The biggest and most unbelievable secret was that Roosevelt could not walk. He had contracted polio and was in a wheel chair for the last 20 years of his life. However, Roosevelt was a marvelous speaker, and TV did not exist back them. His radio speeches were incomparable and are still heard today.
Every published photo of Roosevelt was carefully crafted so as not to reveal that he could not stand up.
 Photo from the Yalta Conference on February 11, 1945 of Winston S. Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Stalin. At the time of this picture, the world did not know that Roosevelt was sleeping with his mistress and had been in a wheel chair for 20 years. |
However, Roosevelt had another secret which did not come out until even later. Roosevelt had not slept with his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, in more than two decades. Instead, Roosevelt had a mistress.
Try to imagine if Ken Starr and a Ken Starr-type inquiry had occurred while Roosevelt was President. Roosevelt guided America through the Great Depression which lasted from 1930 until 1938 and then led America in World War II, the great war against Germany and Japan. Had Ken Starr been around at that time, America might easily have lost the war. Nazi Germany might have been able to keep Europe and the Japanese would still be keeping their comfort women in the Philippines. Communism would not have been allowed to dominate Eastern Europe for the next 45 years.
Try to imagine what the world would be like today, if Ken Starr had been around when Roosevelt was President.
Sam Sloan
From: "JENNIFER M SELK" ( JENSELGUND@prodigy.net )
To: Sloan@ishipress.com
Subject: A BRILLIANT article! Did you take the words and ideas out of my mouth? Date: Sat, 2 Jan 1999 10:13:16 -0800
I read your article right when I was searching the net to find speeches given by FDR. Ironic. I am looking for a way to hear one of the man's brilliant, courageous, powerful speeches so that I can be encouraged in my life. FDR WAS an excellent president, no doubt. And we do know for a fact that he had polio, which was a major challenge for anybody of his era. AND he cheated on his wife. What does that make him? Is, HE, like Clinton, an "ineffective leader" a "liar" a "pervert" because of this? I SURE DON'T THINK SO. What does that make him? It makes him human. And anybody who'd think any less of him as a human being OR as a president, because of his "sexuality", is an idiot.
AND CAN YOU BELIEVE that the VERY THOUGHT you had was going through my mind about HOW IF FDR had been as UNFORTUNATE as Clinton, to be investigated by someone like Kenneth Starr, if the American people had HAD as much time on their hands as they do now, and the opportunity to judge and harass him, as they have with Clinton, WHAT DO YOU THINK WOULD HAVE HAPPENED TO THIS COUNTRY?
You cannot argue that FDR is responsible for passing the law of Unemployment Compensation for people who lose their jobs. CAN YOU IMAGINE all the EMPLOYERS who would FIRE people at a whim if there was no such thing today? NOBODY would be safe from starving and begging in the gutters. There would also be no social security for the elderly and disabled had it not been for a "man who screwed around and got caught"
Obviously most people are divided on whether Clinton has gotten a raw deal or not. But CAN'T ANYBODY SEE that not only is it "not cool" to place so much emphasis on a President's personal life. It could end in tragedy. Do you think that FDR would BOTHER to run for President TODAY, after hearing what's happened to Clinton? Much less would he STAY IN OFFICE long enough to be able to DO SOMETHING WORTHWHILE for this country? I think he'd be able to see that the people are MORE concerned about something in his personal life, that is NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS, then about their own futures, if they behaved the way they are doing now.
Brilliant article!
Jennifer M. Selk