Transcripts For CSPAN3 Lectures In History Polio Epidemic In

I want to explain in advance at this in writing, weve examined various disasters from different perspectives, first of all, the psychological and physical problems that jamestown, disaster sermons and responses to fires hurricanes and epidemics in colonial america. Famine suffered by the dawn and party and root to california, irish immigrants flaming the potato famine in the ability to create new lives in this country. Disaster tourism, johnston flood of 1889 the impact of the triangle shirt lays factory in new york city and disaster arts that emerged from the 1930s dust bowl. So today we are discussing david oceans Pulitzer Prizewinning book, polio an american story, you all received questions that i posted and i am really interested in this topic, because i also teach someone are in the 19 fifties and of course that is one so much of this book takes place and i think just looking at polio really reveals so many different issues that affected that decade. Before starting though, i want to mention one thing in light of what we were talking about in terms of dust bowl art. I was reading the new york review of books and there is a review of a novel that would be guthrie wrote. A novel called house of earth. It doesnt get a very good review, obviously you get some attention, we will be pleased to know that the introduction was by historian named douglas brinkley, and joining deep. So i think theyre trying to sell copies. Superstar on the cover okay. I divide the discussion today into four sort of major themes, we cant cover all of those but i thought the most interesting was looking at philanthropy, medical Research Scientists and their various personalities, which are interesting and also the ethical issues. So with that lets start the way we always do, when we look at anything we have to read and that is first of, all who is david ocean ski . A professor history professor in a distinguish scholar and residents at nyu. Fairly reputable, we would say he probably knows what hes talking about. He won a cartwright award, from Columbia University Medical Center in 2010 known for his research and so that helps him get credit before he definitely adds credibility. We even had Something Else. On the Pulitzer Prize award in 2006. Winning a Pulitzer Prize is substantial, thats for sure. Overall, what did you think of his writing, his scholarship is research, were you impressed . I was impressed by the thoroughness of his research and how he kind of went above and beyond researching the relationship searching the scientists and between the politicians in the scientists in the foundation, i think there was a lot he pretty went as much as he couldve, there was a lot one way to talk to robert kara, i took him seven years to read his book instead of two. It kind of felt like the same way. Right, very much indepth. Really a nice variety in terms of people interviewed. I thought there was a good balance between information in kind of story in the book. I found a very readable i thought originally, when we had to read the whole book it would take me or the long time but i found myself getting really into it and i thought it was easy to read and really interesting, i think he did a good job of making it accessible and not so academic. This is one of the great examples of how history is really stories and this is a very well told story on multiple levels. Carly . He did a good job describing the historical point of it as well as the scientific point, but also the kind of politics of each point, not only a political aspect with the topics of science, which is an interesting point of view for us to read. Something really different. We hadnt done that before. What do you think . Did he deserve the Pulitzer Prize . Should be vote. What do you think . I think thumbs up, right . Obviously a man of some repute is certainly did a good job on this book. The first recorded, well recorded outbreak of polio took place in rockland, fremont, in 1894. 123 people there caught polio. There was another outbreak, substantial outbreak in 1907 and then a major outbreak in 1916, that began in picks pick town, in brooklyn, new york. And that spread across the northeast and some 6000 people died from that outbreak. Ocean ski has an interesting comment or thoughts to make about why these epidemics suddenly broke out, why it is, in the nate 19th and early 20th century, suddenly we see these so many more people affected by this disease. What does he say . How does he tie in the germ theory of disease with his comments about the outbreak of those polio epidemics . He describes it as the age of cleanliness so america became so preoccupied with hygiene and sanitation in cleaning up cities and with that, as the youth were is exposed to microorganisms that carry disease and bacteria, they were more likely to be infected and not have an immune system to certain to be diseases. And what does that mean in terms of children not being exposed to the germs and bacteria . What happens . He says when you got polio as a young child it was a lesser dose or it was an as effective, you dont have as many side effects from it, so as you get older is stronger its better to get it as a young kid, is a much milder case. Particularly, when you really young, you have your mother isnt antibodies to withstand the impact of those diseases and so that was something that was sort of traditionally happened in america but certainly everybody is watching him cleaning clothes better sanitation i dont know if its an argument for not watching hands these days, i dont think so but something it happened in this country to make people more susceptible to polio. So by the early 20th century, americans were in a panic about polio. And what was so frightening about that disease . What was different about polio . That had been true deserves is before this . I think back to what made it so frightening was it was primarily children who got it. And it wasnt, they saw no reason for why certain got it. It wasnt just children poor communities it was children all across the board. Maybe even more so enriching clean areas. And theres no cause or nuclear. No known cause. For a disease like cholera, this would be traditionally among the poor. Those who were drinking bathwater those who are living in filthy conditions. Polio hits everybody. There was no class issue when it came to polio, and also, initially it hit heavily on children and was called infantile paralysis. Because it hit children typically sort of between the ages of one and three. That is going to change but nevertheless, here it is affecting innocent children. What else was different about this disease . It accelerated very quickly. All of a sudden one warning a child would wake up with a stiff neck and a fever and a couple of hours or a day later, they could be losing feeling in their limbs and i think that was terrifying for a lot of parents because it was just like that. And no idea how the child had gotten the disease. Were you going to add Something Else . I was gonna Say Something along the same lines but i was also going to say today recently came out with the antibiotic of penicillin but that had no effect on polio because it was a viral infection. Right. A viral infection was kind of new to that age with influenza. This is viral infection and not bacterial so penicillin did absolutely no good. Anything else that was unique and different about this disease . Some of the later cases, they said it could wipe out the entire family. Thats one thing they had five kids that died one day after each other. And there were cases of that. Terrifying to parents. Totally terrifying so this was something that you can just imagine being a parent and having a very, very young child suddenly succumb to this horrible, horrible disease. Nobody knew what caused it, nobody knew how to curate, and initially what was the response if a child got polio or a few feared polio in your community, how did people react . What are they do with it . They were quarantined and they shut down public spaces where children would gala gathered likes to impose a movie theaters. Indeed, rightly understood. It was contagious. It did spread from person to person so they understood that this was a contagious disease and i can tell you stories of friends of mine at least, who will remember in childhood, when they couldnt go to the local public swimming pool. Movie theaters were closed were literally you were forced to stay out of any situation that involves a whole lot of people, particularly areas where children gathered. The author also shows the very sorry state of medical research in the late 19th century. This was, people almost distrusted medical research and of course, no one could conceive of a federal government supporting medical research. We didnt have the National Institute of health, we didnt have the centers for disease control. This was something medical research, if it happened, was