On this day in 1938, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, himself an adult victim of polio, founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which he later renamed the March of Dimes Foundation, Mostly known as a childhood disease in the early 20th century, polio wreaked havoc on American children every summer. The virus, which affects the central nervous system, thrived in contaminated food and water and was easily transmitted. Those lucky enough to survive the disease usually suffered from debilitating paralysis into their adult lives. In 1921, at the relatively advanced age of 39, Roosevelt contracted polio and lost the use of his legs. With the help of the media and Secret Service, Roosevelt managed to keep his disease under wraps, yet his personal experience made his empathize with the handicapped and led him to the found the March of Dimes.
In 1926, Roosevelt started the non-profit Georgia Warm Springs Foundation on the site of the springs he visited to avail of the waters’ therapeutic effects. Twelve years later, he reinvented the charity as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), a non-partisan association comprised of health scientists and volunteers that helped fund research for a polio vaccine and helped victims on the long path through physical rehabilitation.
Funded originally through the generosity of wealthy celebrities at yearly President’s Birthday Balls, the foundation could not raise money fast enough to keep pace with polio’s continued toll on America’s children and, during the Depression, the polio epidemic got worse. In 1938, Roosevelt decided to reach out to the general public for support. At one fundraiser, celebrity singer Eddie Cantor jokingly exhorted the public to send dimes to the president, coining the term March of Dimes. The public took his appeal seriously: The White House received close to 3 million dimes and thousands of dollars in donations.
In later years, the March of Dimes continued to lead lucrative fundraising campaigns that set the example for other health-based foundations. In 1941, the foundation provided funding for the development of an improved iron lung, which helped polio patients to breathe when muscle control of the lungs was lost. The March of Dimes appointed Dr. Jonas Salk to lead research for a polio vaccine in 1949. Roosevelt, who died in 1945, did not live to see Salk develop and test the first successful polio vaccine ten years later.
In 1926, Roosevelt started the non-profit Georgia Warm Springs Foundation on the site of the springs he visited to avail of the waters’ therapeutic effects. Twelve years later, he reinvented the charity as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (NFIP), a non-partisan association comprised of health scientists and volunteers that helped fund research for a polio vaccine and helped victims on the long path through physical rehabilitation.
Funded originally through the generosity of wealthy celebrities at yearly President’s Birthday Balls, the foundation could not raise money fast enough to keep pace with polio’s continued toll on America’s children and, during the Depression, the polio epidemic got worse. In 1938, Roosevelt decided to reach out to the general public for support. At one fundraiser, celebrity singer Eddie Cantor jokingly exhorted the public to send dimes to the president, coining the term March of Dimes. The public took his appeal seriously: The White House received close to 3 million dimes and thousands of dollars in donations.
In later years, the March of Dimes continued to lead lucrative fundraising campaigns that set the example for other health-based foundations. In 1941, the foundation provided funding for the development of an improved iron lung, which helped polio patients to breathe when muscle control of the lungs was lost. The March of Dimes appointed Dr. Jonas Salk to lead research for a polio vaccine in 1949. Roosevelt, who died in 1945, did not live to see Salk develop and test the first successful polio vaccine ten years later.
Comments