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"Your Red Cross" ad from Greenfield Recorder-Gazette newspaper

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Despite the many public tax-funded relief programs under the New Deal, private, voluntary organizations remained an important part of the American welfare system. The largest and most influential of these was the American Red Cross. Founded in 1873, the Red Cross focused on "disaster relief." This advertisement, for example, shows the organization giving aid to flood victims and creating "Emergency First Aid Stations" on the nation's highways. The Red Cross also provided medical aid during wartime. Here, President and Eleanor Roosevelt are shown greeting a disabled World War1 veteran accompanied by Red Cross "Gray Ladies."

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