something that happened to be funded by individuals or by foundations. But it really wasnt generating that kind of response. And for many doctors, certainly, this was true in the mid to late 19 century. If you really wanted to good medical education he went abroad. If you really wanted to engage in any kind of research, you want to europe. But all that changed in 1902, when what happened . What major donor . We changed all of that . Rockefeller . John do rockefeller. He had millions he was convinced to give this money to found a research institute, not a hospital not a medical school but an actual Actual Research institute. This, of course, is the Rockefeller Institute which is in new york city. If you go to duke city, you see the beautiful browns of this building, its right in the east river and high fifties or low sixties, this is something new. This is very exciting. And the director was this institute and he was a man named simon flexing or. And held this position for 40 years, what did you get . Did you get any sense of his personality . The man who headed this institute . Rather. Had strong. And pulled it was his domain if youre going to research polio you had to do it his way so he seems to be rather controlling there is one way for Polio Research and that was his. He was an incredible autocrat, he ran this institute with an iron fist in a way. This was his thing. This institute, of course took on many, many diseases, polio was nearly one of the many diseases studied at the Rockefeller Institute. Now of course, the major event that really put polio on the map suddenly get a lot more attention it was a personal tragedy and that was franklin dylan roosevelt. And coming in 1921. Here was a 39 year old man, hes not an infant, from a very well to do family. Hes a very robust man. And suddenly, he succumbed to polio at his familys summer home on campus bellow island. How it the author explain how someone like roosevelt got polio . What had happened in his past or recently to him to explain this . He says that he was extremely vulnerable because as a child, he had many illnesses he also became exhausted in stretch. And that led to immune system going down, around a bunch of other people couldve contracted the disease from. Anybody know anything about roosevelts childhood . He was very wealthy so he separated the mainstream American Population which meant that he didnt contract common childhood diseases, which wouldve races immune system. In the real world, he was much more susceptible. His mother sarah was a conch extremely controlling individual and the oversaw his childhood, and he was protected from everything and everybody. She was quite something. That was exactly what was not good for child, not having the normal exposure to diseases that most people did. As you said, this was a unique childhood and a very privileged upbringing. Anything else about roosevelt that would help explain, he was exhausted. Where have you been . Right before he went to camp the below island . Yeah the boy scouts convention. He was at a boy scouts meeting just days before, demand a bunch of young boys and thats probably where he contracted polio. Wasnt he battling some sex scandal . He had been in washington d. C. And he had been for three days under tremendous pressure going through the congressional investigation and questioning, getting absolutely exhausted. Its called the navy scandal and the homosexual scandal. Pressure, tension. And then apparently, i dont know if he fell off the boat or if you actually went swimming. But he went into this really cold water, i dont know if any of you have tried to swim up in northern maine or somewhere like that its absolutely frigid. He fell into the water and then he stayed in his bathing suit. And so obviously, he got chilled. And this, again, interfered with his immune system. Basically, lower his resistance. So suddenly, we have this energetic, robust, 39 year old man who woke up and was paralyzed. And from that point forward, of course, Franklin Roosevelt never walked alone, he always wore metal braces. Usually he was assisted by somebody. He managed to walk to put him to give a speech. Typically, he was sitting, whenever you see a picture of him, typically, he was sitting down. And he was often in pain. His mother felt that the best path for roosevelt to follow would be to come home to hide park, she would take care of him, and he could leave leave this lovely quiet life. But his wife ellen are convinced him otherwise. She felt the very thing for was roosevelt to reenter public life to really try and get back to some kind of normal life if at all possible. Fortunately, that is what he did. Its amazing how many people in this country never realized that roosevelt was handicapped, that he had had polio and that he could not walk. Ive had students do oral histories of people who lived in the 19 thirties and forties. And there, like, no, no, he wasnt paralyzed. He wasnt. They really did not know, and zeroes about was determined, not to make a big deal of this, not to become this sympathetic character and also there was a stigma about being handicapped. Youre not robust, youre not in a sense, a whole person. And so he didnt, he really didnt want people to know and he did a great job of really hiding this fact. Well, he returned to a normal life. He partnered with a young man named basel oconnor, they started a new York Law Firm and then shortly thereafter roosevelt heard about this kind of decrepit sort of seedy spa down called warm springs, georgia. This is where the water boils up and theres all these minerals on the water and saw warm and wonderful. By the way, did any of you see the movie called warm springs, with Cynthia Nixon and Kenneth Braun . I thought. Anyway, it was a good movie roosevelt traveled there and he got in the waters and this was just wonderful. It was really soothing and it was exactly what he needed. So much to his mothers dismay, he spent two thirds of his inheritance buying is property. When he realized is that this is exactly what he needed and also realized the other Polio Victims need the same. And so out of this, he formed what was called warm springs foundation. And its face of course was in warm springs, georgia. He built his own cottage and every summer, he would spend weeks they are just enjoying these wonderful warm mineral waters. Well, in 1928, life changed again for roosevelt. Ill smith, the governor of new york, the catholic who ran for president in 1928, against Herbert Hoover, asked roosevelt to be his Vice President ial candidates. And after much soul searching, who was about the greek. They didnt win that. In fact, it was a pretty cataclysmic outcome. Herbert hoover one, as we know, but roosevelt became governor of new york, and he served two to your terms as governor of new york. Well, in 1932, of course, Democratic Party decided roosevelt would be the perfect candidate to run against Herbert Hoover. The heart of the depression. Americans were really suffering. Roosevelt ran an incredible upbeat campaign. His Campaign Song was happy days are here again. Even though nobody was too happy at that point. And of course, he won the presidency and took office in 1933. A number of scholars have looked at roosevelt and his character and feel that polio had an incredible impact on who he was as a person what did you get out of oshinski in terms of what polio did for roosevelt as a man, as a person . Did it have a positive impact, negative impact . I think so much that there was a stigma gets polio, he realized that he could go win and be such a fundamental change in the government that other people who were down and up with the depression could do the same thing. The stigma didnt need to be. There didnt really agree with the fact that you get it from everyone, but it proves that just because you have a physical handicap doesnt mean you cant go on do impressive things. And there were people who knew about it. And all the more that they would admire this man and see what he had been able to accomplish, a man who is basically handicapped by polio. It was quite incredible. Roosevelt, before he had polio, was pretty much called a lightweight. I wouldnt say he was a playboy, but he was not regarded as a man of great substance. Just this wealthy man what had every privilege in life. I think both of those are really important. The idea that he could overcome this, it wasnt going to, in a sense, caused him to not do his best in any respect. He was going to become a great president despite the disease. And empathy. That was a huge issue. When he ran against Herbert Hoover, Herbert Hoover seemed like a man who had no connection with what people were suffering. And here was a man who had really suffered physically, and could identify with whatever problem somebody was suffering. All right. So obviously, roosevelt being in albany as governor of new york, then of course, occupying the white house, suddenly he is extremely busy. He has no time to really