Conquering Polio | The March of Dimes | American History Tellers
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 Ame...
Mentioned in This Episode
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt (person)
- March of Dimes (company)
- Hickory, North Carolina (location)
- National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (company)
- Basil O'Conor (person)
- Lindsey Graham (person)
- Carl Byer (person)
- Warm Springs, Georgia (location)
- Desi Blle (person)
- Jenny Lauer Beckman (person)
- Wondery (company)
- Airship (company)
- Thomas Rivers (person)
- Eddie Caner (person)
- San Antonio Department of Health (company)
- Georgia Warm Springs Foundation (company)
- Muhammad Shazib (person)
- Ellie Stanton (person)
- Dorian Marina (person)