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January 30, 1882 dawned cold and white at the Roosevelt family home in Hyde Park, New York. By 8:00 that night, Sara Delano Roosevelt had been in labor for more twenty-four hours. Believing that the cause was lost, the doctor attending her bedside administered chloroform to calm her.
Forty-five minutes later, she delivered a ten pound boy who was blue and not moving. The doctor blew air into his lungs, and the newborn began to cry. He would be named Franklin Delano after his mother’s uncle. Because of the difficult birth, the boy would be Sara’s only child.
The anniversary of Franklin’s birth became a great cause for celebration every year, and throughout his life FDR would use the occasion to honor devoted friends as well as to raise money in the fight against polio.
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The Cuff Link Gang
The Cuff Link Gang was a group of close Roosevelt associates. The original members of the club were those men who had worked with and for Roosevelt on his unsuccessful campaign as the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate in 1920. FDR gave each of the men a set of cuff links, one with the person’s initials, and the other with FDR’s. This club then met annually throughout Roosevelt’s life around the time of his birthday, and the parties usually were themed in some way. Other members were added to the club in later years through Roosevelt’s traditional giving of a set of links.
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FDR contracted polio in 1921 at the age of 39, and was paralyzed from the waist down. For the rest of his life, FDR was committed to finding a way to rehabilitate himself as well as others afflicted with infantile paralysis.
In 1924, FDR visited a rundown spa in Warm Springs, Georgia where it was said that the buoyant mineral waters had therapeutic powers. After six weeks, he was convinced that he had made more progress in his rehabilitation than at any time in the previous three years. He built a home for himself at Warm Springs. In 1926 when the spa faced hardship, he purchased the facility for $200,000, creating a therapeutic center called the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation. It opened its doors to patients from all over the country, providing medical treatment and an opportunity to spend time with others suffering the effects of polio.
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FDR returned to politics, serving as Governor of New York from 1929-1932, and elected President in 1933. Even with the burdens of office, he regularly visited Warm Springs for treatment and rest, becoming known to the patients as “Dr. Roosevelt.” But the growing demands on the facility, and the increasing number of patients being treated there, required more money than FDR alone or a small number of contributors could provide.
At the suggestion of a public relations consultant, business magnate and FDR political ally Henry L. Doherty launched the National Committee for Birthday Balls that sponsored a dance in every town across the nation, both to celebrate the President’s birthday but also to raise money for the Georgia Warm Springs Foundation.
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From the Archives
Historical Documents:
- Letter to FDR from R.F. Camalier regarding receipt of honorary cuff links, January 4, 1921 Scanned document
- Reading Copy of Radio Address on 52nd Birthday (First Birthday Ball), January 30, 1934 Scanned document | Full text
- Reading Copy of Radio Address on 5th Birthday Ball,
January 29, 1938 Scanned document | Full text
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Suggested Reading:
Geoffrey C. Ward, Before the Trumpet: Young Franklin Roosevelt, 1882-1905 (Harper & Row, 1985).
Geoffrey C. Ward, A First Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt (Harper & Row, 1989).
David M. Oshinsky, Polio: An American Story (Oxford University Press, 2005).
Marc Shell, Polio and Its Aftermath: The Paralysis of Culture (Harvard University Press, 2005).