Pay Attention to his foundation down in warm springs so he appoints Basil Oconnor to take charge of it. And they hire a Pulitzer Prize<\/a>winning book, polio an american story, you all received questions that i posted and i am really interested in this topic, because i also teach someone are in the 19 fifties and of course that is one so much of this book takes place and i think just looking at polio really reveals so many different issues that affected that decade. Before starting though, i want to mention one thing in light of what we were talking about in terms of dust bowl art. I was reading the new york review of books and there is a review of a novel that would be guthrie wrote. A novel called house of earth. It doesnt get a very good review, obviously you get some attention, we will be pleased to know that the introduction was by historian named douglas brinkley, and joining deep. So i think theyre trying to sell copies. Superstar on the cover okay. I divide the discussion today into four sort of major themes, we cant cover all of those but i thought the most interesting was looking at philanthropy, medical Research Scientists<\/a> and their various personalities, which are interesting and also the ethical issues. So with that lets start the way we always do, when we look at anything we have to read and that is first of, all who is david ocean ski . A professor history professor in a distinguish scholar and residents at nyu. Fairly reputable, we would say he probably knows what hes talking about. He won a cartwright award, from Columbia University<\/a> Medical Center<\/a> in 2010 known for his research and so that helps him get credit before he definitely adds credibility. We even had Something Else<\/a>. On the Pulitzer Prize<\/a> award in 2006. Winning a Pulitzer Prize<\/a> is substantial, thats for sure. Overall, what did you think of his writing, his scholarship is research, were you impressed . I was impressed by the thoroughness of his research and how he kind of went above and beyond researching the relationship searching the scientists and between the politicians in the scientists in the foundation, i think there was a lot he pretty went as much as he couldve, there was a lot one way to talk to robert kara, i took him seven years to read his book instead of two. It kind of felt like the same way. Right, very much indepth. Really a nice variety in terms of people interviewed. I thought there was a good balance between information in kind of story in the book. I found a very readable i thought originally, when we had to read the whole book it would take me or the long time but i found myself getting really into it and i thought it was easy to read and really interesting, i think he did a good job of making it accessible and not so academic. This is one of the great examples of how history is really stories and this is a very well told story on multiple levels. Carly . He did a good job describing the historical point of it as well as the scientific point, but also the kind of politics of each point, not only a political aspect with the topics of science, which is an interesting point of view for us to read. Something really different. We hadnt done that before. What do you think . Did he deserve the Pulitzer Prize<\/a> . Should be vote. What do you think . I think thumbs up, right . Obviously a man of some repute is certainly did a good job on this book. The first recorded, well recorded outbreak of polio took place in rockland, fremont, in 1894. 123 people there caught polio. There was another outbreak, substantial outbreak in 1907 and then a major outbreak in 1916, that began in picks pick town, in brooklyn, new york. And that spread across the northeast and some 6000 people died from that outbreak. Ocean ski has an interesting comment or thoughts to make about why these epidemics suddenly broke out, why it is, in the nate 19th and early 20th century, suddenly we see these so many more people affected by this disease. What does he say . How does he tie in the germ theory of disease with his comments about the outbreak of those polio epidemics . He describes it as the age of cleanliness so america became so preoccupied with hygiene and sanitation in cleaning up cities and with that, as the youth were is exposed to microorganisms that carry disease and bacteria, they were more likely to be infected and not have an immune system to certain to be diseases. And what does that mean in terms of children not being exposed to the germs and bacteria . What happens . He says when you got polio as a young child it was a lesser dose or it was an as effective, you dont have as many side effects from it, so as you get older is stronger its better to get it as a young kid, is a much milder case. Particularly, when you really young, you have your mother isnt antibodies to withstand the impact of those diseases and so that was something that was sort of traditionally happened in america but certainly everybody is watching him cleaning clothes better sanitation i dont know if its an argument for not watching hands these days, i dont think so but something it happened in this country to make people more susceptible to polio. So by the early 20th century, americans were in a panic about polio. And what was so frightening about that disease . What was different about polio . That had been true deserves is before this . I think back to what made it so frightening was it was primarily children who got it. And it wasnt, they saw no reason for why certain got it. It wasnt just children poor communities it was children all across the board. Maybe even more so enriching clean areas. And theres no cause or nuclear. No known cause. For a disease like cholera, this would be traditionally among the poor. Those who were drinking bathwater those who are living in filthy conditions. Polio hits everybody. There was no class issue when it came to polio, and also, initially it hit heavily on children and was called infantile paralysis. Because it hit children typically sort of between the ages of one and three. That is going to change but nevertheless, here it is affecting innocent children. What else was different about this disease . It accelerated very quickly. All of a sudden one warning a child would wake up with a stiff neck and a fever and a couple of hours or a day later, they could be losing feeling in their limbs and i think that was terrifying for a lot of parents because it was just like that. And no idea how the child had gotten the disease. Were you going to add Something Else<\/a> . I was gonna Say Something<\/a> along the same lines but i was also going to say today recently came out with the antibiotic of penicillin but that had no effect on polio because it was a viral infection. Right. A viral infection was kind of new to that age with influenza. This is viral infection and not bacterial so penicillin did absolutely no good. Anything else that was unique and different about this disease . Some of the later cases, they said it could wipe out the entire family. Thats one thing they had five kids that died one day after each other. And there were cases of that. Terrifying to parents. Totally terrifying so this was something that you can just imagine being a parent and having a very, very young child suddenly succumb to this horrible, horrible disease. Nobody knew what caused it, nobody knew how to curate, and initially what was the response if a child got polio or a few feared polio in your community, how did people react . What are they do with it . They were quarantined and they shut down public spaces where children would gala gathered likes to impose a movie theaters. Indeed, rightly understood. It was contagious. It did spread from person to person so they understood that this was a contagious disease and i can tell you stories of friends of mine at least, who will remember in childhood, when they couldnt go to the local public swimming pool. Movie theaters were closed were literally you were forced to stay out of any situation that involves a whole lot of people, particularly areas where children gathered. The author also shows the very sorry state of medical research in the late 19th century. This was, people almost distrusted medical research and of course, no one could conceive of a federal government supporting medical research. We didnt have the National Institute<\/a> of health, we didnt have the centers for disease control. This was something medical research, if it happened, was something that happened to be funded by individuals or by foundations. But it really wasnt generating that kind of response. And for many doctors, certainly, this was true in the mid to late 19 century. If you really wanted to good medical education he went abroad. If you really wanted to engage in any kind of research, you want to europe. But all that changed in 1902, when what happened . What major donor . We changed all of that . Rockefeller . John do rockefeller. He had millions he was convinced to give