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Roosevelt and Warm Springs

JEANNE SCHAUBLE

HE contracted polio in August 1921 and never walked un¬
aided again, but for many years Franklin D. Roosevelt
refused to give up the belief that he would make a
complete recovery. His determination to discard his braces and
crutches led him to try several doctors and to investigate many
treatments, some of which sound quite strange today. It was not
until after he was elected Governor of New York that he finally
admitted that he was not going to recover. In 1924 his search for
a cure led him to Warm Springs, Georgia, where exercising in a
pool fed bv warm mineral springs had a beneficial effect on his
legs. His success with his self-designed treatment aroused the in¬
terest of other polio victims and resulted in the development of
Warm Springs from a rather shabby Southern resort into an inter¬
nationally known center for the treatment of polio. Several inter¬
esting letters in the Jacob Podell Collection of Rooseveltiana at
Columbia reflect Roosevelt's long struggle for recovery, his op¬
timism regarding the eventual outcome, and his interest in all
aspects of the development of Warm Springs.

Roosevelt was at Campobello when he fell ill on August 10,
1921. At first he thought it was only lumbago, but the next day
his temperature was very high and his leg muscles were afi^ected.
Despite these symptoms the doctor Mrs. Roosevelt summoned
diagnosed his illness as just a cold. Another doctor called as a con-