![]() ![]() ![]() They were mulling over memories of overcrowded hospital wards in the winter of 1918-19, when the deadliest epidemic in history had circled the globe. ![]() Their business was quieter but no less urgent than turning out weapons and training soldiers. ![]() In Washington, graying men with advanced degrees in medicine and microbiology were meeting in hushed rooms away from the press. House of Representatives had approved President Franklin Roosevelt’s call for a military draft by the margin of one vote, and now some 16 million young men were registering for service. Isolationists were against it, but the possibility of staying at peace was dwindling by the week. Then another call came, this one from the Department of War in Washington, D.C.Īmericans were facing the growing prospect of being pulled into war on both sides of the world. He got straight to work on a dozen tasks at once - hiring faculty organizing labs seeking funding planning courses pushing his own research along. It was a rare chance to make a major mark in his field. His mission would be to start a brand new department devoted to the prevention of epidemic diseases. But when Michigan came calling, he said yes. Recently he had turned down job offers from Harvard and Columbia. Early in 1941, a medical scientist named Thomas Francis moved his young family from New York to Ann Arbor in a hurry, the way he did everything. ![]()
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