'A small price to pay for peace': the Elizabeth Kenny controversy re-examined

Between 1933 and 1939, Sister Elizabeth Kenny attracted media and medical attention by claiming to have developed an effective form of after-care for poliomyelitis. The furore that erupted involved ancillary health care workers who felt threatened by Kenny's apparent government support. A key issue exposed by the controversy was a profound social fear of physical deformity, shared by Kenny and the newly successful field of orthopaedics, both of whom marketed a eugenic hope of straightness and correctness.