In Ill-Advised: Presidential Health and Public Trust, now available in paperback, noted historian Robert H. Ferrell presents powerful evidence of frightening medical scandals in the White House. Malpractice, missing public records, and politically motivated cover-ups have hidden sometimes severe presidential illnesses from the American people. Ferrell traces these often shocking incidents--from Grover Cleveland's secret surgery for cancer to the questionable reporting on the health of both Ronald Reagan and George Bush.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Since 1893, most presidents have received substandard, if not incompetent, medical care, and/or have engaged in cover-ups that denied the public full disclosure about the seriousness of their conditions. Cleveland and Harding were victims of primitive healthcare; Wilson's strokes, disguised by his physician and personal secretary as a nervous breakdown, incapacitated him while he needed all his vigor and skills to promote the League of Nations; and Democratic party leaders chose Truman to run with Roosevelt because they rightly believed that FDR was too sick to complete a fourth term. Making use of new documentation, Ferrell devotes more than half the book to Eisenhower's bouts with heart attacks, strokes, and Crohn's disease, which were exacerbated by inferior military medical assistance. Kennedy's Addison's disease, Reagan's near-fatal bullet wound and his cancer, and Bush's erratic heart are briefly discussed. Ferrell, a highly regarded historian who is less optimistic about the proper use of the 25th amendment than Herbert Abrams in The President Has Been Shot ( LJ 12/91), advocates Senate confirmations for presidential physicians as a means of providing quality control. Recommended for public, academic, and medical libraries.
- Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp . Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp . Lib., King of Prussia, Pa.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"Documents the many concealments, half-truths and outright lies perpetrated by presidents and their doctors."--U.S. News and World Report
"Well organized and solidly documented, the book is written in more or less journalistic fashion; the narrative is absorbing, while the recounting of the episodes of illness is generally accurate and authoritative."--Journal of American History
"In this fascinating account of the mismanagement of presidents' health problems since the days of Grover Cleveland, Robert Ferrell reminds us that being important carries no guarantee about receiving good health care. He details medical treatment of presidents that has ranged from the marginally adequate to the scandalously incompetent. Compounding the problem Ferrell describes is the deliberate concealment of presidential illness by presidents and their handlers over the years."--Register of the Kentucky Historical Society
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This review is from: Ill-Advised: Presidential Health and Public Trust (Paperback)
What got me to buy this book was the cover which is dominated by a likeness of President John F. Kennedy. This led me to believe that the book would cover a considerable amount of material on the health of JFK. I found the coverage of JFK's health to be sorely lacking. I did not expect the book to only cover JFK but it was a disappintment when you consider that JFK's health was as much covered up as were the other presidents in the book. The use of President Kennedy's likeness as the main feature on the cover I feel was a hook to get you to buy the book.
It was at best misleading. As to the other presidents in the book, well I admit it was interesting.
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Inside This Book
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First Sentence:
Of the seven medical cover-ups in the White House during all the years from President George Washington to President George Bush, the first three possessed differing rationales but the same general purpose, which was to keep the inquisitive noses of the American people out of what, according to the people in the White House, was not their business. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
presidential illness, verrucous carcinoma, civilian consultant, disease operation, left ventricular aneurysm, world ambassador, fluoroscopic examination Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
White House, United States, Walter Reed, New York, General Snyder, Key West, West Point, San Francisco, Woodrow Wilson, Oliver General, President Wilson, Vice-President Nixon, Eisenhower Library, General Heaton, John Eisenhower, New Jersey, American Heart Association, Bethesda Naval Hospital, Lahey Clinic, President Roosevelt, Sherman Adams, Soviet Union, President Eisenhower, Warm Springs, Yalta Conference New!
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Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Of the seven medical cover-ups in the White House during all the years from President George Washington to President George Bush, the first three possessed differing rationales but the same general purpose, which was to keep the inquisitive noses of the American people out of what, according to the people in the White House, was not their business. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
presidential illness, verrucous carcinoma, civilian consultant, disease operation, left ventricular aneurysm, world ambassador, fluoroscopic examination Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
White House, United States, Walter Reed, New York, General Snyder, Key West, West Point, San Francisco, Woodrow Wilson, Oliver General, President Wilson, Vice-President Nixon, Eisenhower Library, General Heaton, John Eisenhower, New Jersey, American Heart Association, Bethesda Naval Hospital, Lahey Clinic, President Roosevelt, Sherman Adams, Soviet Union, President Eisenhower, Warm Springs, Yalta Conference New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 49
books:
See all 49 books this book cites
3
books
cite this book:
- My Life and Medicine by Jerry White on 4 pages
- Woodrow Wilson (United States Presidents (Abdo)) by Paul Joseph on 4 pages
- The White House (Symbols of America) by Debra Hess in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Grover Cleveland (United States Presidents) by Paul Joseph in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- The Strange Death of President Harding by Gaston B. Means in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
See all 49 books this book cites
- Writing JFK: Presidential Rhetoric and the Press in the Bay of Pigs Crisis (Library of Presidential Rhetoric) by Thomas W. Benson in Back Matter
- Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership by Roger D. Launius in Back Matter
- The Dying President: Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1944-1945 by Robert Ferrell in Back Matter
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