Important Polio Cases
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The 32nd President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, is the most prominent polio survivor in history. After contracting polio during a family vacation on Campobello Island in 1921 at the age of 39, as a result of his paralysis of his legs, Roosevelt led the charge against polio. In 1926, he bought a resort in Georgia and turned it into a hydrotherapy center to treat polio patients. After being elected to the presidency, Roosevelt help to found the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, now known as the March of Dimes. Thanks to Roosevelt's dedication to fighting the disease, polio was at the forefront of the nation's psyche, and was eradicated in the U.S.
Wilma Glodean Rudolph
Three time Olympic Gold Medalist Wilma Rudolph contracted polio at the age of four; she survived. Because her family was poor and could not afford good medical care, most of her care came from her family in the form of exercising and massaging her legs. As result of polio, she was forced to wear a leg brace until she was nine, and was required to wear an orthopedic shoe for two more years. At the age of 12 Rudolph shed her handicap and was able to be a normal kid: playing basket ball, walking without aid, and running. While in high school, a track coach took notice of her Rudolph's skills and trained her; by the age of 16 she had qualified for the 1956 Olympic Games; she won a bronze medal in the 4x100m relay. In 1960, she returned to the Olympics to win 3 gold medals, and set two Olympic records: one a world record. Wilma Rudolph rose from a 4 year old disabled by polio into a 22 year old "fastest woman in the world".
Robert Strange McNamara
The 8th Secretary of Defense of the United States, Robert S. McNamara, contracted polio in the August of 1945, right after the conclusion of World War 2. He remained in the hospital for a couple of months and discharged with a full recovery, his wife, however, remained in the hospital for nine months. In order to pay for her hospital bills McNamara decided to work for Ford Motor Company, eventually becoming the first president of Ford outside of the Ford family.
Polio
An American Story was written by David Oshinsky, and released in 2005, in the
United States. The text is mainly written, although it does feature some pictures.
The intended audiences are people who had interest in polio, and its effect on
American society. The text is a reliable source, Oshinsky based the books story
according to historical statistics, diaries of characters, and their families.
The genre is greatly informative, and the diction used makes it easily understood for someone with virtually no medical knowledge, but also appeals to the reader ethically and emotionally by telling the accounts (some grotesque) of those afflicted with polio. The text does assume that the reader is interested in polio and how it has adversely affected the United States; it fits into the broader discourse of the topic because the topic is about polio’s effect on America.
Polio: An American Story tells the story of the effect polio had in American life after the 1920’s: raise in public awareness of polio, getting care for those suffering with polio, and the fight of individuals and organizations differing in views on how to fight polio. The writer, Oskinsky, presents information not solely from an emotional stand point, but from a statistical and factual base. The story begins with a young Franklin Roosevelt after he contracted polio, which instills in him a will to eradicate the disease, and along the way bring in people like Basil O’Connor to fight the disease alongside him in the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The movement reaches the national stage after Roosevelt becomes president, and it eventually grows bigger than the president’s sphere of influence, after he dies the National Foundation continues to thrive, and polio is virtually eradicated throughout the world.
Theoretically the stance would be that initially America did not do enough to fight polio. It is historically significant in light of all of the strives it took of prominent Americans like Wilma Rudolph and Robert McNamara, FDR, James Starks, and Basil O’Connor, to fight polio’s binds, and bring it to the national conscious and lead a crusade to destroy the terror of polio.
The genre is greatly informative, and the diction used makes it easily understood for someone with virtually no medical knowledge, but also appeals to the reader ethically and emotionally by telling the accounts (some grotesque) of those afflicted with polio. The text does assume that the reader is interested in polio and how it has adversely affected the United States; it fits into the broader discourse of the topic because the topic is about polio’s effect on America.
Polio: An American Story tells the story of the effect polio had in American life after the 1920’s: raise in public awareness of polio, getting care for those suffering with polio, and the fight of individuals and organizations differing in views on how to fight polio. The writer, Oskinsky, presents information not solely from an emotional stand point, but from a statistical and factual base. The story begins with a young Franklin Roosevelt after he contracted polio, which instills in him a will to eradicate the disease, and along the way bring in people like Basil O’Connor to fight the disease alongside him in the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The movement reaches the national stage after Roosevelt becomes president, and it eventually grows bigger than the president’s sphere of influence, after he dies the National Foundation continues to thrive, and polio is virtually eradicated throughout the world.
Theoretically the stance would be that initially America did not do enough to fight polio. It is historically significant in light of all of the strives it took of prominent Americans like Wilma Rudolph and Robert McNamara, FDR, James Starks, and Basil O’Connor, to fight polio’s binds, and bring it to the national conscious and lead a crusade to destroy the terror of polio.