus grounds of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Disaster responses[edit]
1908 Messina earthquake[edit]
In 1908 an earthquake and tsunami devastated the area surround the Strait of Messina. The American public donated nearly $1 million to the American Red Cross which was sent to Italy via the State Department, alongside $800,000 in public funds.[49] The decision to use the State Department to distribute funds, rather than sending them directly to the Italian Red Cross, was indicative of the organization's shift away from the International Red Cross movement and towards US interests.[50] This was the ARC's first major response to an international civilian disaster.[49]
In December of that year two Americans, Harry Bowdoin and Charles King Wood, were in Taormina when the earthquake occurred. Mr. Bowdoin was spending the winter in Taormina with his invalid mother and Mr. Wood was an artist who had lived in Taormina for several years. These two men entered upon the work of relief answering the call of the Red Cross.[110] Afterwards, the Italian government conferred upon the two men the honorific of "Cavaliere". Bowdoin and Wood were two of the twenty-one recipients of the American Red Cross silver medal for "specially meritorious service" for that year.
Before 1908, the U.S. Congress had only rarely allocated funds for natural disasters; likewise, the level of funding given to Italy was also unprecedented.[51] The ARC's aid to Italy carried important diplomatic meaning for the U.S. due to the large number of Italian emigrants who left for the U.S. every year, and Italy's growing importance within Europe.[52] ARC leaders viewed relief efforts in Italy as a way to demonstrate U.S. care for the nation. Alongside this, disaster relief was seen as a tool for social reform. A fundamental goal of the ARC's assistance was to address the perceived threat of pulverization within an area that a large proportion of U.S. immigrants came from.[53]
Role in the United States occupation of Nicaragua[edit]
As a response to the Nicaraguan resentment of the United States occupation of Nicaragua, U.S. officials employed the use of humanitarian relief in attempt to improve relations. $10,000 was given to the ARC by Philander Knox to provide relief in the form of blankets, clothing, and food to captured soldiers from José Santos Zelaya's army.[54] ARC leaders believed that humanitarian relief would be more effective in fostering goodwill and creating stability than any other action. In 1912 the State and War Department became concerned with increasing reports of hunger within the country. As a result, Knox asked the ARC to supply food for non-combatants as well. American forces worked with the ARC to open railroads to distribute humanitarian supplies to Managua, Granada, Léon, and other key cities.[55]
Although the ARC was a non-governmental agency, its humanitarian efforts lined up with American foreign policy, becoming a useful diplomatic mechanism for softening the effects of American military intervention and securing its political interests.[56]
Role in World War One[edit]
Prior to the United States entry into World War One, the American Red Cross was a neutral organization aiding both the allied and central powers.[57] However, when the United States joined the allied powers, the American Red Cross aid to the central powers ended immediately. On May 10, 1917, President Wilson created the American Red Cross War Council to aid funding initiatives and direct the activities of the organization. Throughout the war, the Council raised $400 million.
The American Red Cross in the war was a quasi-state organization and a non-governmental organization, as it was not officially part of the United States Government. The American Red Cross in the war focused principally on overseas civilian aid and not domestic disaster relief. The American Red Cross spent "less than one million dollars on domestic disaster relief, in comparison to the $120 million devoted to relief overseas.[58]" The American Red Cross during the war provided food, employment, housing, and medical assistance to millions of civilians displaced by the war. During the course of the war, over one-third of the population of the United States joined the organization and in 1917 and 1918 alone around $400 million was raised.[59] Amongst its initiatives was the Pisa Village in Italy, a humanitarian housing project, begun in 1918, and manufacture of "500,000 dressings" to treat wounds using use of Sphagnum moss in place of cotton, based on the research of John William Hotson.[60][61]
The power of the American Red Cross was soon recognized by the Government which began to see "the value of overseas aid as a tool of statecraft".[62] The American Red Cross was increasingly being used as an arm of the state to facilitate the realization of American foreign policy objects. Principally, the American Red Cross enhanced America's image abroad while also disseminating American practices and values throughout Europe.[62] It intervened in European health and welfare practices by introducing American methods. Moreover, after the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia, President Wilson used the American Red Cross as a diplomacy tool to aid the White forces. Wilson believed that food was the "real thing" to combat Bolshevism and ordered the American Red Cross to distribute food and material relief to Bolshevik opponents in the Russian civil war.[63] The American Red Cross, therefore, served the dual functions of assisting the realization of United States foreign policy objectives and promoting international humanitarianism.
At the end of the war the League of Red Cross Societies was created. This international society of national Red Cross organizations was spearheaded by the United States and sought the "improvement of health, the prevention of disease, and the mitigation of suffering throughout the world."[64]
Role in Spanish Flu Outbreak of 1918[edit]
During the flu pandemic of 1918, American Red Cross chapters were instrumental in establishing both preventive measures and treatment plans within their local communities throughout the United States. The degree to which the Red Cross was involved with pandemic planning was largely dependent on the needs of the community and the actions of local public health authorities, but large cities and their surrounding communities were often dependent on the organization in mitigating the spread of the disease.[65]
Active initiatives undertaken by local chapters included the sewing of masks for local distribution, the production and promotion of educational pamphlets, the establishment of localized motor corps, and providing door-to-door nursing and social services. In some cities, the motor corps functioned both in providing auxiliary ambulatory services and expanding the logistical dispersion of manpower and supplies. The contribution of nurses, goods, services, and local administrative guidance offered by the American Red Cross provided local community leaders with essential support in combating the pandemic.[65]
