The Shot Felt 'Round the World (2010)

The images and memories are still familiar to those of a certain age - children in braces or iron lungs; the terrifying fear that washed over America each summer - a fear that out of nowhere a seemingly healthy child would catch polio and be crippled or killed. A fear so great that children were forbidden to play at pools, playgrounds and movie theaters. And, then, a medical miracle occurred, and with it, a medical superstar was made, Dr. Jonas Salk, whose name became synonymous with a vaccine that he initially requested not be named after him. Less widely known are the events that took place from 1949-1955, a six-year period that changed the medical community and the country forever; how a beloved, polio-afflicted President inspired a nation to send their dimes to the unlikely place of the University of Pittsburgh, and how there, an entire community pulled together to conquer the most feared disease of the 20th century.