This 1980 photograph taken at the Centers for Disease Control, depicted three former directors of the Global Smallpox Eradication Program as they read the good news that smallpox had been eradicated on a global scale. From left to right, Dr. J. Donald Millar, who was Director from 1966 to 1970; Dr. William H. Foege, who was Director from 1970 to 1973, and Dr. J. Michael Lane, who was Director from 1973 to 1981.

The worldwide eradication of this dreaded virus was due to the Smallpox Eradication Campaign of the late 1960â??s, early 1970s, whereupon, a mass-vaccination program was instituted across the globe that lead to the declaration in 1978 by a global commission that smallpox had been eradicated, which was officially accepted by the 33rd World Health Assembly in 1980.