The body as proof: Franklin D. Roosevelt's preparations for the 1932 presidential campaign.

• Author: Kiewe, Amos

INTRODUCTION

The polio affliction Franklin D. Roosevelt suffered in 1921 was a major setback to the ambitious politician. By then, Roosevelt had accumulated an impressive resume that included being New York State Senator, Under Secretary of the Navy under Woodrow Wilson, and Vice-presidential candidate in 1920. Becoming president was his ultimate objective but a disabled person, then and perhaps even now, could not be conceived as the holder of the highest office in the land. Roosevelt's disability was only part of the story though. Equally deleterious to Roosevelt's electoral ambition was the social stigma attached to infantile paralysis. Since the outset of polio in 1921, Roosevelt made tremendous efforts to improve his physical ability, to hide his disability and to modify his walking ability. The 1928 gubernatorial campaign already proved to Roosevelt the rewards of modifying his appearance (Kiewe, 1999). But the successes on a state level had a limited effect. Roosevelt was still concerned that his disability would be a major issue his opponents would use to defeat him. On the eve of the presidential campaign (1930-31), Roosevelt and his closest advisers sought to lay to rest the health issue for once and for all. The plan called for medical professionals to publicize medical reports of a clean bill of health as definitive proof that Roosevelt was physically fit to be president. This is the focus of this essay.

In addressing Roosevelt's efforts to prove his fitness on the eve of the presidential campaign, I begin by discussing polio as a disability that precluded political office and Roosevelt's attempts to overcome this prejudice by casting his body as a rhetorical site. Next, I discuss the issuance of life insurance as proof of a healthy body. Following I move to the primary focus of this essay--a secret arrangement Roosevelt had with Earle Looker to publicize medical examination as the proof that he was fit for political office.

BODY AND DISABILITY AS RHETORICAL SITES

Polio was taken to be the disease of the lower class. Its sufferers were often doomed to seclusion and neglect due the misperception regarding the causes of the disease. Rogers (1992) claims that many associated polio with the lower class and lower moral standing, and that this belief brought many to assign guilt and responsibility of attracting polio to the victims (p. 29). Similarly, Susan Sontag argues that for many, the association between the disease and the diseased "invariably extended to assert that the character causes the disease" (1991, p. 47). This dialectic of terms is a convenient one for those who look for a way to justify marginalizing the sick and the disabled instead of offering special care and alternative ways of managing daily tasks. Any unwillingness to carry the burden of care is likely to be justified rhetorically by turning victims into victimizers. Given this logic, the sick and the disabled are often disadvantaged socially in addition to their physical suffering.

The body is "the most visible marker of difference," and it functions as a potent evidence of differences between individuals (Shome, 1996, p. 510). The body is easily an object of examination through difference. Given the "marker" of a healthy body, a deformed or disabled body transgresses "the boundaries of the 'civilized' body" (Shome, p. 510). A healthy body is thus a representation of the "normal," whereas a disabled body is visually marked. Yet, infantile paralysis deforms the body but not the extent that other serious ailments do. Polio victims are visible in their difficult mobility. However, their upper body is "normal" and their face, the ultimate body mark of health and vitality, is unaffected. Roosevelt would find his potential in making his upper body the mark of health and fitness.

Yet, a disabled politician was, and still is, anathema given the long-standing perception of the body politic as an extension of masculinity and a healthy body (Houck, 1997, pp. 22-23; Jamieson, 1992, p. 82). Politics has been, and to a significant degree, is still conceived as a masculine occupation. This hierarchy assumes the symbolism of a healthy and viral body at the top of a political system. This order, Sontag contends, "is the oldest concern of political philosophy," and thus it is plausible to compare the polis to an organism (Sontag, 1991, p. 77). The polity, then, assumes human characteristics and its symbolic embodiment is that of perfection and power while illness is symbolic of an unhealthy body politic.

Roosevelt's fate could have been similar to that of many polio victims, except for his political ambition and his inherent optimism. Roosevelt understood very well the fate of a disabled person, not to speak of a disabled person with political ambitions. Physical disability "was an automatic disqualification for public life, let alone for the highest political office" (Poore, 1998, p. 244). His chances lay in his ability to hide his disability. Yet, these very efforts reflected "a view of the disabled body as stigmatizing, shameful, and as a physical marker of weakness of intellect and character" (Poore, 1998, p. 244).

