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Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
U.S. Public Health Service
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.
Image courtesy of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum.

U.S. Public Health Service

American, founded 1889
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In 1889 Congress established the United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps within the Marine Hospital Service, organizing officers along military lines with titles and pay corresponding to Army and Navy grades.

Over the ensuing years, the service broadened its scope. The U.S. Public Health Service Act of 1944 paved the way for nurses, scientists, dietitians, physical therapists, and sanitarians to join the USPHS Commissioned Corps. By 1945, the USPHS Commissioned Corps quadruples its numbers from 625 to nearly 3,000.