In his book In Sickness and In Power, the former British politician and doctor David Owen (sorry – Lord Owen) discusses the physical and mental health of various 20th century leaders.(*) The chapter on John F. Kennedy is extremely interesting. The most popular President of the century was both seriously ill and a big drug user.
Although he denied it at the time, to the point of lying, it’s now known that Kennedy suffered from Addison’s disease, a serious chronic condition leading to a lack of the steroid hormone cortisol, and in his case, also of thyroid hormone. As a result he required daily hormone treatments of cortisone , tri-iodothyronine and testosterone to stay alive. Kennedy also suffered from several other health problems such as chronic back pain following a World War 2 injury (his boat was rammed by a Japanese submarine and sank), and came close to death at ...
