Many Presidents have suffered illnesses prior to and during their terms of office. Four died in office of illness: William Henry Harrison caught pneumonia after delivering his inaugural address; Zachary Taylor and Warren Harding both died of heart disease while their performance in office was being harshly criticized; and Franklin Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage. In fact, 25 of the 35 deceased Presidents did not live as long as other people of their generation. White House “burnout” really does take the ultimate toll. The more active and successful the President, however, the less the “mortality gap”—the difference between the life expectancy of someone the President's age and the actual age at which the President dies.
In the 19th century medical problems were often poorly diagnosed and treated. Even after modern medicine permitted accurate diagnoses by the President's doctors, the custom until the 1950s was to keep such information confidential. But since Dwight Eisenhower's heart attack in 1955, the public has come to expect full disclosure, though often the condition of the President is still minimized by White House aides.
George Washington suffered more serious illnesses than any other President, including tuberculosis, smallpox, and pneumonia. In his first year in office, a cancerous tumor was removed from his thigh.
Andrew Jackson was in the worst medical condition of any President. One dueling wound had shattered his left shoulder, while another, a bullet that lodged in his left lung, caused bleeding throughout his life. He had chronic infections in his bronchial tubes. He also was partially blind, and his poor digestion and diarrhea from chronic dysentery left him emaciated. He took calomel, a medicine that gave him mercury poisoning and headaches, possibly contributing to his colossal temper.
Two Whig Presidents died in office from their illnesses. William Henry Harrison caught a chest cold at his inauguration, then became chilled at a cabinet meeting. He contracted pneumonia and jaundice. Purging and vomiting left him debilitated. He died of pneumonia, pleurisy, and septicemia. Zachary Taylor spent too much time in the sun at Fourth of July ceremonies in 1850. He became dehydrated and suffered cramps, fever, and vomiting before he died. Doctors today speculate that he might have had a perforation of the diverticulum of the colon or a ruptured appendix.
Franklin Pierce was an alcoholic and suffered from cirrhosis of the liver. Abraham Lincoln suffered periods of depression that made it impossible for him to function. He had hyperphoria in his left eye, a condition in which the eye rolled slightly upward, inducing headaches, indigestion, and nausea. He also suffered from diplopia, or double vision. He contracted smallpox just before giving the Gettysburg Address and was diagnosed with exhaustion in March 1865. Some doctors today believe that he had Marfan's syndrome, which might have induced fatal congestive heart failure. Grover Cleveland was diagnosed with cancer of the mouth and upper jaw in 1893. He kept it secret, telling his doctors, “If a rumor gets around that I'm dying, then the country is dead too.” He did not even tell his pregnant wife. He had surgery on the Oneida, a yacht floating in New York City's East River, on July 1, 1893, and a few days later was fitted with an artificial jaw. Cleveland's operation was finally revealed in 1917 in the Saturday Evening Post.
Woodrow Wilson suffered from the flu in April 1918, and bouts of coughing and shortness of breath remained with him. On September 26, 1919, he collapsed from exhaustion while on a nationwide speaking tour to promote the Treaty of Versailles. On October 2 he suffered a stroke in Washington, and he was incapacitated for much of his second term.
Warren Harding died in 1923 of a massive heart attack, though at the time doctors diagnosed his illness as pneumonia, gastritis, food poisoning, and copper poisoning. His successor, Calvin Coolidge, often suffered from debilitating bouts of depression.
Franklin D. Roosevelt was struck with polio in 1921 and never regained the use of his legs. He was never photographed in a wheelchair, and newspapers and radio commentators never mentioned that he could not walk and required 30-pound steel braces on his legs. Camera angles always focused on the upper part of his body. By 1944 Roosevelt was also suffering from hypertension, partial cardiac failure, and acute bronchitis. He died in 1945 of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
Dwight Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in 1955. The following year he had an operation for ileitis, an intestinal problem, and in 1957 he had a minor stroke.
Of the recent Presidents, the one with the worst health was John F. Kennedy. As a child he had numerous illnesses, including scarlet fever, bronchitis, whooping cough, diphtheria, allergies, and asthma. He had a duodenal ulcer, was color-blind in one eye, and later lost his hearing in one ear. He suffered from a bad back throughout his life and almost died from back surgery in 1954. Kennedy wore a back brace, was fitted for an elevated heel on one shoe, and often used crutches. He used a hydraulic lift to enter and exit Air Force One. He did not take painkillers but used cortisone to reduce inflammation. He would swim in the White House heated pool twice a day and take three hot baths daily to alleviate his pain. Kennedy also suffered from adrenal insufficiency (later diagnosed as Addison's disease, a progressive deterioration of the adrenal glands that made it difficult for him to fight infections) and had malaria and sciatica. What was thought to be a suntan epitomizing good health was actually the bronzed skin typical of people suffering from Addison's disease. To treat the disease, Kennedy took medication (cortisone, a steroid hormone) while in the White House. There is no evidence that his use of the medication affected his ability to make decisions. There is, however, an ethical issue involved because Kennedy and his doctors denied that he had Addison's disease or was being treated for it.
Lyndon Johnson had a heart attack that almost took his life in 1955 but suffered no serious illness while President. Richard Nixon took his path-breaking trip to China while suffering from phlebitis, a potentially life-threatening inflammation of a vein in his leg. Ronald Reagan underwent surgery after an assassination attempt in 1981, suffering from a collapsed lung and massive blood loss: Only the quick work of surgeons at the George Washington University Medical Center saved his life. In 1984 he had surgery to remove noncancerous polyps from his large intestine, and in 1985 surgeons removed a cancerous growth from his colon.
President George Bush suffered from atrial fibrillation, or rapid heartbeat, and a thyroid problem in 1991. A combination of intestinal flu and medication caused him to pass out during a state visit on a trip to Japan.
Some political scientists who have studied Presidential health issues have recommended that a panel of physicians be appointed to assist the cabinet secretaries and Vice President in making decisions about when to invoke the 25th Amendment in cases when the President appears to be disabled. Other recommendations include upgrading the capacity of the White House doctors to treat Presidents for mental health problems, including stress and depression.
See also Disability, Presidential; Physician to the President; 25th Amendment
Sources
- Robert E. Gilbert, The Mortal Presidency (New York: Basic Books, 1992).
- John B. Moses and Wilbur Cross, Presidential Courage (New York: Norton, 1980)
