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Roosevelt's vacation proved a disastrous one, for it had hardly begun when he was stricken with the dread infantile paralysis that was then sweeping the country. The epidemic had been raging in New York when he had left and in his weakened physical condition he had fallen prey to the malignant germ. Valiantly he fought the disease and eventually won his life, but his promising political career seemed at an end -- Franklin Roosevelt had been left a helpless cripple! His legs that had carried him through thirty-nine years of active, vigorous life failed him, the passing disease left them useless. As was characteristic of Roosevelt he did not give way to despair and sink into a state of chronic melancholia. The old fighting spirit came to the fore. "I'll beat this thing!" he swore -- and he did. In the course of numerous treatments and the pursuit of various theories Roosevelt heard of swimming and exercising in certain warm waters as a means of bringing back life to paralysis deadened limbs. Intent upon following every clue that might lead to recovery, F. D. journeyed to a remote little resort at Warm Springs, Georgia, and there commenced his heroic fight back to health. The "treatment" actually worked wonders and today Franklin Roosevelt is "on his feet again." Life slowly returned to his legs as he, day after day, week after week, swam and underwent a course of exercise in the pleasant warm spring water and basked in the friendly rays of the Georgia sun. Persistent and methodical exercise in the delightful warm waters had worked a modern miracle! So that other cripples and sufferers might benefit by the Warm Springs treatment, so successful in his case, Roosevelt organized and financed the Warm Springs Foundation in 1927, with the object and purpose of developing the resort and bringing its benefits within the reach of all. Later he interested the Rockefellers and the Fords in the humanitarian enterprise and put it on a permanent basis. Roosevelt did not seek publicity and his activities were not generally known but his fine work in the behalf of the crippled unfortunates has endeared him to many grateful families throughout the country, wherein some stricken member has regained health or found blessed relief because of the Warm Springs treatments and Roosevelt's philanthropy. The story of Franklin Roosevelt's tragic illness, his courageous battle to regain the use of his limbs, his ultimate victory over the misfortune and his solicitude and aid of fellow sufferers makes one of the most interesting chapters of his eventful life.

Through the good offices of Franklin Roosevelt, Warm Springs, Georgia, has become a haven for crippled sufferers from all over the country. They flock to the life-giving warm waters from every part of America and from foreign shores and one and all they look upon Roosevelt as a sort of godfather and the guiding spirit of the resort. Warm Springs is his gift to them, his helping hand to raise them from a life of despairing helplessness and make them whole citizens again. As one ex-patient aptly puts it, "The helpful, genial spirit of Franklin Roosevelt permeates Warm Springs." In 1930 he permitted the trustees of the Warm Springs Foundation to insure his life for half a million dollars in behalf of the Foundation and the crippled patients. In his Warm Springs resort Roosevelt is called "the Chief" and he in turn proclaims Georgia as his "other State." He has laid plans to develop other warm springs resorts in different parts of the country and extend his humanitarian project so that all may have the benefit of the wonderful revitalizing treatments.

Roosevelt is an expert swimmer and his general muscular development is superb. His well-proportioned body is aglow with health and his once useless legs are rapidly returning to normal condition. He is very much alive, physically and mentally. It is Franklin D.'s own belief that a person who has had infantile paralysis is healthier than ever before in his life. He simply lacks muscle-power in certain parts of his body. In 1931 another infantile paralysis epidemic swept New York and certain other parts of the country. A call was sent out for blood donations to help in fighting the disease and Roosevelt was one of the first to volunteer. He gave a pint of his paralysis-proof blood so that some stricken children might have a chance for their lives.