Posted on 11/19/2004 5:50:02 PM PST by shrinkermd
In a letter of 1911 to his special lady friend, Mary Peck, Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) confessed that in his childhood he had “lived a dream life (almost too exclusively, perhaps).” Both his father and his mother had helped to enrich that life by regularly reading aloud to him from the works of Charles Dickens and Walter Scott, the collected essays of Charles Lamb, and James Fenimore Cooper’s Leatherstocking Tales. The boy adored those books, yet he was unable to identify all the letters of the alphabet until he was nine years old, and he was 12 before he learned to read. Aside from buying him a pair of eyeglasses, which proved to be unnecessary, the senior Wilsons could think of no way to help their son—and no wonder. During the years of mounting concern about their son’s laggard literacy, they lived in a quiet southern town far removed from the nation’s centers of medical activity. They did not know that pioneer observers had recently discerned a surprising pattern: In certain cases of stroke, the victim was unable to read but retained the ability to talk.
The strokes of Wilson’s later years compel us to ask whether his helplessness as a young reader stemmed from unrecorded occurrences of the same trauma. In any case, his struggle with the disability was agonizing, and when it ended happily, he immediately discovered that he had other problems.
(Excerpt) Read more at wwics.si.edu ...
Most assuredly, his long term, serious hypertension characterized by some as malignant hypertension and the strokes that followed this illness were important in our country's history and what followed.
There are no real rules as to reviewing a presidential candidate's health and health history. President Bush made his medical records public, but neither President Clinton nor candidate Kerry did.
If there is anything crying out for a constitutional amendment it is requiring a comprehensive medical examination and health history on all candidates for the presidency. One would think after Wilson, FDR and JFK this would have occurred. Presumably, Congress will debate flag burning amendments on a regular basis but refuse to require the person holding the hopes and fears of our country and the world to a minimal health standard.
I oppose this. Medical records and IRS tax returns should remain private, barring subpoena based on probable cause. "None of your business, forgettabout it." Being a citizen doesn't mean you get to stick your nose anywhere you want to...
Wasnt JFK coked to the gills on meth during the missle crisis?
Actually, it's not necessary for a citizen to have a security clearance to run for President, either.
Would you oppose that, as well?
This is a long, but wonderfully written and comprehensive summary of Woodrow Wilson's medical history.
Most assuredly, his long term, serious hypertension characterized by some as malignant hypertension and the strokes that followed this illness were important in our country's history and what followed.
There are no real rules as to reviewing a presidential candidate's health and health history. President Bush made his medical records public, but neither President Clinton nor candidate Kerry did.
"If there is anything crying out for a constitutional amendment it is requiring a comprehensive medical examination and health history on all candidates for the presidency. One would think after Wilson, FDR and JFK this would have occurred. Presumably, Congress will debate flag burning amendments on a regular basis but refuse to require the person holding the hopes and fears of our country and the world to a minimal health standard."
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I read it through, the trouble as I see it is there is no readily accepted test for outright egomania.
I think that ought to be mandatory, spouses included.
GOOD thinking!
It would have saved us from 8 years of Klintoon, anyway.
I wonder whether there are examples of juvenile hypertension (extreme enough to cause inability to read) in which the patient managed to survive into his late 60s without any treatment?
Senators and congressmen have to get the clearances in order to have access to sensitive information. If they can't get the security clearance, then their jobs are severely restricted, at least where national security matters are concerned.
In other words, a clearance is required for everyone but the president.
As long as you wish elected officials to be vetted by the private detectives who do the clearance process.
Drug use is definitely frowned upon when one has a security clearance.
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