In 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) founded the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to defeat the epidemic known as polio (poliomyelitis). At the time it was believed that FDR had been stricken with polio resulting in his paralysis, however the current belief is that he had Guillain-Barre syndrome. FDR went on the radio asking every person to donate a dime for the cause. It was later that entertainer Eddie Cantor coined the phrase March of Dimes as a play on word with the newsreel March of Time. When Roosevelt died in 1945 he was honored by being put on the dime. The choice of the dime was not because of the foundation he had started, but rather because it was the one coin that did not already have a president or founding father on it.
On April 12th, 1955 a news conference held at the Poliomyelitis Vaccine Evaluation Center at the University of Michigan changed the world. In the conference they announced that Dr. Jonas Salk (whose work had been largely funded by The March of Dimes) had developed a polio vaccine that was safe, potent, and effective. In 1958, with Polio under control, The March of Dimes had to make a choice. Their goal had been met, and some said they should now disband. Instead they chose to re-purpose themselves as a organization to prevent premature birth, birth defects, and infant mortality. A new cause that may allow them to exist indefinitely.
Their efforts helped pave the way for the end of polio as a national epidemic. Their continued existence has given hope to many, but has also been sighted as an example of bureaucracy maintaining corporate survival. Regardless, their efforts helped to change the world and continue to do so.
-Professor Walter
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