Joseph p. kennedy ii health issues

Joseph P. John F. Kennedy: Biography, Presidency, Assassination. Luis V. William Anderson Schoolworkhelper Editorial Team. William completed his Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in So I do think there was a kind of dependence on the drugs. But I don't think it was because of some psychological need to begin with. The dependence began, I think, with the medical problems.

In a way I guess it did then become a psychological crutch and was essential to his successful functioning as President. Do you think that some Kennedy worshippers might be as put off by your intimate account of his physical problems as they were by Seymour Hersh's account of his moral lapses? I don't think so, and I hope not. My work is not an attempt at debunking.

What I feel I've done is to try to describe as fairly, accurately, and honestly as I possibly could what was in the record. I'm hoping that people will see Kennedy as a combination of things. There was a cover up, so to speak, but this was not unusual. Other Presidents have had health problems, and they also hid them from the public. There is, as I say in the article, something of a tradition of doing that.

But I think that the bottom line here is that it speaks well in many ways of Kennedy's character. There's been such an assault on his character, by Hersh, for example, who sees him as a sex maniac, or by Thomas Reeves in an earlier book called A Question of Character. But I hope this article will enlarge our picture of his character by showing the kind of strength he must have had to be able to cope with such grave, serious medical problems and yet to have performed so effectively.

And that is what I joseph p. kennedy ii health issues in studying his presidency—that he did perform with great effectiveness. He was quite lucid in the taped conversations we have of the Cuban Missile Crisis, for example. He performed quite brilliantly. It took significant strength of character, I think, to do that in the face of the medical difficulties that he struggled against day in and day out.

If Kennedy had thought that any of his ailments were life threatening, or that they might have impaired his ability to fulfill his duties, do you think he would have refrained from running for office? I do think so. I think that if he had felt he couldn't function he wouldn't have run. But he had confidence that he could do it. And as it turned out, he did carry it off.

None of his doctors ever said, "You're so ill, think about giving up this run for the presidency. And as far as I know, not a single one of them told him that. Has writing about all this affected your views about whether aspiring Presidents should have to present a complete picture of their health status before they run? This has definitely complicated my view of it.

Before I got into these medical records, I was of a mind to believe that, yes, Presidents have an obligation to tell us about their health problems. Now, after looking at all this, what I have to say is, Yeah, I do believe that Presidents should play honest pool with the public and tell us candidly what their health difficulties are. But on the other hand, if Kennedy had done that there's a good chance that he wouldn't have been President.

And I think he was, by and large, a very effective and successful President. Do you think it's important for a President to give an impression—whether it's accurate or not—of physical robustness? This is a very good point. Not just physical robustness, but psychological optimism. See, Presidents are actors on a large stage. And what they try and do is communicate to the public and educate the public as to how effective and successful they're going to be.

So for a President to say, My goodness, I've got all these physical and emotional problems. When Edmund Muskie cried while he was running for President, it destroyed his bid. And there was a man named George Romney from Michigan who said he had been brainwashed by the U. So I think what the Kennedys understood, and what all successful Presidents understand, is that they need to convey a picture of good health and psychological strength.

You're shooting yourself in the foot if you don't convey those two things. I remember Jimmy Carter telling the country, in essence, that he was experiencing a malaise.

Joseph p. kennedy ii health issues: Joseph P. Kennedy's health deteriorated from

But Reagan, by contrast, always presented a picture of optimism and a kind of durability, and the public loved it. There's almost an unspoken, unwritten agreement that this is what the public wants to hear, and this is what Presidents will give them. So I think the blame for these kinds of cover ups, if you want to call them that, is not simply with Presidents but with the refusal of the public to take account of the fact that someone can have a certain number of medical, even emotional, limitations, and yet carry off the job in the White House.

For example, with Franklin Roosevelt, the public just didn't want to know about his physical limitations. And Roosevelt didn't want them to see him as a man who was paralyzed from the waist down—who had spent his life in a wheelchair and could only walk with the help of aides or with the help of steel braces or crutches. So there's a kind of collaboration between Presidents and the public in muting these ailments.

What was it like to go back and reconstruct various aspects of Kennedy's life primarily using information that was left behind in his medical records? As medical science continues to advance, do you see this as a growing field of biographical study? I think it's all part of a trend toward probing the private lives of presidents. Since about the s, there has been more and more of an impulse to look closely at what presidents do in private—what the intimate state of their affairs is.

In recent years, for example, there have been many attempts to pin down whether Thomas Jefferson had a mulatto mistress and fathered children with her. It's not something that was done so aggressively by earlier historians.

Joseph p. kennedy ii health issues: Joseph Kennedy had suffered

But there is definitely that impulse now. I think part of it has to do with the fact that a lot of serious wrongdoing by public figures has come to light in recent years, which has fanned the flames of the desire to get behind the mask of propriety to look at any possible improprieties. During this time Kennedy had zero flexion and extension of his back, meaning that he could not bend forward or backward at all; only with great difficulty could he turn over in bed, sit in a low chair, or reach across a table to pull papers toward him.

