Health and Medical History of President
Theodore RooseveltHealth and Medical History of President
Theodore RooseveltUNDER CONSTRUCTION |
that the strain of the campaign was proving too much for Roosevelt. His voice was bothering him seriously. Reports reached the Bull Moose headquarters that he was losing his grip, that he was repeating himself disastrously. He was forced to cancel two addresses scheduled for the Middle West because of his throat. The disability was bad enough to raise the possibility that he could speak no more. 6aRoosevelt did not like to speak in the open air, for it put too much of a strain on his voice. 7a
Roosevelt was extremely lucky. He had the manuscript of a long, 50-page speech in his coat pocket, folded in two, and the bullet was no doubt slowed as it passed through it. He also had a steel spectacle case in his pocket, and the bullet traversed this, too, before entering Roosevelt's chest near the right nipple. Thus, one could say that Roosevelt's long-windedness and myopia saved his life! MORE
Although the bullet traveled superiorly and medially for about 3 inches after breaking the skin, it lodged in the chest wall, without entering the pleural space. Roosevelt was examined in a Milwaukee hospital MORE, (where he reluctantly allowed the surgeons to administer an injection of tetanus anti-toxin 1c), and then was observed for 8 days in a Chicago hospital. He was discharged on October 23, 1912 -- only a few days before the election. The bullet had effectively stopped Roosevelt's campaign. He finished second to Woodrow Wilson, but ahead of the incumbent President, William Howard Taft. The bullet was never removed, and caused no difficulty after the wound healed. 8
The details of the assassination attempt and its aftermath are described in 7b.
Loud snoring raises the possibility of sleep apnea. Hypersomnolence would be an additional sign of sleep apnea. Was Roosevelt hypersomnolent? During his Presidency, at least, he was not. The White House usher observed 10a:
President Roosevelt slept well at night, but never in the day. He liked to read in the evening after all was quiet. The usual retiring hour was about ten-thirty, but it was always with difficulty that the President was persuaded to turn in at that time. He would promise to come along in a minute, but would immediately become absorbed in a book or magazine and it was generally after much effort and much persuasion that he would finally turn in for the night. Mrs. Roosevelt would call and call. The sound of her voice calling "The-o-dore!" is well remembered by all the older employees. She often appealed to me to go to the President and "see if you cannot persuade him to come to bed." No matter how late he sat up, he always arose at the same time in the morning and always appeared refreshed and hearty.Nor did Roosevelt show signs of excessive daytime somnolence on the campaign trail in 1912. While stumping in Milwaukee, one of Roosevelt's intimates wrote: "We had a few minutes before dinner, and the Colonel took a little nap sitting in a rocking-chair in his room. It was the only time, in all the campaign trips I made with him, that I ever saw him sleep before bedtime." 7c
Had Roosevelt not died at the young age of 60, it is quite likely that he would have been elected President in 1920. At the very least, "He would not need to lift a finger this time [as opposed to 1912], and the [Republican presidential] nomination would still be his" 14a.
Interestingly, Harding might have been Roosevelt's Vice President [Ibid.]. If Roosevelt had lived, say, three years longer, and Harding still had died in 1923, then the Secretary of State would have succeeded to the Presidency under the law then in effect.
The Missouri Governor [Herbert S. Hadley] was not in rugged health at that time, and in the talk with Colonel Roosevelt he mentioned the possibility that the presidency, if he should be nominated and elected, might kill him. The Colonel replied that in his judgment it was worth the sacrifice; that the presidency of the United States was the greatest task that could be laid upon any man, and that to fulfill it worthily was paramount to every consideration of personal welfare. 7f
I have always made it a practice on such trips to take a bottle of morphine with me. Because one never knows what is going to happen, and I did not mean to be caught by some accident where I should have to die a lingering death. I always meant that, if at any time death became inevitable, I would have it over with at once, without going though a long-drawn-out agony from which death was the only relief. 7g
a pp.310. Marshall was Wilson's Vice-President and is best known for his remark: "What this country needs is a good five-cent cigar." b p.8 c p.286 d p.295 e p.303 f p.300 g p.306
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a pp.36, 44, 59, 63, 70, 79, 81-82, 89, 90-108, 110-113, 133, 189, 190, 212, 229, 249, 340, 367
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a p.201
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a pp.xvii-xviii
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a pp.83 b p.30 c p.104 d p.60 e p.277
Comment: This book stayed on the New York Times best-seller list for 26 weeks, prompting Jacqueline Kennedy to require all staff at the White House to sign a pledge agreeing not to write about their experiences (NY Times, page B8, Nov. 12, 1997). Parks's mother, a maid at the White House from 1909-1939, had actually been encouraged by Eleanor Roosevelt to write and publish a memoir (p260). |
a p.836 b p.912
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a pp.216, 356, 367 b pp.374-393, 398 c p.373 d p.429 e p.458 f p.303 g p.434
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Comment: Cited by: Fairbanks DNF. Snoring: an overview with historical perspectives. Pages 1-16 in: Snoring and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. 2nd ed. Fairbanks, David N. F. and Fujita, Shiro (eds.). NY: Raven Press, 1994. |
a p.270
Comment: The Library of Congress contains more of Hoover's first-hand recollections of eight presidents. |
a p.52
Comment: Ira Smith was a peppery fellow who ran the White House mail room from 1897 to 1948. He started working during the administration of William McKinley and was the only mail room staffer until the volume of mail made it necessary to hire help during the administration of Franklin Roosevelt. |
a p.308
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a p.311
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a p.72 b p.16
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a p.184 b pp.411, 495
Comment: Maps -- in great detail -- the ancestors and descendants of American presidents through Ronald Reagan. They would have had an exhausting time with President Obama's family tree! MORE |