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Commission on Training Camp Activities
The Commission on Training Camp Activities (CTCA), also popularly known as the Fosdick Commission, was an umbrella agency within the United States Department of War during World War I that provided recreational and educational activities for soldiers as they trained for combat. Established in April 1917, the CTCA had the mandate to keep American troops "physically healthy and morally pure", while also motivating them to fight.
The Department of War established the Commission on Training Camp Activities on April 17, 1917, less than two weeks after the U.S. entered World War I. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker appointed Raymond B. Fosdick to lead the new agency. Fosdick was the author of an August 1916 report which found that problems with alcohol and prostitution were rife at the military training camps on the Mexican border during the Mexican Expedition. To improve the moral aspects of camp life, Fosdick had recommended public condemnation of the "illicit trades" and making alternative forms of recreation available to soldiers.
Both President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary Baker sought to build support for American entry into World War I by defining the objectives of the war in terms that appealed to progressives. In the international sphere, Wilson had argued that Americans would be making the world "safe for democracy" and that the U.S. was "but one of the champions of the rights of mankind". Domestically, American soldiers would be part of a reform program that would fight the forces of degradation that had traditionally plagued military training camps. Wilson sought to reassure the public that they could entrust their young men to the military, stating:
The Federal Government has pledged its word that as far as care and vigilance can accomplish the result, the men committed to its charge will be returned to the homes and communities that so generously gave them with no scars except those won in honorable conflict.
By keeping alcohol and prostitutes away from soldiers, the CTCA aimed to cultivate the "man-power and manhood" of the American troops.
A "twin" Commission on Training Camp Activities was later created for the Department of the Navy at the request of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.
The CTCA's primary objective from the start was to prevent the spread of venereal disease among American soldiers. To address this, it introduced programs in social hygiene, education, recreation, law enforcement, and prophylaxis.
Tasked with raising the morals and the morale of troops in military training camps across the U.S., the CTCA sponsored activities, including athletics, singing, movies, theatre, libraries, and lectures, as well as sex education.
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Commission on Training Camp Activities
The Commission on Training Camp Activities (CTCA), also popularly known as the Fosdick Commission, was an umbrella agency within the United States Department of War during World War I that provided recreational and educational activities for soldiers as they trained for combat. Established in April 1917, the CTCA had the mandate to keep American troops "physically healthy and morally pure", while also motivating them to fight.
The Department of War established the Commission on Training Camp Activities on April 17, 1917, less than two weeks after the U.S. entered World War I. Secretary of War Newton D. Baker appointed Raymond B. Fosdick to lead the new agency. Fosdick was the author of an August 1916 report which found that problems with alcohol and prostitution were rife at the military training camps on the Mexican border during the Mexican Expedition. To improve the moral aspects of camp life, Fosdick had recommended public condemnation of the "illicit trades" and making alternative forms of recreation available to soldiers.
Both President Woodrow Wilson and Secretary Baker sought to build support for American entry into World War I by defining the objectives of the war in terms that appealed to progressives. In the international sphere, Wilson had argued that Americans would be making the world "safe for democracy" and that the U.S. was "but one of the champions of the rights of mankind". Domestically, American soldiers would be part of a reform program that would fight the forces of degradation that had traditionally plagued military training camps. Wilson sought to reassure the public that they could entrust their young men to the military, stating:
The Federal Government has pledged its word that as far as care and vigilance can accomplish the result, the men committed to its charge will be returned to the homes and communities that so generously gave them with no scars except those won in honorable conflict.
By keeping alcohol and prostitutes away from soldiers, the CTCA aimed to cultivate the "man-power and manhood" of the American troops.
A "twin" Commission on Training Camp Activities was later created for the Department of the Navy at the request of Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels.
The CTCA's primary objective from the start was to prevent the spread of venereal disease among American soldiers. To address this, it introduced programs in social hygiene, education, recreation, law enforcement, and prophylaxis.
Tasked with raising the morals and the morale of troops in military training camps across the U.S., the CTCA sponsored activities, including athletics, singing, movies, theatre, libraries, and lectures, as well as sex education.