A Crippling Fear - Experiencing Polio in the Era of FDR
(c) Johns Hopkins University Press
In this article, Dr. Daniel J. Wilson discusses the fear of experiencing polio during the era of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
“Poliomyelitis in the 1930s and 1940s was a feared crippler of children and young adults. In spite of advances in polio aftercare, the development specialized treatment centers such as Warm Springs, and increased scientific knowledge about the virus and the disease, the experience of polio remained terrifying. The epidemics between 1930 and 1945 never reached the magnitude of the 1916 epidemic that devastated the northeastern United States, but they occurred with sufficient severity and regularity to keep the crippling of polio in the minds of anxious parents and physicians. The symbol of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who had overcome the ravages of infantile paralysis to become president, dominated the public perception of the polio victim.”
“There is no doubt that Roosevelt’s commitment to the establishment of the Warm Springs Foundation dedicated to polio rehabilitation, and his later support for the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, fostered the development of more effective therapies and ultimately of research into the causes and prevention of poliomyelitis. Roosevelt, however, was an ironic model for the polio survivor: the extent of his disability was largely hidden from the public even as he served as an inspiration for many victims of the virus.”
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