Did Trump Say That in 1917 a ‘Great Pandemic’ Ended World War II Because the Soldiers Were All Sick?
Claim
Reporting
On August 10 2020, memes appeared purportedly quoting United States President Donald Trump saying that the “Great Pandemic” of 1917 likely ended World War II, because “all the soldiers got sick”:
https://www.facebook.com/calltoactivism/posts/1243078039412583
In addition to “Yes he really said that,” the above meme read:
“In 1917, the great pandemic … probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”
Dear Professor Trump. It was 1918 and World War I. Please don’t try to sound smart. You aren’t.
A tweet by John Fugelsang was shared to Imgur and racked up views; it was similarly popular on Twitter:
"The closest thing is, uh, in 1917, they say, uh, The Great- the Great Pandemic; & it certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million ppl; probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick."
-The US President just spoke this sentence
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) August 10, 2020
Fugelsang wrote:
“The closest thing is, uh, in 1917, they say, uh, The Great- the Great Pandemic; & it certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million ppl; probably ended the Second World War, all the soldiers were sick.”
-The US President just spoke this sentence
We were able to quickly locate the actual quote. Trump made the comments on August 10 2020:
The closest thing is in 1917, they say, the great pandemic. It certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people, probably ended the Second World War … all the soldiers were sick. That was a terrible situation.
A short video of the clip also spread on Twitter:
The President says the “1917 pandemic” ended the Second World War pic.twitter.com/jSltuSYim2
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 10, 2020
Trump was presumably referencing the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, the final death toll of which remains unknown:
As USA Today (and many other sites) noted, that pandemic took place at the same time as World War I, not World War II, which did not start for another two decades, ending in 1945:
The president was alluding to the Spanish Flu, which broke out in 1918. The first infections were identified in March of that year and lasted until 1920. The Second World War started in 1939 and ended in 1945 with the surrender of the Axis powers, specifically when Japan surrendered unconditionally after the United States dropped atomic bombs on two Japanese cities.
The memes are accurate — Trump erroneously claimed that the “Great Pandemic of 1917” ended World War II, likely intending to reference World War I; he subsequently added that the outbreak stopped the war because all of the soldiers got “sick.”
