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The summer of 1950 started
like most summers

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in the small town
of Wytheville, Virginia.

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School let out,
the town pools opened,

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and kids flocked to the soda
fountain on Main Street.

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Almost 40% of the town's
5,500 residents

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were under the age of 18.

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Wytheville was

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more or less a lazy-type,
laid-back town.

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Everyone knew everyone.

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It got really hot
in the summertime,

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and we would go swimming.

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We were happy-go-lucky kids.

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I had a pair of my grandfather's
rubber boots on

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and I was wading in the creek.

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And when I went to get out,

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I felt like something pulled
in my leg.

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I went home

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and hadn't been home too long

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till I started running
a temperature

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and was real nauseous, and just
kept going higher and higher.

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I was outside playing.

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I just didn't feel right.

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By the time I got inside
the house to my mother,

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I told her I was sick.

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I had a headache.

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I was so dizzy.

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And after that,
I just passed out.

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The doctor came to do a spinal
tap on my brother,

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and he screamed.

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And my mother ran downstairs
with a bed pillow,

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went out in the backyard and
covered her head with a pillow,

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and laid there and screamed.

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We only had two ambulance
services in Wytheville.

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One would come into the clinic
with a suspected case

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while the other one would be
coming out of the clinic

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and leaving for either Roanoke
or Richmond.

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In, out; in, out;
in, out; in, out.

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Mr. Williams' tote board

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was right across the street
from where I worked,

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and it was always visible,

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and every once in a while,

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we'd go to the front door
and look out.

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Every time another one came in
with the diagnosis,

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well, they changed the count.

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♪ ♪

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Daddy and Mama took everything
Sonny owned...

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all of his clothes, his bed,
his chest of drawers,

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and he had a fabulous comic book
collection.

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And they took everything out
to the middle of the garden,

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and they just made a pile
and burned everything he owned.

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They were told to do that
so that we would not get it.

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Polio was hitting
Wytheville hard...

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harder that year than
any place in the country.

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It became more and more evident

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that we were really in trouble,

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and without knowing what to do
or how to stop it

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or how to get away from it.

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We were just stuck with it.

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You just couldn't pick up
everybody and leave,

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and you couldn't set
the whole town on fire.

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So it was a...
it was almost...

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not hopeless, but it was getting
pretty close that way.

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Since the turn
of the 20th century,

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polio, also known as infantile
paralysis, had become

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an increasingly menacing fact
of American life.

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Highly contagious,
the polio virus

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tended to strike
during the summer.

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It was very reliable.

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Come June, July,

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you began to see cases of polio,

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and they continued on
through September.

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The symptoms ranged from
a mild headache and nausea

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to muscle weakness, paralysis,
or death.

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One never knew how it would go.

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Would it pass through the body

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and the person would get up
out of bed

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a few days later, just fine?

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Would there be one leg damaged?

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Would both arms?

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The paralytic effects
would last for life.

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And you didn't have
to look very far

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to see people who had been
crippled with polio,

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and crippled in terrible ways.

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In 1921, the disease struck
an especially prominent citizen

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just as his political star
was on the rise.

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Polio usually targeted children,

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but Franklin Delano Roosevelt
was 39.

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After contracting
a sudden fever and chills,

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he lost the use
of both his legs.

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FDR was

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an enormous landmark in
the whole history of polio.

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The fact that he came down
with polio

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changed the course of
the disease in this country.

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Roosevelt worked to restore
both his body and his career.

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He bought
a remote Georgia resort

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whose spring-fed baths were
reputed to have healing powers

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and turned it into the
Georgia Warm Springs Foundation,

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committed to rehabilitating
polio patients

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from around the country.

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In 1928, a still-paralyzed but
vital FDR fought his way back

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onto the national
political stage.

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To keep the fight
against polio alive,

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Roosevelt turned to
his law partner, Basil O'Connor,

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a man who knew little
about polio,

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but a great deal about power
and persuasion.

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"I was never a public
do-gooder," O'Connor declared,

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"and had no aspirations
of that kind."

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Short-tempered and relentless,
he was a working-class Irishman

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who had to dig and fight for
everything he had achieved.

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Basil O'Connor has no interest

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in being the head of
the Warm Springs Foundation.

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But he is so loyal
to Franklin Roosevelt,

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and he really believes

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the only way to ensure
FDR's political career

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is to take over this institution
that is so close to FDR's heart.

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With Roosevelt now
in the White House,

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O'Connor worked tirelessly to
keep the organization afloat.

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America was experiencing
the worst economic depression

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in its history.

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Charities' traditional
source of funding,

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donations from the rich,
had completely dried up.

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Worse still, the number of cases
of polio continued to rise.

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What made polio so questionable,

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what made it so hard for people
to get a grip on,

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was that at the very time
America was becoming

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a cleaner,
more antiseptic society,

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the polio rates were going up
dramatically.

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♪ ♪

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In time, scientists would unlock
some of polio's mysteries.

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They would learn the virus
entered the body

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through the mouth;

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that it passed
from person to person

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through contaminated water,
food, or physical contact.

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They would come to understand
that modern sanitation

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actually helped explain
the prevalence of the disease.

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Infants in clean environments

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were less likely to be
exposed to the virus

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and develop life-long immunity.

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Before improvements
in sanitation,

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all children were born
with antibodies against polio.

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When we had improved sanitation,

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children started to become
exposed to polio

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later and later in life,

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at a time when those antibodies

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they had received from their
mother had already disappeared.

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And that's why you saw
an emergence of the disease.

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In 1938, O'Connor didn't know
much about the science of polio.

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What he did know was
that polio patients depended

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on private charities like his,
not the government, for help.

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Without a new way
to raise money,

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his foundation could offer
little more than hope.

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It was time, he decided,
to try something bold.

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The only way to fight infantile
paralysis is with money.

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And so I'm asking you tonight
to send a dime

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to President Roosevelt
at the White House.

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Enlisting celebrities
to the cause,

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O'Connor made
an unprecedented appeal

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to the American public.

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Judy, when I spend
a dime on myself

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for some little luxury
like this,

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I always think about
those unfortunate kids,

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how far just a dime
will go toward helping.

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Gee, Mickey,

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we don't know how lucky we are

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and how much we have
to be thankful for

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with our health
and our happiness.

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Judy, that's why...

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The campaign was dubbed
the March of Dimes.

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Can I put a dime
in your envelope?

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Oh, you know that you can.

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And that's what every
good American should do.

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Join the March of Dimes.

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Send yours to President Franklin
Roosevelt in the White House.

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O'Connor waited anxiously to see
if his gamble would pay off.

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♪ ♪

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The March of Dimes campaign
exceeded all expectations,

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raising $1.8 million,

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a staggering sum.

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What O'Connor realized was

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that this was
a fundraising gold mine.

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This turns fundraising
on its head.

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You no longer want
big donations from the few.

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You want small donations
from the millions.

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No one is too poor
to give a dime

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to help a kid walk again.

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O'Connor pledged

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to provide care for every
polio patient in America.

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To pay for doctors, nurses,

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and the most up-to-date
rehabilitation.

