During the heat of summer in 1916, an outbreak of polio, then called infantile paralysis, started in Brooklyn, New York. The rich fled the city to escape the disease, but the poor had no choice but to stay and hope. As the daily numbers of victims grew, both rich and poor turned to government officials and scientists, begging them to “do something.” A women’s column in the Philadelphia Ledger dated July 18 provides some insight.

“A doctor at one of the downtown hospital dispensaries told me that the day after news of the infantile paralysis…