(regal music) - Inauguration, a new beginning for a new president.

And one of the biggest issues facing the new administration is the problem of healthcare for the poor, for the elderly, for all Americans.

But what of the president's health?

Who oversees the well-being of our chief executive?

Surely as president, he must receive the best possible medical attention.

But this may not have always been the case.

Robert Ferrell is Professor Emeritus of History at Indiana University and author of "Ill-Advised," a new book that examines presidential health and the public trust.

In it, Ferrell acts as a detective, (mysterious music) digging in old records and files and conducting interviews to learn the truth about health in the White House.

(mysterious music continues) - It was a very interesting thing, because Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms, and his second term began in March of 1893.

In May of that year, he felt a sore place.

It was a rough spot in the roof of his mouth, and he thought it was a canker and tried to forget about it, but it enlarged rather rapidly.

And so he had an Army surgeon come in and take a look at it.

It turned out to be cancer.

There was concern about the secrecy of the whole thing, and it was fortunately possible to take out this rather large part in the roof of Cleveland's mouth, to take it out with a cheek retractor, which allowed the surgeons to pull out his cheek and cut it from his jaw.

And then after that, they worked inside his mouth and even down to the place where they inserted a rubber prosthesis.

A dentist did this after the operation so that there was no difference in his speech.

The fact of the operation did not become known until 1917.

(mysterious music) (regal music) - [Narrator] President Woodrow Wilson was straight from the conference tables of Europe when, in October of 1919, while on a speaking tour to drum up support for the League of Nations, he suffered a massive stroke.

(regal music continues) Only his wife and a few close aides were allowed to see him.

Because there was no clear way to remove a president who had fallen ill, no government official would take the responsibility for such a decision.

Many believe Wilson's wife effectively ran the government during her husband's illness.

For over a year and a half, his own vice president was not allowed to see him.

- There was nothing really wrong with Cleveland's medical care that I can determine.

But there was a definite problem with the care of Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson's physician, Dr. Cary Grayson, who became a rear admiral in the Navy, Grayson had one year in medical school.

That's all.

And he attended a little medical school that is now defunct at a place that is now known as the University of the South.

He was not well-trained.

If Wilson had been forced out, then the presidency would've gone to his vice president, who was Thomas R. Marshall of Indiana.

And that might've been very interesting, because I think the treaty with the covenant would've passed, and if it had passed, then the United States, oh, one can go on and on in the '20s and '30s, might well have followed a course in foreign policy that would've been more realistic.

We would've taken interest in Europe.

And had we taken interest in Europe, we might've done something about the German question, which, perhaps, would've prevent World War II.

It's a nice issue to speculate on.

(mysterious music) (regal music) - [Narrator] Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president in 1932.

A man of great charm, charisma, and political savvy, his health was far from the best.

A bout with infantile paralysis in 1923 left him paralyzed from the waist down.

Nevertheless, he served an unprecedented three terms as president before dying early in his fourth term in May of 1945.

- Because of Roosevelt's illness, which was so severe, it was clear to the leaders of the party that Roosevelt would win in November, but he could not survive his fourth term.

So it was necessary, they believed, to get Henry Wallace out.

They thought that he was simply not suitable for the presidency and put in a man whom they could trust, who by their measurement was Harry Truman.

But Wallace wanted a second term as vice president.

He knew that this was going to be the presidency.

And they were fighting for it at the Chicago convention.

And how that passed then to Truman was an almost miraculous and rather devious business.

(mysterious music) - [Narrator] Ferrell also explores other cases in his writing and allows the reader to speculate on alternative presidential possibilities.

If Eisenhower's heart attacks had removed him from the office, Richard Nixon may have achieved the presidency more than a decade earlier and without the burden of Vietnam or Watergate.

Knowledge of Kennedy's condition, now known as Addison's disease, may have denied him the nomination.

And how would knowledge of Reagan's medical history affected his second term?

- I think anyone running for the presidency, and that would include incumbents, ought to make their medical records completely open.

There should be no, nothing should be sacrosanct.

There should be no embarrassment.

If a candidate feels embarrassed by having this sort of thing public knowledge, I don't think he or she should run.

(regal music) - We all here at "Across Indiana", wish the president well as he begins his term.

He faces a lotta problems and a long road ahead.

We also hope he'll keep bundled up and watch out when he jogs.

Because as president, the state of his health is now a matter of state.

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