U.S. President Donald Trump pulls off his protective face mask as he poses atop the Truman Balcony of the White House after returning from being hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment, in Washington. Pandemics have cursed the presidencies of both Trump and Woodrow Wilson. Each played down the viruses that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans. Both presidents got sick and each had to decide how much to tell the public.
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George Washington, the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797 dealt with serious illnesses, including a tumor that required him to rest for six weeks only two months into his first term. He also suffered from several other ailments during his lifetime, including influenza, tuberculosis, smallpox.
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William Henry Harrison, America’s ninth president, served just one month in office before dying of pneumonia. His tenure, from March 4, 1841, to April 4, 1841, is the shortest of any U.S. president.
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U.S. President Grover Cleveland shown August 9, 1892, 22nd and 24th president, 1885-1889 and 1893-1897. President Grover Cleveland, fearing poor health would be a political weakness, underwent secret oral surgery late at night in a private yacht in Long Island Sound. The cancerous lesion taken from his mouth was displayed in 2000 in an exhibit by the College of Physicians, a Philadelphia-based medical society.
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Woodrow Wilson suffered tremendous stress from the presidency including navigating the country through World War I — which took an immense toll on his body. Then, in April 1919, he became ill from the Spanish Flu. On the evening of April 3, 1919, in Paris, President Woodrow Wilson began to cough; soon took to bed, feverish and unable to move. He had contracted what had become known as the Spanish Flu. By then, influenza had rampaged around the world for more than a year and was on its way to killing at least twenty million people, including at least six hundred thousand Americans.
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After leading the nation through a decade of war and depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt was diagnosed early in 1944 as suffering from high blood pressure, hypertensive heart disease, cardiac failure and acute bronchitis. The problems also betrayed an underlying arteriosclerosis - hardening of the arteries. Roosevelt was put on a low-salt diet and ordered to cut down on smoking. But with an election coming on, Roosevelt and the White House staff issued a statement saying the problem was far less serious. Above, President Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks on a national radio program from the White House.
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The 34th president suffered several serious illness most notably a heart attack in Denver, Colorado, in September 1955 during his first term.
Eisenhower spent few weeks in the hospital before he was re-elected for a second term the following November.
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A file picture dated 03 May 1961 shows US President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. Portrayed to the public as the picture of health, the youngest president ever elected — at age 43 — was secretly suffering from Addison's disease, or adrenal insufficiency, and hypothyroidism. Although Kennedy's team was able to keep the diagnosis largely silent, he did collapse twice in public because of the disease. As president, Kennedy was known for having a bad back, and since his death, biographers have pieced together details of other illnesses, including persistent digestive problems and Addison's disease, a life-threatening lack of adrenal function. Kennedy went to great lengths to conceal his ailments, even denying to reporters that he had Addison's disease.
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President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, wave from the hospital after his surgery for colon cancer in 1985. The 25th Amendment was formally invoked for the first time on July 13, 1985, when President Ronald Reagan directed then-Vice President George H.W. Bush to perform his duties while he underwent surgery for colon cancer. Bush became acting president when Reagan was administered general anesthesia. After just under eight hours, Reagan notified the Senate that he was ready to resume his presidential duties.
Image Credit: The Washington Post
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