Without Wilson’s driving force, America rejected joining the League of Nations, an action which many historians believe set the stage for World War 11.
Woodrow Wilson’s covered-up illness makes strong case for releasing records
BALTIMORE—With a septuagenarian and soon-to-be septuagenarian contending for the Democratic nomination and a 69-year man with admitted weight problems leading the GOP field, one can only wonder why the nation’s press corps hasn’t zeroed in on the health of presidential candidates.
Surely a candidate’s physical and mental fitness to survive the pressure cooker of the presidency in this era of global turmoil should be a pressing concern of American voters this fall.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialist from Vermont, will be 75 years old when voters go to the polls this November. He was born on Sept. 8, 1941—just 29 days before Japan’s infamous attack on Pearl Harbor.
Sanders had hernia repair surgery last November, but other than that appears to have a clean medical slate. The loquacious Vermonter may well be the second coming of Jack LaLanne, the Godfather of physical fitness, but a complete certified medical report might be more reassuring to voters.
His main opponent, Hillary Clinton, has a recent history of falling down on the job—literally. She has fainted four times since 1998—twice while serving as an U.S. senator from New York and two more times in her later stint as Secretary of State.
The last episode, which reportedly occurred at the Clinton mansion just off Embassy Row on December 9, 2012, was the most serious—causing a concussion and clotting on the brain. She was not hospitalized, but recovered at home, returning to work on January 7, 2013.
The personal; physicians of Clinton and Sanders released one-page letters in late January attesting to their good health, but Hillary’s made no mention of her fainting spells.
On the GOP side, Donald Trump appears reasonably healthy and enjoying himself on the stump, but he is 69 and waging an off-and-on battle of weight control.
Other top Republican candidates, while considerably younger than Sanders, Clinton and Trump may have lurking medical ailments not apparent to the naked eye.
Without a chance to peruse the complete and certified medical reports of GOP front-runners like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, voters will go to the polls this fall without a body of vital knowledge that would help them make a truly informed decision.
Consider the case of Woodrow Wilson, who led the nation through World War I only to suffer an incapacitating stroke at, perhaps, the most crucial moment of his presidency.
Wilson successfully persuaded the major European powers to back his vision for a League of Nations by including it in the Versailles Treaty. Returning home he was unable to convince conservative senators, who blocked ratification of the treaty.
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A fervent believer in a global body to mediate and solve disputes between nations, Wilson decided to bypass the Senate and—against the advice of his personal physician—take his case to the people with a cross-country train tour.
Wilson began the tour—8,000 miles in 22 days—on September 3, 1919. The grueling schedule cost the 60-year old president his health and ultimately his life.
During the tour, Wilson began to suffer pervasive headaches and in late September collapsed from exhaustion in Pueblo, Colorado. He was rushed back to the nation’s capital, but suffered a near-fatal stroke on October 2 that left his left side paralyzed and impaired his vision.
His wife Edith summoned his personal physician and the two decided to keep his condition from the American people.
For the last 17 months of his presidency all communications with the President went through his wife, who entered his sick room and came out with verbal instructions or written orders with an often illegible scrawl on the line awaiting his signature.
Without Wilson’s driving force, America rejected joining the League of Nations, an action which many historians believe set the stage for World War 11.
Wilson’s illness shows why it’s so crucial that American voters have complete and unfiltered access to candidates’ medical records before they go the polls this November 8th.
Whitt Flora, an independent journalist, covered the White House for The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch and was chief congressional correspondent for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. Readers may write him at 319 Shagbark Rd., Middle River, Md. 21220.
