The American Red Cross was established on this day in 1881 by Clara Barton, who had served as a nurse during the Civil War and been a crucial provider of medical supplies to Union soldiers. While traveling in Europe after the war’s end, she came across the newly established International Red Cross in Switzerland. Within a year of the American organization’s creation, it became an official chapter of the IRC.
Congress granted a federal charter to the American chapter in 1900, which tasks it with fulfilling certain duties to the United States. That means that while it’s a nonprofit, its mission is fulfilled through heavy cooperation with the federal government.
The group fulfills the requirements of the Geneva Conventions to protect victims of conflict and provides disaster relief coordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It also offers members of the military humanitarian aid and runs the emergency communication system between servicemembers and their families, also sharing information with commanders to help them decide on whether to provide leave or other assistance.
The American Red Cross was the major humanitarian organization in the U.S. during World War I, with adult membership skyrocketing from 17,000 in 1914 to over 20 million four years later. It ran hospitals and ambulance services, and 20,000 of its nurses served the military throughout the war.
It reprised that role during World War II, providing over 100,000 nurses to serve the troops, shipping over 27 million aid packages to prisoners of war and over 300,000 tons of supplies abroad, and collecting 13.3 million pints of blood for wounded servicemembers.