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He would even invest
in scientific research

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aimed at stopping polio forever.

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Basil O'Connor was no scientist,

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but he was a great
administrator.

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He knew how to organize,
he knew how to centralize,

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he knew how to focus.

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Every summer, more and more
children were infected

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with polio.

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O'Connor understood that he was
in a race against time.

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♪ ♪

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I was very active and outgoing

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00:12:51,633 --> 00:12:52,842
and grew up in a time
and a place

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when kids had lots
of independence

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and minimal supervision.

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Just a few inflexible rules,
like "be home for dinner."

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I was 13, and I was
just starting to lean out

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and get kind of fast
on the tennis court,

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00:13:10,833 --> 00:13:15,166
and I was pretty happy
with the way things were going.

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00:13:16,766 --> 00:13:20,800
Larry Becker grew up
in Hastings, Nebraska.

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00:13:20,833 --> 00:13:23,600
He was a Boy Scout,
delivered newspapers,

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and played trumpet
in the school band.

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00:13:30,433 --> 00:13:31,733
My legs gave out

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00:13:31,766 --> 00:13:35,966
as I was pedaling my
ice cream cart home for lunch.

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00:13:37,466 --> 00:13:42,966
♪ ♪

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00:13:50,766 --> 00:13:52,533
Larry became delirious
with fever

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00:13:52,566 --> 00:13:56,600
as the polio virus penetrated
his central nervous system,

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infecting and destroying
the nerve fibers

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00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,400
that controlled his muscles.

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00:14:04,866 --> 00:14:08,433
It's like every muscle
in your body

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00:14:08,466 --> 00:14:12,366
is extremely sore.

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00:14:14,766 --> 00:14:19,866
It's very sensitive
to the touch, and just aches.

221
00:14:23,700 --> 00:14:26,933
I lost not only my leg muscles,

222
00:14:26,966 --> 00:14:29,733
but I lost also neck muscles

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00:14:29,766 --> 00:14:33,633
and, most importantly,
the diaphragm.

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00:14:33,666 --> 00:14:36,833
I began to have trouble
breathing.

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00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:40,700
And I remember
the last straw for me

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00:14:40,733 --> 00:14:43,366
was when I lost the use
of my biceps.

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00:14:47,833 --> 00:14:50,766
I was afraid of...
not so much of pain,

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00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,200
but of loss of control.

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00:14:54,200 --> 00:14:58,666
♪ ♪

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00:14:58,700 --> 00:15:02,533
My parents were
in and out of the room.

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00:15:02,566 --> 00:15:06,133
They were being given
very bad news.

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00:15:06,166 --> 00:15:10,333
There wasn't much hope
that I was going to survive.

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00:15:22,866 --> 00:15:24,666
You've never seen me,

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00:15:24,700 --> 00:15:28,033
but I'm sure you've seen
my shadow.

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00:15:28,066 --> 00:15:29,966
I'm never invited,

236
00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,133
but I've been an invisible guest

237
00:15:32,166 --> 00:15:35,000
in practically
every kind of home.

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00:15:36,700 --> 00:15:40,733
This is what
I've been looking for.

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00:15:42,266 --> 00:15:44,833
To keep up
the fundraising momentum,

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00:15:44,866 --> 00:15:47,200
O'Connor shifted tactics.

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00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:50,200
As you probably know,

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00:15:50,233 --> 00:15:56,966
I'm very fond of children,
especially little children.

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00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:58,733
I have no prejudices.

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00:15:58,766 --> 00:16:02,600
I'm quite impartial.

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00:16:04,366 --> 00:16:09,633
The March of Dimes' new message
was a frightening one:

246
00:16:09,666 --> 00:16:11,866
polio could strike anyone,
anytime.

247
00:16:13,266 --> 00:16:14,766
You went to a movie

248
00:16:14,800 --> 00:16:18,866
and there was a little
short subject about polio.

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00:16:22,733 --> 00:16:26,533
Memorial Hospital, please.

250
00:16:26,566 --> 00:16:27,900
Infantile paralysis.

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00:16:27,933 --> 00:16:30,066
Hello...

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00:16:30,100 --> 00:16:32,966
They would pass a cup
row by row,

253
00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,000
something to put whatever
change you had in it.

254
00:16:38,266 --> 00:16:41,700
Polio was brought home every day

255
00:16:41,733 --> 00:16:43,966
to families all over
the United States.

256
00:16:44,000 --> 00:16:47,033
In New York, the March of Dimes
campaign

257
00:16:47,066 --> 00:16:49,133
is inspired by Basil O'Connor,

258
00:16:49,166 --> 00:16:51,600
Jimmy Durante,
Larry and Barry Pellitteri.

259
00:16:51,633 --> 00:16:53,466
During the past few years,

260
00:16:53,500 --> 00:16:56,466
the polio epidemic has been
on the increase and continues...

261
00:16:56,500 --> 00:17:01,466
Fight polio tonight
with your porch lights at 7:00.

262
00:17:01,500 --> 00:17:02,933
The campaign worked.

263
00:17:02,966 --> 00:17:08,133
The March of Dimes grew
to 3,000 local chapters,

264
00:17:08,166 --> 00:17:12,600
creating a network that reached
millions and raised millions...

265
00:17:12,633 --> 00:17:17,000
By the late 1940s,

266
00:17:17,033 --> 00:17:19,200
as much as $22 million per year.

267
00:17:26,566 --> 00:17:31,500
But O'Connor's campaign told
only part of the story.

268
00:17:31,533 --> 00:17:33,933
While polio could be
devastating,

269
00:17:33,966 --> 00:17:37,400
the chances of contracting
an acute case were quite small;

270
00:17:37,433 --> 00:17:41,666
of being paralyzed,
smaller still;

271
00:17:41,700 --> 00:17:45,233
of dying from polio,
extremely remote.

272
00:17:45,266 --> 00:17:51,366
Many more Americans died from
car accidents or tuberculosis.

273
00:17:56,266 --> 00:17:58,233
What the March of Dimes did

274
00:17:58,266 --> 00:18:03,533
was to turn an awful but
relatively uncommon disease

275
00:18:03,566 --> 00:18:07,566
into our national disease
and our national crusade.

276
00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:09,700
Basil O'Connor's feeling was:

277
00:18:09,733 --> 00:18:11,700
We've got to raise money
for this.

278
00:18:11,733 --> 00:18:13,100
The best way you raise money

279
00:18:13,133 --> 00:18:16,266
was basically to scare the hell
out of the American public.

280
00:18:16,300 --> 00:18:18,666
It's hard to imagine today,
I think,

281
00:18:18,700 --> 00:18:21,266
how pervasive the fear was

282
00:18:21,300 --> 00:18:26,466
and how embedded
in the American psyche.

283
00:18:34,433 --> 00:18:37,133
The fear overwhelmed
common sense.

284
00:18:37,166 --> 00:18:40,266
Every summer, in Wytheville

285
00:18:40,300 --> 00:18:42,900
and hundreds of towns
across the country,

286
00:18:42,933 --> 00:18:48,000
people took extraordinary
measures to avoid polio.

