ABSTRACT
American wars thus serve as a good starting point for discussing the growing governmental intervention in nursing, although as early as 1891 matrons in the Indian service had been classified as civil service employees. The turning point in the relationship between nursing and the United States government occured during the Spanish-American War. Investigations conducted after the war tended to prove that the difficulties were not caused by a lack of trained nurses, but rather by a lack of effective organization. The United States government was no better prepared for war than the nurses, and much improvisation was needed to meet the sudden demands. The question of nurses’ aides was discussed at the convention of national nursing organizations in Cleveland in May, 1918; rather than reject the plan outright, some nurses under the leadership of Annie Goodrich countered by proposing an Army School of Nursing.
