Conquering Polio | The March of Dimes | 1

Conquering Polio | The March of Dimes | 1

In the summer of 1921, 39-year-old Franklin Delano Roosevelt was on vacation with his family when he developed a fever, muscle aches, and chills. Pain spread to his legs, and soon, he was paralyzed from the waist down. Doctors diagnosed him with polio, which was fast becoming America’s most dreaded infectious disease.

Every summer, polio struck without warning, causing swimming pools and movie theaters to close and panicked parents to keep their children indoors. Polio killed thousands of Americans each year and paralyzed many more. But scientists had no idea how to stop it.

Roosevelt and his friend and colleague Basil O’Connor resolved to change that, launching the March of Dimes, a revolutionary fundraising campaign that galvanized millions of Americans to donate their time and money to the fight against polio.

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Hearst vs Pulitzer | The Headless Torso | 2

Hearst vs Pulitzer | The Headless Torso | 2

If you lived in an American city at the turn of the century, you got all of your news from a single source: the daily newspapers. No where was that more true than New York City; in the City, two paper...

20 Kesä 201838min

The Space Race| Photo Finish | 4

The Space Race| Photo Finish | 4

JFK said that nothing in the 1960s was "...more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space..." than getting a man to the moon and back safely. As the Apollo 11 fl...

6 Kesä 201838min

The Space Race | Taking the Lead | 3

The Space Race | Taking the Lead | 3

In times of crisis, Americans had always put their confidence in their country’s superiority in power, technology and leadership. America had never failed them. And in 1961, hope and faith in their co...

30 Touko 201839min

The Space Race | Playing Catch Up | 2

The Space Race | Playing Catch Up | 2

Information sharing was normal in the global scientific community, but when it came to rockets, normal rules didn’t apply. If the details got passed along to civilian scientists, there was no telling ...

23 Touko 201837min

The Space Race | Starting Gun | 1

The Space Race | Starting Gun | 1

Remember Werner von Braun? We talked a little bit about him in our Cold War series. He was in charge of the German rocket program in World War II. First used to lob missiles and bombs all over Europe,...

16 Touko 201838min

History Through Innovation | Interview with Steven Johnson | 7

History Through Innovation | Interview with Steven Johnson | 7

The phone in your hand is more powerful than all of the computers that put a man on the moon, combined. In the age of supercomputers, driverless cars, and mail-order DNA testing it’s easy to forget th...

10 Touko 201840min

The Age of Jackson | Manifest Destiny | 6

The Age of Jackson | Manifest Destiny | 6

“Manifest Destiny” is a uniquely American idea. The phrase captured the sense of inevitability—and entitlement—many citizens still feel. But in the 19th century this idea consumed American’s thought a...

2 Touko 201839min

The Age of Jackson | The Little Magician | 5

The Age of Jackson | The Little Magician | 5

During the last years of Jackson's presidency, the economy flourished. The national debt was paid in full, industry and agriculture boomed. But when Martin Van Buren assumed the presidency, he inherit...

25 Huhti 201835min

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