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Enlist with the President to Fight Infantile Paralysis
The poster in this photograph depicting an ebullient Franklin Roosevelt (1882–1945) was created by the well-known artist and illustrator James Montgomery Flagg (1877–1960) for display at the 1939 New York World's Fair. "Infantile paralysis" is the older name for polio, which Roosevelt had contracted in 1921. He underwent extensive physical therapy and was convinced that a cure could be found that would allow him to walk again. Roosevelt's arduous recovery from the disease was a life-changing event. Confronting his own mortality and adapting to his loss of mobility steeled the future president, making him more determined and driven to succeed. In 1938 Roosevelt helped launch the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later known as the March of Dimes, for which Flagg created this poster.
Unidentified artist, 1936 |