this money to found a research institute, not a hospital not a medical school but an actual Actual Research<\/a> institute. This, of course, is the Rockefeller Institute<\/a> which is in new york city. If you go to duke city, you see the beautiful browns of this building, its right in the east river and high fifties or low sixties, this is something new. This is very exciting. And the director was this institute and he was a man named simon flexing or. And held this position for 40 years, what did you get . Did you get any sense of his personality . The man who headed this institute . Rather. Had strong. And pulled it was his domain if youre going to research polio you had to do it his way so he seems to be rather controlling there is one way for Polio Research<\/a> and that was his. He was an incredible autocrat, he ran this institute with an iron fist in a way. This was his thing. This institute, of course took on many, many diseases, polio was nearly one of the many diseases studied at the Rockefeller Institute<\/a>. Now of course, the major event that really put polio on the map suddenly get a lot more attention it was a personal tragedy and that was franklin dylan roosevelt. And coming in 1921. Here was a 39 year old man, hes not an infant, from a very well to do family. Hes a very robust man. And suddenly, he succumbed to polio at his familys summer home on campus bellow island. How it the author explain how someone like roosevelt got polio . What had happened in his past or recently to him to explain this . He says that he was extremely vulnerable because as a child, he had many illnesses he also became exhausted in stretch. And that led to immune system going down, around a bunch of other people couldve contracted the disease from. Anybody know anything about roosevelts childhood . He was very wealthy so he separated the mainstream American Population<\/a> which meant that he didnt contract common childhood diseases, which wouldve races immune system. In the real world, he was much more susceptible. His mother sarah was a conch extremely controlling individual and the oversaw his childhood, and he was protected from everything and everybody. She was quite something. That was exactly what was not good for child, not having the normal exposure to diseases that most people did. As you said, this was a unique childhood and a very privileged upbringing. Anything else about roosevelt that would help explain, he was exhausted. Where have you been . Right before he went to camp the below island . Yeah the boy scouts convention. He was at a boy scouts meeting just days before, demand a bunch of young boys and thats probably where he contracted polio. Wasnt he battling some sex scandal . He had been in washington d. C. And he had been for three days under tremendous pressure going through the congressional investigation and questioning, getting absolutely exhausted. Its called the navy scandal and the homosexual scandal. Pressure, tension. And then apparently, i dont know if he fell off the boat or if you actually went swimming. But he went into this really cold water, i dont know if any of you have tried to swim up in northern maine or somewhere like that its absolutely frigid. He fell into the water and then he stayed in his bathing suit. And so obviously, he got chilled. And this, again, interfered with his immune system. Basically, lower his resistance. So suddenly, we have this energetic, robust, 39 year old man who woke up and was paralyzed. And from that point forward, of course, Franklin Roosevelt<\/a> never walked alone, he always wore metal braces. Usually he was assisted by somebody. He managed to walk to put him to give a speech. Typically, he was sitting, whenever you see a picture of him, typically, he was sitting down. And he was often in pain. His mother felt that the best path for roosevelt to follow would be to come home to hide park, she would take care of him, and he could leave leave this lovely quiet life. But his wife ellen are convinced him otherwise. She felt the very thing for was roosevelt to reenter public life to really try and get back to some kind of normal life if at all possible. Fortunately, that is what he did. Its amazing how many people in this country never realized that roosevelt was handicapped, that he had had polio and that he could not walk. Ive had students do oral histories of people who lived in the 19 thirties and forties. And there, like, no, no, he wasnt paralyzed. He wasnt. They really did not know, and zeroes about was determined, not to make a big deal of this, not to become this sympathetic character and also there was a stigma about being handicapped. Youre not robust, youre not in a sense, a whole person. And so he didnt, he really didnt want people to know and he did a great job of really hiding this fact. Well, he returned to a normal life. He partnered with a young man named basel oconnor, they started a new York Law Firm<\/a> and then shortly thereafter roosevelt heard about this kind of decrepit sort of seedy spa down called warm springs, georgia. This is where the water boils up and theres all these minerals on the water and saw warm and wonderful. By the way, did any of you see the movie called warm springs, with Cynthia Nixon<\/a> and Kenneth Braun<\/a> . I thought. Anyway, it was a good movie roosevelt traveled there and he got in the waters and this was just wonderful. It was really soothing and it was exactly what he needed. So much to his mothers dismay, he spent two thirds of his inheritance buying is property. When he realized is that this is exactly what he needed and also realized the other Polio Victims<\/a> need the same. And so out of this, he formed what was called warm springs foundation. And its face of course was in warm springs, georgia. He built his own cottage and every summer, he would spend weeks they are just enjoying these wonderful warm mineral waters. Well, in 1928, life changed again for roosevelt. Ill smith, the governor of new york, the catholic who ran for president in 1928, against Herbert Hoover<\/a>, asked roosevelt to be his Vice President<\/a> ial candidates. And after much soul searching, who was about the greek. They didnt win that. In fact, it was a pretty cataclysmic outcome. Herbert hoover one, as we know, but roosevelt became governor of new york, and he served two to your terms as governor of new york. Well, in 1932, of course, Democratic Party<\/a> decided roosevelt would be the perfect candidate to run against Herbert Hoover<\/a>. The heart of the depression. Americans were really suffering. Roosevelt ran an incredible upbeat campaign. His Campaign Song<\/a> was happy days are here again. Even though nobody was too happy at that point. And of course, he won the presidency and took office in 1933. A number of scholars have looked at roosevelt and his character and feel that polio had an incredible impact on who he was as a person what did you get out of oshinski in terms of what polio did for roosevelt as a man, as a person . Did it have a positive impact, negative impact . I think so much that there was a stigma gets polio, he realized that he could go win and be such a fundamental change in the government that other people who were down and up with the depression could do the same thing. The stigma didnt need to be. There didnt really agree with the fact that you get it from everyone, but it proves that just because you have a physical handicap doesnt mean you cant go on do impressive things. And there were people who knew about it. And all the more that they would admire this man and see what he had been able to accomplish, a man who is basically handicapped by polio. It was quite incredible. Roosevelt, before he had polio, was pretty much called a lightweight. I wouldnt say he was a playboy, but he was not regarded as a man of great substance. Just this wealthy man what had every privilege in life. I think both of those are really important. The idea that he could overcome this, it wasnt going to, in a sense, caused him to not do his best in any respect. He was going to become a great president despite the disease. And empathy. That was a huge issue. When he ran against Herbert Hoover<\/a>, Herbert Hoover<\/a> seemed like a man who had no connection with what people were suffering. And here was a man who had really suffered physically, and could identify with whatever problem somebody was suffering. All right. So obviously, roosevelt being in albany as governor of new york, then of course, occupying the white house, suddenly he is extremely busy. He has no time to really Pay Attention<\/a> to his foundation down in warm springs so he appoints Basil Oconnor<\/a> to take charge of it. And they hire a Public Relations<\/a> man. They hire someone to take charge of fundraising and create this incredible foundation. In the first fundraising events were what . That basically used roosevelt effectively . Over those Forest Events<\/a> . The Birthday Ball<\/a> . s Birthday Ball<\/a>s, right. What