# It's a myth that FDR's disability was secret **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [August 22, 2016, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611 "2016-08-22T09:37:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![spodvoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9adbd/32.png) [@spodvoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spodvoll)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/1 "2016-08-22T09:37:54Z")
I could cite _many_ references to debunk this urban legend. FDR did indeed take great pains to minimize perceptions that he was frail. However he was a great public champion of the disabled. The Democratic party adored him because he maintained such a sunny disposition despite his affliction. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 9:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/2 "2016-08-22T09:42:22Z")
> [@spodvoll](#): > > I could cite _many_ references to debunk this urban legend. Could you please give a couple of cites? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/3 "2016-08-22T13:13:29Z")
> [@spodvoll](#): > > I could cite _many_ references to debunk this urban legend. **FDR did indeed take great pains to minimize perceptions that he was frail.** However he was a great public champion of the disabled. The Democratic party adored him because he maintained such a sunny disposition despite his affliction. Disabled does not equal frail. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/4 "2016-08-22T22:57:16Z")
And I remember how, in the 50s, I was downright puzzled. The evidence (as presented to me) was that he was disabled and not disabled at the same time. (Shades of Infocom’s _The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy_!) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/5 "2016-08-22T23:14:38Z")
FDR funded a rehabilitation center at Warm Springs for polio patients, and the funding for it later became known as the March of Dimes. He was as identified with polio as anyone in America. While the residents at the Institute certainly saw him unable to walk, he usually tried to give the public impression that the type of hydrotherapy given there had cured him. From everything I’ve read, he sincerely believed that others would be helped, especially those who didn’t contract it as adults, the way he did. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/6 "2016-08-22T23:24:05Z")
Link to the column. > **[Did Americans know FDR couldn’t walk?](https://www.straightdope.com/21344392/did-americans-know-fdr-couldn-t-walk)** Previous thread. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=801907](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=801907) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/7 "2016-08-22T23:32:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > FDR funded a rehabilitation center at Warm Springs for polio patients, and the funding for it later became known as the March of Dimes. At what time in his career did this take place? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/8 "2016-08-22T23:48:18Z")
I posted in one of the other threads before realizing it was about Cecil’s column. I don’t how we can determine how many people knew the extent of FDR’s disability. Plenty of people knew, they saw him in a wheelchair, barely able to walk with leg braces, but even if it was thousands of people without a lot of coverage in print and radio we can’t tell how widespread the knowledge was. Plenty of people knew he had polio, they knew that few people recovered fully from polio, but the idea that he had overcome polio didn’t have mean that he had full use of his legs again either. People I know and knew that lived through that period often said they knew he couldn’t walk, but I think **Exapno Mapcase** pointed out in another thread that after the fact when the details of his disability were widely covered that many people would claim that they knew all along rather than admit they had been taken in by the story. I don’t think we’ll ever know how many people believed he couldn’t walk, or may have heard he couldn’t walk but thought it was political rumor, or how many people believed he actually could walk, or how many people thought about it at all. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2016, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/9 "2016-08-22T23:56:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > At what time in his career did this take place? [Roosevelt Warm Springs](https://gvra.georgia.gov/warmsprings/) > [@](#): > > Founded by Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1927, Roosevelt Warm Springs continues a tradition of compassion and quality care that spans over 80 years. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/10 "2016-08-23T01:20:31Z")
I recall that for his declaring war on Japan to Congress, he had steel leg braces to walk and cocaine to take his cold sniffles away. This is one of the things I wish I had asked my Grandmother about. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/11 "2016-08-23T01:26:05Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/12 "2016-08-23T02:33:42Z")
This is spodvoll’s first and only post, over two years since registering. Maybe we’ll see a response to the request for cites in late 2018. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/13 "2016-08-23T02:58:21Z")
