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![Quote. I couldnít believe it, and I made [my wife] go over it again and again. The Foundation had been set up for cases like mine, people who couldnít possibly meet the overwhelming expenses involved in an illness like this, or who, by meeting it, would find themselves hopelessly in debt. End Quote. Larry Alexander, 1954](images/quote_dimes.gif)
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The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later renamed the
March of Dimes, was established in 1938 and grew out of the great success
of the Birthday Balls for President Franklin Roosevelt. The balls and
the foundation, both Roosevelt’s ideas, were directed by his
friend and former law partner, Basil O’Connor.
The March of Dimes was a grassroots campaign run primarily by volunteers.
Over the years, millions of people gave small amounts of money to support
both the care of people who got polio and research into prevention
and treatment. Those contributions financed Jonas Salk, Albert Sabin,
and the other researchers who developed the polio vaccines that children
around the world receive today. |
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The organization’s name came from comedian Eddie Cantor’s comment
that the donation of dimes from across the country could become a “march of dimes,” a reference to the popular March of Time newsreels of the
era. |
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The first March of Dimes poster child was Donald Anderson, in 1946. He
is a retired postal worker and lives in Seattle, Washington. |
Left: March of Dimes Poster, 1950s
Right. Artist John Falter designed the poster on this March of Dimes collection display in 1952. Falter was well-known for his sketches of soldiers during World War II and his Saturday Evening Post covers.
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“Being a poster child was one of the highlights
of my childhood. I got to meet Vice President Nixon and Alice Roosevelt
Longworth and ride around in a taxi and be treated like a princess.”
—Carol Boyer, 2004 |
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A quart of milk in the 1930s |
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A copy of On the Banks of Plum Creek, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, in 1937 |
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A copy of Esquire, LIFE, The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan, Better Homes
and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, or McCall’s in 1942 |
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A hot dog in 1945 |
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Two bottles of Coca-Cola in 1945 |
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A bag of popcorn at the fairground in 1948 |
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A one-way subway fare from Times Square to Coney Island in 1948 |
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A cup of coffee in 1950 |
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A pay phone call in 1960 |
Left: March of Dimes promotional photograph of Louis
Armstrong at a fund-raiser around 1959 Courtesy of March of
Dimes
Right: Elvis Presley being vaccinated, 1956 Courtesy of March of
Dimes
When her daughter contracted polio in 1946, Lassie
Black got involved in the fight against polio and eventually led the northern
Florida March of Dimes. This is one of the scrapbooks she kept about her
daughterís illness and her own activities.
Courtesy of Edna Hindson and Julie Silver
