Military History: Regaining Lost Ground?
Elite colleges have largely abandoned military history, but there are signs of life at some major universities.
Author: David J. Koon
Polio in North Carolina
Reaching its peak in the 1940s and 1950s, poliomyelitis (polio), also known as infantile paralysis, infected and crippled hundreds of children across North Carolina. The disease terrorized the general public, and, in response, North Carolinians successfully mobilized their money and time to assist polio victims statewide. North Carolina’s mandate on polio vaccines, coupled with its citizens’ philanthropic efforts, played a significant role in eradicating the disease from the state’s population.
Federal Emergency Relief Administration
Signed into law on May 12, 1933, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) was a New Deal government-spending program established to give direct cash assistance to the impoverished. Different from work relief agencies such as the National Recovery Administration and the Public Works Administration, which created jobs for the unemployed, FERA offered only short-term subsistence support. FERA’s poor design coupled with its low per capita grants failed to assuage the effects of the Great Depression in North Carolina.