287
00:18:48,033 --> 00:18:51,300
They even sprayed
the pesticide DDT,

288
00:18:51,333 --> 00:18:53,833
despite the fact
scientists had proved

289
00:18:53,866 --> 00:18:56,333
flies did not spread the virus.

290
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,700
Not knowing which way to turn,
what's causing it,

291
00:19:06,733 --> 00:19:10,333
people looked for all sorts
of places to put the blame.

292
00:19:10,366 --> 00:19:12,900
Some of them were ludicrous
and some of them weren't.

293
00:19:12,933 --> 00:19:16,100
♪ ♪

294
00:19:16,133 --> 00:19:18,309
Daddy said people just rolled up
their car windows

295
00:19:18,333 --> 00:19:20,233
and put bandanas
around their faces

296
00:19:20,266 --> 00:19:23,933
and zoomed through our town.

297
00:19:23,966 --> 00:19:27,233
We didn't go on Main Street.

298
00:19:27,266 --> 00:19:30,433
We didn't go anywheres near town
during the polio epidemic.

299
00:19:32,866 --> 00:19:37,033
♪ ♪

300
00:19:37,066 --> 00:19:42,000
For the longest time, no one
would bother to call, come,

301
00:19:42,033 --> 00:19:44,000
or get anywhere near our house.

302
00:19:45,500 --> 00:19:47,033
They were afraid.

303
00:19:47,066 --> 00:19:50,233
They didn't want to catch polio.

304
00:19:50,266 --> 00:19:52,066
They didn't want
my mother and daddy

305
00:19:52,100 --> 00:19:54,133
to come in some of the stores.

306
00:19:54,166 --> 00:19:57,400
They just didn't
want them around.

307
00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:08,000
People did as little as
possible, isolated themselves,

308
00:20:08,033 --> 00:20:11,466
and just prayed
they wouldn't get it.

309
00:20:16,233 --> 00:20:21,133
♪ ♪

310
00:20:21,166 --> 00:20:25,966
In 1949, O'Connor took
the campaign against polio

311
00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:27,600
to a new level.

312
00:20:27,633 --> 00:20:30,200
For more than a decade,

313
00:20:30,233 --> 00:20:32,833
scientists funded
by the March of Dimes

314
00:20:32,866 --> 00:20:34,766
had focused on developing

315
00:20:34,800 --> 00:20:40,533
the only viable solution
to stop polio... a vaccine.

316
00:20:40,566 --> 00:20:42,500
Now, O'Connor declared,

317
00:20:42,533 --> 00:20:45,700
the long-awaited miracle
was "in sight."

318
00:20:47,666 --> 00:20:53,000
His message raised hopes, and
dimes, from an anxious public.

319
00:20:53,033 --> 00:20:56,666
But within
the scientific community,

320
00:20:56,700 --> 00:20:59,766
there was a very different
reaction.

321
00:20:59,800 --> 00:21:02,433
A vaccine,
most researchers believed,

322
00:21:02,466 --> 00:21:04,266
was still years away,

323
00:21:04,300 --> 00:21:08,000
if it worked at all.

324
00:21:22,533 --> 00:21:27,033
We lived in this little housing
development in Phoenix.

325
00:21:27,066 --> 00:21:30,766
It was young families
everywhere,

326
00:21:30,800 --> 00:21:32,833
and the population
was just booming.

327
00:21:35,166 --> 00:21:40,733
Couples just like my family...
Father back from the war,

328
00:21:40,766 --> 00:21:44,900
mother had had a career
and let it go to have children.

329
00:21:44,933 --> 00:21:50,400
I was four years old, my brother
was six, my parents were 28.

330
00:21:50,433 --> 00:21:56,366
Life was pretty simple,
pretty happy.

331
00:21:56,400 --> 00:21:59,100
And then one day,

332
00:21:59,133 --> 00:22:04,200
my mother came down
with a backache.

333
00:22:06,233 --> 00:22:09,266
And the doctor examined her,

334
00:22:09,300 --> 00:22:12,200
and my father remembers
the doctor saying,

335
00:22:12,233 --> 00:22:15,433
"I think she has polio,
but don't worry.

336
00:22:15,466 --> 00:22:17,966
"It doesn't look
like a serious case.

337
00:22:18,000 --> 00:22:21,800
"But we have to put her
in the contagious ward,

338
00:22:21,833 --> 00:22:23,433
where she'll be isolated."

339
00:22:25,066 --> 00:22:29,466
And things only got
much, much worse from there.

340
00:22:29,500 --> 00:22:31,566
She survived that night.

341
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:35,266
But she was paralyzed
from the neck down.

342
00:22:35,300 --> 00:22:38,866
I have no memory
of her going away.

343
00:22:40,633 --> 00:22:43,433
She disappeared overnight.

344
00:22:43,466 --> 00:22:47,333
We went to bed one night and
our mother was in the next room.

345
00:22:47,366 --> 00:22:50,933
We woke up the next morning
and she was gone.

346
00:23:05,633 --> 00:23:09,566
In 1951, two years
after his promise

347
00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:14,100
of an imminent polio vaccine,
O'Connor had little to show.

348
00:23:18,700 --> 00:23:20,266
Then, in September,

349
00:23:20,300 --> 00:23:23,366
traveling home from
a conference in Europe,

350
00:23:23,400 --> 00:23:28,766
he met a scientist as driven and
impatient as O'Connor himself.

351
00:23:30,566 --> 00:23:33,900
Jonas Salk was a 36-year-old
researcher

352
00:23:33,933 --> 00:23:35,833
at the University of Pittsburgh.

353
00:23:35,866 --> 00:23:41,300
He was somebody who had great
confidence in himself.

354
00:23:41,333 --> 00:23:46,400
"Ambitious" is too mild a word.

355
00:23:46,433 --> 00:23:48,666
He was super-ambitious.

356
00:23:50,433 --> 00:23:53,600
He was very aggressive
on what he was doing.

357
00:23:53,633 --> 00:23:56,300
When I first met him,
he looked very intense

358
00:23:56,333 --> 00:23:57,800
and he remained that way.

359
00:23:57,833 --> 00:23:59,133
I mean, never changed.

360
00:23:59,166 --> 00:24:01,066
Real intensive personality.

361
00:24:04,033 --> 00:24:08,633
O'Connor and Salk hit it off
right away.

362
00:24:08,666 --> 00:24:11,100
Their personalities just meshed.

363
00:24:11,133 --> 00:24:15,500
Both shared big dreams,
they shared big goals,

364
00:24:15,533 --> 00:24:19,400
and they saw in each other
someone who was complementary.

365
00:24:21,900 --> 00:24:24,866
Salk's big goals included plans

366
00:24:24,900 --> 00:24:28,333
for an unorthodox polio vaccine.

367
00:24:30,733 --> 00:24:34,433
Up until now, leading-edge
polio researchers had focused

368
00:24:34,466 --> 00:24:38,533
on making a vaccine
from a live virus,

369
00:24:38,566 --> 00:24:43,266
like the vaccines for
yellow fever and smallpox...

