Woodrow Wilson-- and syphilis???

While I was researching POX, I ran into a reference to an article written by a librarian at the Wellcome Library hypothesizing that Woodrow Wilson had syphilis. When I saw the MEDICAL COVER-UPS IN THE WHITE HOUSE (Edward B MacMahon, M.D., and Leonard Curry (Farragut Publishing, Washington D.C., 1987) had a chapter on WW, I grabbed it. There is one reference to syphilis: after WW suffered a stroke that paralyzed the left side of his body, His doctor, Grayson, called Dr. Francis X. Dercum to the White House. Dercum, professor of nervous and mental disease at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, had written extensively about syphilis "prompting a report that the president was suffering from syphilis--undoubtedly contracted in France." (page 70). The authors speak of "wild and bizarre rumors." There is no further note about this "report."

Notes from this chapter about the president's illness follow:

Notes from Chapter Five on WW:

Sometime between 8 and 9 on the morning of Oct.2, 1919, Mrs. WW found her husband, the president of the US, slumped unconscious on the floor of the bathroom . . . At that moment began the most celebrated cover-up of a presidential disability in the history of the Republic.

Mrs. W. called Adm Cary T. Grayson, the White House physician. Grayson's statement: "My God, the president is paralyzed." The president's left side was paralyzed, his vision was impaired." A stroke is mentioned, one that soon would cause "disturbing changes in his personality and judgement." The papers carried a story about the illness (the president is a "very sick man")--but there was no mention of the cause. This book assumes it was a stroke.

When on Sept. 26, W had cut short a speaking tour to whip up support for the Treaty of Versailles and its covenant on the League of Nations, Grayson said the president was suffering from "nervous exhaustion."

During the 17 months following this incident, the president was first on the brink of death, then too weak to sign his name, and eventually a "reclusive invalid." Mrs. W. assumed the "stewardship" of the presidency and shielded her husband from all but a few contacts. Mrs. W. would tell aids what her husband's policy decisions were.

The authors suggest that if Ww had not been so removed, he may have won Senate approval for membership in the League and hence "conceivably could have prevented WWII."

Grayson cared for him during his entire eight years in office.

WW had suffered since college with gastrointestinal disturbances and headaches ("probably psychosomatic manifestations of anxiety and depression." He treated the digestive problem with a stomach pump and powders. He later developed high blood pressure.

In 1896, at 40, at Princeton, he developed a weakness in his right arms. Dr. Edwin A. Weinstein, prof. of neurology and student of WW's medical history, hypothesized a stroke. It was almost a year before WW could write normally. In 1904 he had weakness in his right arm lasting several months. Two years later, he had more trouble with his right arm, and a sudden loss of vision in his left eye. Some sight later returned, but he never had full vision. A physician determined the cause was a burst blood vessel.

WW's family was "overwhelmed with panic and despair." He has lived too intensely . . . premature old age they call it," his wife wrote to cousins.

Weinstein lists three other significant medical incidents before becoming president in 1913: attacks of weakness, numbness and neuritis in the arm, hand, and fingers.

Grayson lived much of the time at the White House. He was not only a physician, but a close friend and confidant.

WW's first wife, Ellen Axson Willson, died of tuberculosis of the kidney.

In the White House, Ww began "to show signs of change in personality and judgement, taking, for example, uncharacteristically foolish political actions during the 1918 congressional elections." (p. 63)

WW had continuing problems that indicated "serious cerebral vascular disease." In April 1913, he had an "attack of 'neuritis' involving the left upper extremity." In May 194, 'vascular pathology in retinal arteries' was noted and from May until Sept. 1915, he experienced "transiet episodes of weakness of righ hand." From 1915 to 1919, he had "bouts of severe headache lasting several days,"

In August 1915, WW say Dr. George de Schwinitz, a Philadelphia opthalmologist, who had told him nine years earlier that he should give up full time work. There is no record of the consultation; WW continued to see this doctor twice a year.

