Spanish Flu
In the fall of 1918, Philadelphia newspapers announced that a new virus had arrived in the city, the so-called \u201cSpanish flu.\u201d But the facts and scope were muddy and uncertain, and the city decided to push forward with a highly-anticipated parade. About 200,000 people showed up, and packed onto sidewalks.\nHalfway across the country, St. Louis, Missouri looked very different that fall. Businesses shuttered, movie theatres went dark, and students stayed home.\xa0\nJust like today, cities across the U.S. responded to the 1918 influenza pandemic differently\u2014with very different results.\xa0\nIn this episode, we go back to 1918 and a pandemic which wasn\u2019t Spanish at all.\nFootnotes And Further Reading:\xa0\nGet into the nitty gritty of viral evolution with\xa0"1918 Influenza: the Mother of All Pandemics\u201d\xa0which reviews the 1918 pandemic and all outbreaks it later spawned.\nThe\xa0CDC\u2019s Pandemic Influenza Storybook\xa0paints a vivid picture of life during the pandemic.\nWe first learned about Philadelphia\u2019s Liberty Loan Parade from the Washington Post\u2019s\xa0reporting.\nFor this story, we read\xa0many\xa0old articles from newspapers across the country, all archived on\xa0newspapers.com\xa0(available with a subscription).\nCredits:\xa0\nScience Diction is hosted and produced by Johanna Mayer. Our producer and editor is Elah Feder. We had additional story editing from Nathan Tobey, and fact checking help from Michelle Harris. Our composer is Daniel Peterschmidt. We also included audio from\xa0"The Liberty Loan March,"\xa0performed by the United States Marine Band, which is in the\xa0public domain. Special thanks to\xa0Alan Kraut,\xa0a professor of history at American University\xa0who\u2019s\xa0written extensively on the topic of\xa0immigration, disease, and prejudice. And to Chris Naffziger, who spoke to us about St. Louis\u2019s response to the 1918 pandemic. You can read more of his\xa0reporting for St. Louis Magazine.