370
00:24:43,300 --> 00:24:47,133
a complex and time-consuming
process.

371
00:24:47,166 --> 00:24:49,366
Live virus vaccines were

372
00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:53,300
the gold standard
of virus vaccine.

373
00:24:53,333 --> 00:24:59,200
The whole scientific community
of experts

374
00:24:59,233 --> 00:25:02,700
said that the only vaccine
that would work for polio

375
00:25:02,733 --> 00:25:04,833
would be a live vaccine.

376
00:25:07,566 --> 00:25:10,266
Jonas Salk disagreed.

377
00:25:10,300 --> 00:25:13,766
His experience developing
a flu vaccine told him

378
00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:15,900
that a killed virus vaccine

379
00:25:15,933 --> 00:25:20,400
was both possible
and faster to produce.

380
00:25:21,766 --> 00:25:23,333
Salk had been trained

381
00:25:23,366 --> 00:25:26,533
to believe with influenza
and other viruses

382
00:25:26,566 --> 00:25:28,233
that if you took the virus

383
00:25:28,266 --> 00:25:30,066
and you killed it

384
00:25:30,100 --> 00:25:33,033
and injected it
into someone's arm,

385
00:25:33,066 --> 00:25:35,500
you could trick
the body's immune system

386
00:25:35,533 --> 00:25:38,233
into believing
that an invader had come,

387
00:25:38,266 --> 00:25:39,933
and the body would produce

388
00:25:39,966 --> 00:25:42,866
strong and lasting
antibody protection.

389
00:25:45,033 --> 00:25:47,733
Proponents of the live virus
vaccine

390
00:25:47,766 --> 00:25:49,666
dismissed Salk's ideas

391
00:25:49,700 --> 00:25:52,866
as ill-conceived
scientific heresy...

392
00:25:55,500 --> 00:25:59,366
Most notably, Albert Sabin.

393
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,900
Dr. Sabin had already
established a reputation

394
00:26:02,933 --> 00:26:08,766
as a sound and imaginative,
innovative investigator.

395
00:26:08,800 --> 00:26:10,966
He was a little bit bombastic.

396
00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:14,733
He was a little bit intolerant
of other people's ideas.

397
00:26:14,766 --> 00:26:18,266
He was always convinced
that his own were correct

398
00:26:18,300 --> 00:26:19,933
and most of the time
he was right.

399
00:26:21,766 --> 00:26:23,966
Albert Sabin had been
working for

400
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:28,133
a number of years
on his live virus vaccine.

401
00:26:28,166 --> 00:26:34,800
Sabin believed that his vaccine
was the perfect polio vaccine.

402
00:26:34,833 --> 00:26:38,933
He also knew that it
would take longer to develop,

403
00:26:38,966 --> 00:26:43,766
and the constant conflict
he had with Basil O'Connor

404
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:45,600
was over time.

405
00:26:45,633 --> 00:26:49,700
"I need the time
to perfect my vaccine."

406
00:26:49,733 --> 00:26:53,400
Basil O'Connor wanted
everything done now.

407
00:26:53,433 --> 00:26:56,000
Albert Sabin simply believed

408
00:26:56,033 --> 00:26:59,733
that science went by
its own clock

409
00:26:59,766 --> 00:27:02,300
and that
the March of Dimes should wait

410
00:27:02,333 --> 00:27:05,333
until his vaccine was ready.

411
00:27:07,700 --> 00:27:10,166
Salk was a mere
"kitchen chemist,"

412
00:27:10,200 --> 00:27:11,500
Sabin would say,

413
00:27:11,533 --> 00:27:16,233
whose hasty work posed a
lurking danger to human health.

414
00:27:17,900 --> 00:27:21,066
But Basil O'Connor
didn't listen.

415
00:27:21,100 --> 00:27:22,933
Salk's lab would become

416
00:27:22,966 --> 00:27:27,633
a leading recipient of
March of Dimes support.

417
00:27:27,666 --> 00:27:29,933
What made Basil O'Connor

418
00:27:29,966 --> 00:27:33,866
so strong about Jonas Salk

419
00:27:33,900 --> 00:27:38,066
was that O'Connor finally
believed he had met a scientist

420
00:27:38,100 --> 00:27:41,266
who understood that kids
were dying every day

421
00:27:41,300 --> 00:27:45,233
and that speed was important.

422
00:27:47,733 --> 00:27:52,666
Jonas was swimming
against the current.

423
00:27:52,700 --> 00:27:57,500
He was a young whippersnapper
who came out of nowhere

424
00:27:57,533 --> 00:28:01,433
and suddenly is taking on
this responsibility,

425
00:28:01,466 --> 00:28:03,633
and not only that,
but getting the support

426
00:28:03,666 --> 00:28:05,000
of Basil O'Connor,

427
00:28:05,033 --> 00:28:07,433
because Jonas convinced
Basil O'Connor

428
00:28:07,466 --> 00:28:10,733
that we were going to do it.

429
00:28:19,633 --> 00:28:23,366
At his lab at the
University of Pittsburgh,

430
00:28:23,400 --> 00:28:27,833
Salk's race to find
a polio vaccine took off.

431
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,900
♪ ♪

432
00:28:32,933 --> 00:28:36,133
Dr. Salk's laboratory
was like a factory

433
00:28:36,166 --> 00:28:39,300
in that he had
a large number of people.

434
00:28:39,333 --> 00:28:43,866
They were all doing
what he dictated they do.

435
00:28:43,900 --> 00:28:46,666
In contrast,
many laboratories were

436
00:28:46,700 --> 00:28:51,666
more interested in expanding
scientific perspective

437
00:28:51,700 --> 00:28:56,633
and not necessarily
as goal driven.

438
00:28:56,666 --> 00:29:01,800
The pressure he put on his staff
was unrelenting.

439
00:29:01,833 --> 00:29:05,666
"Salk thought big,"
one colleague observed.

440
00:29:05,700 --> 00:29:08,366
"He wanted to leap, not crawl."

441
00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:12,000
♪ ♪

442
00:29:12,033 --> 00:29:17,833
This was a heavily, heavily
financed, expensive project.

443
00:29:17,866 --> 00:29:21,333
We used thousands of monkeys.

444
00:29:21,366 --> 00:29:24,100
We had resources beyond those

445
00:29:24,133 --> 00:29:27,766
that any of the other
researchers had.

446
00:29:28,900 --> 00:29:31,433
He almost immediately could see

447
00:29:31,466 --> 00:29:34,400
that his killed virus vaccine,
at least in animals,

448
00:29:34,433 --> 00:29:36,366
was very, very successful.

449
00:29:36,400 --> 00:29:39,733
His tests with monkeys
were extraordinary.

450
00:29:39,766 --> 00:29:42,266
They had high antibody levels.

451
00:29:42,300 --> 00:29:45,466
None of them seemed
to get polio.

452
00:29:45,500 --> 00:29:49,900
He knew he was on the track
of something very important.

