Polio Wars (64 page)

Quietly, some NFIP chapters began to use the term “Kenny” in their own fundraising. In Delaware the NFIP chapter sent out a fundraising letter assuring supporters that their donations had “sent 26 children to the Kenny Clinic [at the Wilmington General Hospital] for hospitalization and medical treatment” and all but 2 had “returned to school or to their play pens minus the deformities and twisted bodies that were so prevalent in the days when Polio was thought to be unconquerable.”
²⁹⁶
The growing influence of the Kenny method was visible in polio care everywhere.

1.
“Keep Sister Kenny Here”
New York Journal-American
February 17 1944; “Sister Kenny Irate, May Leave Country”
New York Times
February 4 1944; “Sister Kenny Expects To Leave Soon”
Hartford Courant
February 4 1944; “Polio Funds Short, Kenny May Leave U.S.”
Washington Post
February 4 1944. This amount was probably prompted by the news that the NFIP was providing a 5-year grant of $150,000 for a physical medicine center at the Graduate School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; “The Scientific Study and Development of Physical Medicine”
Science
(January 7 1944) 99: 10–11.

2.
Frank D. Campion
The A.M.A. and U.S. Health Policy since 1940
(Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1984), 129–130; Patricia Spain Ward
“United States versus American Medical Association et al.
: The Medical Anti-Trust Case of 1938–1943”
American Studies
(1989) 30: 123–153.

3.
Greer Williams “Medicine's India-Rubber Man”
Saturday Evening Post
October 19 1946, 26; see also “Docs Flock”
Time
(May 22 1944) 43: 46; “A.M.A. Meeting”
Time
(June 26 1944) 43: 50; “Remedy for Fishbein”
Time
(July 15 1946) 48: 94. The vote in 1944 was 144 to 9 and in 1945 it was 106 to 60.

4.
See, for example, Ida M. Kay to Dear Dr. Knapp, February 2 1943, [enclosed with] Miland E. Knapp to Dear Dr. Gudakunst, February 5 1943, Am. 15.8, Folder 29 [accessed in 1992 before recent recataloging], UMA-SC.

5.
Kenny to Dear Sir [Editor,
Minneapolis Star-Journal
], February 1 1944, Minneapolis—Newspapers, 1941–1945, MHS-K; “Help Me, or I Quit U.S.—Sister Kenny”
Chicago Herald-American
February 4 1944; [editorial] “Must Sister Kenny Leave?”
Tulsa Tribune
February 8 1944; “Sister Kenney [sic] Withholds New Polio Discovery”
Hartford Courant
February 5 1944; “Early Diagnosis of Polio Claimed by Sister Kenny”
Washington Post
February 6 1944. Note that Miland Knapp told visitors to Minneapolis that although he had tried he could not feel what she was describing; Knapp quoted in Draft of Report of the Committee [enclosed with] Pepper to Darling, September 29, 1944, Committee to Review Request of Elizabeth Kenny Institute to National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis: General, Medical Sciences, 1944, National Academy of Sciences, Washington D.C. (hereafter Review Committee, 1944, NAS).

6.
“Keep Sister Kenny Here”
New York Journal-American
February 17 1944; “Sister Kenny Expects To Leave Soon”
Hartford Courant
February 4 1944; “Sister Kenny Says Fishbein ‘Asked' Her to Leave Country”
New York Times
February 4 1944; “Sister Kenny Irate, May Leave Country”
New York Times
February 4 1944.

7.
“Physiologic Nonsense and Poliomyelitis”
JAMA
(January 22 1944) 124: 236. Fishbein referred to Joseph Moldaver (
JAMA
1943), Watkins, Brazier, and Schwab (
JAMA
1943) and Stanley Cobb (
Archives of Medicine
1943).

8.
Memorandum re: [transcript] Telephone Conversation between BO'C and Mr. Coniff of the
Journal-American
—11.23 A.M., February 4 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K; “University Willing To Aid Sister Kenny”
New York Times
February 5 1944; “O'Connor Denies Foundation Break with Sister Kenny”
Hartford Courant
February 6 1944.

9
. [Editorial] “Must Sister Kenny Leave?”
Tulsa Tribune
February 8 1944.

10.
“Keep Sister Kenny Here”
New York Journal-American
February 17 1944; see also “Keep Sister Kenny Here”
Baltimore News Post
February 15 1944.

