Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1882-1945

By 1945, health problems, including the effects of the polio that plagued FDR for more than 20 years, became so severe that the President was forced to address Congress on the Yalta conference from his wheelchair. Although FDR established the March of Dimes and a hospital in Warm Springs, Ga., to help polio victims, his own disability was kept a tightly held secret throughout his years in the White House. The photo above of Roosevelt, with his Scottish terrier, Fala, and Ruthie Bie, the daughter of his housekeeper at Hill Top Cottage in Hyde Park, N.Y., is one of only two prints showing the President in a wheelchair.

• Presidents and Their Dogs