National Affairs: Rumortism

If the President of the U.S. develops a slight cold, a few sensation-hungry newsmen usually mix the germs with rumors and conclude that it is something far worse. Dwight Eisenhower has had his share of the usual plague of rumors. Before he got the Republican nomination last year, the whisper (planted by his political enemies) went out that he had heart trouble. A slight touch of food poisoning last spring was quickly diagnosed by the dopesters as a stomach ulcer. When he bruised his elbow last August, the story soon got around that Ike was showing signs of falling apart.

Last week the President looked remarkably tanned and fit for a man with one foot in the grave, but the whispers continued to swirl around him. At his press conference, a reporter asked him politely how he was feeling and gave Ike the opportunity to stamp out the plague of rumors—at least temporarily. “Well,” said the President with a grin, “I will tell you. As you people know … I have had sort of a sore elbow which has prevented me from getting my exercise to which I am accustomed, which I think I need, and which I love.* Aside from that, if I am not in good condition, the doctors have fooled me badly, because I feel fine, and, as a matter of fact, I underwent quite a series of tests just before we came back from Denver, and the reports given to me were cheering to a man of my age.”

After the conference. Major General Howard M. Snyder, the President’s physician, confirmed the diagnosis and added some details. A month ago, Ike had undergone a thorough checkup of heart, lungs, bones, joints and blood chemistry. Said Snyder: “All of these [tests] came out in good normal order.” The President’s blood pressure is running 140 to 150 over 80 to 90—excellent for a man of his age (63) and type. Aside from the elbow and a few chronic minor troubles (he is farsighted, has suffered for years from a trick knee, injured in a West Point football game), Ike is in tiptop form.

The President’s one health problem is his weight. Through exercise and frequent dieting, he has managed to stay within twelve pounds of his average West Point weight of 172 Ibs. The sore elbow is responding satisfactorily to diathermy and rest, but has restricted his golfing, and the President has had to rely on calisthenics in his bedroom and office and occasional workouts in the White House gym. Such exercise for the sake of exercise bores Ike, who prefers competitive sports with an objective. “He ought to exercise.” said Dr. Snyder. “The President is the type of man who enjoys exercise and therefore benefits by it.”

-Other Presidents have shown widely varying recreational’ tastes. Lincoln, Wilson and Truman were walkers. Coolidge pitched hay, golfed and rode a mechanical horse that became something of a national joke. Hoover fished and tossed medicine balls with members of the Cabinet and the Supreme Court. Franklin Roosevelt and John Quincy Adams swam for their health. George Washington preferred riding. Jefferson detested all exercise, relaxed with his violin. Theodore Roosevelt, the most active President, was an enthusiastic wrestler, jujitsu expert, big-game hunter, tennist, horseman and boxer. One of his favorite forms of exercise was point-to-point hiking, which sometimes involved swimming Rock Creek or the Potomac River. “If we swam the Potomac,” T.R. recalled in his autobiography, “we usually took off our clothes. I remember one such occasion when the French ambassador, Jusserand . . . was along, and, just as we were about to get in to swim, somebody said, ‘Mr. Ambassador, Mr. Ambassador, you haven’t taken off your gloves,’ to which he promptly responded, ‘I think I will leave them on; we might meet ladies.’ “