For more than half a century, a deadly viral disease known as poliomyelitis, or infantile paralysis, caused permanent crippling injury to thousands of Americans. Many died from polio; others were disabled for life. Summertime epidemics brought fear to anxious parents who tried to protect their children during "polio season." Although a cure was never found, protection came in the form of a vaccine developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, a grantee of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. The foundation, better known as the March of Dimes, succeeded in its efforts to eradicate polio from the...