Though his paralytic illness is widely known today, FDR invested significant effort into minimizing its visibility during public appearances. To that end, pictures of his 1938 Ford V8 Convertible, submitted to us by CC reader Hatman, reflect the measures taken in ensuring that his image would remain uncompromised in the view of his constituents, who might not have appreciated the way he, and many other Americans, ensured their mobility. So take a moment to glance at the simple, ingenious modifications made to the car, hidden from the country’s view during his years in office.
The handle on the left controlled the clutch, then the brake pedal, while an attached lever retarded the hand throttle when the clutch was disengaged. The flathead V8 likely was kept in second gear for much of the time in casual driving.
The pictures of this convertible, taken from a visit to Roosevelt’s Warm Springs Little White House vacation cabin show that, even before automatic transmissions, power steering or power brakes, FDR fully expected to drive on his own. He really enjoyed solo drives the the nearby mountains, and visiting with the locals, sans Secret Service detail. No flash was allowed at the museum, which is decidedly modest, but The Little White House is a must see for anyone wanting to learn more about one of the country’s most well-known, yet secretive, presidents.
Very nice car ! .
Glad it was saved and restored .
-Nate
Thanks for this. If you’re ever in the Hudson Valley, drop in and see FDR’s house and Eleanor’s charming little cottage on the hill, where she went to escape him and his overbearing mother and do her own thing. The museum contains his 1936 Ford Phaeton, which was also outfitted with hand controls.
The issue of how intently he hid his disability from the public has come under some scrutiny recently. Last year, a student named Matthew Pressman published an article that challenged the long-held assumption that FDR’s inability to walk was a fiercely guarded secret. At that time, a few news outlets picked up the story, and I asked my father about it. My father was born in 1927, so until he was 18, FDR was basically the only President he had ever known. I said, “When you were a kid, did you know that FDR couldn’t walk?” And his answer was, “Oh sure, everybody knew.”
So at the very least, the issue was a bit more complicated. Pressman makes the point that the press would present his disability as something that had struck FDR out of the blue, but that he was overcoming it–a perfect metaphor for the country during that time.
Here is a short article by Pressman summarizing his research: http://ideas.time.com/2013/07/12/the-myth-of-fdrs-secret-disability/
Thanks again for this interesting piece on one of our most fascinating Presidents.
Yup. I don’t know where this “hidden” meme got started. Probably among modern disability activists who want to feel more progressive than former eras.
If you’ve read newspapers or listened to radio broadcasts from those years, it’s clear that FDR’s polio was neither hidden nor constantly discussed. It was just understood by everyone.
The March of Dimes wouldn’t have succeeded without heavy publicity from FDR himself about his experience with polio.
On the car: I have to wonder why he didn’t choose a ’38 Buick with the new semi-auto, or one of various cars with vacuum-controlled clutches. Wouldn’t have needed as much aftermarket adaptation. Presumably there was a political reason to pick Ford, the iconic “everyman’s car”.
The 1938 Buick Automatic Safety Transmission was a new, quirky and unproven technology, and he would still have needed hand controls for the brake and throttle. If I understand how the setup worked, the mechanism partially took care of modulating the throttle while he shifted, so it wouldn’t have been too hard to drive — although it seems like there would still be at least a moment where he would have no hands on the wheel. There have been lots of hand control setups over the years; I have to think that some of them involved manual shift cars (can anyone reading this respond?). Today, paddle shifters obviously make it easy for folks needing all hand controls to do their own shifting.
It will be interesting to read all of Pressman’s research. Based on what I’ve read (my undergraduate and graduate study was in US history) and on conversations during my youth with older friends and my family (my father was part of the Marine honor guard for the procession of FDR’s funeral train in 1945 – see Robert Klara’s FDR’s Funeral Train), while most folks were aware of FDR’s physical limitations, few were aware of the extent of them, and most assumed he could walk and stand for limited periods of time. The extent to which efforts were made to create this image, including the excruciating “walking” in leg braces, and leaning heavily on his son Jimmy, is well documented.
During the 1944 campaign FDR’s health had deteriorated to the point where he could no longer continue to effectively create this facade. In his March 1945 address to Congress on Yalta he said, “I hope that you will pardon me for this unusual posture of sitting down during the presentation of what I want to say, but I know that you will realize that it makes it a lot easier for me not to have to carry about ten pounds of steel around on the bottom of my legs; and also because of the fact that I have just completed a fourteen-thousand-mile trip.”
Most Presidents have dreamed of escape from the scrutiny of the press and security and FDR loved driving his own car, especially when Lucy Mercer was with him. My understanding is that it was pretty exciting experience for his passengers as he liked to speed, talk, and gesticulate during these rides. For years he exercised to maintain upper body strength and I’m sure that was helpful in handling his Fords. Thanks – this piece is an interesting continuation of the focus on Presidential cars/driving that began recently with Truman.
You’re very welcome. My thanks to Hatman for submitting the pics.
Yes, I understand the reservations accepting the idea that his Polio was 100% hidden; it’s certainly not lost on me. But there’s a big difference between explicit understanding/discussion of it and having a good hunch. I’d also imagine that it’d result in the president being seen as having a limitation rather than it being seen as just part of his person. That would probably be the case today as well.
