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Simon Flexner
Woodrow Wilson was the 28th president of the United States who was perhaps best known for his role in leading the country through World War I. Author John M. Barry criticizes Wilson’s leadership during the 1918 pandemic for several reasons. Perhaps Barry’s most consistent criticism is that Wilson barely even acknowledged the pandemic, never in public and rarely even in private. Wilson’s focus was exclusively on the world war, and he encouraged the censorship of negative news (with the help of George Creel). This included news about the pandemic. Wilson also frequently worked alone, and this ended up having disastrous consequences: Wilson got sick during the middle of the post-World War I peace talks and ended up acting erratically, leading to botched negotiations that laid the groundwork for World War II. Ultimately, the poor leadership of Woodrow Wilson during the pandemic provides a counterpoint to the more effective leadership of the scientists at universities and institutes who played a greater role in combatting the disease despite having less authority. Wilson also represents the dangers of trying to hide the truth.
President Woodrow Wilson Quotes in The Great Influenza
The The Great Influenza quotes below are all either spoken by President Woodrow Wilson or refer to President Woodrow Wilson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11
Quotes
Wilson had demanded that “the spirit of ruthless brutality. . . enter into the very fibre of national life.” To carry out that charge, Creel had wanted to create “one white-hot mass,” a mass driven by “deathless determination.” He was doing so. This was truly total war, and that totality truly included the medical profession.
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Chapter 17
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The Liberty Loan campaign would raise millions of dollars in Philadelphia alone. The city had a quota to meet. Central to meeting that quota was a parade scheduled for September 28.
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Chapter 29
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As terrifying as the disease was, the press made it more so. They terrified by making little of it, for what officials and the press said bore no relationship to what people saw and touched and smelled and endured. People could not trust what they read. Uncertainty follows distrust, fear follows uncertainty, and, under conditions such as these, terror follows fear.
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President Woodrow Wilson Quotes in The Great Influenza
The The Great Influenza quotes below are all either spoken by President Woodrow Wilson or refer to President Woodrow Wilson. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Chapter 11
Quotes
Wilson had demanded that “the spirit of ruthless brutality. . . enter into the very fibre of national life.” To carry out that charge, Creel had wanted to create “one white-hot mass,” a mass driven by “deathless determination.” He was doing so. This was truly total war, and that totality truly included the medical profession.
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Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 17
Quotes
The Liberty Loan campaign would raise millions of dollars in Philadelphia alone. The city had a quota to meet. Central to meeting that quota was a parade scheduled for September 28.
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Chapter 29
Quotes
As terrifying as the disease was, the press made it more so. They terrified by making little of it, for what officials and the press said bore no relationship to what people saw and touched and smelled and endured. People could not trust what they read. Uncertainty follows distrust, fear follows uncertainty, and, under conditions such as these, terror follows fear.
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