It’s a very obscure question but I did some research and it turns out that the president who led us out of the Depression and kicked Hitler’s ass was actually in a wheelchair? Who knew?
Kevin, I am not a historian, so IDK, but has there ever been a President in American History who used a mobility aid? And, if so, would you say this president who was so weak as to need, say, braces or a wheelchair, is considered to be one of the top President’s ever?
FDR did a lot to conceal his disability. Ableism was really fierce at the time, and he wanted to project vigor. It was heroic, and clever. Aides would carry a standing FDR to a podium, holding him up by his powerful arms. And then he’d use those arms to stay up while he spoke.
He concealed it, though not completely.
But that’s beside the point. He was in a wheelchair and, despite the ableist framing of the Economist, he was the greatest U.S. president ever.
Absolutely. My parents practically worshipped him, made a point of teaching me about his disability. They had a good friend who was a Judge, said FDR made it possible for him to preside in a wheelchair.
I haven’t read the Economist article referred to, though I’m a subscriber.
Just opened my app, and saw the new cover. jfc. I got in a bad crash a year and a half ago, couldn’t work for a month because the painkillers made me loopy. Getting off the drugs, out of bed, and on to a walker for 8 weeks was a struggle, but it was liberating, despite the fucked up stigma.
I should explain that I subscribe to that Tory rag because I’m an Irish Republican. I listen to BBC News too. Know your enemy, know them better than they know themselves.
