A total war strategy would have implied either mobilizing the entire population into the health sector or imposing a total national lockdown. This article examines both the strategy outlined by Donald Trump and the reality of what was undertaken by the Federal Government. The military was involved in the war effort against the virus in the U.
A national lockdown was never intended due to its potential adverse effects on the economy, and in any case, the Federal Government did not have the authority to impose health policy on individual states and local authorities. The result was a variety of local responses to the crisis with little federal coordination, much like what occurred with the Influenza Epidemic of Despite its military and hyperbolic rhetoric, the Trump Administration did not choose a total war strategy.
Instead, it decided to adopt a limited holding strategy that accepted human losses while protecting the economy and waiting for a Government-sponsored vaccine to save the day. Government did not actually put the country on a war footing.
Treasury Figure 1: Letter by Donald Trump accompanying the April stimulus check. As we wage total war on this invisible enemy, we are also working around the clock to protect hardworking Americans like you from the consequences of the economic shutdown.
Importantly, the stimulus letter represents a direct communication from the American President to the vast majority of his constituents in the midst of a major health crisis. Instead, Trump was no doubt employing a simple rhetorical device to indicate that a major effort was going to be made by the U. Government to fight the virus. But words have a tendency to signify more than what their authors may have had in mind, and I would like to argue that the expression warrants sustained analysis.
