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.