Music: Shostakovich - Piano Quintet in G minor, Op. 57 - Part II
Pictures: National Museum of American History, South Florida Nursing Archives
Pictures: National Museum of American History, South Florida Nursing Archives
Introduction
Though neither the most severe nor deadly epidemic that struck America in the 20th century, the polio outbreak of the 1940s and ‘50s gripped the country with a hysteria that made polio the most feared disease of its time. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s own affliction with polio led to the creation of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, and through effective advertising that both evoked sympathy and increased fear, the foundation was able to employ the innovative use of grassroots fundraising, becoming the nation’s leading health charity. The polio epidemic, the fear surrounding it, and the consequent crusade to eradicate the disease from the United States resulted in a mass call for disability rights, influenced how scientific research and immunization is conducted in America to this day, and changed the face of fundraising forever.
