Maybe not his paralysis, but the decline in his health in later years (covered up by the fifth-column media) surely affected his mental state in dealing with world leaders during the war.
I just read Stalin’s Secret Agents by M. Stanton Evans. Yes, FDR’s mental capacity was severely limited in the last couple of years & it meant that people like Alger Hiss & other of his aides were able to do what they wanted - give Stalin more power. It likely led to the decision to essentially give Eastern Europe to the Soviets.
The presidency is taxing on even the healthiest of individuals. Look how W aged, & even a very young Barack Obama, while in office. Any indication of mental or physical incapacity should be an automatic flag against a candidate.
It's the "until the last couple of years" part that is the problem. The American people have a right to know if their president is going to be up to the job. It is clear that he was not. The press is not supposed to be guardians of the political class, contrary to what they've actually been doing for the past hundred years.
When people tell me how difficult it is to keep secrets amongst large numbers of people, I simply point to the fact that noone but but the political class and their media sycophants had any idea our president was in a wheelchair.
Alternative evidence from today's medical science believes it was not polio but a form of Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
It was just a matter of decency in a bygone era.
Disagree but you're welcome to your opinion. The historical record of how the press treats those whom they favor is pretty extensive. FDR was merely an early chapter and H-> is the latest, IMO.
...he was in good health (until the last couple of years)...
As other FReepers have posted ahead of me, this is the crux of the matter behind the press covering for FDR. The truth is he had no business running for re-election in 1944 and the American people were darn lucky with the choice of Harry Truman as VP for that election.