President's Birthday Ball for FDR

The President’s Birthday Ball marked Franklin D. Roosevelt’s 54th birthday, serving as a major nationwide fundraising event to combat polio, which FDR contracted in 1921. Held at the Waldorf Astoria, this celebration was part of a series of annual galas, with 1936 marking a shift where 70% of funds raised stayed in local communities.

While the very first birthday gala occurred in 1934, the 1936 events solidified the tradition of using the President's birthday for national fundraising.