The March of Dimes.

The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis was founded in 1938 by Franklin D, Roosevelt as a national successor to the Warm Springs Foundation he established in 1927. The purpose of the foundation was to provide funds for polio research, education, and patient aid. It was supported by private donations to what was throughout the 1950s an annual fund-raising drive called the March of Dimes. By the mid 1950s most large cities held televised twenty-four-hour telethons in which celebrities would urge viewers to give. The telethons were augmented by door-to-door collections performed by individuals and community groups. Between 1937 and 1957 the March of Dimes collected approximately $500 million, and 1956 alone the March of Dimes raised $52 million. In 1958, the war against polio largely won, the organization changed its name to the National Foundation and broadened its interests.