On this day in 1954,

THE SALK POLIO VACCINE TRIALS

"The Greatest Public Health Experiment in American History."

There was a terrifying polio epidemic going on.  Imagine being a parent with little kids, worried that they might be infected with crippling and incurable polio, that they may never walk again, and that they might even die.  Then this.  This day was a part of my childhood.  

Great background story here from CBS News:

www.cbsnews.com/news/the-salk-polio-vaccine-greatest-public-health-experiment-in-history/