We are better than this

In June 1944, polio was sweeping across the country with devastating swiftness.

Children would leap out of bed in the morning, and by nightfall, they were unable to feed themselves. It was only a matter of time before it swept through Hickory, N.C. “like a tidal wave.”

“Youngsters with painful, useless limbs,” Life magazine reported at the time, “some unable to swallow or scarcely able to breathe, they came from mining villages up in the hills, mill towns in the valley, from outlying farms and urban centers.”

Fear reigned, but it was no match for the citizens of Hickory.

The liv...