Person Preferred Name

Basil O'Connor

Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine Telecast - Basil O'Connor

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Photograph of Mr. Basil O’Connor, head of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis (later the March of Dimes), reading Mrs. Hobby’s licensing message during the live telecast on the development of the poliomyelitis vaccine. The woman in the center foreground holds up cue cards for Mr. O’Connor. The names of the manufacturers are printed on the cards in four-inch size lettering.

The photograph was taken on April 12, 1955, during the live telecast informing the American public that the field trial to test the inactivated polio vaccine was successful. The telecast was filmed at Rackham Hall at the University of Michigan. Eli Lilly & Co. funded the hour and a half long broadcast, narrated by Bob Emerick. It was watched by an estimated 54,000 doctors in special screenings in movie theaters and heard by millions of people around the world on the radio.

Dr. Jonas Salk (not pictured), developer of the poliomyelitis vaccine, received his MD from New York University College of Medicine in 1939.

Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine Telecast - Group Portrait

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Behind the scenes photograph of Wes Kenney briefing Dr. Jonas Salk, Mr. Basil O'Connor, Dr. V. F. Bazilauskas and Dr. David Bodian on their parts in the live telecast on the development of the poliomyelitis vaccine.

The photograph was taken on April 12, 1955, during the live telecast informing the American public that the field trial to test the inactivated polio vaccine was successful. The telecast was filmed at Rackham Hall at the University of Michigan. Eli Lilly & Co. funded the hour and a half long broadcast, narrated by Bob Emerick. It was watched by an estimated 54,000 doctors in special screenings in movie theaters and heard by millions of people around the world on the radio.

Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the poliomyelitis vaccine, received his MD from New York University College of Medicine in 1939.

Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine Telecast - Thomas Francis, Jonas Salk, Basil O'Connor, Thomas M. Rivers, and Wes Kenney

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Director Wes Kenney briefing Dr. Thomas Francis, Dr. Jonas Salk, Mr. Basil O'Connor (head of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, later the March of Dimes) and Dr. Thomas M. Rivers on their parts in the live telecast on the development of the poliomyelitis vaccine.

The photograph was taken on April 12, 1955, during the live telecast informing the American public that the field trial to test the inactivated polio vaccine was successful. The telecast was filmed at Rackham Hall at the University of Michigan. Eli Lilly & Co. funded the hour and a half long broadcast, narrated by Bob Emerick. It was watched by an estimated 54,000 doctors in special screenings in movie theaters and heard by millions of people around the world on the radio.

Dr. Jonas Salk, developer of the poliomyelitis vaccine, received his MD from New York University College of Medicine in 1939.

Salk Poliomyelitis Vaccine Telecast - Basil O'Connor and David Bodian

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Mr. Basil O'Connor introducing Dr. David Bodian of Johns Hopkins University during the live telecast on the development of the poliomyelitis vaccine.

The photograph was taken on April 12, 1955, during the live telecast informing the American public that the field trial to test the inactivated polio vaccine was successful. The telecast was filmed at Rackham Hall at the University of Michigan. Eli Lilly & Co. funded the hour and a half long broadcast, narrated by Bob Emerick. It was watched by an estimated 54,000 doctors in special screenings in movie theaters and heard by millions of people around the world on the radio.

Dr. Jonas Salk (not pictured), developer of the poliomyelitis vaccine, received his MD from New York University College of Medicine in 1939.