Friday, September 23, 2016

Presidents Who Couldn't Get Elected These Days

The press seems to obsess over presidential candidates' health these days (perhaps they wouldn't, or at least not quite so much, if some of those candidates weren't secretive and dishonest about it). From Wikipedia:

On September 24, 1955, while vacationing in Colorado, [Dwight D. Eisenhower] had a serious heart attack that required six weeks' hospitalization .... As a consequence of his heart attack, Eisenhower developed a left ventricular aneurysm, which was in turn the cause of a mild stroke on November 25, 1957. This incident occurred during a cabinet meeting when Eisenhower suddenly found himself unable to speak or move his right hand. The stroke had caused an aphasia. The president also suffered from Crohn's disease, chronic inflammatory condition of the intestine, which necessitated surgery for a bowel obstruction on June 9, 1956.

Fortunately for his political aspirations, this stuff occurred after he was elected. But even after the heart attack and intestinal surgery (but before the stroke), he was re-elected in a landslide.

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