[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Page 9912]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                         OLDER AMERICANS MONTH

 Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, it may be human nature to 
overlook the hardships of previous generations. We don't think about 
suffering we don't have to endure. This is the way it should be. And 
this is the hope of America's innovators, who work to ease misfortune 
for our children and grandchildren.
  One of those innovators is a 101-year-old woman from Sioux City, 
Iowa. Louise Humphrey was a leading light in the battle against polio, 
one of the most terrifying illnesses of our century. Because of her 
work, and the work of others devoted to finding a cure, polio is 
virtually non-existent in our country.
  It's hard for anyone who didn't live through the 1940s and 1950s to 
understand fully the fear of polio. The disease was highly contagious 
and sometimes fatal. It attacked the lungs and the limbs. It 
immobilized its victims, made them struggle for breath and often forced 
them to breathe through mechanical iron lungs. Parents wouldn't allow 
their children to go swimming, or to drink out of public fountains, for 
fear of contagion. Those children fortunate enough to escape the 
illness saw their classmates return to school in leg braces and watched 
news reels of people in iron lungs.
  At the height of the epidemic, during the late 1940s and early 1950s, 
polio struck between 20,000 to 50,000 Americans each year. In one 
year--1952--58,000 people caught the disease. Most of them were 
children.
  Mrs. Humphrey of Sioux City became interested in polio before the 
height of the epidemic. In the 1930s, according to the Sioux City 
Journal, she saw firsthand the ravaging effects of polio after meeting 
a man who had been disabled by the disease. She and her husband, the 
late Dr. J. Hubert Humphrey, a Sioux City dentist, became leaders in 
the fight against polio. They headed the Woodbury County chapter of the 
National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis. Mrs. Humphrey was elected 
state chairman of the woman's division of the foundation.
  The Humphreys raised thousands of dollars for equipment and therapy 
to battle the disease. They enlisted entertainers and circus performers 
in the cause, hosting these individuals at fund-raising parties. Their 
guests included Bob Hope, clown Emmett Kelly and a ham sandwich-eating 
elephant.
  Their work contributed to a climate in which Jonas Salk developed the 
first polio vaccine. His vaccine, and another developed by Dr. Albert 
Sabin, soon became widely available. Polio is virtually non-existent in 
our country, although it remains a Third World threat.
  Mrs. Humphrey has said she has no secret for living such a long life. 
She advises people to ``just be happy and be well.'' She has never had 
an ache or pain. What she did have in abundance was empathy, kindness, 
generosity and devotion. Because of her contributions, millions of 
American children will live without a debilitating disease.
  On June 3, Mrs. Humphrey will turn 102. In advance of her birthday, 
during Older Americans Month, I want to thank Mrs. Humphrey for helping 
to make our country strong. Mrs. Humphrey, with her clear vision and 
compassionate concern for America's children, perfectly illustrates the 
theme of Older Americans Month: ``Honor the Past, Imagine the Future: 
Toward a Society for All Ages.''

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