Quiz: Can You Diagnose America’s Sickest Presidents?

Ail to the chief! Test your knowledge of presidential medical histories.

Mother Jones illustration. (Glove: AXL/Shutterstock; Washington: Wikimedia Commons)

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All in all, America’s presidents have been a sickly lot. Yet John Sotos, a California cardiologist who has spent more than a decade investigating and posthumously diagnosing their infirmities, from ague to Alzheimer’s, has found that a long medical history isn’t necessarily a barrier to making history. “The three best presidents we’ve had—Washington, Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt—were all visited by serious illness,” he says. “I wonder if there is something in that experience which humbles a man, and raises his decision-making to a higher plane.”

Ready to play doctor? Take this short quiz on some notable presidential afflictions.

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PLEASE—BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things it doesn’t like—which is most things that are true.

We’ll say it loud and clear: At Mother Jones, no one gets to tell us what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please do your part and help us reach our $150,000 membership goal by May 31.

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