"The American Social Hygiene Association fought hard to prohibit condom use in the early part of this century. Social hygienists believed that anyone who risked getting âvenerealâ diseases should suffer the consequences, including American doughboys âŻU.S. soldiers who fought in World War I. The American Expeditionary Forces, as our army was called, were denied the use of condoms, so it is not surprising that by the end of the war our troops had very high rates of sexually transmitted infections. Like most people throughout history, our âboysâ were just unable to âjust say ânoââ (Brandt, 1985). The Secretary of the Navy at that time was only one of many military leaders who believed that condom use and other infection prevention methods were immoral and âunchristian.â It was a young Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who, when his boss was away from the office, decided to help sailors treat infections that they could have otherwise prevented with condoms. FDR ordered the distribution of prophylactic kits that contained chemicals to wash and insert into the penis to treat gonorrhea and syphilis (Brandt, 1985)."
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âA History of Birth Control Methodsâ, Planned Parenthood, p.5
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/World_War_I
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World War I
World War I (WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war, a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial sophistication, and tactical stalemate. It was [[w:List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll|one of the deadliest c
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