scholarly journals "A wild and wondrous ride": CDC field epidemiologists in the east Pakistan smallpox and cholera epidemics of 1958

2011 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 491-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Greenough
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Health Department ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Immunization Programs ◽  
Epidemic Intelligence ◽  
Foreign Intervention ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Government ◽  
Intelligence Service

In mid-April of 1958 the Government of Pakistan summoned the press to announce a grave need for international aid to cope with smallpox and cholera epidemics in East Pakistan. In response, and with the backing of the US State Department, Dr. Alexander D. Langmuir, chief epidemiologist of the CDC, led a team of epidemiologists to assist authorities in Dacca strengthen their immunization programs. Langmuir's superiors hoped for a Cold War advantage, but he saw an opportunity for trainees in the Epidemic Intelligence Service to learn about public health in a developing country. Langmuir later described the episode as a "wild and wondrous ride," but it had been more like a nightmare: the East Pakistan health department had collapsed; a popular movement had taken over vaccination and squandered vaccine supplies; hostile journalists had questioned the Americans' deeper motives; and a professional rivalry opened between the Americans and a British epidemiologist named Aidan Cockburn. By the time the epidemic subsided in July 1958, 30 million Bengalis had been vaccinated for smallpox but another 20,000 had succumbed to the disease. This episode was CDC's first sustained foreign intervention, a precursor to its extensive role in the 1970s helping WHO eradicate smallpox from Bangladesh.

Colonial Plunder and the Failure of Restitution in Postwar Korea

2017 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 607-624
Author(s):  
Christine Kim
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
National Interests ◽  
Cultural Patrimony ◽  
Cultural Hierarchy ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Artistic Achievement ◽  
The Government ◽  
Academic Resources

This article evaluates the US ‘Monuments Men’ operations in Korea, focusing on wartime and postwar efforts undertaken by the government of the USA to preserve and restore artwork seized by Japan. The Asian initiative, conceived a year after the European model was established, likewise drew upon cultural, intellectual, and academic resources. Yet fundamental differences in personnel, perceptions of Korean cultural backwardness, prevailing imperialist attitudes, and Cold War sensibilities rendered a very different kind of project. Ultimately the ‘Monuments Men’ succeeded primarily in preserving the cultural patrimony of Japan, but it failed to recover any plundered objects from Korea, or the rest of Asia for that matter. Focusing on the US deliberations regarding repatriation of Korean looted art, this article lays bare both the US preoccupation with maintaining the national interests of its newest ally, and exposes an understanding of East Asian cultural hierarchy that privileged Japan’s artistic achievement and modern society above all.

Cold War diplomacy

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beverley Hooper
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
National Security ◽  
The United States ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Communist China ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Foreign Ministries

From the early 1970s, the US-China relationship was central to diplomatic reporting, with National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger’s visit to Peking in October 1971, President Nixon’s historic visit in February 1972, and the establishment the following year of small liaison offices in Peking and Washington. Following each of Kissinger’s further visits in 1973 and 1974, senior diplomats virtually queued up at the liaison office to find out what progress, if any, had been made towards the normalization of US-China relations. Peking’s diplomats, like some of their colleagues elsewhere in the world, did not always see eye-to-eye with their foreign ministries. There was little chance of their becoming overly attached to Communist China, as the Japanologists and Arabists were sometimes accused of doing for Japan and Arab countries. At the same time, living and breathing the PRC led some diplomats to regard Chinese Communism as being rather more nuanced—and the government somewhat less belligerent—than the Cold War images portrayed in the West, particularly the United States.

