Nikki Ekstein writes features for Bloomberg, including this one on the Waldorf Astoria hotel, letting us in on a number of secrets, including the fact that there is a secret, presidents only train station under the hotel. “There’s no way to detect it from above ground, but right below the Waldorf is a little-known extension of Grand Central Station, built in the 1930s to help Franklin Delano Roosevelt keep his polio diagnosis private.” Since Roosevelt contracted polio in 1921, and appeared at the Democratic Convention in 1924 on crutches, it wasn’t a secret. Everyone knew Roosevelt had polio. What they didn’t know was how severe it was—that he was in fact confined to a wheelchair and could scarcely walk even with crutches, which he abandoned for carefully choreographed “walks”. This clip from “The American Experience” examines “Roosevelt walking”.
