FDR’s Purpose Went Beyond Politics

Fighting polio, hope bubbled up from Warm Springs

FDR enjoying a swim in Warm Springs, Georgia. Photo: Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum

It started with what seemed to be an innocuous cold, accompanied by lower back pain and unusually sensitive skin. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, then 39, excused himself before dinner to retire to his bedroom to rest.

He never walked again.