Part 2 The Post-Cold War Era (1990–2000), 42 The US Airstrike Against the Iraqi Intelligence Headquarters—1993

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Starski Paulina
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
The Us ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Observable State ◽  
The Right ◽  
President Bush ◽  
Intelligence Service ◽  
Self Defence

This contribution analyses the normative implications of the US raid against the headquarters of the Iraqi Intelligence Service in 1993 in reaction to a foiled assassination attempt against former President Bush. It examines the legality of the operation, its precedential value and its evolutive potential regarding the regime on the ius contra bellum and specifically the right to self-defence. After dissecting the multiple contentious dimensions of the US claim of justification, the article concludes that the raid constituted an illegal ‘armed reprisal’. In light of observable state practice, its precedent-setting nature should not be overstated. However, albeit qualified as an ‘one-off incident’ the US raid did not leave the prohibition on the use of force and the contemporary discourse surrounding it untouched. Hence, it appears essential to demystify its frequently asserted evolutive potential particularly regarding the temporal limitations of Article 51 UN Charter to which this article is dedicated.

Sudan's economic reform will prove challenging

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Reform ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Economic Hardship ◽  
Debt Relief ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Government Corruption ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Government

Significance Bringing tangible improvements to the economy will be a major challenge for Sudan’s new transitional government. Economic hardship and anger over perceived government corruption were recurring causes of protests over recent years and could be again. Impacts The government will publicise its efforts to stabilise prices, although actually achieving this may prove elusive. Efforts to secure removal from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism will be a major focus, but this process will take time. Delisting would be welcomed by businesses and investors, and would boost debt relief prospects, but will not resolve underlying challenges. Significant new foreign investment will depend on the government’s performance, but fresh injections of international aid can be expected.

I haven’t spoken to him about it

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Schubert
Keyword(s):  
White House ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Us ◽  
Analytical Perspective ◽  
Online Archive ◽  
The Government

White House press briefings have the function of providing journalists with first-hand information on present activities of the US-American administration. The Press Secretary, currently Jay Carney, mainly draws on indirect reportative evidentialiy, referring to recent utterances by the President. However, owing to the often critical and persistent inquiries by investigative journalists based on counter-evidentiality, the Press Secretary frequently resorts to evasive manoeuvres. Moreover, he commonly refuses to use logical inferencing in his function as a mouthpiece of the government, since speculations might be potentially harmful when given to the press. Thus, the present paper investigates the possibilities and limitations of evidentiality in this interview genre from a discourse-analytical perspective on the basis of an online archive of transcripts.

scholarly journals An Evaluation of Epidemic Intelligence Service Alumni in Public Health Leadership Roles

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvin So ◽  
Andrea Winquist ◽  
Shelby Fisher ◽  
Danice Eaton ◽  
Dianna Carroll ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Department ◽  
Local Health Department ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Leadership Roles ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Health Leadership ◽  
Epidemic Intelligence ◽  
Public Health Leadership ◽  
Intelligence Service ◽  
Field Epidemiology Training Program

Abstract Background The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has administered the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) fellowship for over 50 years, with the goal of developing scientists and leaders in applied epidemiology. Our objective was to understand the extent to which CDC EIS alumni are present in select public health leadership roles. Methods We conducted an evaluation describing EIS alumni representation in five preselected leadership positions (CDC director [1953–2016]; CDC center director, state epidemiologist, Field Epidemiology Training Program [FETP] resident advisor, and Career Epidemiology Field Officer [CEFO] [2000–2016]). We developed a dataset using multiple sources to identify staff in selected positions. We then matched these data with an internal EIS alumni dataset. Results Selected positions were staffed by 353 persons, of which 185 (52%) were EIS alumni; 10 persons served in >1 leadership position, of which 6 were EIS alumni. Among 12 CDC directors, four (33%) were EIS alumni; collectively these alumni led CDC for approximately 25 years. EIS alumni accounted for 29 (58%) of 50 CDC center directors, 61 (35%) of 175 state epidemiologists, 27 (56%) of 48 Field Epidemiology Training Program resident advisors, and 70 (90%) of 78 Career Epidemiology Field Officers. Of 185 EIS alumni in leadership positions, 136 (74%) were physicians, 22 (12%) were scientists, 21 (11%) were veterinarians, 6 (3%) were nurses; 94 (51%) were assigned to a state or local health department. Among 61 EIS alumni who served as state epidemiologists, 40 (66%) were assigned to a state or local health department during EIS. Conclusions EIS alumni accounted for between approximately one-third (CDC directors and state epidemiologists) and 90% (CEFOs) of people serving in essential leadership positions at multiple levels.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 11-36
Author(s):  
Victoria Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
The United States ◽  
Diplomatic History ◽  
Martha Graham ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
The Government ◽  
Us Diplomatic History ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Over Time