11.
Roy J. Bergstrom to Gentlemen, February 4 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

12.
Arthur Mitchell to Dear Doctor Irwin, February 12 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

13.
“Launch $150,000 Drive to Keep Sister Kenny Here”
Pictorial Review
March 11 1944,
Chicago Herald-American
, Clippings, 1944, MHS-K; “Laud Work of Sister Kenny”
Chicago
Herald-American
March 7 1944; see also Philip Leslie Shutt [Boone County, Illinois NFIP chapter] to My Dear Sister Kenny, March 23 1944, NFIP-Misc., 1941–1944, MHS-K. A featured participant was writer Noreen Linduska who had experienced 2 kinds of polio during the 1943 Chicago epidemic and whose autobiography
My Polio Past
later enthusiastically praised Kenny's methods; Robert D. Dinsmore “Happy Victory [review of
My Polio Past
]”
New York Times
October 26 1947; Lloyd Wendt “Polio Victim Writes Story Full of Hope”
Chicago Daily Tribune
August 1 1947; see also Noreen Lunduska
My Polio Past
(Chicago: Pellegrini & Cudahy, 1947). The Disabled Persons Association of America tried to ensure its members employment in war industries.

14.
“Launch $150,000 Drive to Keep Sister Kenny Here”
Pictorial Review
March 11 1944,
Chicago Herald-American
, Clippings, 1944, MHS-K.

15.
[No caption]
Sunday Mirror
March 12 1944, Clippings, 1944, MHS-K.

16.
H. Spencer Jordan to My Dear Sister Kenny, October 28 1944, Complimentary Letters of Support 1944–1949, MHS-K.

17.
[Editorial] “Sister Kenny”
Washington Post
February 5 1944.

18.
“Sister Kenney [sic] Requested to Leave U.S.”
Citizens' Health News
(February 1944) 2: 2; “Who's Fighting for What Freedom?”
Citizens' Health News
(February 1944) 2: 1, Clippings, 1944, MHS-K.

19.
H. Spencer Jordan to My Dear Sister Kenny, October 28 1944, Complimentary Letters of Support 1944–1949, MHS-K.

20.
Cosette Drew Dexter to Dear Sister Kenny, February 2 1944, Complimentary Letters of Support 1944–1949, MHS-K.

21.
R. A. Gurney, letter to editor,
St Paul Pioneer Press
February 1944, Case Files- Misc., A-K, 1943–1946, MHS-K.

22.
[Editorial] “Must Sister Kenny Leave?”
Tulsa Tribune
February 8 1944.

23.
L. L. Oeland to Dear Sister Kinney [sic], February 5 1944, Board of Directors, MHS-K.

24.
Edna V. Paul to Dear Mr. O'Connor, February 4 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

25.
Edward James Smythe to Dear Sister Kenny, February 4 1944, Complimentary Letters of Support 1944–1949, MHS-K.

26.
Editorial, “After 10 Years of Giving America Begins to Wonder”
Seattle Times
February 13 1944; see also [editorial] “Must Sister Kenny Leave?”
Tulsa Tribune
February 8 1944.

27.
Edward James Smythe to Dear Sister Kenny, February 4 1944, Complimentary Letters of Support 1944–1949, MHS-K.

28.
C. E. Conway to Dear Sister Kenny, July 24 1944, Chicago Associate Nurses, 1944, MHS-K; Chicago Nurses Committee “We Urge You Now To Write or Wire Your Congressman … ” [notice] March 27 1945, [enclosed with] Morris [Fishbein] to My Dear Basil, March 30 1945, Public Relations, MOD-K.

29.
Morris [Fishbein] to My Dear Basil, March 30 1945, Public Relations, MOD-K. Note orthopedic nurse Carmelita Calderwood warned the NFIP that it was “a non-professional group” that had “hitched up with Hearst papers” and had “been a cause of disquiet in nursing circles in Chicago; [Notes on conversation between] Mr. Cusack and Miss Calderwood, April 24 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

30.
Elizabeth Kenny “God Is My Doctor: Chapter I”
American Weekly
March 29 1944, 18. It was ghostwritten by RKO publicity agent Dan Mainwaring.

31.
Elizabeth Kenny “God Is My Doctor: Chapter II”
American Weekly
April 2 1944, 18; Elizabeth Kenny “God Is My Doctor: Chapter III”
American Weekly
April 9 1944, 17; Elizabeth Kenny “God Is My Doctor: Chapter II”
American Weekly
April 2 1944, 19.

32.
Alice Marble
Sister Elizabeth Kenny: Wonder Women of History as Told by Alice Marble
(New York: Wonder Women Publishing Co., Spring 1944). Thanks to Bert Hansen for sending me a copy of this comic book.

33.
“[Script] BO'C Interview, WHAS—Louisville, Ky. 2-29-44; 4:40–4.45 PM,” Public Relations, MOD-K.

