Wisconsin Historical Society – 51737
The influenza pandemic had already killed millions around the world. Likely originating at an army base in Lawrence, Kansas in 1918, it would kill nearly five times as many people as World War One. There were no vaccines and microscopes weren’t yet powerful enough to see viruses. And this strain was like no other. It was possible to come down with symptoms in the morning and be dead by evening.
During the war the U.S. government refused to acknowledge just how bad the pandemic was, fearing it would hurt morale. The Army Morale Branch policed any mention of influenza in the media including an investigation of the Wisconsin newspaper the Jefferson County Union.
None of the warring countries would acknowledge the pandemic in official communication. So when Spain, a neutral country began reporting an outbreak within its borders, we in the U.S. referred to it as “Spanish influenza.”
SONG
Don’t Talk About the Flu
Notes: I shared this song with author John Barry (see below) who told me he was surprised that he liked it. He didn’t expect to like a song about the flu. And honestly, I didn’t think anyone would either. I wrote during the height of COVID and my family wouldn’t even listen to it. However, when we previewed it in 2024 it went over quite well.
SOURCES
Book: The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John Barry
Podcast: Radiolab: Dispatchers from 1918
Written by: Ken Fitzsimmons
Ken Fitzsimmons has worked in music for 30 years, receiving a Bachelor of Music under the tutelage of jazz bass great Richard Davis, and an MBA from the Bolz Center of Arts Administration. He is the bassist in Milwaukee-based Little Blue Crunchy things and co-founder of the nationally touring Irish rock group The Kissers.
He has taught music privately for three decades and serves as the Education Director at Madison Music Foundry. In 2018 he was the Artistic Director for the multimedia “rock and roll history show” The Greatest War: World War One, Wisconsin, and Why It Still Matters produced in partnership with Four Seasons Theatre and Antishadows Theatrical Design.
