lagued by illness of various sorts during the previous decade, and he had overexerted himself swimming and hiking at Campobello. In great agony and completely unable to walk, Roosevelt seemed to have reached the end of his active public career. Indeed, his mother wanted him to return to Hyde Park for the peace and quiet of the life of a country gentleman. However, backed by the determination of his wife and Louis Howe, Roosevelt decided to return to his work as soon as possible. In spite of the efforts of numerous specialists and of his strenuous exercises, particularly swimming at his second home in Warm Springs, Georgia, he was never again able to walk unaided. He spent most of his working hours in a wheelchair, and he walked with leg braces and canes, usually with help. Through the worst years of his paralysis, Roosevelt was amazingly cheerful. Eleanor Roosevelt often acted as her husbands eyes and ears, bringing him information and conferring with people he was no longer readily able to meet. Howe remained close by Roosevelt, assisting him in many ways and planning for his return to public life.Roosevelt continued to busy himself with Democratic politics after his illness. And in 1928 Roosevelt made a run for the Governor of New York, and won by a narrow margin. In October 1929 the economic prosperity that the United States had enjoyed for most of the 1920s came to an abrupt end. Following the stock market crash of October 1929 Roosevelt found himself a depression governor, with new problems to face. In 1930 he was reelected by the unprecedented number of 725,000 votes.In 1932 there was a presidential election and Roosevelt got the Democratic nomination, but had a tough time doing it. Roosevelt had more difficulty in winning the Democratic nomination in 1932 than he had in defeating President Hoover. In spite of Hoovers unprecedented efforts to use the power of the federal government to overcome the Great Depression, he was complet...
