On President Franklin Roosevelt's first birthday in that office, January 30, 1934, parties were held across the nation to raise money to fight polio, also called infantile paralysis. In spite of the name, the infection could hit older people harder than infants: older children and adults who got the disease might be left with useless muscles, and require an "iron lung" to breathe. FDR never walked without help after 1921, when he became ill at 39. He worked hard to regain use of his muscles and continued to hope he would walk again, but concealed the extent of his disability from the public. Widespread concern about the disease made the benefit balls popular, and they were held every year for the rest of his life.

Fear of polio peaked in the summer of 1952 with an outbreak that killed 3,000 and paralyzed thousands more. In 1954 an effective vaccine began to eradicate the disease.