WELCOME TO THE WHITE HOUSE
EIGHT UNITED STATES PRESIDENTS DIED IN OFFICE. MORE THAN A THIRD of the chief executives became seriously ill during their terms. Yet at times, Americans were deliberately kept in the dark about the health crisis in the White House. Lies were told. Cover-ups were orchestrated.
Some of these cases were medical fiascoes. A slow, painful death caused by
outdated physician practices. A misdiagnosed condition that was incorrectly treated. An incapacitating stroke hidden from the cabinet and the public. A dying president campaigning for another term while the country was at war. The dangerous use of painkillers and pep pills by the world’s most powerful leader.
Disasters were narrowly averted. A secret surgery aboard a yacht. A concealed illness that almost set off a leadership crisis. Certain death prevented by a Secret Service agent’s quick thinking. A president’s attempt to run for reelection when many doubted that he could finish a second term.
In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the press rarely discussed the health of the president. Communication then was so slow that an ailing president likely recovered before the nation knew he’d been ill.
In those days, it wasn’t unusual for people—including presidents—to get sick. Pneumonia and tuberculosis killed millions. Deadly intestinal diseases like cholera, typhoid fever, and dysentery spread when human waste contaminated drinking water. Malaria and yellow fever afflicted those bitten by mosquitoes that bred in swamps and standing water. The dangerous childhood diseases diphtheria, measles, mumps, whooping cough, scarlet fever, and polio snuffed out the lives of the young before they made it to adulthood.
The medical community had little to offer a sick person. Doctor training was brief and superficial. Surgery was risky and often impossible to do without killing the patient. Remedies were typically ineffective. Treatments, such as bleeding, were harmful and weakened the victim. People either died quickly or recovered in spite of the doctor’s actions.
A patient’s chances didn’t improve until the end of the nineteenth century. By then, doctors and scientists understood that germs caused diseases. That breakthrough led to vaccines, including those that protected children from fatal illnesses. Physicians began following antiseptic procedures such as handwashing and using disinfecting chemicals.
Public health measures improved sewage disposal, provided clean drinking water, and drained swamps. Nutrition got better. New antibiotic medicines treated many infections. In 1900, the leading causes of American deaths were influenza, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and intestinal illnesses. But by 1950, the top killers were heart disease and cancer. This change was reflected in the ailments of the twentieth-century presidents.
As the federal government steadily grew in size and importance after the Civil War, so did the influence of the chief executive. A president’s health became a matter of great concern. News traveled faster through newspapers, telegraph, then radio, television, and eventually the internet. The public demanded to know details about the medical condition of its president. When this interest increased, lies about presidential illnesses did, too. The cover-ups had dramatic consequences for the nation. A few of the deceptions remained hidden for decades.
Here are the shocking true stories of these White House medical secrets.
Copyright © 2025 by Gail Jarrow. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
