Health and Medical History of President
Martin van BurenLived 1782-1862
Health and Medical History of President
Martin van BurenLived 1782-1862
Lived 1782-1862
2023
1776
Revolutionary War1776-1783
War of 18121812-1815
Mexican-American War1846-1848
Civil War1861-1865
Spanish-American War1898-1899
World War 11917-1918
World War 21941-1945
Korean War1950-1953
Viet Nam War1964-1975
Desert Storm1990-1991
Bush's Wars2001-2021
Old Tip he wears a homespun suit,
He has no ruffled shirt -- wirt, wirt;
But Mat he has the golden pate,
And he's a little squirt -- wirt, wirt. 2a:
Thirteen years later (at age 71) van Buren went to Aix-les-Bains, France for gout treatment, attending the same spa that had botched the treatment of Thomas Jefferson's fractured wrist decades earlier. Van Buren apparently had a better experience 1b.
Comment: The details of van Buren's asthma and final illness are unsatisfying. Too much stock should not be placed in the diagnosis of "asthma." It is probably better to say only that Van Buren had a condition that caused episodes of dyspnea. While it may have been true asthma, it may also have been cardiac asthma. Given van Buren's obesity and snoring, the possibility of heart failure owing to sleep apnea should not be dismissed.
- Van Buren had good health as a child and young man 1a.
- There is no evidence that van Buren smoked or otherwise used tobacco 1d.
- Through his mother, Van Buren was related three ways (all distantly), to Theodore Roosevelt, who, like Van Buren, was of Dutch descent. In fact, Van Buren was the first of only five Presidents not of British paternal descent. The others were the two Roosevelts, plus Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower. 4a
- Bumgarner, John R. The Health of the Presidents: The 41 United States Presidents Through 1993 from a Physician's Point of View. Jefferson, NC: MacFarland & Company, 1994.
a p.56 b p.57 c pp.57-58 d p.58
Comment: Devotes one chapter to each President, through Clinton. Written for the layperson, well-referenced, with areas of speculation clearly identified, Dr. Zebra depends heavily on this book. Dr. Bumgarner survived the Bataan Death March and has written an unforgettable book casting a physician's eye on that experience.
- James, Marquis. Andrew Jackson: Portrait of a President. New York: Grosset & Dunlap, unknown year (originally published in 1937 by Bobbs-Merrill).
a p.450
- Dugan, James. Bedlam in the boudoir. Colliers. 22 Feb. 1947; pages 17, 69-70.
Comment: Credibility is dubious. Just before a list of Presidents, the article states: "Twenty of the 32 Presidents ... are proved or believed on a thick web of circumstance to have been nocturnal nuisances in the White House."
- Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh (ed). Burke's Presidential Families of the United States of America. 2nd ed. London: Burke's Peerage Limited, 1981.
a p.184
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