Excerpt from The American Red Cross, in the Great War It is the effort of this book to set forth the scope, character and effect of the work of the American Red Cross during the Great War. When the war closed more than thirty million Americans were enrolled in the organization. Some of these were in foreign fields; most of them were at home. But, in one way or another, they were all helping. All of them working together made up the American Red Cross. Stories of special sacrifice or devotion cannot be given here and yet few organizations have so closely touched the great currents of human life. Detailed narratives will accordingly follow this book. I have sought here to summarize the work of the thirty millions as a whole. To characterize the Red Cross work of any man or woman, or to attempt to describe it with any regard to proper perspective, would be invidious if not impossible. I have therefore omitted the mention of names. The highest satisfaction any worker in the Red Cross can derive from his work is from the fact that the work itself was well done. The files of the War Council have been freely drawn upon in the preparation of this book. And I want to make special acknowledgment to every member of the force at headquarters, and to the special correspondents and staffs of our foreign commissions, who seemingly have vied with. one another in supplying me, either orally or in writing, with material without which the scope of this book could not be what it is. Indeed it may accurately be said that the book itself is a product of the American Red Cross. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

In Making the World Safe, historian Julia Irwin offers an insightful account of the American Red Cross, from its founding in 1881 by Clara Barton to its rise as the government's official voluntary aid agency. Equally important, Irwin shows that the story of the Red Cross is simultaneously a story of how Americans first began to see foreign aid as a key element in their relations with the world. As the American Century dawned, more and more Americans saw the need to engage in world affairs and to make the world a safer place--not by military action but through humanitarian aid. It was a time perfectly suited for the rise of the ARC. Irwin shows how the early and vigorous support of William H. Taft--who was honorary president of the ARC even as he served as President of the United States--gave the Red Cross invaluable connections with the federal government, eventually making it the official agency to administer aid both at home and abroad. Irwin describes how, during World War I, the ARC grew at an explosive rate and extended its relief work for European civilians into a humanitarian undertaking of massive proportions, an effort that was also a major propaganda coup. Irwin also shows how in the interwar years, the ARC's mission meshed well with presidential diplomatic styles, and how, with the coming of World War II, the ARC once again grew exponentially, becoming a powerful part of government efforts to bring aid to war-torn parts of the world. The belief in the value of foreign aid remains a central pillar of U.S. foreign relations. Making the World Safe reveals how this belief took hold in America and the role of the American Red Cross in promoting it.

A novel based on the Red Cross women in London who served doughnuts and hot coffee, and provided Big Band music and much more to welcome airmen as they returned from missions during World War II.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1919 edition. Excerpt: ... The American Red Cross in France -- First Request -- Pioneer Work to / Find Families and Keep Them Together -- Belgians in France -- Cooperation with the French Government -- Cooperative Union with English and American Society of Friends -- Cooperation with Other Relief Organizations -- Dispensaries -- Purchasing in France -- Warehouses Secured -- Assistance to the French Army -- Acknowledgment to the French Government and French Officials. / NE of the first things I was told when I arrived at our headquarters in Paris was that the French people had said that the American Red Cross came to France so silently that they did not know it had come. It was a particularly graceful way, wholly French in its subtlety, of paying a compliment to the newly arrived Commission and, needless to say, was much to the liking of men almost overwhelmed with the magnitude and strangeness of their mission. For, although men may have gone on greater missions, -- and even that is doubtful, -- surely none could have been stranger than that which left the United States in June, 1917, -- two months after the declaration of war, -- with only the vaguest idea of what they would be able to do in the way of all kinds of relief. Nor was the full meaning of their undertaking revealed to them until they touched French soil and had become eye-witnesses of the great havoc caused by three years of valiant wrestling with the huge and, at times, all but overwhelming labor of maintaining an unbroken front against the invader. That the ranks of soldiery had been terribly depleted, there were signs on every hand; nor were there evidences lacking of the acute suffering among the civilian population, where whole families found themselves separated: fathers were in the trenches, ..