Asthma

Theodore Roosevelt, although remembered as a president who took great interest in athletics and sportsmanship, suffered from various chronic ailments since his birth. Chief among these illnesses was his asthma, a condition in which airways narrow or swell and may produce extra mucus, restricting–sometimes severely–the ability to breathe, which represented a constant obstacle in Roosevelt’s life.¹

During Roosevelt’s early life, his father, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., frequently took him on horseback rides and hikes into the New York backcountry to provide Theodore with much-needed fresh air to try to help his ailing son.² “I was a sickly, delicate boy,” Roosevelt remembered in his autobiography, and “suffered much from chronic asthma, and frequently had to be taken away on trips to find a place where I could breathe.”³ Theodore’s doctors provided him with various means to attempt to treat his asthma, ranging from administering caffeine through the drinking of black coffee, to smoking cigars or drinking ipecac to induce vomiting, and even weathering massages that would make his chest bleed.⁴

According to some sources, Roosevelt’s asthma was of a psychosomatic nature, in which it was heightened due to distress that he had experienced as a child.⁵ According to Dr. Carlos Camargo Jr., this is false, writing that, “although psychosocial issues affect most chronic diseases, there is little (if any) support for assertions that TR’s asthma was psychosomatic.” Dr. Camargo goes on to say that Roosevelt’s asthma spiked at the age of 12 when he adopted a rigorous workout routine. This workout routine was inspired by a desire to vigorously conquer his illness, driven in part by his father’s exhortation, saying, “Theodore, you have the mind, but you do not have the body, and without the help of the body the mind cannot go as far as it should. You must make your body.”⁶ Theodore’s father invested in a home gymnasium, where Roosevelt worked his body into shape. He was also known to take lessons from prized boxers and frequent local gyms close to his home.⁷

Theodore Roosevelt would never truly beat his asthma. Although the symptoms did lessen due to his body getting bigger and more capable of supporting itself, he continued to suffer from asthma and other chronic ailments throughout his life. According to the Mayo Clinic, asthma is not a curable condition but does change over time.⁸

Sources:

1. Mayo Clinic Staff. “Asthma.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 6 Apr. 2024, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/asthma/symptoms-causes/syc-20369653. 

2. National Parks Service. “Theodore Roosevelt Biography (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 8 July 2022, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/theodore-roosevelt-biography.htm. 

3. Roosevelt, Theodore. The Autobiography of Theodore Roosevelt. (The MacMillan Company, 1913), 17.

4. Klein, Christopher. “Inside Theodore Roosevelt’s Gilded Age Upbringing.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 3 May 2022, www.history.com/news/theodore-roosevelt-childhood-new-york. 

5. Camargo, Carlos A. “The Misunderstood Asthma of Theodore Roosevelt.” The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. In Practice, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 10 Aug. 2015, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26271837/. 

6. Robinson, Corinne Roosevelt. My Brother Theodore Roosevelt. (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1921), 50.

7. Klein.

8. Mayo Clinic.

Entry contributed by Isaac Baker – Theodore Roosevelt Center Student Employee