Asthma and The Rough Rider
To our readers, I apologize for my prolonged absence. I’ve been dutifully reading my presidential biographies, but the gap between my readings and my reviews grew so large as to be overwhelming. In an attempt to start anew, I’ll be writing about the 20th-century presidents as I complete their biographies.
Last week, I finished Edmund Morris’s trilogy about Theodore Roosevelt. It should come as no surprise that I highly recommend all three volumes. But an interesting experiment is to read David McCullough’s Mornings on Horseback in conjunction with Morris’s first volume, The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt. It’s interesting because the two authors offer different perspectives on Roosevelt’s asthma. Why did he have his asthma attacks when he did?
Morris doesn’t seem to attribute much significance to the timing of the attacks, but McCullough explores their psychosomatic side. He notes that, during Roosevelt’s childhood, the attacks occurred “on weekends, usually Saturday night or what was actually early Sunday morning.” On these days, life was stiff and wooden. “Among such properly devout families as the Roosevelts,” McCullough writes, “it was a day of rigidly prescribed dress and behavior, of formal family gatherings, of little or no play, of church, Bible readings, family prayers, evening hymn singing in the parlor.” In other words, “it was permissible to look at things as the day went on, but not to do much.” Roosevelt hated that.
A friend asked me whether it would be a waste to read both books; I answered in the negative. McCullough explains how Roosevelt’s family, especially his sisters Bamie and Corrine, influenced him, something on which Morris puts less focus. Interested readers would benefit from both volumes, particularly if they read them in rapid succession.
Let me apologize again for the briefness of my post, but I’m currently on James Grant’s informative biography of House speaker Thomas Reed (a “bonus chapter,” as I call it, before turning to William Howard Taft). I hope to be more consistent in my dispatches!
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Comments:
Aug '10
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
Maybe he was allergic to his Sunday clothes?
I'm actually half-serious.
I'm thinking they were probably wool garments, and they were kept packed away all week, where they could collect dust, mildew, or other pathogens.
If the whole family all got their Sunday clothes out of storage at the same time, it could (possibly, maybe) mean a whole lot of microscopic crud was released into the air at the same time, each and every week.
Since no cleaning would be done on the Sunday, any microscopic crud that settled on the floor would continue to be kicked up until the house got a good sweeping on Monday.
I have asthma, but I only needed an inhaler once I got my own apartment. I don't keep the place as clean as I should.
May '10
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
Thanks for the helpful info...I'm in the middle of my research for a two week course on TR for adult education this summer. Solid insights.
May '11
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
I read McCullough's book first when I was on a McCullough kick after hearing him lecture at a seminar. I then read Morris's second book which began with McKinley assasination and then decided I knew enough about TR to satisfy me for awhile. There are a lot of things to read as you obviously have learned. I didn't intend to read those particular books in that order but I am glad I did.
There are no psychosomatic components to asthma.
Edited on April 12, 2012 at 10:29pmAug '10
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
Perhaps not, but there are psychiatric syndromes that mimic asthma.
May '11
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
Misthiocracy
Perhaps not, but there are psychiatric syndromes that mimic asthma. · 2 minutes ago
Yep and those are a lot harder to treat.
Apr '11
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
Growing up with asthma and allergies, I'd say Misthiocracy is probably right on track here.
Edited on April 12, 2012 at 11:32pmDec '10
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
Are we going to argue over the meaning of "psychosomatic" or whether there's an emotional aspect to allergies/asthma? Because I have two close friends whose experience is hard evidence proving the latter.
Apr '11
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
In context of the original post:
From what I gather, the strictness and severity of expectations for Sunday behavior is implied to have been a possible cause for the attacks, hence psychosomatic.
High stress or anxiety can aggravate my symptoms, but not necessarily, otherwise I'd have horrible asthma at least three times a week, if not more. On the other hand, relaxation techniques can alleviate symptoms. For example I found in college during a Tai Chi class that by the end, any hint of asthma was gone for a time. Then it'd return a few hours later.
Meanwhile I've found there's distinct health triggers that would set off an attack, usually related to allergies or recent illness like a cold or flu.
Aug '10
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
I don't buy it. The strictness manifested itself in inactivity. I've never heard of inactivity being an asthma trigger.
So, this kid was rambunctious six days a week with no asthma attacks, killing sasquatch with his bare hands and fending off alien invasions (I'm sure I read that somewhere...), and then on the one day he is forced to rest the mere stress of not exercising causes an attack? It makes no sense to me.
Environmental factors related to being cooped up inside an old house seem much more likely.
Also, maybe the Sunday clothes weren't laundered as frequently as his everyday clothes. After all, if he never did anything strenuous on Sundays then they would never get visibly dirty. However, not laundering the Sunday clothes could allow mould and mildew to build up over time.
Sep '10
Re: Asthma and The Rough Rider
Did you read the Chester Arthur biography that McCullough praises in there? I have not (or any book about Arthur), but his great writing on the Republican politics of the time contributed to my growing interest in learning a lot more about late nineteenth century presidents, the ones we are cheated out of in the schools.