34.
The Story of the Kenny Method
(New York: National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, 1944), 4–8; see also Norine Foley “March of Dimes O.K.'s Sister Kenny Methods”
Los Angeles Examiner
March 24 1944; “Statement on Kenny Method By O'Connor”
Minneapolis Star-Journal
March 16 1944; Basil O'Connor “The Story of the Kenny Method”
Archives of Physical Therapy
(April 1944) 25: 231–234.

35.
“The National Foundation and Sister Kenny's Work” February 8 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K; and see
The Story of the Kenny Method
, 4–6; John Lavan to My Dear Mrs. Miller, September 1 1944, Morris Fishbein Collection, vol. 77, Folder 8, Joseph Regenstein Library, University of Chicago; The National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis
Annual Report 1943
(New York: National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, 1943), 46; “Sister Kenny's Work”
Hartford Courant
February 9 1944; Basil O'Connor “The Story of the Kenny Method”
Archives of Physical Therapy
(April 1944) 25: 231–234; Howard W. Blakeslee [science editor, AP] “Whispering Campaign” [enclosed in] Blakeslee to Dear Mr. O'Connor, February 21 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K; [Script] WPTF-“Fighting Infantile Paralysis,” Raleigh, N.C. March 11 [1944]–7:30–8:00 PM, Public Relations, MOD-K; “Statement on Kenny Method By O'Connor”
Minneapolis Star-Journal
March 16 1944.

36.
“Sister Kenny's Work”
Hartford Courant
February 9 1944.

37.
“Sister Kenny's Work”
Hartford Courant
February 9 1944; [Script] WPTF-“Fighting Infantile Paralysis,” Raleigh, N.C. March 11 [1944]–7:30–8:00 PM, Public Relations, MOD-K;
The Story of the Kenny Method
, 10.

38.
“Paralysis Method Held Over[-]praised”
New York Times
April 11 1944.

39.
[Script] WPTF- “Fighting Infantile Paralysis,” Raleigh, N.C. March 11 [1944]–7:30–8:00 PM, Public Relations, MOD-K.

40.
The Story of the Kenny Method
, 5, 10; [Script] WPTF-“Fighting Infantile Paralysis,” Raleigh, N.C. March 11 [1944]–7:30–8:00 PM, Public Relations, MOD-K; “The National Foundation and Sister Kenny's Work” February 8 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

41.
PJAC to DWG Memorandum, March 8 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

42.
The Story of the Kenny Method
, 11.

43.
Eddie Cantor to Dear Basil, March 20 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K. Cantor's “Show Business” was one of the top movies of 1944.

44.
Mary [Pickford] to Dear Basil [O'Connor] March 11 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K. Pickford's work with the NFIP is not mentioned in Scott Eyman
Mary Pickford: America's Sweetheart
(New York: Donald I. Fine, 1990).

45.
Peter J. A. Cusack to Dear Mary [Pickford] March 18 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

46.
W. C. Higginbotham to Dear Sir, February 23 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

47.
L. A. Karns, [secretary to W. A. Harriman] to Dear Mr. O'Connor, March 7 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K; Henry Ford to Dear Mr. Higginbotham, March 7 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K; James F. Bell to Dear Mr. O'Connor, March 2 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K; Peter J. A. Cusack to My Dear Mr. Clayton, March 7 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K; W. L. Clayton to Dear Mr. Higginbotham, March 6 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

48.
F. B. Adams to Dear Mr. Higginbotham, March 13 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

49.
Jack Alexander “Minneapolis-St Paul”
Saturday Evening Post
(April 3 1948), 23.

50.
James F. Bell to My Dear Mr. O'Connor, March 8 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

51.
Ibid.

52.
O'Connor did however agree to accept Bell's letter of resignation from the NFIP board after Bell argued that there was a conflict of interest with his position as University of Minnesota regent; James F. Bell to My Dear Mr. O'Connor, July 22 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K; O'Connor to Bell, July 27 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

53.
Basil O'Connor to My Dear Mr. Michaels, February 15 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

54.
National Research Council, Division of Medical Sciences, “Report of Special Committee to Review Request Submitted by Elizabeth Kenny Institute, Inc. to National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, Inc.,” November 8 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K, 16 hereafter “Report of Special Committee.”

55.
Arthur D. Reynolds to My Dear Mr. O'Connor, November 22 1944, Public Relations, MOD-K.

56.
“Statement By Marvin L. Kline Mayor of Minneapolis” [c.1943] MHS; see also Al Woodruff “Kline Opens Defense From Witness Chair”
Minneapolis Star
January 27 1961.