The outbreak, in fact, was preceded by soothing words from medical authorities with a sort of band-played-on bravado. The Journal of the American Medical Association opined that medical authorities should not be alarmed by the flu’s nickname, “the Spanish flu.” That name, the journal wrote, “should not cause any greater importance to be attached to it, nor arouse any greater fear than would influenza without the new name.” Moreover, the journal said, the flu “has already practically disappeared from the Allied troops.”
