|
With strong endorsement from President Roosevelt, the
American public donated $784 million equivalent to more than $55
billion in today's currency to support Red Cross efforts between
1941 and 1946.
Between 1940 and 1959, when the last of the old leadership
disappeared, a transformation occurred. Mabel Boardman retired
in 1944, new volunteers were added to the membership rolls, and,
by 1945, twenty-five percent of the American population had
joined the Red Cross. The number of volunteers declined
dramatically, as it had during the post-Word War I period.
However, following World War II, nearly three-fourths of Red
Cross chapters and nearly two million volunteers remained
active.
When peace was restored, the American Red Cross, along with Red
Cross societies in other countries, the ICRC, and the League,
reunited family members separated by the conflict and carried on
extensive relief and rehabilitation programs for the civilian
victims of the war. From the beginning of the war through June
30, 1946, the American Red Cross had been instrumental in aiding
more than 75 million people, 27 million of whom were children.
The Red Cross initiated a national
blood program in 1948, the largest peacetime project the
American Red Cross had ever undertaken in the health field.
Today, Red Cross workers meet the critical need for blood and
blood products by collecting, processing, and distributing half
the nation's blood supply.
|
- 1944 -
Mabel T. Boardman retires.
- 1947
- Jackie Robinson signs with Brooklyn Dodgers.
- 1948
- American Red Cross begins national blood program.
- 1948
- Chuck Yeager breaks the sound barrier in the Bell X-1
aircraft.
- 1949
- United Nations is founded in NY.
|
