As per a Rasmussen Poll, 59 percent of U.S. voters believe that the 2016 presidential candidates -- Trump and Clinton -- should share their most current health records to the public. And if both the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates adhere to their most recent promises, people may know the truth behind the real health conditions of both presidential nominees.
The pressure for more health information has been intensified when the news about Hillary Clinton's pneumonia case broke out. However, there was no real expectation for presidential candidates to share health info till 1959, when President Eisenhower had a heart attack and permitted his personal doctor to share his condition to the public, Jacob Appel told CBCBC. Appel is an assistant professor who studied the health history of politicians.
After presidential nominees hit the political campaign track during the late 19th and beginning of 20th centuries, all their illnesses were sometimes concealed from the people. For example, Franklin Roosevelt, limped by polio, withheld the expanse of his frailty. In order to appear robust, Roger Smith said that Roosevelt would use leg braces in to stand on his own and to avoid being documented sitting in a wheelchair.
Even in 1960, JFK was able to hide his Addison's diseases from the people and even professed himself as the "healthiest candidate for president in the country." That is according to a report posted in The New York Times.
The most interesting incident perhaps was the cancer surgery of President Grover Cleveland. Based on a report in The Washington Post, Cleveland, after he disappeared for 4 days on his 2nd term, had his cancer surgery on a friend's luxurious yacht while sailing in Long Island Sound. And nobody knew about this except his doctors and his trusted people.
The present presidential nominees' age -- Trump 70 and Clinton 68 -- also makes questions and concerns regarding their health conditions mainly important according to Rogers Smith, University of Pennsylvania political scientist. "The fact that we have the two oldest candidates ever running for president does raise questions about the conspiracy of silence about the health of presidents," he noted.
