The Brooklyn Eagle (May 22, 1944)
President to get complete physical checkup this week
Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt will go this week to the Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Maryland, for a complete physical checkup.
Mr. Roosevelt’s physician, VAdm. Ross T. McIntire. felt sure the examination would show the Chief Executive is back in good physical shape following a month’s vacation in South Carolina and as the result of a new, easier work routine at the White House.
Results of the checkup were expected by many of Mr. Roosevelt’s political supporters to cinch his decision to seek reelection. Many Democratic leaders, at least, were planning in that direction, and the final physical answer from the Naval Hospital this week was expected to remove from many of their minds all doubt as to his plans.
The medical checkup itself will be brief, probably not requiring more than a couple of hours of the President’s time, because McIntire already has much of the information that goes into such an examination. No hospital stay will be involved and Mr. Roosevelt will be away from his office only for a comparatively brief period – probably for part of a morning or an afternoon.
To guard against any loss of progress made during his South Carolina rest, McIntire has put President on a “take-it-easy” schedule, which is being followed every day. The President has abandoned his habit of doing business and engaging in conferences while eating lunch from a tray at his desk. He is now seeing very few callers in the afternoon and, in general, his routine has been lightened after 11 years of a hard-driving dally schedule.