The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency

By James Tobin

Categories: Biographies & Memoirs

The Man He Became: How FDR Defied Polio to Win the Presidency (2013) is a book by James Tobin. Tobin tells how Franklin Roosevelt's struggle with polio after 1921 shaped his character and public image. He follows Roosevelt's rehabilitation, his return to politics and the careful management of his disability on the long path back to public life and the presidency.

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• Fareed Zakaria: “This week's book of the week is "The Man He Became" by James Tobin. The author looks at just one aspect of Franklin Roosevelt's life: his struggle with polio, and he sheds remarkable light on the man who became America's greatest modern president. Tobin persuasively shows that it was FDR's battle to overcome this disability that most profoundly turned him into the man he became and the president he became.”