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And no, it won’t be a fact about cars or mattresses because unlike car dealerships and mattress places, I feel like the day should be about presidents. I’ve seen enough George Washington’s and Abraham Lincoln’s driving Hondas or whatever to last me a lifetime
This fact is about FDR, and his place on the dime. He actually wasn’t placed on it completely willy nilly, there was a reason they thought it would be fitting. It’s because FDR, who had polio, started a movement during his presidency called March of Dimes. When it started, the goal was to tackle the polio epidemic, but now it’s transformed over time as polio has been eradicated in the US. Currently the main target is premature births, which is the biggest killer of children worldwide. At the time, people donated by mail, by going to sponsored events, by going to drop off locations on the street for schoolchildren, and so on. In total, $270,000 was raised at that time, which would be almost $5 million dollars today. After the death of FDR in April of 1945, the US decided to change the design on the dime to a design of FDR, in time for what would be his 64th birthday on January 1946. The first polio vaccine, funded by the fundraiser, was put into commercial use in 1955, though not without controversy. A second version was put out in the US in 1961, and became the preferred vaccine in 1963 due to the distrust of the first version. But in the US, only the first vaccine is used now, though globally the second is sometimes used.
This fact is about FDR, and his place on the dime. He actually wasn’t placed on it completely willy nilly, there was a reason they thought it would be fitting. It’s because FDR, who had polio, started a movement during his presidency called March of Dimes. When it started, the goal was to tackle the polio epidemic, but now it’s transformed over time as polio has been eradicated in the US. Currently the main target is premature births, which is the biggest killer of children worldwide. At the time, people donated by mail, by going to sponsored events, by going to drop off locations on the street for schoolchildren, and so on. In total, $270,000 was raised at that time, which would be almost $5 million dollars today. After the death of FDR in April of 1945, the US decided to change the design on the dime to a design of FDR, in time for what would be his 64th birthday on January 1946. The first polio vaccine, funded by the fundraiser, was put into commercial use in 1955, though not without controversy. A second version was put out in the US in 1961, and became the preferred vaccine in 1963 due to the distrust of the first version. But in the US, only the first vaccine is used now, though globally the second is sometimes used.