Issue of the day: A brief history of Presidential health

WITH the Hollywood movie-style clip of Donald Trump arriving back at the White House by helicopter and standing mask-free on the balcony, it’s clear he wants to send the message that all is well, but it is far from the first time a president has taken this approach with his health.

What was the clip?

If you haven’t seen it yet, it’s had around 20 million views on Twitter alone and is rather like an action movie, with dramatic music playing as the helicopter lands on the White House lawn and President Trump stands mask-free on the balcony and salutes as the helicopter departs.

He was barely in hospital? Having been diagnosed on the evening of October 1, the 74-yearold went to hospital the next day. On October 4, he took a controversial drive outside the hospital to wave to supporters and was then released on Monday, saying: “Feeling really good! Don’t be afraid of Covid. Don’t let it dominate your life…i feel better than I did 20 years ago!”

It’s a well trodden path? Evidently driven by a desire not to appear weak, many presidents have taken pains to conceal their sometimes serious illnesses.

Among them?

John F Kennedy projected an image of vigour and vitality but in reality he lived in near-constant pain. As well as suffering from a bad back that required numerous surgeries, he also suffered from Addison’s disease, which can cause abdominal pain.

Side-effects?

A side-effect of his steroid treatment was hyperpigmentation, which may have been responsible for his tan, something viewers of the first televised presidential debate between Kennedy and Richard Nixon, 60 years ago, regarded as a positive.

FDR?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the president who led America through the Great Depression and the Second World War, is now known to have suffered from the effects of polio, requiring a wheelchair. During his time in the White House, though, many Americans were unaware of his paralysis at all – a situation that seems unfathomable today.

He used trickery?

During public appearances, FDR used leg braces, a cane and sometimes leaned on the arm of his wife for support. His secret service agents were also tasked with stopping any photographers from taking photos that might portray him as “weak”. He died of a cerebral haemorrhage during his fourth term in office.

Woodrow?

Woodrow Wilson was elected in 1913, before going on to catch the Spanish Flu in 1919 and then suffer a serious stroke a few months later that left him partially paralysed. His wife, Edith, has often been referred to as the “secret president”, protecting her husband’s reputation and helping to lead a country that was clueless about his debilitating state.

Eisenhower?

When Dwight D Eisenhower suffered a heart attack in 1955, the public was told it had been a “digestive upset”.