was a Birthday Ball<\/a> . They were just big parties, fundraisers basically on his birthday, and not yet dimes. Were still on the fancy balls. Driving a lot of money for the foundation. Celebrate roosevelt, celebrate is birthday. And you have these fancy false, i fancy hotels. And they were all across the country, which is quite amazing to think about. It wasnt just like in new york and washington, but all across the country there is a problem. There were a couple problems with those balls. It became varied in the apparent within a few years. Why might people begin to think maybe these birthday polls arent a very good idea . Josh . I think people took issue with using him as a figurehead since he was the president. And it seemed like he should remain neutral given such important political office. Hes the president and whats his Political Party<\/a> . Hes a democrat. So this, no republican wants to go to a for the ball with Franklin Roosevelt<\/a>. You have the political issue and then what message this deliver, these are the balls . If youre in the heart of the depression the way i look at it, not very inviting towards the lower class. To say the least. Definitely some questions differences there. Very strong issues. Exactly. So these Birthday Ball<\/a>s are for the elite, and therefore people can afford them. Theyre celebrating, people are getting dressed up and yet there is the depression. And then of course is this democratic president. Well, eventually, within a short period of time, they created the foundation for, the National Foundation<\/a> for infant top relatives. It was basil connor who took charge of this new foundation. This is when celebrities began to be drawn to this cause, including a man named a decanter. You probably never heard of the sky until you read oshinskis book. But he was a major radio personality. And he was the one who coined the phrase march of dimes, based upon, these to have sort of news reels before movies were shown. They were called march of times. And so he took that phrase and made it march of dimes. So out of that, what emerged was a totally new approach to fundraising. Forget the fancy balls. Now what happened . How did this foundation really transform Charitable Giving<\/a>, philanthropy in this country . . Reagan it made it so that it wasnt just the wealthy who could contribute to fundraising. So that everyone could contribute, even if youre poor, you could send in a couple of times. Okay. Yeah. It involve the whole country. Yeah. Everybody, okay . This is the march of dimes, literally march of dimes. And thats exactly what happens. Send in your dimes. Sending your contributions. We dont need 1000 dollar check. Just send in, and they were just inundated. Literally piles and piles of dimes came in from people who found this really, really appealing. They could do their part. And there were radio announcements about the importance of the march of dimes. There were collections taken in movie theaters and i guess people were going to the movies, i cant quite figure that one out, but anyway. Apparently is it that they said the foundation raised about 40 of his contributions and movie theaters. People attending the movies there would be a collection and they will put their dimes with the quarters in them. I dont know if any of you if, you go to a broadway show in new york city, they always had this plea, its not for the march of dines but its for aids research. And so the actors are all onstage at the end of the stand out in the lobby with the pales. Same kind of thing that beau was going on back and still goes on today. For a different purpose. So what did this do . What are to do for people in america . How would you feel about this kind of fundraising . I think it brought together the nation. It wasnt just a few people contributing to a cause, it was a whole nation coming together and fighting against polio. It also got out the idea of polio. People probably didnt know, didnt have televisions and didnt have the ability to see newscasts and stuff like that. So he got out the whole notion that polio was there and killing a lot of people and in in the united states. This is so new. Dry everybody together, everybody is invested in this fundraising event. This is your disease, this is what you contribute to. It reached a class of people that had never even been asked to fundraise or participate in fundraising and it made them feel like they were part of something bigger than for, like american nationalism, which led to pride going into world war ii. Incredible pride in doing your part in helping. Andqu actually, this will give away, you already know how old am, but i remember an Elementary School<\/a>, we all got a little, it was like a little piece of cardboard with little round slot senate, where you put your dimes. So we all had to fill in this little piece of cardboard without times, and so i use my allowance and i did all these extra chores. Because you want to be the first in your class to fill this in, and then handed into the foundation in some way. So this was a huge deal. This was certainly a very different way to raise money. And then of course, there were the annual fashion shows. And again, while there is this outreach to the people of america, there were still some events that certainly had a class issue about them, these fashion shows, apparently were absolutely amazing. They would draw all the hollywood starlets, grace kelly, they got Salvatore Dali<\/a> to do some of the background minerals where these fashion shows. Carrie winston, who had all these really fancy jewels would donate his jewelry for them. So this was incredibly effective. And then finally, theres one more aspect of the fundraising that was so important, which had to do with the mothers of america. And what was that . What was that fundraising . Was it the lever lights on campaign . Everyone for one night lets reports lights on and mothers would go around to collect range from them. You could itll lead you to focus all throughout the effort on onetime. They knew it wasnt this month long process, everyone knew one night were all going to go out and collect money. Right. And again this is all across america. Mothers were volunteering, this is like a great volunteer army of mothers. You would volunteer. All you have to do, this was a one ideal, particular our, lots of publicity in advance, posters, radio announcements, etc. And it is one time, you would can this year a signed neighborhood or your signed Apartment Building<\/a>. And you would collect money. And people will turn on the light if they wanted to give, if you live in an Apartment Building<\/a> you put out of her shoes, which meant please knock, whose ring the doorbell, come and we are happy to give money. So again, investing more people into this single cause. Nothing like this is happened before, this is a totally new approach to Charitable Giving<\/a> i just want to mention briefly seen this is happened very close to davidson that outbreak in Hickory North<\/a> carolina which is only an hour of the road in 1944 and i think one of the things that deserves mentioning about that outbreak was that the foundation happened so quickly. There is an outbreak of polio. The foundation moved in with nurses, doctors, they took over summer camp, they built a temporary hospital. Which i think show the incredible resources. The effectiveness that this foundation had certainly in the 19 forties and early 50s. There were very few people who died. This response really, really was effective. Major change in 1945, roosevelt died in april 1945 that caused a huge thing, collecting from polio and at the decided money they collected would go to the united way. Which was the community and all encompassing umbrella tropic organization. And and yet, polio cases are on the rise. They were not decreasing. Because as yet, there was no effective polio vaccine to offset this. So on to the scientists and to the medical research. Wondering if you found some of the behavior of the scientists as shocking as i did. Are we dealing with now children . Are grown men . He does quite a job really getting to the heart of this. Theres an effort by many researchers to find an effective virus. An effective vaccine, excuse me. To offset this horrible disease, and yet three things have to be discovered about polio before any researcher could really engage in an effective research. What were those three things . They were how many strains are types of the virus there were. I would enter the body and got to the Central Nervous<\/a> system and how to develop a safe and steady supply of the virus type reach vaccine. So the first thing being how many strange there were. And so they had to start typing all of the polio strings they found. What are they discover . Fortunately . There were only three strains. Rather than hundreds. Today, we have trouble with influenza because the strains seem to change every year. But they really were able to determined there were only three