I spent a good bit of time in the mid-1980s at the Warm Springs Rehabilitation Center while working on a college project with the Georgia Tech Center for Rehabilitation Technology:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/concept-car/curbside-concepts-the-universal-car/
Met some incredible and inspiring folks there, and made a point to go through the museum on one of my trips (and saw the FDR car, of course). FDR made frequent use of the facilities at Warm Springs.
Nice little gem of history!
Awesome piece of history! Those hand controls look like total monkey motion to operate. Thinking of how FDR wouldn’t let his disability slow him down or keep him from enjoying his ride makes it seem really pathetic when able bodied people now refuse to learn to drive manuals.
More to the point would be the comparison to people of today who feel they need a handicap placard for each and every problem no matter how small.
I was surprised at how small the Roosevelt little white house was. The house was familiar as I grew up in the south in the fifties. It was not what you expect a presidential dwelling to be. The small cottages in front of the little white house were for guests. They are also very small inside. I guess that people had different expectations then. In today’s world, this estate would be considered “camping out”.
FDRs Ford is quite clever, Ive driven a wheelchair converted BMC Mini van it was automatic with motorcycle type throttle on the hand operated brake setup, it was easier to use the original controls which were still there of course a hand clutch would be more difficult to set up for RHD but this Ford conversion obviously worked ok I always wondered whether FDR drove or was driven and jusy posed in cars for convenience this has cleared that up.
It would be possible to put the lever on the right. It would make the system much more complex.
RHD means operating the clutch and shifting with the same hand simultaneously it simply wouldnt be workable.
What if a press-and-hold clutch-and-gear shifter were used, like in Vespas? Just an additional lever on the gearshifter (like a motorcycle brake) that you pull to engage the clutch and then shift normally. It would be mighty hard to operate without some sort of power assist, but it seems possible.
I always figured folks knew about the polio, but were polite enough not to talk about it. At 42, I’m old enough to have known elderly family and such who had it. i remember the braces, canes, stories of the iron lung, etc. My take away from the whole thing was that polio was a much feared thing, especially by parents. Pretty much anyone who went swimming could get it – it didn’t discriminate.
As to the use of Fords, when you are truly wealthy and secure you know it and don’t have to project it – plus he was a politician.
Speaking of politicians and Fords, a trivia fact for the panther loving folks around here. The always entertaining U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham drives himself around in an early 2000’s silver Ford Crown Victoria that could use a wash.
One of the entertainments of living in SC is our elected officials – at least this one drives a real car.
I’ve heard the stories, too. Everyone was terrified of it, because it would hit you out of the blue and nobody had any idea of how to prevent it. The only advice was not to swim after Labor Day–for some reason, they thought it was caused by swimming in cold water.
I wonder if a lot of the anti-vaccination movement comes out of the fact that most people are now too young to know how terrifying polio was, so they basically just shrug it off. People our age (I’m the same age as you) are probably the youngest people to have had parents and grandparents who remember those years and have heard about polio firsthand from the people who lived in fear of it.
As far as the Ford goes, I grew up in an area with a lot of old-money people and they generally didn’t care what kind of car they drove or how they looked. Usually, they were tooling around in some kind of old beater. My mother worked in an office where one of the Rockefellers would come in after mucking out her horse stalls, and she looked it. They had the money and didn’t need to impress anyone.
Interesting piece. I seem to recall that earlier in the 30s, FDR owned a Plymouth with hand controls. It would not surprise me that a smaller, lighter car might be easier to control by someone having to do it all with hands and arms.
I remember seeing pictures of him driving an earlier car too, I thought it was a Ford though.
There was a 1931 or so Plymouth prior to the Fords.
Most “millionaire next door” types do drive old Fords…I have my ’83 Ranger 4×4 5.0L, and apparently there is a guy here who has a ’66 F-100 that gets used rather often… 🙂
FDR loved driving the Phaeton. In addition to the hand controls he even had it outfitted with a gizmo that dispensed lit cigarettes.
I think a lot of “how much was known” about FDR’s disability had to do with how the news was presented then, as opposed to now.
In the pre-WWII years, there were subjects that one just “didn’t talk about”, usually subjects that made an individual look weak, in trouble, etc. If the subject of the news was a respected individual who wasn’t making a conscious effort to be a jerk, he was given a lot of respectful leeway on a day to day basis. Nowadays, the news gathering attitude is “show all the warts, and let’s see how many new ones we can find.”
Also, look back at the Republican attitude towards FDR’s condition. What attitude? Exactly. There was no public attitude for attempted political gain. Just like any previous, mobile, Democratic president experienced. Any fighting against the president was done in a relatively respectful manner, limited to policies. And this from a party that almost didn’t exist at the time of the 1936 election. The Democrats steamrollered them at that point.
Conversely, try to visualize the current occupant of the White House with that same case of polio, trying to live life in the same manner as FDR. What kind of respect for his condition could he expect at the hands of the Republican controlled House of Representatives? Then, throw in all those conservative unelected politician types – the guys you hear on talk radio, etc. Imagine what they’d have to say.
Times, and attitudes, have certainly changed.
100% correct.