Senate Tribute to Basil O'Connor '12

ON the floor of the United States Senate, on April 26, 1955, Senator Herbert H. Lehman of New York paid the following tribute to Basil O'Connor '12, president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, as the man who more than any other paved the way for the Salk vaccine and the conquest of polio.

MR. PRESIDENT, the world was electrified on April 12, 1955, when the announcement came that an antipolio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, had proved its effectiveness, and that one of the world's most dreaded diseases was within measurable reach of being vanquished.

A thrill pulsed through all mankind. The highly publicized achievements of physical scientists in developing ever more fearful weapons of destruction and devastation were at last given dramatic contrast by this discovery of a new, magic means of saving life, of preserving men, women, and children from the torture and death of poliomyelitis.

This country expressed itself with an outburst of gratitude to Dr. Salk. Prayers were said for him. Offers of reward poured in on him. He will undoubtedly become the first recipient of a new congressional medal of honor — an award conceived by Congress for recognition of outstanding civilian achievement.

Dr. Salk fully merited, and more, the expressions of gratitude directed at him. He accepted his tributes with a becoming modesty and equanimity. He has now returned to his laboratory and to his lifegiving work. He has seemingly survived the test of public adulation.

But while all this has gone on, there is a man whose contributions to this historic achievement have gone largely uncelebrated, but who deserves an equal share of the world's gratitude. This man, more than any other, made possible the Salk vaccine. This man, by unselfish devotion and dedication over a period of two decades, helped pave the way for the conquest of polio. I refer to Mr. Basil O'Connor, president of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis....

He helped to found, and was the first president of, the Warm Springs Foundation, that institution which restored Franklin D. Roosevelt to health, usefulness - and to history. And in 1938, along with Franklin Roosevelt, Basil O'Connor helped to found, and became first president of, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. He has remained its president, its driving force and major genius, ever since.

The progress that has been made, the hundreds and thousands of lives that have been saved in the past 17 years, the care that has been provided for thousands and thousands of polio victims - all these are monuments to Basil O'Connor, as well as to the millions of Americans whose contributions through the years made possible the life-giving, life-saving work of the Infantile Paralysis Foundation.

I well remember the first nationwide celebration of Franklin D. Roosevelt's birthday while he was President, and the ones after that, with the income from the birthday balls across the country devoted to the conquest of polio. And then the annual March of Dimes - all for the battle against this crippling disease.

It was Basil O'Connor who conceived and directed these activities, and many others. His was the tireless energy which mobilized thehumanitarianism of the American people, on the one side, and the resources of medical science and of the health professions on the other. Polio, once a nameless terror, known in detail only to those afflicted by it and to their loved ones, became, as a result of Basil O'Connor's efforts, a national concern and a national challenge. The concern was expressed, and the challenge was met.

Beginning in 1938, and for the first time, the American people began to think of polio in terms of a national health problem. For the first time, national resources were brought to bear. The huge accumulation of individual problems became one problem - a problem to be solved by the American people, acting in concert to fight a specific disease - a disease which the World Health Organization has called the most ominous of the unsolved mysteries of the last half-century.

Mr. President, the fight which has been waged against the tiny and invisible virus of polio is without parallel in medical history. It has mobilized an unprecedented corps of citizen volunteers; it has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars for research, professional education, and patient care; it has created the most effective partnership of scientist and layman ever rallied against a single disease. For all this, Basil O'Connor merits the first measure of credit....

With the leadership which Basil O'Connor gave to the National Foundation and the support that came from its annual March of Dimes, the American people became shareholders in the fight against polio. From 1938 on, in dozens of research projects, in hundreds of exchanges of scientific information, in scores of community projects, there developed wholly unprecedented teamwork between the public and the world of medicine.

The sum total of the influence which the National Foundation, under Basil O'Connor's remarkable leadership, has contributed to the well-being of men, women, and children, both in this Nation and overseas, is outstandingly

impressive. Since its establishment in 1938, the National Foundation has allocated $22,400,000 in support of scientific research on poliomyelitis. Of this sum, $18,200,000 has been for virus research and $4,200,000 for research into the prevention and treatment of after effects.

But these figures do not tell the whole story. $23,200,000 has been spent for professional education to train scientists and medical experts—the largest professional education program of any voluntary agency in the country. In addition, $9,600,000 has been used in medical care grants.

But during this 17-year period, the largest amount, $203,000,000 has been spent for financial assistance to polio patients who needed help, making possible the best available care for all those who could not meet the costs themselves without undue hardship. Such aid is given through the 3,100 chapters of the National Foundation covering every county of the United States.

Of even broader consequence, Mr. President, is the fact that beyond the financial outlay, National Foundation support has meant nationwide, even international, intensification of the effort to control polio. Many people - at universities, in laboratories, in medical schools, hospitals and clinics - have been able to step up their activities, improve their techniques, undertake projects both scientific and clinical that were not possible before the American people created the means for supporting such efforts.

It was at the instigation of Basil O'Connor that the polio fight began to be waged intensively, not alone on a national, but on a world scale. The International Poliomyelitis Congress, of which Mr. O'Connor is president, came into being in 1948, and has held three international conferences at which distinguished scientists from all over the world have reported on their work, sharing knowledge of advances and providing inspiration for future progress.

I should say, at this point, Mr. President, that Basil O'Connor's humanitarianism is not measured only by his work in polio. During the critical years from 1944 to 1949, he was president of the American National Red Cross. During the years of war and postwar rehabilitation, he devoted his major efforts to the work of mercy of the Red Cross. While president, he inaugurated the Red Cross blood program.

In the 28 years that Basil O'Connor has been concerned with getting public support for voluntary health and welfare movements, the phenomenal sum of $1 billion has been raised by organizations under his leadership, and the figure grows each year. At the same time, Mr. O'Connor has never accepted a salary from any of these organizations.

Mr. President, I submit that this Nation owes to Basil O'Connor a debt of gratitude which it can never adequately discharge. For his has been the rare distinction of leadership in a cause which touched the hearts of humanity the world over. For years we had sought to unlock the mysteries of this silent foe which strikes its victims indiscriminately and without warning. For years we had inched our way forward, our meager knowledge reminiscent of Santayana's torch of smoky pine:

That lights the pathway but one step ahead Across a void of mystery and dread.

Then, suddenly, two weeks ago, we were all witness, Mr. President, not to another "step ahead," but to a forward leap.

The energy for that leap was mobilized under the direction of Basil O'Connor. The Nation and the world are grateful. On this occasion, on the floor of the Senate, I pay my personal tribute to this fine and unselfish man. May he be spared for many more years of fruitful work on behalf of his fellow men.

BASIL O'CONNOR '12