this is Casablanca in Morocco as the
u.s. War Department mapped it in 1942
they noted everything from the cement
works to the Hippodrome
this was Casablancas Casablanca but
there was an area missing from the movie
screen just beneath the southern border
of this map this is booze beer a
walled-off sex district in Morocco he
was famous people sent postcards it had
an official medical dispensary
in a police station practically speaking
prostitutes were prisoners within these
walls on December 10th 1942 American
troops opened boo Spears gates as
customers what happened in the next
three days in booze beer is an
encapsulation of the surprising ways the
American military and many militaries
around the world fought venereal
diseases in World War two
a woman sexually transmitted diseases
like gonorrhea and syphilis also known
as venereal diseases or VD were a
significant problem in America at the
time World War two raised the rates in
the stakes rates varied widely by
geographic region rank and service
branch but for example this chart shows
a distribution in the US air force in
continental Europe in October 1944 120
out of a thousand servicemen had VD that
meant lost days on the battlefield in
August 1944 when the u.s. 7th army was
liberating France in operation Dragoon
about one in ten of the men had VD how
did the United States fight STDs in the
military while dealing with these stakes
and scale of a world war how did their
tactics complement and clash with
today's values and where do the bunny
rabbits come in you keep away from
prostitutes and they can't be made long
before this advice during World War two
VD was a problem in the military this
War Department chart estimated VD rates
in the US Army that peak is actually
during the Civil War but the Great War
World War one started a new era of
global war and mass compulsory service
the military draft greatly expanded the
pool of soldiers making education and
propaganda techniques necessary this
poster was typical pamphlets
complemented the message the United
States Public Health Service wanted men
the primary audience to avoid
prostitutes or chippies but if they did
have sex it provided instructions for
combating disease women were given
similar instructions abstain if possible
but if they did have intercourse with
any man except her husband make him wear
a rubber starting in 1914
the American Social Hygiene Association
formed to boost VD awareness producing
pamphlets and even creating exhibits
like this the army also made it clear
that managing VD was part of the war
effort the most famous example was
General John Pershing general order
number 77 which ordered commanders to
attend a venereal infections by running
small clinics or prophylaxis stations
dedicated to VD making no half-hearted
efforts Congress joined the VD fray as
well with serious laws focused on areas
near training camps the government shut
down red-light districts often clustered
near training camps in tens of thousands
of women this created clinics that would
last through the 1930s like this Mobil
one just before World War two America
was having a national conversation about
the VD problem outside of the military
as well with the Surgeon General writing
a book about it
the book encouraged regular tests for
syphilis
so once World War two began all of these
strategies would be in play again and
they'd need to be used in a global war
it is extremely important that you do
not go on a drinking party movies like
sex hygiene or compulsory viewing but
focusing on propaganda overlooks that
there were multiple strategies which the
military employed the war on VD focused
on prevention treatment and control and
these efforts interacted in occasionally
contradictory ways as early as 1926 the
government began cutting soldiers pay if
they missed work due to VD that was
paired with sex hygiene the film and
pamphlet which included info on wet
dreams
masturbation self abuse and sex
relations that was matched with advice
that sex should be kept for marriage
with eventual entreaties to use
prophylaxis often this was a condom the
army also distributed medicine to
soldiers another good way not to get VD
is to use the Army's new pro kit it
consists of a tube of ointment a sub
cloth beef and tissue and some
instructions
this was the paradox in military
propaganda prostitutes were clearly
labeled as disease carriers but
recommendations to get a prophylactic or
pro kit held equal emphasis the
government also acted aggressively to
curb prostitution the May Act gave the
federal government the right to bus
brothels if local areas couldn't it was
used near American military bases like a
Fort Bragg the Surgeon General also
established venereal control officers
that year with duties largely falling to
medical officers policing extended to
soldiers too influenced by charts like
these which appeared in Surgeon General
Thomas parens book syphilis tracking
operations formed in more stable
locations this 1945 army medical history
includes a typical questionnaire
administered to soldiers in Carolinas
who had contracted VD the goal of
questions about the time of sex contact
and location of the pickup was to track
houses of prostitution this post-war
Navy interviewers aid showing techniques
used during the war provided similar
guidance a private interview room
education about the VD tain and forms
with check boxes for place of encounter
bus dancehall park and procurement
bellhop waiter pimp this resulted in VD
detective cases if a prostitute were
tracked to a pickup spot like the Green
Lantern cafe after an interview the case
was sent to a public health worker who
sent out a field worker to pull in the
prostitute or disease carrier for a
medical inspector
this procedure was easier in American
controlled areas ordering relative
peacetime it happened in England during
World War two with the installation of
prophylaxis stations around the country
in further flung locations this was more
difficult and warnings had to suffice
like this one in Iran which cautioned
soldiers to think of their mother wife
or sweetheart before going out so did
all of these videos and pain flats and
posters and laws actually work it's
complicated in Oran Algeria the United
States military selected the top
European brothels brothels were set
aside by the military and then
segregated nine for white troops and two
brothels for black troops both with
their own prophylaxis stations military
police were stationed inside the
brothels between 5:00 and 9:00 p.m.
as early as 1940 the War Department had
to send letters to commanding officers
to clarify that they did not condone
prostitution but in far-flung war-torn
countries that line blurred this brothel
and Manila had assigned for the nearest
prophylaxis station posted on the door
Italy was typical of more destitute
countries with rampant solicitation and
prostitution in Naples prostitution led
to large VD treatment centers like this
one well maintained prophylaxis stations
and US Army supervised civilian
examinations towns were officially
placed off-limits when possible the
military did not ignore wartime
realities and in 1944 Congress agreed to
stop penalizing soldiers pay if they had
VD with the hope of encouraging
reporting but for all that work the
biggest weapon might have come from
these
[Music]
Industrial monument to the miracle drug
mass production penicillin plant at
Terre Haute Indiana each batch is tested
for purity New Zealand white rabbits
serving as subjects upon how they react
depends whether the drug can safely be
used for battle casualties with
pneumonia meningitis gas gangrene and
other wound infections they seem to
enjoy their job of serving mankind this
chart shows the effects of the drug
even as total VD rose the introduction
of penicillin as a primary treatment
reduced days lost due to military
experiments penicillin treatment gained
its own complicated legacy but in the
context of the military the drug became
a weapon against venereal disease and it
went for military use to the public at
large here's President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt in Casablanca in 1943 this is
the footage we expect from World War two
leaders and marching but just as war is
filled with reversals and contradictions
so are the social projects that surround
it there are other Forgotten victims and
private injuries extras that are missing
from the credits FDR didn't risk running
into troops leaving booze beer by the
time he visited he was close
to Americans the official report reads
disturbances arising among the troops in
the walled city were responsible for
this action the walled city and all
other brothels in Casablanca remained
off-limits from 13 December 1942
throughout the occupation what happened
between December 10th when the troops
went inside those walls in December 13th
when the brothels closed to Americans in
boo Speer in Casablanca there's a gap in
the record even today
you
thank you so much for watching that
video if you're interested in the
research that went into it Vox actually
has a new membership program with lots
of extra features for that program I
have recorded an additional video in
which I go into some of the research and
all the crazy stories that I couldn't
fit into the video that you just saw I'm
gonna share one piece of trivia with
everybody though which is that that
movie sex hygiene that you saw it was
actually directed by the legendary
director John Ford the same person who
directed The Searchers
[Music]