453
00:29:52,766 --> 00:29:56,200
With the success
of his trials on monkeys,

454
00:29:56,233 --> 00:30:00,900
Salk pressed for the next
necessary but risky step...

455
00:30:00,933 --> 00:30:04,266
to test his vaccine in humans.

456
00:30:04,300 --> 00:30:06,800
O'Connor eagerly agreed.

457
00:30:06,833 --> 00:30:12,633
But Sabin issued a warning...
Salk was moving too quickly.

458
00:30:12,666 --> 00:30:17,433
His plan posed a serious threat
to innocent lives.

459
00:30:18,700 --> 00:30:22,533
O'Connor ignored
Sabin's objections.

460
00:30:22,566 --> 00:30:26,600
Salk's human trials
would proceed as planned.

461
00:30:30,533 --> 00:30:35,433
On July 2, 1952,
assisted by the staff

462
00:30:35,466 --> 00:30:39,066
at the D.T. Watson Home
for Crippled Children,

463
00:30:39,100 --> 00:30:45,600
Jonas Salk injected 43 children
with his killed virus vaccine.

464
00:30:47,766 --> 00:30:50,633
The idea of going into
institutions

465
00:30:50,666 --> 00:30:53,033
where there were children
who were damaged

466
00:30:53,066 --> 00:30:55,866
by various diseases and using

467
00:30:55,900 --> 00:30:59,566
or exploiting them
as subjects for these studies

468
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,766
was not regarded
in the same way it is today.

469
00:31:05,866 --> 00:31:07,333
There was no real sense

470
00:31:07,366 --> 00:31:10,333
of what we would call
informed consent.

471
00:31:10,366 --> 00:31:13,533
If you wanted to test,
as Jonas Salk did,

472
00:31:13,566 --> 00:31:15,733
you went to the director
of an orphanage,

473
00:31:15,766 --> 00:31:19,033
or what was called
a home for the feeble-minded,

474
00:31:19,066 --> 00:31:21,300
and you tested.

475
00:31:21,333 --> 00:31:24,266
A few weeks after
the Watson tests,

476
00:31:24,300 --> 00:31:26,000
Salk injected children

477
00:31:26,033 --> 00:31:30,966
at the Polk State School for
the Retarded and Feeble-Minded.

478
00:31:32,066 --> 00:31:35,000
Then he administered
the vaccine to his family

479
00:31:35,033 --> 00:31:38,933
and received a shot himself.

480
00:31:40,466 --> 00:31:42,600
No one got polio.

481
00:31:42,633 --> 00:31:45,700
Blood tests showed that
like his lab monkeys,

482
00:31:45,733 --> 00:31:48,833
his human subjects had
elevated levels

483
00:31:48,866 --> 00:31:52,666
of polio-fighting antibodies.

484
00:31:52,700 --> 00:31:58,000
A vaccine, Salk believed,
was within reach.

485
00:32:05,966 --> 00:32:12,666
1952 saw the outbreak of
America's worst polio epidemic.

486
00:32:14,233 --> 00:32:16,966
More and more
older children and adults

487
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,366
were contracting the disease.

488
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:22,233
The older you were,
the greater the risk

489
00:32:22,266 --> 00:32:25,833
of paralysis or death.

490
00:32:29,133 --> 00:32:32,000
Hospital wards were
crowded with machines

491
00:32:32,033 --> 00:32:36,366
that helped
paralyzed patients breathe.

492
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,833
They were called iron lungs.

493
00:32:42,100 --> 00:32:46,900
♪ ♪

494
00:32:55,733 --> 00:32:59,333
My father came in

495
00:32:59,366 --> 00:33:01,433
to explain to me that
they wanted

496
00:33:01,466 --> 00:33:04,366
to put me in the iron lung.

497
00:33:04,400 --> 00:33:08,666
And simultaneously
one was moved into my room.

498
00:33:08,700 --> 00:33:12,733
It's a huge piece of equipment,
and looked scary,

499
00:33:12,766 --> 00:33:15,233
and I didn't know what it meant.

500
00:33:19,866 --> 00:33:22,366
Your head is disconnected
from your body.

501
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:25,433
You can't see your body.

502
00:33:25,466 --> 00:33:28,633
And in my case, I couldn't
move anything at first.

503
00:33:28,666 --> 00:33:30,133
And I was very uncomfortable

504
00:33:30,166 --> 00:33:33,366
because of the pain
in my muscles.

505
00:33:38,066 --> 00:33:39,242
You have to get used to the fact

506
00:33:39,266 --> 00:33:43,566
that you don't control
your respiration rate.

507
00:33:45,133 --> 00:33:46,700
And when you're first put in...

508
00:33:46,733 --> 00:33:49,633
At least
it was the case for me...

509
00:33:49,666 --> 00:33:52,033
Since I was
struggling so much to breathe,

510
00:33:52,066 --> 00:33:53,833
I just relaxed right into it.

511
00:33:59,266 --> 00:34:01,033
The development of the iron lung

512
00:34:01,066 --> 00:34:05,633
was a great scientific
advancement in medical care.

513
00:34:05,666 --> 00:34:09,300
It saved plenty of lives.

514
00:34:09,333 --> 00:34:11,233
It certainly saved
my mother's life,

515
00:34:11,266 --> 00:34:17,000
but it also was its own
terrible existence.

516
00:34:18,800 --> 00:34:22,266
My mother was flat on her back,

517
00:34:22,300 --> 00:34:25,033
being breathed by a machine,

518
00:34:25,066 --> 00:34:27,233
tended by people
through little portholes

519
00:34:27,266 --> 00:34:29,566
on the side of the machine,

520
00:34:32,166 --> 00:34:34,533
seeing nothing of the world

521
00:34:34,566 --> 00:34:39,100
except what she could see
through a mirror above her face.

522
00:34:43,333 --> 00:34:47,300
What happens to your mind
day after day,

523
00:34:47,333 --> 00:34:49,700
night after night?

524
00:34:58,766 --> 00:35:00,700
For most, the iron lung was

525
00:35:00,733 --> 00:35:03,666
a temporary measure
to help them survive

526
00:35:03,700 --> 00:35:06,966
during the
most acute phase of the disease.

527
00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:11,466
For others, it was permanent.

528
00:35:13,233 --> 00:35:16,500
Hello there,
this is a wonderful day for me.

529
00:35:16,533 --> 00:35:20,900
Five minutes
out of my iron lung.

530
00:35:20,933 --> 00:35:25,800
Five minutes out
of my little prison...

531
00:35:25,833 --> 00:35:28,900
my kind and friendly prison.

532
00:35:32,633 --> 00:35:35,633
The first time
I got out of the iron lung,

533
00:35:35,666 --> 00:35:40,800
I saw the doctor cry
because of the difficulties

534
00:35:40,833 --> 00:35:45,633
I was having on the bed.

535
00:35:45,666 --> 00:35:47,100
That was a shock.

536
00:35:47,133 --> 00:35:51,733
And that soon turned
into a kind of...

537
00:35:51,766 --> 00:35:55,966
uh, self-disgust, I think,
or shame,

538
00:35:56,000 --> 00:35:59,500
which I didn't articulate,
but, um...

