Friends and Partners

Friends and Partners: The Legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Basil O’Connor in the History of Polio presents the story of two men, one the President of the United States, the other an ambitious attorney, who became the "architects of the fight against polio." With unfettered access to the March of Dimes Archives, this book explores the friendship and partnership that ensured the end of polio in the US, with exclusive pictures and documentation.

The book describes the founding and history of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) polio colony in Warm Springs, Georgia, and the early years of the March of Dimes as established by FDR in 1938 as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Other little-known aspects of the partnership are also included, such as O’Connor’s participation in FDR’s "Brain Trust," the President’s birthday ball fundraisers during the Great Depression, the March of Dimes during World War II, and O’Connor’s simultaneous leadership of the American Red Cross. Finally, the book explores, in detail, how O’Connor used the legacy of FDR after his death in 1945 to promote the philosophy of "freedom from disease" to achieve the goal of ending polio through the March of Dimes. Friends and Partners: The Legacy of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Basil O’Connor in the History of Polio will appeal to researchers, students, and policy makers in public health and medicine as well as all those interested in learning more about this pivotal period in history.