The Long History of Official Lies about Presidential Health

Gene HealyLet ’s hope President Trump’s health is as sound as he says it is and he’s well on the road to recovery. He certainly seems…chipper, at any rate. Still, you ’d be a fool to take such professions on faith—not just because of the non‐​stop frenzy ofdissembling and double talk we ’ve seen since Friday, when the president revealed he was COVID-positive—but because of the long history of official lies about presidents’ health. When I  saw the headline“Medical Spin in Past Undermines Trust” in Sunday ’sNew York Times, I  thought they’d go into some of that history. But thearticle ’s mostly about past dissembling bythis president ’s doctors aboutthis president ’s health. Fair enough, but a longer view gives us still more reason to verify, instead of trust, official pronouncements about the state ofany president ’s health.The best ‐​known story is probably Woodrow Wilson’s massive stroke in October 1919, which left him bedridden and almost wholly incapacitated for the remainder of his term. His wife Edith essentially servedas acting president, “shield[ing] Woodrow from interlopers and embark[ing] on a bedside government that essentially excluded Wilson’s staff, the Cabinet and the Congress.” But, as historian Robert Dallek recounts in his2010 article“Presidential Fitness and Presidential Lies,” examples are legion. FDR managed to keep the public mostly in the dark about hispartial paralysis from polio, aided by c...

Source: Cato-at-liberty - October 7, 2020 Category: American Health Authors: Gene Healy Source Type: blogs