Question: Why is President Roosevelt’s picture on the dime?
Answer: President Franklin D. Roosevelt, a polio sufferer, helped establish the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis to fund research for a polio vaccine.
In 1938, entertainer Eddie Cantor humorously encouraged Americans to send dimes to support the cause, leading to 2,680,000 dimes arriving at the White House. This surge of support from both individuals and celebrities prompted the organization to be renamed the March of Dimes Foundation.
After Roosevelt’s death in 1945, Louisiana Representative James Hobson Morrison introduced legislation for the Roosevelt dime.