He also had problems bending his right knee and from a sitting position could raise his left leg to only 25 percent of what was considered normal height. There was "exquisite tenderness" in his back, and he was suffering from arthritis. Yet he managed to hide all this from everyone but his doctors and intimates. In Kennedy had consulted Janet Travell about muscle spasms in his left lower back, which radiated to his left leg and made him unable to "put weight on it without intense pain.

According to the Travell records, the treatments for his various ailments included ingested and implanted DOCA for the Addison's, and large doses of penicillin and other antibiotics to combat the prostatitis and the abscess. He also received injections of procaine at "trigger points" to relieve back pain; anti-spasmodics—principally Lomotil and trasentine—to joseph p.

kennedy ii health issues the colitis; testosterone to keep up his weight which fell with each bout of colitis and diarrhea ; and Nembutal to help him sleep. He had terribly elevated cholesterol, in one testing, apparently aggravated by the testosterone, which may have added to his stomach and prostate troubles. Kennedy's collective health problems were not enough to deter him from running for President.

Though they were a considerable burden, no one of them impressed him as life-threatening. Nor did he believe that the many medications he took would reduce his ability to work effectively; on the contrary, he saw them as ensuring his competence to deal with the demands of the office. And apparently none of his many doctors told him that were he elevated to the presidency, his health problems or the treatments for them could pose a danger to the country.

After reaching the White House, Kennedy believed it was more essential than ever to hide his afflictions. The day after his election, in response to a reporter's question, he declared himself in "excellent" shape and dismissed the rumors of Addison's disease as false. During his time in the White House, despite public indications of continuing back difficulties, Kennedy enjoyed an image of robust good health.

But according to the Travell records, medical attention was a fixed part of his routine. Jacobson, whom patients called "Dr. Feelgood," administered amphetamines and back injections of painkillers that JFK believed made him less dependent on crutches. Unknown to Travell and Burkley, Jacobson flew on a chartered jet to Paris, where he continued giving the President back injections.

In addition Travell was injecting him with procaine two or three times a day to relieve his suffering, which in the spring and summer of had become unbearable. On August 27 she noted in her records that Kennedy's cry of pain in response to the injections brought Jackie in from another room to see what was wrong. If it were not for Travell's care during the previous several years, Bobby wrote in response, his brother "would not presently be President of the United States.

The Travell records reveal that during the first six months of his term, Kennedy suffered stomach, colon, and prostate problems, high fevers, occasional dehydration, abscesses, sleeplessness, and high cholesterol, in addition to his ongoing back and adrenal ailments. His physicians administered large doses of so many drugs that Travell kept a "Medicine Administration Record," cataloguing injected and ingested corticosteroids for his adrenal insufficiency; procaine shots and ultrasound treatments and hot packs for his back; Lomotil, Metamucil, paregoric, phenobarbital, testosterone, and trasentine to control his diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, and weight loss; penicillin and other antibiotics for his urinary-tract infections and an abscess; and Tuinal to help him sleep.

Before press conferences and nationally televised speeches his doctors increased his cortisone dose to deal with tensions harmful to someone unable to produce his own corticosteroids in response to stress. Though the medications occasionally made Kennedy groggy and tired, he did not see them as a problem. He dismissed questions about Jacobson's injections, saying, "I don't care if it's horse piss.

It works. In Burkley concluded that the injections, along with back braces and positioning devices that immobilized Kennedy, were doing him more harm than good. Burkley and some Secret Service men, who observed the President's difficulties getting up from a sitting position and his reliance on crutches, feared that he would soon be unable to walk and might end up in a wheelchair.

Out of sight of the press, Kennedy went up and down helicopter stairs one at a time. His back is hurting. He cannot sit long without pain. When Travell resisted the idea, Burkley threatened to go to the President. Kraus, a brusque Austrian, confirmed Burkley's worst suspicions: he told Kennedy that if he continued the injections and did not begin regular exercise therapy to strengthen his back and abdominal muscles, he would become a cripple.

Fearful that frequent visits by Kraus to supervise such therapy might trigger press inquiries and unwanted speculation, Kennedy was initially reluctant to accept the recommendation. The lost medical kit and the apparent attempts to steal his medical records during the campaign had put Kennedy on edge about the potential political damage from opponents armed with information about his health problems.

But mindful that ignoring Kraus's advice might eventually result in his being confined to a wheelchair, Kennedy accepted that something had to be done. He and Kraus agreed to describe the therapy sessions as exercises to upgrade the President's condition from very good to excellent. Kennedy then began a regimen of three exercise sessions a week in a small White House gymnasium next to the swimming pool.

Limiting Travell's access to the President, Burkley and Kraus used exercises, massage, and heat therapy to ease Kennedy's back spasms and increase his mobility.

Joseph p. kennedy ii health issues: Joseph Patrick Kennedy II

Performed with his favorite country and western and show tunes playing in the background, the exercise therapy became a respite from the demands that crowded Kennedy's schedule. In the event of an emergency, he had immediate access to Kraus by means of a phone installed in Kraus's car. Travell, meanwhile, was kept on at the White House so that she wouldn't reveal Kennedy's secrets to the public; if she had been forced out, she might have been tempted to talk.