Wilson had a "growing denial of his own illness."

No White House physician before or after enjoyed the status Grayson achieved. WW leapfrogged him over three ranks and hundreds of grumbling seniors. Grayson became Rear Admiral.

Authors posit that WW's obsession with the League of Nations was a "consequence and symptom of the arteriosclerosis" from which he suffered. And they mention "delusions of grandeur"-- again the result of advancing arteriosclerosis. (??)

WW had twitching around one eye, which turned to spasms that enveloped half his face.

From Gene Smith, When the Cheering Stopped:

“ . . . the President grew thin and grey and his hair seemed to whiten day by day. . . He seemed worn and old and his only exercise came when Grayson would stand him before an open window and grasp his hands to pull him vigorously to and fro so that at least a little color would come to his cheeks.” (page 65).

WW taken ill on April 3 (1919) — racking cough, high fever, diarrhea, vomiting. Grayson thought the president had been poisoned. Weinstein hypothesized a brain clot, with damage on the right side of the brain. Thus the president was afflicted with “a condition affecting emotional and social behavior more severely than a unilateral lesion.” (page 66)

The president displayed unusual behavior as soon as he was allowed to leave his bed. According to Chief Usher Hoover, he became obsessed with the suspicion that the French servants all spoke English and were serving as spies for the French government. He was personally responsible for the furniture. He was described as having something queer happening in his head. He was unreasonable, impossible. On June 28th the president signed the peace treaty in Versailles on behalf of the US. During the summer he engaged in a punishing tour promoting the League of Nations. By the time they reached Colorado, the president had trouble speaking and could not finish sentences. His face was twitching and he had excruciating headaches. He wept in public. His face sagged and saliva dripped from the corner of his mouth. He could not move his left leg or arm. Reporters were informed that he had had “a complete nervous breakdown.” Later Grayson assured reports there was nothing wrong with his nervous system.

The authors propose that that Grayson did not suspect arteriosclerosis was the cause of Wilson’s collapsing health, “though by all rights a competent physician should have.”

At the White House, a stroke paralyzed his left side. At this time, Grayson called in Dercum “prompting a report that the president was suffering from syphilis.” (page 70)

The government was in the throes of postwar crises. The president was partially paralyzed, haggard, subject to bouts of sobbing, old-looking. His speech drifted into mumbling, he would lose his train of thought. Bills not signed or vetoed became law within ten days; a few bills were signed by the president with his wife guiding his hand.

The senate Foreign Relations Committee learned that the Secretary of State had not been in contact with the president for months.

When WW finally had a cabinet meeting, he had trouble concentrating and there were long awkward pauses. In June he astounded everyone by hinting he would run for a third term.

He spent his remaining years as a semi-reclusive invalid. He died on 3 February 1924.

Comments

[ken thomas]

woodrow wilson,ellen wilson,franklin roosevelt,eleanor roosevelt all suffered from a rare std caused by an opportunistic mycobacteria. the syndrome typically mimics syphillis in males and causes kidney failure in females.avian paratuberculosisendemic in parrots deliberately inflicted on competitors by sailors at galveston texas before civil war.....but std is out of the question {nearly}the only person in common to all of the above was edward mandell house

[Dan Kersten]

I would like to connect with someone who is well-read on this Wilson-syphilis thing. My father's mining professor at the U of Minnesota was a personal friend and teacher of his and told the most interesting story of how old 'Woody' got into politics. This could very well have been the initial contact for syphilis for the old boy. The prof was on the faculty at Princeton when he was actually 'ousted' with the political governorship dangling in front of him. He was present when the faculty met with the board of regents and the whole thing blew up. First hand story, never published. I should like very much to put this in reliable historians' hands and with some investigation I feel it could be verified by members of the prof's family. To date I have been unable to do the tracking, but I still have hopes, as this is a true story that should not be allowed to pass into history un- known. Anyone have any interests or ideas?? Dan Kersten