A Carefully Crafted Image

Franklin Roosevelt carefully managed public awareness of his paralysis during his presidency. His battle with polio was not a secret, but he feared that if people knew he was unable to walk, opponents would portray him as too weak for office. Before live video, the press agreed not to report on his use of a wheelchair or on aides carrying him. Eleanor Roosevelt said that his illness gave him strength and courage, forced him to think out the fundamentals of living, and taught him infinite patience and never ending persistence. Believing a standard 1920s wheelchair was too bulky, he designed his own by overseeing the addition of wheels to a kitchen chair. In 2001, after lobbying by disability rights advocates including the National Organization on Disability, President Bill Clinton and Congress added an explicit portrayal of Roosevelt in a wheelchair, depicting him as his family and close associates saw him.

Arlington, Virginia · United States