polio strains. The point of origin. What had people long believed about how polio entered the body . Some people thought that it entered through the nose. Simon flexner was the one who knew. Absolutely knew that was correct. Because he was just this larger than life personality and such an autocrat, nobody dared challenge him. Researchers began to really study this and discovered what . Comes through the mouth. The point of entry is through the mouth, through the digestive tract, briefly in the blood and then of course, can attack the muscles. That was a huge breakthrough. The third one being how to replicate the virus in a test tube. The man who discovered this was a man named john enders who ultimately went on to win the nobel he and two assistants ultimately went on to win the nobel prize for medicine in 1954. All right. So we have the foundation beginning to feel a real sense of urgency. The raising all this money. People are really vested in this disease, its been declared the number one menace in america, even though the death rate was not nearly as high for polio as it was for other things. But when you start getting people so involved in this disease, pretty soon, and giving your money, youre going to expect results. So the two major scientists involved in this research, and of course theyre not the only ones but theyre really did to on whom oshinski concentrates his book. The first one being jonas salk. And who was jonas salk . What do you remember reading about him . Anything . Anything . Whose parents were immigrants, he came from humble backgrounds and he slowly but surely his parents were immigrants. His parents i think russian immigrants. Second generation. Yeah and he had very meager beginnings, eventually, through a series of apprenticeships, he managed to become a star in the field of medical research. What was his education . Being a poor immigrant . Jewish. City college of new york. You went to a special high school. City college of new york, which was practically free. And then to nyu, which actually admitted jews which was in this period was often not true of other medical schools. So he graduated, he married, he worked at mount sinai hospital. He then went to the university of michigan. And while at the university of michigan he was working on trying to find a vaccine to deal with polio. The School Received<\/a> a lot of grants. But salk began he had a falling out with his mentor. Because salk actually became, while he was doing the research at the school, he became a consultant to a drug company. And of course, theres a direct conflict of interest in doing that. And his mentor was really astonished that he did this. And also, even at this young age, salk wanted recognition. He really wanted to be sure everybody knew how important he was and how important the research he was doing. So 1947, he left the university of michigan. c university of pittsburgh. Now, nobody had really thought much of the university of pittsburgh and its involvement in research or its medical school. But the school was trying to change. And it really soft salk as somebody who could sort of put this medical school on the map. So off he went to this sort of place that certainly didnt have the prestigious say, as the Rockefeller Institute<\/a>. Thats one side of the race, the other side of course, is albert sabin. Who was albert sabin . Similar story, different story . Hes also a russian immigrant and he was jewish. So the kind of had a similar background. And he was more established as a scientist in his later years, then salk was. He was actually born in poland. But eastern europe. Right. And he wasnt even immigrant, and came to this country when he was about 15 years old. Got a decent education, began to really be interested in polio when he was really young. And was at the Rockefeller Institute<\/a>. So he was indeed, one of the privileged scientists to be there. And then, after being their only six years, again, he sort of did the unthinkable, just the way salk had done. He left and he went where . University of cincinnati. What . But again, he saw opportunities there. And where he could really do the kind of work he wanted. So in looking at these two scientists, what sense did you get . What role do you think the foundation played in funding these men and in creating the situation that sort of exacerbated the tension between the two men . What did you think of the foundation and the role it played . The foundation was giving money to both men to research. So throughout the book, i kind of felt like salk, he was kind of always determined to get some fame from finding this vaccine. So he was determined to, while sabin on the other hand, he was more trying to work with other researchers, more than salk was. So you would call us even more of a pure researcher . But most been got money. But we got more money . Salk got more money, i think because of his personal relationship with Basil Oconnor<\/a>. They became close friends, i think. They. Did the foundation was able to really influence the direction the research took by emphasizing the virus, the live iris. What is so interesting in a way in the role of his foundation, was it early on, you had Basil Oconnor<\/a>, first of all, salk was chosen by the foundation to attend this meeting in denmark, were all of those who were studying polio gathered. Sabin was there too. But salk was chosen in a sense, by the foundation. Hand chosen to attend this meeting. And then on the return trip, as they were traveling home via ship, he met oconnor. They became fast friends. They really developed a very, very positive relationship. So they hit it off. And so many scientists would have said at this point, salk was becoming the celebrity scientist. That he seemed to be sort of the handpicked, not air apparent, but certainly the man who the foundation felt would be the best to develop the vaccine. He began to get publicity. Time magazine is stories on him and not just this scientistcwic. What seem to know about him. Salk called him the kitchen chemist. Talk about a put down. How do you feel about these two men . Did you get a sense of anyone you would like you like better than the other . Did you sense ocean ski showed any kind of favorite isnt looking at these two incredible scientists . Is it a tossup, get rid of both of them . I kind of felt like at first salk is petite is the underdog because he wasnt as established in the research community. And he hadnt received as much recognition but then when he gained celebrity with the american public, he did kind of switched and he kind of portrayed himself as the people scientists. Sabin is like the scientist. The scientists scientist. Which men would rather have dinner with . laughs its a hard one, isnt it . What were the most negative characteristics of each man . With you sense of salk . I feel like neither of them was willing to recognize the success of the other. Salk was successful earlier when he first developed vaccine. Stephen was constantly attacking him, saying his vaccine was never going to work and it wouldnt be the best for the. Country that was pretty deplorable, but then as soon as saving more successful, and had the more widely spread vaccines use across the world, salk was still attacking him, saying his was better. Neither was willing to they make this public. This was not a private dispute. All of this seemed to be quite public, not just hidden in letters or Something Like<\/a> that. What else . Do you remember anything . Salks drive to be known, he would take peoples names off of papers. There was one paper what he said he lost it and then got it back and put is near the beginning. Incredible his assistance wrote that paper. And then he supposedly lost it. Oh, my gosh, i found it. And then his name is at the top. That is just totally unacceptable. Saved and sort of did a similar thing, i think it was was cox . They said oh, yeah, lets like share some samples. Because they were both working on the life vaccine. And so i think it was cox who sent over some samples of whatever he had and never received anything back from sabin. And so i think they both kind of had that quality where they were like no, just doing everything for themselves, because both of them thought that they could do it the best. They were both pretty impossible, i think. And its interesting the conclusion of the book, book, oshinski says like both of these men should have won a nobel prize for medicine, considering what each one of them developed. But no. Never happened. And i think oshinski hints that indeed part of the reason was that they were so awful to one another. Sabin always had the support of the scientific community. Salk had the support of he got all this public adulation, saving got the adulation of the scientific community. They kept him out of the National Organization<\/a> of science. Lets move on to what is a really interesting issue. That is the whole ethical issue surrounding the testing of the polio vaccine. What