1917

Creation of Commission on Training Camp Activities, 11 days after declaration of war, initiated a two-pronged attack on VD: CTCA “combined elements of uplift and distraction, coercion and repression in its efforts to make the military venereal-free” (Brandt, 59). Its work closely resembled the programs of the Progressive social settlements in ideology and implementation (61). Its campaign was dominated by the threat that VD posed for military effectiveness (62); “The CTCA equated the contraction of a venereal disease with a national betrayal” (66). Prostitution, previously a strictly moral issue, was subsumed during the war by a new emphasis on science, hygiene, and health. . . Closing down red-light districts [around military camps] became part of the ‘hygienic gospel,’ comparable to the anti-tuberculosis and anti-yellow fever campaigns of the Progressive years” (72). In December, 1917, the Council of National Defense establishes the Civilian Committee to Combat Venereal Disease to make the battle against VD a national campaign not limited to areas around training camps (78-79).