Roosevelt's Polio Campaign Inspired Dime

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt is featured on the dime due to his strong association with the March of Dimes campaign against polio. After contracting polio in 1921, Roosevelt helped found and strongly supported the organization that funded research and assisted patients with the disease. Following his death in 1945, the U.S. Mint replaced the Mercury dime with a coin bearing his portrait. Officials released the new dime in 1946 on Roosevelt's birthday and during that year's March of Dimes fundraising campaign.

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