do you think about the testing of the vaccine on on mentally challenged children, on prisoners . How does that strike you . Is that ethical . Is that right to do . Do you think this was acceptable . I think its really inhumane. Because if youre talking about children especially, they dont have the mental capacity to speak for themselves and to say no, i dont want this to be tested on. Me and if youre using prisoners, theyre obviously considered to be like secondclass citizens because there are in a prison. So something should happen to them, theyre not going to get an adequate level of care. So they were basically considering these people to be disposable, and saying, if something happens to them, well just find more. As you said, many of these children dont have parents around. Nobody to really say yes or no. Theyre in institutions, theyre already suffering huge problems and yet, they were chosen to be the first recipients of the sock vaccine. Because jonas salk was moving in a positive direction. His killed virus vaccine seem to be succeeding, he had to try it on human beings and that was the big issue and that is enough to chide on monkeys but youve got to chide on humans and so this would never happen today. The care we take today, everybody fearing this would never happen in terms of just using what innocence was a popular people and what they had no say in what was happening to them. So they did those tests, they proved positive. And then in 1954, salk knew that he had to try his vaccine on Elementary School<\/a>children. And here indeed, parents are involved in this decision. He had Something Like<\/a>, 1. 3 million children in Elementary School<\/a> who got his vaccine. Now, before we get into some of the problems that happened, why would parents okay this, when this vaccine had only been tested on a very, very select, small group of people . They said that the the killed virus could cause polio, and so i think for a lot of people they were like oh well, if its not alive virus, and the injected into my kid, and if it doesnt work is not going to hurt them and i think that is kind of a point that they played up. It cant really hurt but it can only help. I think that sort of was an incentive for a lot of people to participate. Parents felt a personal guilt if their parents were to contract polio. So there was kind of a desperation. What can we do to possibly avoid our children getting sick. It was a personal thing for them. Everybody now knew what polio did. They sought the kids with iron lungs with braces on the legs. So this continued fear was enormous in this country and so heres the possible prevention of your child ever getting polio. And the foundation did what for infantile paralysis, what was it stance on testing this virus . Did it cautioned people . Oconnor said its a privilege. Your children i want the privilege to be able to have this virus. How they were a few cautionary remarks. There was a man named walter mitchell, a huge radio personality. He had been fed, this shows you the nasty stuff going on among scientists. He had been fed information by another scientist who said this vaccine has not been properly tested, they should not be using it. Walter went on the radio saying parents watch out, this is probably not a good thing. To that, salk said, hes looking for publicity. You know, he doesnt know what hes talking about. It was interesting, too. This wasnt in response to the testing on children, but doctor spok who is the child care expert of this time was also telling parents to calm down, that perhaps the foundation was exaggerating the threat of this disease and overselling the problem. But, in any case, they moved ahead. And they tested the salk vaccine on these children. And they had some placebos. I mean, they did this very, very carefully, supposedly. And it took a year for them to finally get the results after they gave those children the vaccine. And the results were of course, positive. A great moment in american medical history. The vaccine, salk vaccine worked. And so the foundation knew that it had to make a huge deal of this i mean finally, they had the answer. So they held this event at the university of michigan in an arbor on october 12th, 1955. People gathered, the press was there. Edward r. Murrow, a tv personality was there, this was a huge event with this incredible news. In a man named Thomas Francis<\/a> stood up. He was representing the foundation. He gave this rambling 98 minute talk on the glories of this discovery. And socks poke. The today show revealed the news that next morning. But some things went wrong. Shortly thereafter, within a day or two and also within a few, days what were the negatives after that great this is really socks moment of glory. He was thrilled. The foundation was thrilled. Things happened. What went wrong . There were a couple about big outbreaks and polio from the cutter laboratories. Will get into that in a minute. We have some negative results like oh my gosh, this vaccine caused polio. This is supposed to be a good virus. Its not supposed to cause polio. You have the outbreak of a few cases. What else happened that was upsetting to salk . You never think his research team. Is that we are looking for . Right. Salk got up there and get this top, it was as if he, alone, had been the only one who had done anything on this research. And yet, he had had several assistance that played a huge role in this discovery. And they were sitting there. You dont do this in the science world. Youve seen signs articles. You always have like ten authors of all the people who engaged in this research. Salk took total credit. His assistance couldnt believe it. That was an incredibly disappointing moment. And then, what else, do you remember what sock said . Elizabeth . He totally undercut the effectiveness of, the results i think they had said the vaccine was 70 to 80 effective. And he said how he had been working on his next vaccine it was going to be 100 percent effective. I think he managed to sort of anger signs community saying, undermining his own results. And then also sort of angering the American People<\/a> who kind of felt betrayed by him not having he just waited to send another vaccine and trying to get a less effective one, wait a year to do the more effective. Exactly, its like this vaccine was supposed to be absolutely foolproof. It was supposed to work. And then you have salk almost immediately saying, well actually, the vaccine are just developed is far better than the one we used. Wait a minute, machado said this vaccine. That certainly was a disconcerting moment for those. All right. One of the first big problems that happened though afterwards. Its been a success. Youve had hundreds of thousands of children vaccinated in this country and now you have millions more waiting to get the vaccine. What happened . What was the problem that affected the distribution of the vaccine . Was there a distribution planned . The government and the foundation really hadnt explored how they were going to produce so much of the vaccine to supply enough for the American Population<\/a> that needed it. So there was a public outcry. They were worried they wouldnt be able to have their children vaccinated. It was turned on the government, like, you should have handled this already. In other words, nobody had a plan. Nobody had thought of that, you have a vaccine, how is everybody going to get it, assuming it successful . People were upset. Theyve invested their emotions and time and their money into the foundation and what is trying to achieve. Suddenly, they are confronted with the fact that theres actually not any kind of distribution plan. The head of each eat w. , a woman named oh data just fumbled around. She did know what to do. And what was the problem with the government distributing the governor vaccine . Doesnt it seem like a natural way to go, for the government to take charge and step in . Whati n will be the problem with that . Why not the government . Socialism was a hot topic in the 19 fifties. Socialized medicine. Oh my gosh, were going to be like canada. This is not the role of the federal government. In fact, the Drug Companies<\/a> were dead set against this. It was like, this is something for private companies to take charge of. The government should not step in. This created enormous problems. It also made the public angry. And then of course, physician stepped into the whole thing and they said actually, you shouldnt be giving these vaccines in Elementary School<\/a>. They should be done in a doctor s office for the doctors to make money. We created a horribly complicated situation in which there was there was no plan for distribution and ultimately, he resigned. It was a bad situation. And then there was a cutter lab disaster which was . What what was the cutter laboratories astor . Go ahead. They manufactured the vaccine improperly and it caused a lot of people to get sick. A lot of children to get sick. We had