March of Dimes Foundation

March of Dimes Foundation, American charitable organization dedicated to preventing childhood diseases, birth defects, and premature births and to reducing infant mortality. It was founded as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis in 1938 by U.S. Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who envisioned a national crusade to find a cure for infantile paralysis, or polio, a disease he had been stricken with in 1921. The phrase “March of Dimes” was later coined as part of a...