[x]

You are right. Article here. But I think the average voter, seeing FDR standing (supported by metal braces and often by his son), didn't know how bad his paralysis was.

[hanamizu]

Yes, he and his sons had a bit of a trick where he would use them as crutches to ‘walk’ very short distances. You see lots of pictures of him with his arm hooked around another man’s arm. But of course a person would have to be very dim not to catch on with what you never saw in the newsreels—FDR walking everywhere.