Roosevelt's initial years as a polio sufferer were difficult, both physically and mentally. From the outset, Roosevelt and his closest family members and associates began a public relations campaign, the objective of which was to hide the true extent of his illness. No matter how difficult it was for Roosevelt to move his lower body, public statements about his conditions were positive and encouraging (Freidel, 1954, pp. 102-106; Gunther, 1950, pp. 225-227).

Roosevelt did his utmost to avoid "the stigma of being seen in public in a wheelchair, with all its associations of invalidism and incompetence" (Poore, 1998, p. 241). He invested time and energy in studying methods for improving the conditions of polio victims. His efforts culminated in making a substantial financial investment in a rundown Georgia resort, Warm Springs, and turning it into a rehabilitation center for polio victims. It was here that he learned to create the semblance of walking. With a powerful upper body, Roosevelt learned to appear to be walking slowly first by using crutches, and later by pulling his legs locked in metal braces, holding a cane in one hand and the arm of a son or an aide in the other. Roosevelt's efforts to present himself as non-disabled was based on a two-pronged strategy: projecting self-confidence and authority, and maintaining the visual expectations of a healthy body (Poore, 1998, p.242).

Roosevelt's first political comeback began in 1924, when New York governor, Alfred E. Smith asked him, to give the nominating speech at the Democratic National Convention. Roosevelt was hailed as he slowly walked on crutches to the podium. Though standing was an arduous effort, the crowd saw a smiling and cheerful speaker. What the crowd did not see was Roosevelt being carried in a wheelchair into the convention arena and that he "walked" only few paces, from behind a curtain to the podium. He gained much respect and adulation for his forceful delivery. The 1924 Democratic convention was a major success for Roosevelt who was considered by many as the only bright light in a fractious and dismal convention (Davis, 1974, pp. 30-31; FDR: Campaign of 1924 Scrapbook, FDRPL).

Al Smith repeated his request four years later and Roosevelt again gave the nominating speech during the 1928 Democratic National Convention. Four more years of exercise had improved his walking ability. Now Roosevelt was "determined to show himself ... as a man merely lame, not crippled" (Davis, 1974, p. 80). Smith had other plans for Roosevelt. Seeking to avoid the deadlock of 1924, Smith asked Roosevelt to run for New York Governor in order to secure the 45 New York delegates. What Smith had in mind was Roosevelt as a titular governor and an able lieutenant governor as the acting governor. This Roosevelt rejected altogether. Once he decided to run for governor of New York in 1928, he engaged in an active and vibrant campaign whose objective it was to deflect suspicions of being physically unfit. Roosevelt mounted a campaign that dispelled rumors of physical disability (Kiewe, 1999).

The strategies Roosevelt used in 1928 during his first run for political office as a disabled person was premised on displaying his body as a rhetorical site. As such, Roosevelt's body became proof for the implied argument that he was healthy and fit for political office. Roosevelt constructed this argument with the following tactics: he traveled throughout the state and in each campaign stop he made allusions to his walking and traveling. The sheer sight of the candidate, smiling, standing in his car (which was only possible by holding a metal bar), and speaking in an affable and jovial way, was enough to convince many that regardless of all the talk about his health, there was nothing wrong with Franklin Roosevelt. He used sarcasm to refute comments about his physical condition, scoffing at his opponents for suggesting that he was too sick to be governor. With humor and irony he listed the many campaign stops he already passed only to ask his auditors whether this was the itinerary of a sick man.

Roosevelt also addressed his recovery and improved physical condition since he contracted polio. Thus, he was able to argue that he was on the mend and preempted those who sought to attack him for hiding his disability. To a lesser degree, he attacked religious bigotry displayed during the previous and current presidential campaign (1924 and 1928 respectively) against the Democratic presidential candidate Al Smith who was Catholic. In so doing, Roosevelt challenged bigotry and prejudices in general including those voiced against the disabled (Kiewe, 1999). The 1928 gubernatorial campaign was successful but the success was limited to one state. For the presidential campaign, Roosevelt would have to...