Newly discovered footage offers rare glimpse of FDR walking at the White House
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Extremely rare footage has surfaced that shows President Franklin Delano Roosevelt walking at a White House event in 1935.
The footage, which was recently deposited at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, shows the immense effort it took the President to walk just a few halting steps.
Roosevelt, who contracted polio in 1921 at the age of 39, subsequently required leg braces and assistance to walk. His disability, however, was kept from the American public as the White House imposed strict rules on how he could be photographed or filmed. “No images of FDR in his wheelchair or being helped in and out of cars were permitted; no visual record was to be made of the arduous effort it took him to move just a few steps on his rigid braced legs,” explained Geoffrey C. Ward, Roosevelt historian and Library Trustee, in a statement.
The 1935 footage was captured during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on April 22 of that year. The silent black-and-white film was shot by Frederick Hill, a Nevada rancher, who was attending the event with his wife and two children.
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We've forgotten how terrible polio was. My sister spent time in an iron lung when she was little, but grew up without any problems.
Fears of contracting polio were very real until the discoveries, testing, and finally - usages - of the Salk (1955, inactive, injected ) and Sabin (1961, active, oral) vaccines. I don't remember having the Salk although my mom told me I did, but I do remember the Sabin. My town's health department offered the Sabin doses on sugar cubes.
I'm so glad that she survived so well! I went to school with someone who (luckily) had a mild case of polio. He had a slight limp and wore a brace on one leg.
Salk arrived just too late for her... but I remember the shots. My parents wanted it as early as possible, of course.
I seem to remember the sugar cube a few years later. Did kids get both?
My mom said that I got the shot but I don't remember it. I do remember all of us getting the sugar cubes - I think it was a series of 3 "doses".
I grew up in Hyde Park, N.Y., his hometown-his handicaps are no longer hidden, as the country is far more accepting of people with challenges. As kids, we used to go to his Home and Library every couple years on Field Trips and his wicker wheel chair and his car with all hand controls are on full display. There was a day when the President didn't have to spend 24 x 7 in the spotlight. and the press were willing to ignore things that didn't apply to the president doing his job That ended with two things, Watergate and the 24 x 7 Newscycle. Common knowledge that Kennedy and his buddies bused prostitutes to Camp David, amongst his many other conquests. Johnson used to sneak out of the White House at night and go drinking a tthe Lone Star Bar and Grill.
We took a family trip to his home in Hyde Park when I was young. Very enjoyable and informative!
Yes. IMO, people spend too much time and energy bickering over which president played more golf games and don't understand that a lot of business is discussed during that time, too.