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Politics as Usual by Diana Childress
When polio paralyzed Franklin Roosevelt in August 1921, he put on a brave front. Having leamed from childhood to bear pain without fuss," he joked about a thirty-nine-year-old man getting a baby's disease and radiated optimism about his recovery. "The doctors say," he wrote a friend in December, that by this Spring I wil be walking without any limp.
But as Franklin's wife. Eleanor, said later, "I know that he had real fear when he was first taken ill Polio was a trial by fire. A big question in everyone's mind was how this crippling blow would affect Franklin's future in politics.
For Sara Roosevelt, the answer was perfectly clear. Her son, she felt, had already served his country well. With her money support him, he could retire to the family horme in Hyde Park and enjoy his business interests and hobbies.
Sara's views were typical of the times: In the early 1900s, people with physical disabilities were treated like invalids, either hospitalized or kept at home. Many thought it "bad manners" for a disabled person to appear in public. The idea of a "cripple" pursuing a political career was unthinkable.
Eleanor also doubted that her husband could ever return to public office. But she knew how important Franklin's political ambitions were to him. The doctors told her that keeping hope alive would improve his chances of recovery. Taking an active part in life, even if it tired him, was "better for his condition," they said. So she encouraged and helped him to stay involved in politics.
Louis Howe, Franklin's longtime political adviser, added his support. Within days after falling ill, Franklin was dictating letters that he could not even sign because the paralysis had temporarily spread to his arms and thumbs. He agreed to become a member of the executive committee of the Democratic party in New York State even though at that time, as one biographer notes, he was lying in bed and "working for hours to try to wiggle a big toe".
With Howe's help, Franklin kept the general public from finding out how seriousty ill he was. Mearwhile, he worked feverishly to try to regain the use of his legs. Determined to and struggling to leam to walk make a full recovery, he spent much of his time exerc When Democratic leaders urged him to run for US senator or governor of New York in 1922, he had to admit he was not ready. Yet he kept busy on the sidelines, writing letters and articies while Howe and Eleanor appeared for him in public.
In 1924, Franklin could not avoid the Democratic National Convention and still be taken seriously as a politician. The agile man who had vaulted over a row of chairs to reach the speaker's platform in 1920 now inched painfully forward on crutches. "But nothing was the matter with his voice or his enthusiasm," wrote a reporter. His half-hour speech nominating Al Smith for president was cheered for an hour and thirteen minutes.
Four years later, Franklin still hoped that another year or two of rehabilitation would free him from his wheelchair and crutches, He tried to avoid the calls from the New York State Democratic Convention urging him to accept the nomination for govemor. But when the Democratic presidential candidate, Al Smith, finally got him on the line, he realized he could no longer plead illness without letting his party down.
Franklin Roosevelt's retum to active politics in spite of his inability to walk was a major triumph for himself and for disabled people everywhere He never achieved full recovery, but his years of hard work brought a maturity and a depth of understanding that enhanced his greatness as a leader