American Experience

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Explore details of The Polio Crusade with a biography on Isabel Morgan and excerpts from our original interview with survivor Larry Becker.

Isabel Morgan Biography

The daughter of two accomplished biologists (her father won a Nobel Prize in 1933), Dr. Isabel Morgan was an early and important player in the race to find a polio vaccine. “Isabel Morgan is really one of the unsung heroes of the polio fight,” says author David Oshinsky. “She was a brilliant researcher.”

• Isabel Morgan and the Killed-Virus Vaccine
• After the War and Morgan’s Legacy

Life After Polio — Larry Becker’s experience of a feared disease and its aftermath

Larry Becker fell ill with infantile paralysis in summer 1952, when he was 13 years old. Becker spent two and a half years in the hospital undergoing intensive rehabilitation. The March of Dimes paid roughly $20,000 (nearly $155,000 in today’s dollars) toward his rehabilitation, and Becker participated in numerous publicity efforts for the health charity. He grew up to find success in academia. Here, he shares memories of his experience.

• Getting Sick
• The Iron Lung
• Therapies
• Chest Respirator