New memo: Doctor wrote in 1944 that FDR was not healthy enough to serve another term [View All]

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"A grim warning to an ailing president"
By Peter Schworm, Boston Globe

In the summer of 1944, with World War II raging on two fronts, President Franklin D. Roosevelt set aside mounting health concerns to seek a fourth term in office.

Publicly, Roosevelt’s doctors maintained his health was good. But privately, one eminent Boston doctor who examined the ailing leader told his primary doctor he would not survive another four years and recorded his diagnosis in a confidential memo to protect his reputation in the eyes of history.

In a remarkable document just released by the Lahey Clinic, Frank Lahey, the clinic’s founder, wrote on July 10, 1944, that he "did not believe that, if Mr. Roosevelt were elected President again, he had the physical capacity to complete a term."

Full story: http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-12/lifestyle/29410495_1_lahey-clinic-poor-health-doctors