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Congressional Gold Medal.com |
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Congressional
Gold Medal Recipient American
Red Cross
American Red Cross
Founded Washington, D.C.,
21 May 1881
Wednesday, 12 December 1979
An Act
Authorizing the President of the United
States to present a gold medal to the American Red Cross
Be it enacted by the
Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled, That (a) the President is authorized to
present in the name of Congress, an appropriate gold medal to the
American Red Cross, in recognition of its unselfish and humanitarian
service to the people of the United States. For such purposes, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall cause to be struck a gold medal with
suitable emblems, device, and inscriptions to be determined by the
Secretary. There are authorized to be appropriated not to exceed
$15,000 after October 1, 1980, to carry out the purposes of this
subsection.
(b) The Secretary of the
Treasury may cause duplicates in bronze of such medal to be coined and
sold under such regulations as he may prescribe, at a price sufficient
to cover the cost thereof, including labor, materials, dies, use of
machinery, overhead expenses, and the gold medal, and the
appropriation used for carrying out the provisions of this Act shall
be reimbursed out of the proceeds of such sale.
(c) The medals provided for
in this Act are national medals for the purpose of section 3551 of the
Revised Statutes (31 U.S.C. 368).
93 Stat. 1063
The
American
Red
Cross helps keep people safe every day as well
as in an emergency
thanks to caring people who support our work in the community.
A
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN RED CROSS
The American Red Cross, as one of
the nation's premier humanitarian organizations, is dedicated to
helping people in need throughout the United States and, in
association with other Red Cross societies, throughout the world. It
depends on generous contributions of time, blood, tissue, and money
from the American public to its national headquarters and chapters and
blood regions throughout the country in support of its lifesaving
services and programs.
Clara
Barton and a circle of acquaintances founded the American
Red Cross in Washington, D.C. on May 21, 1881. Barton first heard of
the Swiss-inspired International Red Cross Movement while visiting
Europe following the Civil War. Returning home, she campaigned for an
American Red Cross society and for ratification of the Geneva
Convention protecting the war-injured, which the United States
ratified in 1882.
Barton headed the Red Cross for 23
years, during which time it conducted its first domestic and overseas
disaster relief efforts, aided the United States military during the
Spanish
American War, and campaigned successfully for the inclusion of
peacetime relief work as part of the International Red Cross
Movementthe so-called American Amendment that initially met
with some resistance in Europe.
The Red Cross received its first
congressional
charter
in 1900 and a second in 1905, the year after Barton resigned from the
organization. This charterwhich remains in effect todaysets
forth the purposes of the organization that include giving relief to
and serving as a medium of communication between members of the
American armed forces and their families and providing national and
international disaster relief and mitigation.
Prior to the
First
World War, the Red Cross introduced its first aid, water
safety, and public health nursing programs. With the outbreak of war,
the organization experienced phenomenal growth. The number of local
chapters jumped from 107 in 1914 to 3,864 in 1918 and membership grew
from 17,000 to more than 20 million adult and 11 million
Junior
Red Cross members. The public contributed $400 million in
funds and material to support Red Cross programs, including those for
American and Allied forces and civilian refugees. The Red Cross
staffed hospitals and ambulance companies and recruited 20,000
registered nurses to serve the military. Additional
Red
Cross nurses came forward to combat the worldwide
influenza epidemic of 1918.
After the war, the Red Cross focused
on service to veterans and enhanced its programs in safety training,
accident prevention, home care for the sick and nutrition education.
It also provided relief for victims of such major disasters as the
Mississippi River floods in 1927 and severe drought and the Depression
during the 1930s.
The
Second World War called upon the Red Cross to provide
extensive services once again to the U.S. military, Allies, and
civilian war victims. It enrolled more than 104,000 nurses for
military service, prepared 27 million packages for American and Allied
prisoners of war, and shipped more than 300,000 tons of supplies
overseas. At the military's request, the Red Cross also initiated a
national blood program that collected 13.3 million pints of blood for
use by the armed forces.
After World War II, the Red Cross
introduced the first nationwide civilian blood program that now
supplies nearly 50 percent of the blood and blood products in this
country. The Red Cross expanded its role in biomedical research and
entered the new field of human tissue banking and distribution. During
the 1990s, it engineered a massive modernization of its blood services
operations to improve the safety of its blood products. It continued
to provide services to members of the armed forces and their families,
including during the
Korean,
Vietnam, and
Gulf
wars. The Red Cross also expanded its services into such
fields as civil defense, CPR/AED training, HIV/AIDS education, and the
provision of emotional care and support to disaster victims and their
survivors. It helped the federal government form the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) and serves as its principal supplier of mass
care in federally declared disasters.
While closely associated with the
federal government in the promotion of its objectives, the Red Cross
is an independent, volunteer-led organization, financially supported
by voluntary public contributions and cost-reimbursement charges. A
50-member, all volunteer Board of Governors leads the organization.
The president of the United States, who is honorary chairman of the
Red Cross, appoints eight governors, including the chairman of the
board. The chairman nominates and the board elects the
president
of the Red Cross who is responsible for carrying into
effect the policies and programs of the board. The American Red Cross
works closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross on
matters of international conflict and social, political, and military
unrest. As a member of the International Federation of Red Cross and
Red Crescent Societies, which it helped found in 1919, the American
Red Cross joins more than 175 other national societies in bringing aid
to victims of disasters throughout the world.
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