FDR's Role After the Movie

The movie does not address the story of how polio was subsequently defeated. And FDR was key to the conquest of polio which occurred long after his death. While at Warm Springs he set in motion the events that led to the development of the Salk and Sabin vaccines in the 1950s that led to the virtual eradication of polio in the U.S.-and since then to most of the rest of the world.

The story is excellently told in David Oshinsky's excellent "Polio; an American Story" {2005}, which won the Pulitzer Prize in History.

While he was at Warm Springs FDR went into partnership with Basil O'Conner a successful NYC lawyer. Briefly, when FDR became N.Y. governor and then President he convinced O'Conner to become full-time head of the Foundation they set up to fight infantile paralysis.

O'Conner was a dynamo. He established the March of Dimes and the most successful and largest-to then- effort ever to fight a disease. The Foundation in addition to helping victims of polio had a huge grant effort for scientists and doctors studying the disease. Both Jonas Salk and Sabin were amomng the largest grantees. Their discovery of the vaccines that controlled the polio virus led to the virtual eradication of polio.

This is a very brief summary of a very complicated, but fascinating, story. Read Professor Oshinsky's excellent book for a true medical detective story.

Blaine in Seattle