| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.2

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| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 91.2 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

FDR's Body Politics: The Rhetoric of Disability. By Davis W. Houck and Amos Kiewe. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003. xii, 141 pp. $32.95, ISBN 1-58544-233-X.)

This volume captures the transformation of Franklin D. Roosevelt from a convalescent polio patient to a realistic, vital candidate for the governorship of New York and ultimately the presidency. Rather than being "disabled," he reinvented himself as "enabled" and fully capable of assuming major executive responsibilities starting in August 1928. The paralysis, at heavy cost, paradoxically became a compelling reason for voters in New York to split their ballots and provide his narrow election as governor of New York in 1928. This was in spite of a Republican presidential landslide nationally and in New York for Herbert Hoover, whose opponent was Al Smith; Smith had been a four-term governor of New York. This book demonstrates that FDR, in a brief campaign (four weeks), traveled widely, displaying buoyancy, vigor, humor, and courage as he addressed the issues of the day. Some of this has been related previously, but this volume highlights the seeming contradiction between paralysis and running for office or at least walking. The patient not only did not deny illness and its effects but also paraded himself, and his generally excellent physical and mental health, thereby completely turning the perception around.

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