Polio Summer of 1952

During the years when poliomyelitis reached epidemic levels, every summer parents feared for their children, who seemed to be at greater risk from the disease than adults. During these summer months, the spread would reach greater levels. There was no vaccine and the disease spread rapidly, yet it was unclear exactly how the disease was spread. Historian David Oshinsky writes, “By the 1950s, polio had become America’s most dreaded infectious disease, as it fell cruelly and inescapably every summer, putting children in particular at risk.”[1] It became common practice for parents to give their children a daily "polio test."[2] In efforts to stop the rapid spread of polio, public libraries, swimming pools, and movie theaters were all closed. Historian Karen Wellner notes, “With so many suspected transmitters, avoidance and preventative strategies were numerous, if not somewhat bizarre.”[3] It had been discovered that polio was spread through exposure to fecal matter, transmitted by unwashed hands or shared objects.[4] Polio was also spread by sneezing or coughing.[5] “There is still no certain explanation for the prevalence of the disease in summer, although children and young adults often congregated in large groups during these months and swimming pools were probably a source of infection”.[6]

Much like public response in the Covid-19 pandemic, isolation was used as an effort to stop the spread of polio. According to the Idaho State Board of Health in 1911, every case was to be reported to the local health officer and the patient was to be isolated for three weeks.[7] The Board of Health also listed a series of precautions to take when caring for someone with polio: “1. Put the patient in clean, bare, well ventilated room, screened to keep out insects; 2. The rest of the family must be kept at home; 3. No persons should be allowed to enter sick room except doctor and nurse; 4. Disinfection should be thoroughly carried out”.[8]

Even with all the precautions, infection rates continued to climb, and the first vaccine wouldn't be available until 1954. A 1953 article in the Boise Idaho Statesman observed, “In a five-year period from 1948-1952, polio incidence exceeded that of the previous 10 years with a total of 186,000 cases."[9] In 1952, the disease reached its peak nationwide, and in Idaho alone there were 345 cases that year.[10] An Idaho Statesman article at the end of that year stated that “As a result of the 1952 epidemic, it [the annual March of Dimes campaign] is faced with a deficit of seven million dollars, according to Donald S. Whitehead, state chairman of the drive.”[11] The same Boise paper in 1957 listed that “Statistics leave no room for question that polio's incidence increases during the summer months. Records of the 1952 epidemic in Idaho list seven cases in May of that year, three in June, 33 in July, 89 in August, 75 in September and 36 in October”.[12] The final count on Americans infected with polio in 1952 was 57,628 people.

There were 21,269 people left paralyzed and 3,175 people killed.[13] These numbers may not seem huge compared to how Covid-19 has affected the US today, but at that period in time, polio was a very scary disease and there were many unknowns about how to deal with it.

Kristin Gulley, June 2021

[1] David Orshinsky, “Miracle Workers,” American Heritage 59, no. 4 (Winter 2010): 87.

[2] Orshinsky, “Miracle Workers,” 87.

[3] Karen L. Wellner, “Polio and Historical Inquiry,” OAH Magazine of History, September 2005, 55.

[4] Omaha World-Herald, Steve Liewer. "Worse than COVID? 1950s polio epidemic struck terror in Nebraska until quelled by vaccines." Beatrice Daily Sun (NE), May 12, 2021. NewsBank: America's News – Historical and Current.

[5] Todd S. Harwell, et al. "'The Biggest Public Health Experiment Ever': The Polio Pioneers and Montana's Contribution to the Elimination of Polio in the United States." Montana: The Magazine of Western History 69, no. 3 (Autumn 2019): 47-69.

[6] Volney Steele, "Fear in the Time of Infantile Paralysis: The Montana Experience," Montana: The Magazine of Western History 55, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 64-74.

[7] Idaho State Board of Health. "Infantile Paralysis." 1911.

[8] Idaho State Board of Health. "Infantile Paralysis." 1911.

[9] “Progress with Polio,” Idaho Daily Statesman, April 3, 1953, 4.

[10] “Idaho Moves in New Drive Against Polio,” Idaho Daily Statesman, December 31, 1952, 2.

[11] “Idaho Moves in New Drive Against Polio,” Idaho Daily Statesman, December 31, 1952, 2.

[12] “Why the Lag in Boise?” Idaho Statesman, May 7, 1957, 6.

[13] Lenore T. Adkins, “How America Beat Polio,” Share America, April 22, 2020.