10 U.S. Presidents Who Were Extremely Ill and Tried To Hide It

10 U.S. Presidents Who Hid Their Sickness: 

• Woodrow Wilson – You probably didn’t know this, but Woodrow’s life, Edith, saved him from losing his term. In 1919, Wilson showed signs of incredibly damaged health. His doctor noticed that the President’s mouth started to droop, which is oftentimes taken as a sign of a minor stroke. But from there, it started to get so much worse. A couple of days later, Wilson woke up partially paralyzed, and at that point, his wife stepped in and secretly acted as the president. Nowadays, the Vice President would take over while The President’s ill, but back then, the rules of transfer of presidential power weren’t legally defined. No one knew about this situation until Wilson’s term came to an end.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower – Eisenhower had a history of bad health that started long before his presidency in 1952. In 1923, he had an appendectomy that resulted in painful abdominal adhesions. Three years into being the President of the United States, he had a heart attack. Everyone was working 24/days to make sure that the public knows he’s gonna recover, even if his cardiologist suggested that he shouldn’t stay on a second term. He was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and needed surgery. The next year he suffered another stroke, and he suffered from heart issues until his death in 1969.
• George H.W. Bush – Even if George H.W. Bush has remained in the collective mind as a passionate runner, he also had his fair share of health troubles. His wife, Barbra Bush, spoke publicly many times about the fact that she was battling Graves’ disease. Grave’s disease is an autoimmune disorder that directly affects the thyroid, but it’s not usually fatal and too severe if it’s treated in the proper time. However, it was later revealed that George H.W. Bush suffered from the same disease, alongside his wife. Despite all that, the disease didn’t have anything to do with the death of both of them.
• Chester A. Arthur – Arthur was the twenty-first president of America and had hidden from the eyes of the world his health issues for a long time. He had Bright’s disease. While today the condition doesn’t exist anymore, as it has been divided into various kidney diseases, the former president hid his illness throughout his presidency.
• Ronald Reagan – Five years after completing the second term, Reagan found out that he had Alzheimer’s disease. Even if he hasn’t been diagnosed until he finished his term, his son, Ron Reagan, stated that some of his father’s symptoms started while he was still President. Even more, according to some later analysis, Reagan’s vocabulary showed serious signs of dementia.
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt – Today, it’s no secret that Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a victim of polio and had to rely on a wheelchair. Even so, it seems that everyone who was in his proximity tried to hide his poor health while he was still a president. Not only that the symptoms of polio extremely severe, but there weren’t many medications too. Roosevelt discovered that he suffered from polio while he was thirty-nine, even if, oddly enough, most polio patients were under five years old. He was highly advised to walk during public appearances, so he can avoid any doubts about his health.