John F. Ditunno Jr

In recent decades, the popularity of retrospective
analysis of the medical history of historical figures has
received significant public attention. Such efforts have
been made by medical historians, general historians,
and the media, and some of these efforts have become
accepted widely [1]. One such example of this is the
attribution of Marfan syndrome to Abraham Lincoln,
which despite controversy, has received common
acceptance [2-4]. Pertinent to this paper, it has been
more than 90 years since Franklin Delano Roosevelt
(FDR) experienced the onset of paralysis in the summer
of 1921, but only in the past decade have the features
of his illness, and the historical impact of his illness
on disability and health care, been scrutinized
systematically