“When they sensed internal mayhem / They sent out Martha Graham / That’s what we call cultural exchange,” wrote Dave and Iola Brubeck with Louis Armstrong for the opera The Real Ambassadors. Graham disavowed political attachments: indeed, understanding what she said she was not is often a way to understand Graham as an actor in US diplomatic history. Allegedly not political, she also disavowed herself as a modernist, feminist, and American missionary. Rather than proving that she was what she said she was not, the introduction outlines the methodology to understand why Graham made these pronouncements while touring for the US government during the Cold War. While Graham initially was a part of the targeting of the elite in “trickle-down diplomacy,” over time she grew older and modernism ossified, just as the government sought to target the youth. In response, Graham posed for pictures that billed her as “Forever Modern,” with dances that were “Too Sexy for Export?” featuring a troupe of young, technically brilliant dancers to represent the United States. Graham passed away in 1991, the same year as the official Cold War end.

The uneasy politics of epidemic aid: the CDC’s mission to Cold War East Pakistan, 1958

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Greenough
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Active Surveillance ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Health Department ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Global Campaign ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Public Health Officials

Global smallpox eradication was achieved only after decades of unsuccessful experiments in smallpox-endemic countries. A case in point occurred in 1958 when a severe epidemic imposed heavy mortality on East Pakistan. In response a Bengali regional-nationalist ‘Citizens Provincial Epidemic Control Committee’ pushed aside the provincial health department and launched an eradication campaign based on student volunteers using foreign-donated vaccine. In a period of ten weeks thousands of volunteers vaccinated thirty million Bengalis, albeit relying on shortcuts in sterile technique and neglect of patient record-keeping. The US government, in support of its Cold War ally, Pakistan, provided half of the vaccine supplies. The US also sent a team of Communicable Disease Center epidemiologists to assist public health officials. The team, led by Alexander D. Langmuir, proposed ‘active surveillance’ methods but was constrained by T. Aidan Cockburn, the Chief Public Health Adviser, who favored the Bengalis’ volunteer approach. A struggle developed between politicised volunteerism and epidemiological professionalism, and the CDC experts failed to prevail. The two sides' published reports thus made contradictory recommendations to the global campaign, but subsequent experience has shown that both mass participation and active surveillance are critical ingredients for successful disease control and eradication programmes.

Russian interest groups vie to control army spy agency

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Interest Groups ◽  
Military Intelligence ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Foreign Intervention ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Government ◽  
Intelligence Service

Subject The future of Russia's military intelligence body. Significance Russia's military intelligence service, the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), has enjoyed rising fortunes in recent years. Its success is in large part due to its late head, Colonel-General Igor Sergun, who died on January 3. The agency specialises in working with proxy forces abroad as well as conventional espionage, and has seen action in Ukraine and Syria. Impacts The government will continue to use deniable methods of foreign intervention including mercenaries and other paramilitaries and sabotage. GRU espionage abroad will continue to be active and aggressive. If the GRU is divided up, other army structures may take over some of its roles.

Fighting Hunger: The Cold War and US Foreign Aid

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 529-531
Author(s):  
Jennifer Clapp
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Foreign Aid ◽  
International Development ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Us Foreign Policy ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
The Cold War

History holds important insights for political scientists concerned with contemporary international development issues. Michael E. Latham and Nick Cullather's recent historical accounts of US foreign policy toward developing countries provide excellent examples of the significance of understanding the past in order to interpret the present. Both books highlight the ways in which strategic concerns of the US government during the Cold War shaped its international aid policies.

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