On August 10, 1921, FDR spent a strenuous day sailing and swimming near his family’s summer home on Campobello Island. Tired and feverish, he went to bed early, not realizing he was suffering the first symptoms of a polio attack.
Polio left him permanently paralyzed below the waist. Eventually, he learned to stand and move using leg braces and crutches. He developed his arms, chest, and torso so he could appear to “walk” short distances in public, using a cane and gripping a companion’s arm. Much of the therapy that led to these accomplishments took place at a center for treatment of polio patients that FDR established in Warm Springs, Georgia in 1927. He spent time there each year for the rest of his life.
