Photo of the Day

It is August 10, 1921.

Franklin Roosevelt and his family have spent the day sailing and

swimming at the family’s vacation home on Canada’s Campobello Island.

with Anna at Campobello, 1907

Franklin had tumbled out of his boat at one point during the day

but no one had thought much of it.

But in the evening, Franklin’s legs began to ache, and he felt feverish.

So, he went to bed early.

sailing toy boats with his children at Campobello, 1910

The next morning, his fever had worsened,

and he struggled to cross the hallway to reach the bathroom.

Franklin’s left leg buckled under his weight.

He managed to shave,

but then had to hobble back to bed.

He had severe back pain.

Left: A nurse with a polio victim in an iron lung respirator, which helps people breathe when their lung muscles are paralyzed, 1960. RIght: A three-month-old in an iron lung, 1953.

He went for a swim later,

hoping to work through the pain with exercise,

but as the day progressed, his legs grew weaker,

and his skin became sensitive to the touch.

By the third day, Franklin’s legs couldn’t bear his weight.

Dr. Jonas Salk, above, developed the first successful polio vaccine in 1953. In 1954, two million US school children participated in clinical trials. On April 12, 1955, Salk's vaccine was announced to be safe and effective, leading to widespread distribution to US children.

Doctors were summoned.

The first one diagnosed a blood clot in Franklin’s lower spinal cord

and recommended daily massage to aid circulation.

A second doctor claimed Franklin had an area of abnormal tissue

on his spinal cord.

By the time the country’s leading expert on polio

was able to examine Franklin, he was mostly paralyzed from the waist down.

The expert said there was no doubt that Franklin, then 39,

had contracted polio.

‘He should expect to live out his life with significant paralysis,’ the expert said,

adding that ‘coping with the disease required good emotional and physical health.’

So, Franklin retired from political life to concentrate on his health.

the pool at Warm Springs, Georgia, 1924

He found that swimming brought a bit of reprieve from his paralysis

because his legs could support his weight when he was submerged in water.

He began swimming three times a week in the neighbor’s swimming pool

and his arms, back and stomach muscles regained some strength.

with other polio sufferers at Warm Springs

After a few months, Franklin got aluminum leg braces

which locked at the knee.

And, after months of practice, he learned to stand with assistance.

standing with the help of his doctor and valet, 1924

Franklin set the goal of one day walking down the entire quarter-mile length

of his Hyde Park driveway.

the driveway [Alison J. Stein photo]

And he tried, over and over, to do it.

Locked in his leg braces and grasping canes,

he’d drag his feet forward until sweat poured from his forehead

and servants would have to help him back into the house.

[He never reached the end of the driveway; nor did he ever come close.]

campaigning in California, 1932

Historians say Franklin’s struggle to overcome his paralysis

redefined his adult personality,

steeling him to make the impossible decisions required of the

American president during a cataclysmic period in history.

Hyde Park, 1937

Are they correct?

I don’t know.

1941

But I bet if you could ask him, Franklin would say he’d have preferred to live a life without polio.

What more might he have accomplished?

aboard the presidential yacht, 1935

“Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.” — Shakespeare, “As You Like It,” 1600

I’ll see you tomorrow.

— Brenda