This post was a massive endeavor, which I knew going in and why it's taken me two months to write. There was so much about Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life and career that I simply had to leave out. That includes photographs, too! Franklin is one of the most well-known visibly disabled men in recent history. He became the first - and only, to date - disabled man elected to the US Presidency. Not only that, he's the longest-serving President: elected to four terms and served the last twelve years of his life. Because of this, and his many Great Depression- and World War II-era policies, Franklin is a controversial President, to say the least. This post's focus is not about whether he was a "good" or "bad" President, but about his life prior to and then dealing with significant physical disability in adulthood. He chose to publicly display a persona of "overcoming" his disability, while the reality was that it was with him every moment, influencing his every thought and movement.
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| Franklin, 1932 - age 50 |