539
00:35:59,533 --> 00:36:01,800
I just wanted to hide.

540
00:36:02,933 --> 00:36:06,100
I was 13 years old...
I thought I was immortal.

541
00:36:06,133 --> 00:36:08,133
♪ ♪

542
00:36:08,166 --> 00:36:12,400
I don't ever remember being
afraid that I would die.

543
00:36:12,433 --> 00:36:14,433
I was afraid
I wouldn't get better.

544
00:36:17,466 --> 00:36:21,733
Surveys showed that
apart from the atomic bomb,

545
00:36:21,766 --> 00:36:27,100
Americans' greatest fear
was polio.

546
00:36:29,700 --> 00:36:33,466
People had put up with polio
for a really long time,

547
00:36:33,500 --> 00:36:35,800
and they wanted it over.

548
00:36:35,833 --> 00:36:38,133
They wanted it done with.

549
00:36:38,166 --> 00:36:42,866
The American public wanted
that vaccine.

550
00:36:42,900 --> 00:36:46,700
♪ ♪

551
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,800
On November 16, 1953,

552
00:37:04,833 --> 00:37:08,400
Basil O'Connor made
a stunning announcement.

553
00:37:08,433 --> 00:37:12,800
The March of Dimes would
finance, plan, and coordinate

554
00:37:12,833 --> 00:37:15,700
an unprecedented
human experiment,

555
00:37:15,733 --> 00:37:17,833
testing Salk's vaccine

556
00:37:17,866 --> 00:37:21,466
on hundreds of thousands
of schoolchildren.

557
00:37:22,600 --> 00:37:25,633
Reaction from within
the scientific community

558
00:37:25,666 --> 00:37:27,300
was scathing.

559
00:37:27,333 --> 00:37:31,266
Injecting Salk's vaccine,
Albert Sabin warned,

560
00:37:31,300 --> 00:37:35,433
might cause polio,
not prevent it.

561
00:37:35,466 --> 00:37:37,733
Sabin was very aggressive.

562
00:37:37,766 --> 00:37:40,400
And he could be very abrasive.

563
00:37:40,433 --> 00:37:45,166
He was trying everything
to postpone the field trial,

564
00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:47,966
to downgrade the Salk vaccine.

565
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:51,333
He said, "This vaccine isn't
ready to be tested.

566
00:37:51,366 --> 00:37:52,933
"We should wait five more years.

567
00:37:52,966 --> 00:37:55,266
We should wait ten more years."

568
00:37:57,133 --> 00:37:59,966
O'Connor refused to wait.

569
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:02,500
With another polio season
looming,

570
00:38:02,533 --> 00:38:06,033
he would let nothing stop
the trials.

571
00:38:06,066 --> 00:38:08,400
"This is one of the most
important projects

572
00:38:08,433 --> 00:38:10,733
in medical history," he wrote

573
00:38:10,766 --> 00:38:13,300
to parents across the country.

574
00:38:13,333 --> 00:38:17,966
"We feel sure you'll want
your child to take part."

575
00:38:20,233 --> 00:38:23,600
As a parent today,
it's unimaginable

576
00:38:23,633 --> 00:38:26,533
that I would be one of those
people pushing my child

577
00:38:26,566 --> 00:38:29,266
to the front of the line,
saying, you know,

578
00:38:29,300 --> 00:38:31,700
"Put the polio vaccine
in my child first,

579
00:38:31,733 --> 00:38:33,366
and let's see if it works."

580
00:38:35,633 --> 00:38:38,900
You are asking the parents
of America

581
00:38:38,933 --> 00:38:42,433
to line up their kids
for a vaccine

582
00:38:42,466 --> 00:38:45,900
that no one is
sure how well it works,

583
00:38:45,933 --> 00:38:49,900
and no one is certain
that it is perfectly safe.

584
00:38:49,933 --> 00:38:53,666
It has really not been tested
that much on humans.

585
00:38:53,700 --> 00:38:56,466
This is an
enormous leap of faith.

586
00:39:06,166 --> 00:39:07,333
♪ ♪

587
00:39:07,366 --> 00:39:10,500
On April 26, 1954,

588
00:39:10,533 --> 00:39:13,566
the March of Dimes began
field trials.

589
00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:15,366
Randy Kerr,

590
00:39:15,400 --> 00:39:18,600
a six-year-old
in McLean, Virginia,

591
00:39:18,633 --> 00:39:22,600
was the first to receive
Salk's vaccine.

592
00:39:24,733 --> 00:39:30,833
♪ ♪

593
00:39:36,866 --> 00:39:42,900
♪ ♪

594
00:39:49,866 --> 00:39:54,700
By June, nearly two million
children had taken part.

595
00:39:54,733 --> 00:40:00,166
It was the largest human
experiment in American history.

596
00:40:05,033 --> 00:40:07,966
Parents would have to wait
for nearly a year

597
00:40:08,000 --> 00:40:11,166
to learn the results.

598
00:40:15,566 --> 00:40:18,666
♪ ♪

599
00:40:26,633 --> 00:40:30,766
On the morning
of April 12, 1955,

600
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:33,633
the March of Dimes made
their announcement.

601
00:40:33,666 --> 00:40:38,166
♪ ♪

602
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:39,566
There was a build-up

603
00:40:39,600 --> 00:40:43,500
to the report
on the field trial.

604
00:40:43,533 --> 00:40:45,533
Everybody was interested.

605
00:40:45,566 --> 00:40:47,766
Everybody was waiting,
waiting, waiting.

606
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:49,666
Does it work?
Does it work?

607
00:40:51,266 --> 00:40:55,333
There was no bigger story
at that time.

608
00:40:55,366 --> 00:40:57,200
It was held in secrecy

609
00:40:57,233 --> 00:41:00,733
like no state secret
ever could be.

610
00:41:00,766 --> 00:41:04,800
This news was awaited
around the world.

611
00:41:06,166 --> 00:41:09,200
♪ ♪

612
00:41:12,566 --> 00:41:15,366
A press release would reveal
the findings

613
00:41:15,400 --> 00:41:18,266
everyone was waiting for.

614
00:41:18,300 --> 00:41:21,700
They were going to bring it up
on an elevator.

615
00:41:22,866 --> 00:41:25,233
The press room was overcrowded.

616
00:41:25,266 --> 00:41:26,633
We were elbow to elbow.

617
00:41:26,666 --> 00:41:28,533
The public relations man

618
00:41:28,566 --> 00:41:30,133
steps off the elevator
with the dolly

619
00:41:30,166 --> 00:41:32,100
and he can't move into
the press room.

620
00:41:33,166 --> 00:41:36,466
Everybody ganging around him.

621
00:41:36,500 --> 00:41:38,466
Guys were jumping over desks.

622
00:41:38,500 --> 00:41:40,500
The fellow climbed up
on the dolly

623
00:41:40,533 --> 00:41:44,066
and he began flinging these
things out left and right.

624
00:41:45,233 --> 00:41:47,066
It was bedlam.

