White House Secrets

Secrets are kept in many places including the White House. Here are some excerpts. In his second term as president, Dwight Eisenhower looked like an old man. He’d had a serious heart attack in 1955, requiring extensive hospitalization. Ike later suffered a stroke. In contrast to his seeming senescence, his successor, John F. Kennedy, seemed vibrant and flamboyant. The reality was that Eisenhower was not really that old — he was just 62 when first elected. And Kennedy wasn't actually that vigorous, and indeed was secretly afflicted by serious medical problems, including Addison’s disease, that his aides concealed from the public.

A stroke incapacitated Woodrow Wilson in 1919, for example, but the public had no inkling until many months later. And when Grover Cleveland needed surgery in 1893 to remove a cancerous tumor in his mouth, he did it secretly, on a friend's yacht. Four presidents -- William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Warren G. Harding and Franklin Delano Roosevelt -- died in office due to ill health. And Franklin D. Roosevelt was deftly depicted publicly without his wheelchair and serious condition made visible.

Thanks to this hidden history of presidential disease, sickness and secrecy by Joel Achenbach and Lillian Cunningham (Washington Post).

Hillary Clinton is 68, and Donald Trump is 70. They’re the oldest pair of major-party candidates in history. On Sunday September 11, 2016 at a 9/11 memorial service in New York City, the Clinton team initially called her stumbling merely a case of overheating but later it was revealed that she had been diagnosed with pneumonia that Friday.. No doubt many secrets remain hidden while others are exploited.

Some incidents no doubt are more trivial than others. As historians continue to probe into the past, eventually some unknown facts as well as fiction emerge.

At times no doubt we are surprised, elated, distraught, bewildered, disappointed, hopeful and a host of other feelings. Our expectations could include experience, academic achievements, intelligence, integrity, reputation, availability, morality, personality, character, health, maturity, leadership and on and on. At times we must settle for less while hoping for more. With the demands placed on potential candidates it can eliminate some potentially excellent prospects.

We old timers have witnessed many Presidents, known very few personally, if any, endured or enjoyed some, and wondered at the awesome diversity. The year 2016 will add its own flavor to the election will it not?