The American Plan was a federal program that initially deputized local law enforcement to detain and test any woman suspected of promiscuity near military bases to protect enlisted men from venereal disease. The program began in 1917 with the United States’ involvement in World War I, but spread nationally as municipalities copied the language to enforce locally. The American Plan operated under the assumption that women were vectors of disease who were responsible for transmitting infections to men. These laws were enforced in some areas into the 1970s.