MASTER OF HIS FATE

Biographer Tobin examines how polio shaped Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s path to the United States presidency.

In 1921, at the age of 39, the always active Roosevelt suffered mysterious pains, weakness, and paralysis in his legs. After some investigation, he was diagnosed with poliomyelitis, which threatened his political career as well as his body. Polio, thoroughly and accessibly explained, grounds this biography. Chronicling Roosevelt’s recovery as well as his campaigns—for governor of New York in 1928 and 1930 and finally for president in 1932—the author details the intricate physical and political maneuvering Roosevelt’s disability required. Sympathetically and sensitively, he reveals that Roosevelt’s obsession with walking unaided and appearing nondisabled stemmed less from vanity than desperation. Accounts of pitying and skeptical bystanders and rumor-spreading political rivals illustrate the fact that prejudice, as much as paralysis, jeopardized his career. Though the author emphasizes Roosevelt’s determination and optimism, he doesn’t ignore their drawbacks; occasionally, Roosevelt’s stubbornness undid his progress, and his intense focus on politics and walking left his children lonely and stifled his wife’s own ambitions. Nor does Tobin glorify “overcoming” disability; only by working with his limitations could Roosevelt finally move forward. An epilogue details the debate surrounding a statue of Roosevelt in his wheelchair and summarizes Roosevelt’s presidency until his death in 1945.

A nuanced, engaging, and thought-provoking blend of biography and disability history.