On February 28, 1983, the celebrated sitcom M*A*S*H bows out after 11 seasons, airing a special two-and-a-half hour episode watched by 77 percent of the television viewing audience. It was the largest percentage ever to watch a single TV show up to that time.
Set near Seoul, Korea, behind the American front lines during the Korean War,M*A*S*H was based on the 1968 novel by Richard
Hooker and the 1970 film produced by 20th Century Fox and
directed by Robert Altman. Its title came from the initials for the
Mobile Army Surgical Hospital.
Franklin D. Roosevelt (left) and lifelong friend and political advisor, Basil O’Connor counting dimes sent in to the White House for the March of Dimes, 1944. O’Connor helped establish the foundation.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an adult victim of polio, established the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, which he later renamed the March of Dimes Foundation, on January 3, 1938. A predominantly childhood disease in the early 20th century, polio wreaked havoc among American children every summer. The virus, which affects the central nervous system, flourished in contaminated food and water and was easily transmitted. Those who survived the disease usually suffered from debilitating paralysis into their adult lives. In 1921, at the relatively advanced age of 39, Roosevelt contracted polio and lost the use of his legs. With the help of the media, his Secret Service and careful event planning, Roosevelt managed to keep his disease out of the public eye, yet his personal experience inspired in him an empathy with the handicapped and prompted him to the found the March of Dimes.