Protecting the Body Politic Public Health Interests and the Politicization of Chicago's Department of Healt

Late 19th century public health scholars have often focused on the rise of medical professionals without acknowledging the context in which these officials existed. Health officials in institutions like departments of health contended with other public health stakeholders such as social reformers and political operatives at the turn of the 20th century. Health authorities desired to maintain the city's business interests and image by using medical epistemology to resolve public health problems, but social reformers wanted them to address the structural issues that bred disease, and politicians thought health departments should function partly as repositories of plum patronage jobs. These dynamics taught medical experts that despite the administrative structures they had been given to address public health problems in municipalities, they were not immune to the political conflicts of the period.;Chicago's 1894 smallpox epidemic allows us to see how social reformers, politicians, and medical officials viewed the department of health's responsibilities. Amid the epidemic health officials were upbraided by social reformers for failing to tackle the structural problems associated with tenement sweatshops that caused smallpox to thrive, but health officials countered that medical epistemology had thwarted the disease, prevented a far greater tragedy, and preserved the city's business image. They maintained distinct ideas about Chicago's urban ecology and political economy derived from their profession and municipal positions which put them odds with social reformers. Still, despite health officials' purported efficacy in handling the epidemic, in the aftermath of the 1895 municipal election the newly elected mayor appropriated the language of reformers to oust the city's commissioner of health and place a former alderman at the head of the department. The inability to protect a medical official from the vagaries of municipal elections angered health professionals who felt that the city's public health and image were threatened by the spoils system. These episodes show how health authorities were enmeshed in the political dramas playing out in 1890s Chicago. Health officials, politicians, and social reformers were all important groups in the city who had different perspectives on public health's purpose -- viewpoints derived from their distinct views of the city's urban ecology and political economy. As a result, an examination of these incidents allows us to see how medical professionals perceived Chicago's political economy and urban ecology differently from two other important groups in the city.;Medical professionals had fought long and hard for the creation of health departments, but the literature often fails to discuss the ways in which institutionalization in municipal governments embroiled health officials in the political debates of the period. Health authorities wanted to use medical epistemology to resolve public health problems, but they found that their expertise did not shield them from the conflicts of late 19th century cities. By focusing on Chicago's 1894 smallpox epidemic this study seeks to show the limits of professionalization as well as the varying perspectives different stakeholders held towards public health policy. Through this process the ideas health officials had towards issues like political patronage and the city's environment will be revealed.