Presidents Plagued by Physical Limitations
By drawing mostly from cited data at Dr. Zebra, a list of presidential ailments is compiled in honor of our nation’s all-too-mortal Commanders-in-Chief.
1. George Washington: poor dentition, possibly due to mercury oxide treatments for various infectious diseases
2. John Adams: depression; hypochondria
3. Thomas Jefferson: recurrent, persistent headaches; chronic back pain
4. James Madison: psychogenic epilepsy; chronic biliousness
5. James Monroe: recurrent malaria; possible pulmonary tuberculosis
6. John Quincy Adams: cerebrovascular disease
7. Andrew Jackson: smallpox; malaria; heart failure
8. Martin Van Buren: alcoholism; obesity; gout
9. William Henry Harrison: generally healthy; died of pneumonia
10. John Tyler: transient, generalized paralysis—possibly Guillain Barre syndrome; cerebrovascular disease (TIAs, stroke)
11. James K. Polk: generally healthy; died of cholera
12. Zachary Taylor: yellow fever; recurrent malaria
13. Millard Fillmore: generally healthy (medical history as boring as his Presidency)
14. Franklin Pierce: chronic depression; alcoholism; tuberculosis
15. James Buchanan: blepharospasm?; alcoholism
16. Abraham Lincoln: malaria; depression; smallpox
17. Andrew Johnson: typhoid fever
18. Ulysses S. Grant: alcoholism; tobacco abuse
19. Rutherford B. Hayes: generally healthy (see Millard Fillmore)
20. James Garfield: malaria
21. Chester Arthur: alcoholism; Bright’s disease; hypertension
22. Grover Cleveland: obesity; alcoholism; tobacco abuse; cancer of the jaw
23. Benjamin Harrison: recurrent “breakdowns” or “nervous collapse”
25. William McKinley: generally healthy; possible bout of influenza (“grippe”)
26. Theodore Roosevelt: severe myopia; unilateral deafness; overweight (if not obese)
27. William H. Taft: morbid obesity; gout; sleep apnea
28. Woodrow Wilson: possible dyslexia; cerebrovascular disease
29. Warren G. Harding: recurrent mental illness; tobacco abuse; cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease
30. Calvin Coolidge: chronic depression
31. Herbert Hoover: cholecystitis; intestinal cancer
32. Franklin D. Roosevelt: polio; hypertension; cerebral hemorrhage; possible melanoma
33. Harry S. Truman: paralytic diphtheria as child; presbyopia; cardiac failure
34. Dwight D. Eisenhower: history of tobacco abuse; Crohn disease; coronary artery disease; cerebrovascular disease
35. John F. Kennedy: chronic back pain; possible autoimmune endocrine deficiency (hypothyroidism, Addison disease)
36. Lyndon B. Johnson: coronary artery disease; cholecystitis and/or cholelithiasis
37. Richard M. Nixon: venous thromboembolism; possible blepharospasm; cerebrovascular disease
38. Gerald Ford: tobacco abuse; tongue abscess due to Actinomycetes; coronary artery disease
39. James Carter: hemorrhoids
40. Ronald Reagan: myopia; chronic prostate problems; colon cancer; Alzheimer disease
41. George H. W. Bush: history of “bleeding ulcers”; atrial fibrillation; Graves disease
42. William J. Clinton: gastroesophageal reflux disease; coronary artery disease
43. George W. Bush: hemorrhoids; alcoholism; substance abuse; syncope; colonic polyps
44. Barack Obama: tobacco abuse