Ten U.S. Presidents Have Suffered Strokes While in or After Leaving Office

Ten of America’s 44 presidents likely suffered strokes during their presidencies or after leaving office, according to research by Loyola University Medical Center neurologist Jose Biller, MD, co-author of the article “Stroke and the American Presidency.”

Woodrow Wilson was so incapacitated by a series of strokes that his wife, Edith, became the virtual acting president. Franklin Roosevelt died of a massive stroke on April 12, 1945, leaving the presidency to an unprepared Harry Truman just as World War II was ending. And in 2000, Gerald Ford began slurring his words during a TV interview.

“Strokes affect the brain,” Dr. Billing says. “And everything we do — from simple motor functions to more complex behaviors such as planning, reasoning and judgment — is brain-related. When a stroke affects a president, it can have a major impact not only on the individual, but on the world.” For more information, click here to read the full release.