At the end of February they described the past four weeks, "medically speaking," as the "most uneventful month since the inauguration; since the campaign, for that matter. Nevertheless, Kennedy continued to need extensive medication. His condition at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis is a case in point. The Travell records show that during the thirteen days in October of when Moscow and Washington brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war, Kennedy took his usual doses of anti-spasmodics to control his colitis, antibiotics for a flare-up of his urinary-tract problem and a bout of sinusitis, and increased amounts of hydrocortisone and testosterone, along with salt tablets, to control his Addison's disease and boost his energy.

Judging from the tape recordings made of conversations during this time, the medications were no impediment to lucid thought during these long days; on the contrary, Kennedy would have been significantly less effective without them, and might even have been unable to function. But these medications were only one element in helping Kennedy to focus on the joseph p.

kennedy ii health issues his extraordinary strength of will cannot be underestimated. This is not to suggest that Kennedy was superhuman, or to exaggerate his ability to endure physical and emotional ills. On November 2,he took ten additional milligrams of hydrocortisone and ten grains of salt to boost himself before giving a brief report to the American people on the dismantling of the Soviet missile bases in Cuba.

In December, Jackie complained to the President's gastroenterologist, Russell Boles, that the antihistamines for food allergies had a "depressing action" on the President. She asked Boles to prescribe something that would assure "mood elevation without irritation to the gastrointestinal tract. In two days, Kennedy showed marked improvement, and he apparently never needed the drug again.

From the start of his presidency John F. Kennedy had the example of FDR, who had functioned brilliantly despite his paralysis. Roosevelt, however, never needed the combination of medicines on which Kennedy relied to get through the day. When Kennedy ran for and won the presidency, he was in fact gambling that his health problems would not prevent him from handling the job.

By hiding the extent of his ailments he denied voters the chance to decide whether they wanted to share this gamble. It is hard to believe that he could have been nominated, much less elected, if the public had known what we now know about his health. Then again, given the way Richard Nixon performed in the White House, how many people would retrospectively offer him their votes foreven knowing of Kennedy's health problems?

There is no evidence that JFK's physical torments played any significant part in shaping the successes or shortcomings of his public actions, either before or during his presidency. Prescribed medicines and the program of exercises begun in the fall ofcombined with his intelligence, knowledge of history, and determination to manage presidential challenges, allowed him to address potentially disastrous problems sensibly.

His presidency was not without failings the invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs and his slowness to act on civil rights were glaring lapses of judgmentbut they were not the result of any physical or emotional impairment. Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy before the President's medical ailments could. But the evidence suggests that Kennedy's physical condition contributed to his demise.

On November 22,Kennedy was, as always, wearing a corsetlike back brace as he rode through Dallas. Oswald's first bullet struck him in the back of the neck. Were it not for the back brace, which held him erect, the second, fatal shot to the head might not have found its mark. Skip to content Site Navigation The Atlantic. Popular Latest Newsletters.

Search The Atlantic. Quick Links. Accessed The Guardian. Christian Science Monitor. The Daily News Tribune. Retrieved December 24, Associated Press. Retrieved June 7, — via Boston. February 22, Retrieved August 27, Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 21, Retrieved June 7, — via philly. Retrieved April 27, NBC News.

August 31, Retrieved April 22, Oakland Tribune. February 25, Jackie, Ethel, Joan: Women of Camelot. New York: Grand Central Publishing. Archived from the original PDF on May 1, Retrieved December 4, Hachette Digital, Inc. Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Retrieved August 30, Henry Holt and Company. Archived from the original on August 24, Kennedy—Eldest Son of Late Sen.

Kennedy Was Married in ". Retrieved September 3, Code of Canon Law. The Vatican. Archived from the original on January 8, Retrieved September 3, — via vatican. External links [ edit ]. Tip O'Neill. Lynn Westmoreland. Members of the U. House of Representatives from Massachusetts. Bacon Eustis Quincy Ward Jr. Mason Gorham Webster Gorham N. Appleton Gorham A.

Lawrence Fletcher A. Lawrence Winthrop N. Appleton Winthrop S. Eliot W. Appleton Scudder T. Eliot Hall T. Eliot Buffington Crapo R. Davis Randall Wright G. Goodhue Foster W. Lyman Sedgwick Ward Sr. Lyman Shepard J. Crowninshield Story Pickman W. Reed Pickering Silsbee Barstow B. Crowninshield Choate Phillips Saltonstall D. Ames Harris Long E. Gerry Bourne Coffin S.

Abbott Duncan Edmands Damrell C. Adams Thomas A. Dean Field Ranney L. Morse J. Andrew Walker J. Thayer R. Hoar C. Washburn J. Thayer Wilder Paige F. Tsongas Trahan. Sedgwick Dearborn G. Thatcher Wadsworth Foster L. Lincoln Sr. Hastings Varnum W. Richardson Dana Stearns Fuller E. Everett Sa. Rice Hooper Frost J. Abbott L. Partridge Bourne Freeman L.

Williams T. Davis L. Lincoln Jr. Hudson C. Allen W. Appleton Burlingame W.