The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in July 1976, when it hosted a statewide convention of the American Legion. Soon after, a pneumonia-like disease killed 29 people and sickened 182 more who had been in the hotel. The vast majority were members of the convention. The negative publicity associated with what became known as "Legionnaires' Disease" caused occupancy at the Bellevue-Stratford to plummet to 4 percent and the hotel finally closed on November 18, 1976. In 1977, Dr. Joseph McDade discovered a new bacterium, which was identified as the causative organism. It thrives in hot, damp places like the water of the cooling towers for the
American Legion Do not forget that the Fascisti are to Italy what The American Legion is to the United States. The Legion invited Mussolini to speak at its convention as late as 1930. The American Legion was instrumental in the creation of the U.S. Veterans' Bureau, now known as the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Legion also created its own American Legion Baseball Program, hosting national tournaments annually from 1926. Commander Travers D. Carmen awarded Charles Lindbergh its "Distinguished Service Medal", the medal's first recipient, on July 22, 1927. American Legion national convention was held in Paris in September 1927. A major