FDR's Splendid Deception: FDR Memorial Edition

by Hugh Gregory Gallagher

Book Overview

This moving story of Franklin Delano Roosevelt s massive disability and the intense efforts to conceal it from the public has been widely acknowledged as revising the understanding of Roosevelt s... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0918339502
• ISBN13: 9780918339508
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Vandamere Press
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 1.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

A Rare But Important Take on FDR

(originally posted May 6, 2000) Countless biographies have been written about the nation's 32nd President, but few devote more than a chapter or passing reference to FDR's battle with Polio. Mr. Gallagher's book is a rare and important one in illustrating what his day-to-day struggle was like. He details FDR's carefully-orchestrated public appearances which, for the country, maintained the illusion that their President could actually walk. While I found the book to be inspirational, perhaps the most fascinating realization was the respect of the media in maintaining this illusion. For instance, we learn that of the thousands of photos taken of Roosevelt, only a couple exist that show him in his wheelchair. In an age where every aspect of a President's health and private life are scrutinized, this book allows us to ask the uneasy question of whether one of our greatest Presidents could ever have been elected today. You don't have to be a history buff to appreciate the value of this book; I highly recommend it.

Unprecedented Look at Roosevelt

Gallagher explains eloquently the impact that poliomyelitis had on Franklin Roosevelt and the various aspects of his life. The crowning achievement is the wealth of photographs (18 in all) that depict the struggles and tribulations being crippled cost Roosevelt. The photographs might stand alone as a photo essay to explain the various ways Roosevelt moved around and tried as best he could, with the effort of his team, to hide his affliction from the general public. The two known photographs of Roosevelt in his wheelchair appear in this book, which male this book a gem in any Roosevelt researcher's collection. Aside from the photographs, Gallagher cleverly explains in the text the circumstances of poliomyelitis, the various treatments Roosevelt underwent initially and ultimately the course of therapy at Warm Springs, Georgia. The necessity to hide FDR's debilitating degeneration from the average voting public was so prominent and preeminent in Roosevelt's mind that he went to great lengths to do so, including walking on his own with heavy steel braces or leaning on his two strong sons. This work is a masterful examination of Roosevelt and his administration's, both as Governor of New York and President of the US, efforts to erase forever polio from the public perception of Franklin Roosevelt.

You can read a lot of books on or about FDR,

but this book is the best of a small but special niche. Hugh Gallagher did a fine job & it is obvious from this book & television interviews he has given, that this is a subject he cares deeply about. There was a conspiracy of silence among reporters & those close to FDR not to acknowledge his paralysis. This silence extended beyond his life to many books & even for a while, the memorial to him. He referred to his affliction maybe once in public late in his life. The time he spent before & during his presidency rehabing in Warm Springs impacted on him in important ways. A strong bond developed between him, the people of Warm Springs & his fellow patients. That perhaps is the silver lining to his polio: the contact he had with ordinary folks he would never have meet, never would have had anything in common with except his disease. I think Mr. Gallagher might agree that being stricken with polio was the defining event of FDR's life. Before he was a political lightweight. He was a handsome, charming politician who thought he might like to be president someday. After, he became wiser, more sober yet still charming, less arrogant, more compassionate & a traitor to his upper class breeding. He became stronger, much stronger as a man. The strength he gained from this ordeal contributed greatly to his becoming president & eventually leader of the free world. An important work to read to get the whole Roosevelt.

A Rare But Important Take on FDR

Countless biographies have been written about the nation's 32nd President, but few devote more than a chapter or passing reference to FDR's battle with Polio. Mr. Gallagher's book is a rare and important one in illustrating what his day-to-day struggle was like. He details FDR's carefully-orchestrated public appearances which, for the country, maintained the illusion that their President could actually walk. While I found the book to be inspirational, perhaps the most fascinating realization was the respect of the media in maintaining this illusion. For instance, we learn that of the thousands of photos taken of Roosevelt, only a couple exist that show him in his wheelchair. In an age where every aspect of a President's health and private life are scrutinized, this book allows us to ask the uneasy question of whether one of our greatest Presidents could ever have been elected today. You don't have to be a history buff to appreciate the value of this book; I highly recommend it.

Don't miss this FDR Memorial Edition: terrific!

I am pleased to see this book back in print. Mr. Gallagher's book is excellent, and a great read for history buffs and those who lived through the Polio epidemics, or want to see what it was like. I had Polio in 1953, and didn't realize FDR had Polio until much later. I never knew until I read this book that FDR wore braces on both legs (my brace was right leg only), and that FDR never walked unassisted (as I was able to do). We both had great upper arm strength, better for a guy than a girl! FDR deceived not only me, but everyone. And, it is good to know the whole story as presented by Mr. Gallagher in his great book. I am pleased to add it to my library.