625
00:41:56,100 --> 00:41:57,766
CBS News presents

626
00:41:57,800 --> 00:41:59,066
a special report.

627
00:41:59,100 --> 00:42:01,400
The Salk polio vaccine

628
00:42:01,433 --> 00:42:03,100
is a success.

629
00:42:03,133 --> 00:42:07,466
The vaccine works.

630
00:42:07,500 --> 00:42:13,666
♪ ♪

631
00:42:13,700 --> 00:42:16,600
Factory whistles blew,

632
00:42:16,633 --> 00:42:18,933
school children cheered,

633
00:42:18,966 --> 00:42:20,533
parents wept.

634
00:42:25,033 --> 00:42:27,833
♪ ♪

635
00:42:32,400 --> 00:42:34,466
Everybody was so happy.

636
00:42:34,500 --> 00:42:36,866
It was the most satisfying story
I would cover

637
00:42:36,900 --> 00:42:42,100
in 44 years in journalism.

638
00:42:42,133 --> 00:42:44,833
The relief that
was brought about

639
00:42:44,866 --> 00:42:47,933
by all of a sudden having
something that could be done

640
00:42:47,966 --> 00:42:49,133
to stop this, it was...

641
00:42:49,166 --> 00:42:50,933
I think that was just
overwhelming.

642
00:42:53,900 --> 00:42:57,500
Jonas Salk was viewed
as an American hero.

643
00:42:57,533 --> 00:42:59,100
This awful disease

644
00:42:59,133 --> 00:43:02,500
had now been conquered by this
man who we had funded, who...

645
00:43:02,533 --> 00:43:04,900
this scientist who was us.

646
00:43:07,666 --> 00:43:09,966
This vaccine vindicated

647
00:43:10,000 --> 00:43:13,200
20 years of giving dimes,

648
00:43:13,233 --> 00:43:16,966
20 years of volunteering.

649
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:20,800
It was a victory for
millions of faceless people

650
00:43:20,833 --> 00:43:24,133
who had done what they could
to end the scourge of polio.

651
00:43:27,300 --> 00:43:29,433
♪ ♪

652
00:43:29,466 --> 00:43:31,500
Five years before,

653
00:43:31,533 --> 00:43:34,233
the disease had raged
through Wytheville.

654
00:43:36,366 --> 00:43:38,400
Now the community,

655
00:43:38,433 --> 00:43:41,100
like thousands of others
across the country,

656
00:43:41,133 --> 00:43:46,100
would finally receive
the vaccine.

657
00:43:49,833 --> 00:43:53,466
I remember hearing
about Dr. Salk, Dr. Salk,

658
00:43:53,500 --> 00:43:55,100
and how exciting it was.

659
00:43:57,100 --> 00:44:01,066
That man saved the world
from polio.

660
00:44:05,133 --> 00:44:09,300
♪ ♪

661
00:44:15,600 --> 00:44:19,166
Less than a month
after vaccinations began,

662
00:44:19,200 --> 00:44:21,600
the nation's
triumphant polio crusade

663
00:44:21,633 --> 00:44:24,066
was brought
to a screeching halt.

664
00:44:24,100 --> 00:44:26,700
As surgeon general of the
Public Health Service,

665
00:44:26,733 --> 00:44:28,600
I recommended
the day before yesterday

666
00:44:28,633 --> 00:44:31,766
that vaccination programs
against poliomyelitis

667
00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,433
be temporarily postponed.

668
00:44:37,100 --> 00:44:39,033
Thousands of children vaccinated

669
00:44:39,066 --> 00:44:43,733
with the new Salk vaccine
had become sick.

670
00:44:43,766 --> 00:44:46,766
Hundreds would be
permanently paralyzed.

671
00:44:46,800 --> 00:44:49,633
A handful would even die.

672
00:44:50,466 --> 00:44:53,000
We have gone

673
00:44:53,033 --> 00:44:56,866
from this amazing situation
of euphoria,

674
00:44:56,900 --> 00:44:58,900
a disease on the run,

675
00:44:58,933 --> 00:45:04,066
to the vaccine itself producing
additional cases of polio.

676
00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:08,566
All polio vaccine is
taken off the market

677
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:10,100
until the government
can pinpoint

678
00:45:10,133 --> 00:45:13,333
exactly what has gone wrong.

679
00:45:16,466 --> 00:45:18,600
Investigators soon learned

680
00:45:18,633 --> 00:45:21,100
that all the sick children
had been injected

681
00:45:21,133 --> 00:45:26,566
with a bad batch of vaccine
made in Berkeley, California.

682
00:45:27,900 --> 00:45:32,233
After a hasty and poorly staffed
government screening process,

683
00:45:32,266 --> 00:45:35,200
the vaccine
had been deemed safe.

684
00:45:36,400 --> 00:45:41,700
In fact, it had contained
virulent live polio virus.

685
00:45:43,366 --> 00:45:46,233
Cutter Laboratories
wasn't alone.

686
00:45:46,266 --> 00:45:49,266
All the pharmaceutical companies
were having difficulties

687
00:45:49,300 --> 00:45:52,466
mass-producing Salk's formula.

688
00:45:54,733 --> 00:45:58,700
One scientist, especially,
felt vindicated...

689
00:45:58,733 --> 00:46:01,333
Albert Sabin.

690
00:46:01,366 --> 00:46:04,166
Sabin had always
been of the mind

691
00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:06,866
that not only was
the Salk vaccine not effective

692
00:46:06,900 --> 00:46:09,300
but potentially was unsafe.

693
00:46:09,333 --> 00:46:13,000
After Cutter,
Albert Sabin simply went around

694
00:46:13,033 --> 00:46:15,766
to anyone who would ask...
And many people did...

695
00:46:15,800 --> 00:46:18,933
saying, "I told you so."

696
00:46:20,333 --> 00:46:23,033
Despite the crisis,

697
00:46:23,066 --> 00:46:28,033
O'Connor's confidence in
Salk's vaccine never faltered.

698
00:46:28,066 --> 00:46:30,500
What do you see for its future?

699
00:46:30,533 --> 00:46:32,900
Well, I can only say to you
that I see its future

700
00:46:32,933 --> 00:46:36,333
is still a good,
sound, safe vaccine

701
00:46:36,366 --> 00:46:38,166
that will protect the people.

702
00:46:41,533 --> 00:46:44,033
The Salk vaccine
was licensed at a time

703
00:46:44,066 --> 00:46:46,733
when we basically didn't have
vaccine regulation

704
00:46:46,766 --> 00:46:48,466
in this country.

705
00:46:48,500 --> 00:46:49,900
The government learned

706
00:46:49,933 --> 00:46:53,500
that having ten people
oversee vaccines...

707
00:46:53,533 --> 00:46:55,500
and, frankly, doing it
on a part-time basis...

708
00:46:55,533 --> 00:46:57,000
Was not good enough.

709
00:46:58,733 --> 00:47:01,300
The Cutter incident was
a painful lesson

710
00:47:01,333 --> 00:47:04,733
about the fact that we needed
much better oversight.

