Roosevelt Personally Writes a Child Hoping She Will Receive Treatment at Warm Springs

In 1921, 39-year-old Franklin D. Roosevelt seemed to face a future of unlimited success. But that same year he contracted polio, and was left paralyzed from the waist down. At the time there was no known cause of, or cure for, polio, and the practice of the day was to hide anyone with the disability away from the public eye. Roosevelt was a fighter and was determined to walk again, and found hope after hearing about a young polio victim who learned to walk again after swimming in the waters of a health spa at Warm Springs inear Atlanta. He moved there in 1924, and his initial cynicism about the run-down conditions and pitiable patients was gradually replaced by a deep empathy and understanding for the suffering of others, along with an optimism and inspiration that polio victims could be helped. When Warm Springs, a former resort area, faced economic hardship in 1926, FDR  invested two-thirds of his savings to purchase it for $200,000, and created a therapeutic center under the direction of the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation. His facility opened its doors to patients all over the country, providing medical treatment and an opportunity to spend time with others suffering from the effects of polio. An enclosed pool funded by automotive pioneer Henry Ford’s son Edsel was added, and improvements began to be made. Physicians and physiotherapists worked with Roosevelt to develop muscle exercises. The “spirit of Warm Springs” became firmly entrenched as patients relearned to function in society and to laugh and enjoy life.

Roosevelt took a very personal interest in those who were afflicted with polio, many of whom were children. Lenora Burge, a ten year old, wrote him while he was serving as governor of New York, expressing her hope to go to Warm Springs, and he took the time to answer her personally.

Typed Letter Signed on his Executive Chambers letterhead, Albany, November 14, 1932, to Lenora Burge. “Thank you very much for your delightful little note of October 31st and good wishes. I am very glad to know that you are so anxious to visit Warm Springs and I am asking Dr. Hoke, the physician in charge, to send you details of the place. I hope very much you may find it possible to take the treatment there. We do have a Patient’s Aid Fund but the waiting list is a very large one. Since you are only eleven years old possibly some of the organizations in your vicinity such as the Elks, the Rotary, the Kiwanis, or similar organizations might assist in procuring the necessary funds.”

After his inauguration as president in 1933, FDR continued to visit Warm Springs and mingle with the patients there. He chose a secluded hillside near the springs to build a home, which soon became known as the Little White House. He died there in 1945.