several Companies Developing<\/a> the vaccine, all right . This one lab in berkeley, california, qatar lab, had developed a vaccine what went wrong . They discovered that 400,000 vaccines done by qatar lab . Somehow, alive virus got into the bottles that they were using, supposedly they were the only ones who use these bottles to give out the vaccine, so somehow or some, way alive alive virus got in there and affected a bunch of. People this was definitely part of the problem, was with testing. How much testing has been done on these vaccines. One day. One day at this point. Again the rush to get this out, the rush to have this done, they tested these vaccines only one day. They sort of ignore the ones that been quite passed. Kelly is them anyway. But before this they had used it taken for weeks to take this vaccine. But again this was a rush and has had to be done right away now oconnor was furious basically oconnor was furious. What he did is current interestingly he blame those who were working for the live virus. Somebody had come into his lab or something and try to undermine the situation it was really really quite incredible on. Interest now turn salts vaccine was under question americans began to turn towards sabin and his live virus vaccine. And so again, using a different approach to solve this problem of polio, but again sabin needed to test his vaccine and where did he do it . Where was say been able to test his vaccine . Yeah in the soviet union. Okay. Polio is becoming a huge problem in the soviet union, cases were rising and the soviets invited both soil and save him to come to their country. So than except the invitation, and so the soviet government decided that they would use sabins live virus vaccine to test, or not to test, but to use on 10 million soviet children. Thats exactly what they did. Using the power of the soviet government, they tested it on 10 million children and it was basically a success. So this was, again, a huge breakthrough. So weve only got a few more minutes, let me just quickly sort of summarize and ends discussion. By 1956, the number of polio cases were really declining in this country. It was, the vaccines were working. There was still some real debate about salt versus satan, nobody had quite make a decision that will happen in a couple of years. Saw decided that he needed a new project. He had done his research on polio, and what was his new project . Anybody to get that far in the book . What did he want, what did he need to do. He did start studying aids. He wanted his own research institute. He wanted the university of pittsburgh where he had been, and he tried to convince them that this would be a good thing. They demanded they would have some kind of control over this. Saul wanted total control. And so he left the university of pittsburgh, and he went to low high california. I dont know if youve ever been to law, but its this absolutely jewel of the city, small city right on the pacific ocean. Youve got the city to contribute land, i made on this bluff looking over the ocean, you could not ask for allies to location. He got the foundation to provide some seed money, 50 million dollars. He hired the most prominent architect in this country, lowest common to do the design for this institute. And so he now has his, in a sense, he has exactly what he wanted. Obviously expenses were high, the foundation began to withdraw support from salt, i move on to other things. Oconnor died. But saw himself had divorced his first wife, even married the former mistress, because those former mistress, you began to dress in these elegant clothes etc and he had this good life in california. He did engage in aids research, but by then he was a very very different person. So, some of this rivalry continued, and of course theyre all kinds of other issues we havent had time to discuss. But i just wanted to mention briefly, that, the polio remains a possible problem in this world. One that has been substantially reduce. First of all, and this country there are some 400,000 survivors of polio. Two people have davidson, who have had polio. Russian ski says that people are starting to really suffer from what is called polio syndrome. Which is a result of their muscles gradually weakening. So polio, even know they survived polio, they are now having some, there is some kind of impact that has remained. But he also says, polio survivors tend to be type a overachievers. Perhaps like a roosevelt. So that of course is a good thing. Interesting early, polio still on the news and it was actually, there was a News Coverage<\/a> of this last week on npr. Because our reporter was talking about, how polio is on the verge of being wiped off this earth. Sort of the way smallpox was years ago. Probably it will probably no longer with us in a few years. Last year there were only 223 cases worldwide, and three countries. Afghanistan, pakistan, and nigeria. The World Health Organization<\/a> and the bill and Melinda Gates<\/a> foundation are working on this in a major way providing huge amounts of money to eradicate this forever. Their goal is 2018, there will be no polio in the world. The only bad thing is that you may remember a few weeks ago, there were polio, there were nine polio workers, women who are working and pakistan who are gunned down and killed. Just a horrible horrible situation. But, the other thing i wanted to mention is that good things can happen from history books. Beside all you learn, but i did read that bill gates read this book when it first came out. He loved it, and he was so inspired, that he decided that his foundation would indeed take on polio as a major major focus for his vast amounts of money. So that sort of prompted him to sort of move towards eradicating polio worldwide. So were almost there today. And i always get people ask me about the march and that is today. I still get mail from the march dimes. And what it works on now obviously not polio but its birth defects. Particularly in pincher babies. So theyre still doing good things they are still raising money, or something very different than polio. So, thats it. For our disease of the day. There is day, you all should have read the essays from peter editing and mark them up significantly. We will have Group Interactions<\/a> with pew editing on thursday okay . Okay thank you. Weeknights this month were featuring history tv as a preview of what is a ballet available every weekend on cspan three. On thursday marked burns explores public opinion. The rise of radio, the debate over and during world war ii. He outlines the arguments and uses radio clips to demonstrate the role they played and shaping american views and foreign policies watch thursday night at beginning eight eastern. Enjoy American History<\/a> tv, this week and every weekend, on cspan three. American history tv on cspan three, exploring the people and events that saw the american story. Every weekend, coming up this labor day weekend, saturday at 6 pm eastern on the civil war, historians kim 11 and hillary green discussed how we remember the civil war. And whether to remove or contextualized confederate monuments. Then sunday at 6 pm eastern, on american artifacts, we will preview photographs of native americans from the system Smithsonian National<\/a> elysium of which includes half 1 million images. At 8 pm, on the presidency, a look at president ial retreats. Including abraham lincolns summer college, hoovers fishing camp and stories of the kennedys. Clintons and obamas, in martins vineyard at 8 pm marks the 75th anniversary of the hiroshima and meghan psyche. And American History<\/a> tv in washington journal, look back at the events that led to the bombing and their legacy. With author in total, and president trumans grandson, Clifton Truman<\/a> daniel. Exploring the american story, watch American History<\/a> tv. This labor day weekend, on cspan three. On lectures in history, Jennifer Kaine<\/a> looks at mid some of americas involvement and world war i. Including the misconceptions that america was not involved in europe prior to entering the war. World war failed to have a Lasting Impact<\/a> on american society. This causes about an hour 20 minutes. All right so today we are going to talk about american during First World War<\/a>. I called this lecture americans at war, the miss clusters addition. I did that intentionally because when we think about understanding the First World War<\/a> in general, there are so many myths and misconceptions that are talked about the war, its really interesting for us to understand why tho","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia601701.us.archive.org\/0\/items\/CSPAN3_20200903_011600_Lectures_in_History_Polio_Epidemic_in_the_United_States\/CSPAN3_20200903_011600_Lectures_in_History_Polio_Epidemic_in_the_United_States.thumbs\/CSPAN3_20200903_011600_Lectures_in_History_Polio_Epidemic_in_the_United_States_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240716T12:35:10+00:00"}