American Red Cross

The American Red Cross was established on May 21, 1881, in Washington, D.C. , by a nurse named Clara Barton (1821–1912) and some of her acquaintances. Barton had visited Europe just after the American Civil War (1861–65), where she learned of the International Red Cross Movement. Once she returned to America, she campaigned for an American Red Cross society, which would provide care to the wounded in time of war and disaster. Sixty-year-old Barton was the organization's first leader, and she remained so for twenty-three years.

Under Barton's leadership, the Red Cross conducted its first domestic and overseas disaster-relief efforts, assisted the U.S. military throughout the Spanish-American War (1898), and successfully campaigned for the inclusion of peacetime relief work as part of the International Red Cross Movement.

The Red Cross received its first congressional charter in 1900 and a second one in 1905. This charter outlined the purposes of the organization and remained in place into the twenty-first century.

With the onset of World War I (1914–18), the Red Cross grew from 107 local chapters in 1914 to 3,864 in 1918. Membership grew from seventeen thousand to more than twenty million adult and eleven million Junior Red Cross members. By the end of the war, the American public had donated $400 million in funds and materials. Twenty thousand registered nurses were recruited to serve in the military, and additional Red Cross nurses volunteered to fight the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918.

Once the war was over and attention could be turned to peacetime activities, the Red Cross focused on service to veterans. It enhanced its programs in accident prevention, safety training, and nutrition education. Volunteers were on hand to help victims of the Mississippi River floods in 1927, those of the severe drought throughout the Great Plains states known as the Dust Bowl , and those of the Great Depression throughout the 1930s.

War, again

Once again the Red Cross was called upon in time of war, this time for World War II (1939–45). More than 104,000 nurses signed up for military service as the Red Cross prepared twenty-seven million packages for American and Allied (forces fighting alongside the Americans) prisoners of war. (See Allies .) The organization shipped more than three hundred thousand tons of supplies overseas and initiated a national blood drive that collected 13.3 million pints of much-needed blood to be used by the military.

With the end of the war came another refocus of priorities, and the Red Cross established the first nationwide civilian blood program, which eventually supplied almost 50 percent of the blood and blood products in America. In the 1990s, the organization expanded its role in biomedical research and began “banking” human tissue for distribution. As America entered other wars, the Red Cross provided services to members of the military. It has since expanded its services to include civil defense, HIV/AIDS education, training in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation, an emergency medical procedure), and the provision of emotional care and support to disaster victims and survivors. The Red Cross played a key role in helping the federal government form the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in 1979.

Controversy

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., the Red Cross came under scrutiny and was criticized for its handling and management of donations. The organization established the Liberty Fund, to which Americans donated $547 million, all of which they assumed would go directly to victims of the tragedy. The fund was closed in October 2001 after meeting its donation goal. When it was revealed that only 30 percent of donations directly assisted victims and that the rest would go toward improved telecommunications, building a blood supply, and planning for future terrorist attacks, there was public outcry. The Red Cross then hired someone from outside the organization to handle the management of the fund, and it was promised that all monies would go to the victims, survivors, and their families.

Criticism and controversy followed the Red Cross into 2005, the busiest hurricane season on record. Hurricane Katrina, which hit Florida , Louisiana , and Mississippi in August, was the most devastating natural disaster the organization had ever dealt with. The Red Cross was criticized for its management of nearly $1 billion in donations and received allegations that it responded more efficiently and quickly to white victims and neighborhoods than it did to African Americans.