I had not seen the proposed March of Dimes designs before. The first one, with the child walking away from the wheelchair, is unfortunately not appropriate. Having had polio myself before the vaccine was created, I can assure you that the research did not cure polio or its effects, though the vaccines it generated did blessedly prevent new cases of it.

The image of FDR in his wheelchair is most appropriate, though I would rather see the similar image of FDR taken along with a young girl that I believe is representative of the many victims of infantile paralysis. It may represent the only time that FDR allowed himself to be photographed in his wheelchair, a noble concession he made to promote the cause. I do not like the image of the 1946 dime superimposed over the front wheel of the wheelchair, as it will cause some people to not recognize it as a wheelchair.

The other two designs do not do much for me, though the dual-headed one is not that bad. I would like to see the reverse image of the torch on the Roosevelt dime used somehow, as it was a subtle recognition of the "Mothers March Against Polio," also known as the "Torch Drive," because tens of thousands of mothers went out door to door collecting dimes from their neighbors for the cause. This was after dark because they had to feed their families first, of course, and they carried flashlights or "torches" to light their way.

I still think that most new U.S. coin designs are banal, and that goes for most of those shown here. I would like to show the inspired reverse of the Jonas Salk medal that Hal Reed designed for the Jewish-American Hall of Fame back in 1980, that contrasts healthy children playing with balls and a polio victim holding a balloon, with the Salk Institute in the background. It is one of my favorite medal designs.