The two founders: President Franklin D. Roosevelt (left)
meeting with Basil O’Connor over a sack of dimes.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an adult victim of polio, founded the
National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which he later
renamed the March of Dimes Foundation, on January 3, 1938.

”I am announcing today my candidacy for the Presidency
of the United States.” 

John F. Kennedy officially announced his run for President on
January 2, 1960, via a written statement to the press, sparking
extensive newspaper coverage detailing his vision for American leadership, addressing concerns about his Catholic faith, and highlighting issues like the Cold War and economic vitality,
as seen in clippings preserved by the JFK Library.

Major newspapers covered his declaration, which framed the
presidency as crucial for global freedom and promised an
energetic, outward-looking America, setting the stage for
his eventual nomination and narrow victory over Richard
Nixon.

On January 2, 1974, President Richard M. Nixon (above) signs      
the Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act, setting a
new national maximum speed limit.

Prior to 1974, individual states set speed limits within their
boundaries and highway speed limits across the country
ranged from 40 mph to 80 mph.

Lt. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., and NHSA Administrator
Joan Claybrook, President Jimmy Carter and Secretary
of Transportation Brock Adams, unveiling a promotional
speed limit poster in the Oval Office, 1977 (Jimmy Carter Presidential Library/NARA)

                       
CAMILLE BOHANNON