America's First Plague with Dr. Robert Watson on the Heavily Politicized 1793 Yellow Fever Pandemic

On May 3, we engaged in a thought-provoking conversation with Dr. Robert Watson, a distinguished American History professor and Avron Fogelman Research Professor at Lynn University.
During our webinar, Dr. Watson discussed his upcoming book, “America’s First Plague,” which explores the heavily politicized 1793 yellow fever pandemic that ravaged Philadelphia, the interim capital city. We learned the responses of medical professionals and founding fathers like Washington, Hamilton, and Jefferson as they struggled to deal with the crisis. Our discussion also highlighted the tragic reality of how the yellow fever pandemic draws many parallels with the current COVID-19 crisis, making this topic that much more important.
Dr. Robert Watson is an award-winning author, professor, historian, and media analyst with a passion for history and politics. He has published over forty books, five works of fiction, and hundreds of scholarly journal articles, book chapters, and reference essays.
Dr. Watson has been the editor or a board member for several scholarly journals, has served on the boards of local non-profit organizations as well as the Harry Truman Foundation, the Calvin Coolidge Foundation, and George McGovern Library and Center for Public Service, co-convened a half-dozen national conferences on the American presidency and was the co-founder of the annual Truman Legacy Symposium which is held at the Harry S. Truman Little White House and sponsored by the Truman Presidential Library.