It wasn’t just, as **TriPolar** says, that “plenty of people knew he had polio.” Plenty of people knew what the effects of polio were, because they had friends and family members who had it. Exactly how severely FDR was affected wasn’t widely known, but I doubt that the average American would have been shocked to learn he used a wheelchair. Also, that was an era when disabilities simply weren’t discussed in polite society. Lionel Barrymore had begun using a wheelchair aftter he was already an established star, but even the gossip columns barely noted it. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/14 "2016-08-23T03:06:58Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I recall that for his declaring war on Japan to Congress, he had steel leg braces to walk and cocaine to take his cold sniffles away. > > This is one of the things I wish I had asked my Grandmother about. Why? Was your grandmother his connection? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/15 "2016-08-23T03:37:14Z")
I had actually asked my grandmother about this, and she said that her understanding, at the time, that the polio had weakened his leg muscles and that he had to walk with canes or leg braces, but that she didn’t realized he was actually confined to a wheelchair. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/16 "2016-08-23T08:44:12Z")
Strictly speaking he wasn’t “confined” to a wheelchair, he wasn’t chained to it or anything. LOL My parents, who grew up in that era, said it was widely known he used leg braces and had trouble walking, that in appearances like parades he was driven in an open-top car because there was no way he could have walked the route, and so on but his reliance on a wheelchair to get around most of the time wasn’t widely known. It was known he did use a chair at times, just not how frequent those times were (i.e. “almost always”) So yes, everyone knew he was disabled, just not how much he was disabled. ---
**Author:** ![jbaker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/59ef9b/32.png) [@jbaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jbaker)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/17 "2016-08-23T18:30:09Z")
As I mentioned in the other thread, I looked at some old newspaper reports, using [Newspapers.com](http://Newspapers.com). These make it clear that there was some awareness of Roosevelt’s condition, though it was perhaps not fully appreciated. Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pa.), 5/20/1932: “In 1924, Roosevelt appeared on crutches at Madison Square Garden and made the speech that placed Al Smith’s name before the delegates. Four years later, leaning heavily on two canes, he did the same thing for his old friend at Houston.” Associated Press, 6/18/1932: “The physical condition of Franklin D. Roosevelt is a matter often discussed in connection with his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination. Roosevelt, now 50, a victim of infantile paralysis 11 years ago, cannot walk without leg braces, a cane or an assisting arm - but two years ago insurance companies accepted him for a $500,000 policy, and 15 months ago another examination showed him to be in good health generally.” United Press International, 10/13/1932: “Roosevelt’s physical condition was a big issue out here [in the West] until he was seen. He swung, I am convinced, thousands of votes to him by his public appearances and his look of vigor and health. Many western voters, I believe, have the impression that he was a wheelchair candidate who could not move.” Post-Register (Idaho Falls, Idaho), 7/24/1934 (reprint from the New Yorker): “Mr. Roosevelt is no more of an invalid than a man who has had a leg amputated. His wheelchair is pushed from the house to the executive offices over ramps constructed for the purpose. It is run alongside his desk chair, and he reaches over with his left arm, then his right, and swings himself into the chair. Nobody assists him.” Associated Press, 4/25/1945 (i.e., shortly after Roosevelt’s death on 4/12/1945): “Few people, even in Washington, realized how much infantile paralysis had ravaged the body of Franklin D. Roosevelt. They knew that he was crippled, but the pictures they saw in the newsreels and newspapers always showed him standing firmly beside an aide whose arm he clutched, or seated behind a desk, or speaking from a platform that hid his lower body. . . . In the last year or two he had mellowed about his infirmity. He permitted himself to be wheeled onto the platform at public functions.” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/18 "2016-08-23T19:58:55Z")
Thanks, jbaker. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/19 "2016-08-25T15:57:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > At what time in his career did this take place? Right after he won a bronze in the marathon in the '36 Olympics. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611/20 "2016-08-25T21:11:01Z")
In a PBS feature about FDR, they said he rehearsed walking at his son’s side, with him supporting all his weight on the son’s arm. When he had to be seen walking in public, that’s how he did it, hiding the difficulty of that act. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-a-myth-that-fdrs-disability-was-secret/763611.md?page=2)