1914-1917 : Paris et l’American Ambulance. La philanthropie américaine à l’œuvre

Résumé 0

This paper firstly exposes the different types of Military Ambulances (temporary wartime hospitals) which the Americans in France were able to relate to and identify with in 1914. It also focuses on the philanthropic funding and management of these institutions. By 1914 the United States had decided to remain neutral in World War I. Although this decision was embarrassing for the Parisian American Community, the latter behaved in a sovereign way and acted according to their philanthropic habitus to reproduce with improved techniques what had been set up by previous generations during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the French Paris siege (1870-1871). The American Ambulance Service, located in the premises of the Pasteur High School in Neuilly, was a success. It was led and managed by the experienced officers of the American Hospital who were made up of the elite in the community. Medical services were not sufficient. The American Ambulance Service was also needed to organize the motorized transportation of the (French and British) wounded, which meant collaborating with ambulance drivers and American drivers working for American universities (American Ambulance Field Service) ; Chief Officers, Managers, General Practitioners, Surgeons and volunteer nurses were all American, the technical staff was American, the funding (including what came from lower classes) was American. Efficiency was guaranteed. Between 1914 and 1917, the American Hospital, the American Ambulance and the American Ambulance Field Service were unique opportunities to observe American philanthropy abroad deploying in total liberty.