WI: FDR without paralysis

Can FDR still become POTUS ITTL?


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What if in 1921, Franklin D. Roosevelt never caught the illness that left him wheelchair-bound for the rest of his life? What effects would this have on his career? Will he still become President? And if a second global war still breaks out in this timeline, would this have any significant effects on the conflict?
 
FDR might still become president. And without polio ruining his body he would be healthier on 1945 and probably would see end of the war and then might run on 1948.
 
FDR might still become president. And without polio ruining his body he would be healthier on 1945 and probably would see end of the war and then might run on 1948.

I think he would have not run again after the war ended, with or without polio.
 

Wallet

Banned
We are talking about a radically different FDR. Being paralyzed made him sympathetic to the plight of others.
 
Also, the polio actually saved his political career.

The was a brewing scandal about the time he got polio, and his opponents backed off because they assumed his political career was over. Why kick a man while he's down.
By the time he'd recovered enough to re-enter politics, that scandal was old news, and he was able to ascend all the way to the presidency.

Without polio, he may well be turfed out of electoral politics entirely. Possibly Secretary of the Navy in someone else's cabinet is the best he could do.
 

Wallet

Banned
So, less likely to become POTUS, and if he does, no New Deal?
Depends on ATL Great Depression. He probably doesn’t become President.

A Democrat wins in 1932. If it’s cactus jack than no New Deal and Huey Long wins in 1936!
 
Also, the polio actually saved his political career.

The was a brewing scandal about the time he got polio, and his opponents backed off because they assumed his political career was over. Why kick a man while he's down.
By the time he'd recovered enough to re-enter politics, that scandal was old news, and he was able to ascend all the way to the presidency.

Without polio, he may well be turfed out of electoral politics entirely. Possibly Secretary of the Navy in someone else's cabinet is the best he could do.

I've never heard of this and I've read a bio of FDR. Can you elaborate?
 
I've never heard of this and I've read a bio of FDR. Can you elaborate?
Probably the worst bit was his part in the homosexual investigation in the Navy. He not only used entrapment, but denied it under oath, despite there being a written order to do it with his signature.

This was his primary political problem.

Also, he had an affair that Eleanor found out about, and they separated. She offered / threatened a divorce.

The affair itself wouldn't likely have been a problem, but a divorce might well have.

Then he got polio (or Guillaum Barre?) and was paralysed. Eleanor came running back to him, and once he'd recovered some, he was able to put the dual scandals aside as old news.
 
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