‘The President Was Taken Violently Sick Last Thursday … ‘

Published in Mainichi Shimbun
(Japan) on 3 April 2020
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Eric Stimson. Edited by Laurence Bouvard.
“The President was taken violently sick last Thursday. He had a fever of over 103 and profuse diarrhea … I was able to control the spasms of coughing but his condition looked very serious.”

This is from a letter in April 1919 by President Woodrow Wilson’s chief physician. Wilson had caught the Spanish flu, which was raging worldwide, while attending a World War I peace conference. Some American officials also died, but fortunately Wilson recovered and returned to the meetings. But it is debatable whether returning to the meetings was a good thing for the world. Wilson, his spirits down from fighting the disease, readily agreed to the harsh indemnities demanded of Germany which he had firmly opposed. The harsh peace imposed on Germany invited the rise of Adolf Hitler. You could say the Spanish flu brought about World War II.

Pandemics can also greatly change political maps, as in the plague that led to the decline of ancient Athens. We were surprised at last week’s news that U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been infected, but reports of cabinet-level officials in other countries getting infected have been steadily reported. It looks further VIP infections will be unavoidable.

Even the virus may be shocked by politicians who think they can use the pandemic to their political advantage. The state of emergency decreed in Hungary grants de facto unlimited extralegal authority to the government, prompting anxious voices from the E.U. There are similar actions taking place in other member states. Even the Chinese-American rivalry around the spread of the pandemic could be a matter of convenience for both governments. We hope that the politicians in countries that wish to lead humanity’s battle with the pandemic will seriously worry about how world history will describe them in 100 years.



「大統領は昨木曜、重病になった。39・4度以上の高熱と大量の下痢……咳(せき)の発作は抑えられたが、病状はきわめて重かった」。これはW・ウィルソン米大統領の主治医の手紙で、1919年4月のことである▲当時、第一次大戦の講和会議に出席中の彼は世界中で流行していたスペイン風邪にかかったのだ。米代表団からも死者が出たが、幸い大統領は回復して会議に復帰する。だが会議復帰がその後の世界にとって「幸い」かは微妙である▲闘病で気力を失ったウィルソンは、強硬に反対していたドイツへの厳しい賠償要求をあっさり認めたのだ。ドイツに過酷な講和はやがてヒトラーの台頭を招く。スペイン風邪のウイルスが第二次大戦をもたらしたといわれるゆえんだ▲古代アテネの衰退を招いた疫病この方、感染症は政治の地図をも大きく変える。先週は英国のジョンソン首相の感染の報に驚いたが、すでに各国の閣僚クラスの感染も次々に伝わってくる。この先も要人の感染が避けられそうにない▲ただパンデミックも政治利用しかねぬ政治家にはウイルスも驚こう。ハンガリーで成立した非常事態法は事実上無期限に超法規的強権を政権に与えるもので、欧州連合(EU)から懸念の声も上がる。似た動きは他の加盟国にもある▲感染拡大をめぐる米中のさや当ても、それぞれの政権の内輪の都合の産物だろう。感染症と人類との闘いのリーダーたるべき各国の政治家には、100年後の世界史にどう記されるかを真に畏(おそ)れてほしい。
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