711
00:47:07,433 --> 00:47:09,333
In the wake of the tragedy,

712
00:47:09,366 --> 00:47:12,100
manufacturing standards
would be tightened

713
00:47:12,133 --> 00:47:15,166
and government regulation
increased.

714
00:47:16,966 --> 00:47:18,633
But, only eight days after

715
00:47:18,666 --> 00:47:21,200
the surgeon general
announced a halt,

716
00:47:21,233 --> 00:47:26,200
the nation's polio vaccination
program resumed.

717
00:47:26,233 --> 00:47:31,033
Americans continued to vaccinate
their children.

718
00:47:31,066 --> 00:47:34,766
They had waited years
for the polio vaccine.

719
00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:37,866
They were not about
to wait any longer.

720
00:47:46,166 --> 00:47:49,966
The nation's polio
vaccination program,

721
00:47:50,000 --> 00:47:52,400
led by the March of Dimes,

722
00:47:52,433 --> 00:47:55,166
now supported by the
United States government,

723
00:47:55,200 --> 00:47:59,566
proved safe
and overwhelmingly effective.

724
00:47:59,600 --> 00:48:02,133
Within just a few seasons,

725
00:48:02,166 --> 00:48:04,766
the number of polio cases
in the United States

726
00:48:04,800 --> 00:48:08,066
decreased by 50%.

727
00:48:09,433 --> 00:48:15,066
Memories of summers filled
with fear began to fade.

728
00:48:17,366 --> 00:48:19,766
By 1962,

729
00:48:19,800 --> 00:48:24,733
Albert Sabin's live virus
vaccine was finally ready.

730
00:48:24,766 --> 00:48:28,166
An oral vaccine,
it was easier to administer

731
00:48:28,200 --> 00:48:30,833
and cheaper to produce
than Salk's.

732
00:48:32,166 --> 00:48:35,566
The years to come would see
the scientific efforts

733
00:48:35,600 --> 00:48:40,500
of both Salk and Sabin
pay off dramatically.

734
00:48:40,533 --> 00:48:44,966
Polio, once one of America's
most feared diseases,

735
00:48:45,000 --> 00:48:47,800
became largely a thing
of the past.

736
00:48:51,000 --> 00:48:53,733
Nobody cared about
polio anymore.

737
00:48:53,766 --> 00:48:56,033
It was over.

738
00:48:56,066 --> 00:48:58,600
♪ ♪

739
00:48:58,633 --> 00:49:02,966
My mother, coming home
from the rehab center,

740
00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:06,933
it is not the story
of triumph and conquering.

741
00:49:06,966 --> 00:49:09,866
It is the story of defeat.

742
00:49:11,166 --> 00:49:15,633
After a year of treatment,
it didn't fix her.

743
00:49:15,666 --> 00:49:17,466
It didn't fix our family.

744
00:49:17,500 --> 00:49:21,300
Our family had disintegrated
around her.

745
00:49:23,166 --> 00:49:26,666
When Kathryn Black
was six years old,

746
00:49:26,700 --> 00:49:29,433
her mother died.

747
00:49:31,933 --> 00:49:36,166
♪ ♪

748
00:49:38,133 --> 00:49:40,800
Larry Becker spent
two-and-a-half years

749
00:49:40,833 --> 00:49:42,333
in the hospital.

750
00:49:45,033 --> 00:49:47,066
He learned to breathe on his own

751
00:49:47,100 --> 00:49:49,966
by using the muscles
in his neck.

752
00:49:52,500 --> 00:49:55,333
His arms remained paralyzed,

753
00:49:55,366 --> 00:49:58,633
but after slowly regaining
the use of his legs,

754
00:49:58,666 --> 00:50:02,166
he was finally ready
to move home.

755
00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:07,166
There were three steps
up to the house,

756
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:09,866
and then my bedroom would be
upstairs.

757
00:50:10,933 --> 00:50:12,366
This is the '50s.

758
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:13,709
If your bedroom was going
to be upstairs,

759
00:50:13,733 --> 00:50:16,500
then you had to learn
to climb the steps.

760
00:50:16,533 --> 00:50:19,633
♪ ♪

761
00:50:23,300 --> 00:50:24,966
When I graduated from college,

762
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:26,866
and when I got my Ph.D.,

763
00:50:26,900 --> 00:50:29,866
local newspapers published
a picture of me

764
00:50:29,900 --> 00:50:32,466
writing with my feet.

765
00:50:32,500 --> 00:50:34,566
I don't know what the headline
is exactly.

766
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:37,433
I always think of it as
"Polio Boy Makes Good,"

767
00:50:37,466 --> 00:50:39,566
you know, that kind of...

768
00:50:39,600 --> 00:50:41,566
And I thought, "Whoa,

769
00:50:41,600 --> 00:50:46,533
this is going to follow me
for the rest of my life."

770
00:50:46,566 --> 00:50:47,933
So...

771
00:50:47,966 --> 00:50:53,766
But, you know,
here I am whining.

772
00:50:53,800 --> 00:50:57,533
It's not...
it's no big deal.

773
00:51:03,466 --> 00:51:05,400
In 1994,

774
00:51:05,433 --> 00:51:09,666
44 years after the epidemic hit
Wytheville, Virginia,

775
00:51:09,700 --> 00:51:12,766
and nearly 60 years after
Basil O'Connor

776
00:51:12,800 --> 00:51:14,333
first called upon Americans

777
00:51:14,366 --> 00:51:17,433
to send their dimes
to the White House,

778
00:51:17,466 --> 00:51:23,400
polio was declared eradicated
in the United States.

779
00:51:28,300 --> 00:51:30,500
♪ ♪

780
00:51:30,533 --> 00:51:31,833
Next time...

781
00:51:31,866 --> 00:51:34,866
He waged a war
against global hunger.

782
00:51:34,900 --> 00:51:36,300
Norman Borlaug was responsible

783
00:51:36,333 --> 00:51:39,833
for the spread of large-scale
agricultural production

784
00:51:39,866 --> 00:51:41,333
around the world.

785
00:51:41,366 --> 00:51:44,766
And unleashed a series
of unintended consequences.

786
00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:47,500
The impact can be seen
in the degradation of soil,

787
00:51:47,533 --> 00:51:48,700
a broken agrarian community,

788
00:51:48,733 --> 00:51:50,266
a broken society.

789
00:51:50,300 --> 00:51:52,433
"The Man Who Tried
to Feed the World,"

790
00:51:52,466 --> 00:51:55,000
next time
on "American Experience."

791
00:51:55,033 --> 00:51:58,100
Made possible in part
by Liberty Mutual Insurance.

792
00:51:59,700 --> 00:52:02,500
"American Experience:
The Polio Crusade"

793
00:52:02,533 --> 00:52:04,200
is available on DVD.

794
00:52:04,233 --> 00:52:09,000
To order, visit ShopPBS
or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

795
00:52:09,033 --> 00:52:11,200
"American Experience"
is also available

796
00:52:11,233 --> 00:52:15,033
with PBS Passport
and on Amazon Prime Video.

797
00:52:15,066 --> 00:52:19,066
♪ ♪