IV.

Bringing the Red Cross to America

Between 1869 and 1873 Barton lived in Europe. While she was in Switzerland, she was visited by officials of the International Red Cross, which had been established in 1864. Barton served with the Red Cross and helped establish hospitals during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Afterward she was honored with Germany’s Iron Cross for outstanding military service. The United States had not yet signed the Geneva Convention that established the International Red Cross, and Barton returned to the United States in 1873 to work for the establishment of an American Red Cross organization.

While working for her cause, Barton badgered politicians, generals, professors, and newspaper editors, appealed to three presidents for support, and distributed brochures and pamphlets. Her driving spirit overcame much antagonism to relief work and the Red Cross. During this time, Barton maintained close ties with the parent organization in Geneva, Switzerland. In May 1881 Barton and a group of her friends established the American Red Cross. The first local chapter was founded later that year in Dansville, New York, and in 1882 the U.S. Senate ratified the Geneva Convention.

Barton served as the first president of the American Red Cross until 1904. She wrote, lectured, and attended international conferences, gradually becoming one of the world’s best-known women. At the International Peace Convention in Geneva in 1884, Barton was responsible for the introduction of the so-called American amendment. It established that the Red Cross was to serve victims of peacetime disasters, such as floods and famine, as well as victims of war.