On His Way

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was all but absent from public life between November 1920, when he was defeated as the Democratic candidate for vice president, and his successful campaign for governor of New York in fall 1928. Throughout most of this period (which one might call FDR's “wilderness years,” borrowing Martin Gilbert's term for Winston Churchill's hiatus from power), Roosevelt struggled to overcome the physical paralysis that resulted from an attack of polio in August 1921, as well as the boredom and depression that accompanied his enforced inactivity. He spent much of his time pursuing treatments for his crippled legs (a process that culminated in his purchase and development of Warm Springs, Georgia, as a treatment center), kept up what he could of his law practice and business interests, and planned with his chief advisor Louis Howe for an eventual return to political life. Meanwhile, to help keep the Roosevelt name in the public eye, Howe encouraged Eleanor Roosevelt to begin her independent career of public speaking and political activism.