Coming To Terms

In 1952, at the age of 19, Hugh Gregory Gallagher contracted polio and would shortly thereafter be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. In this revealing interview/documentary, the author (FDR's Splendid Deception) and legislator (he drafted the Architectural Barriers Act in 1968, the piece of legislation requiring federally funded buildings to have wheelchair access ramps) talks about his struggles with polio and his changing perceptions of his childhood idol, President Roosevelt. Gallagher movingly recalls his close call with death as an adolescent, the support of his family, and his bitterness over being rejected for a Rhodes scholarship (which stipulated a "fit mind and body"). Accepted at Oxford, Gallagher became a congressional assistant and a successful lobbyist until leaving work in 1974, after realizing that his self-esteem was shattered and that he had no real personal life. Turning his attention to FDR, Gallagher sought to discover how his hero had made polio such an unimportant part of his life. In researching his book, Gallagher found that FDR, rather than being the heroic model the author had always seen him as, was actually practicing an almost psychotic denial (for example, only two actual photos of FDR in a wheelchair exist; and whenever spectators took pictures of FDR being lifted into the presidential car, Secret Service men confiscated the film). FDR used his sons, quite literally, as supports, and wore leg braces to help keep him erect. In writing FDR's story, Gallagher realized that the president had, in fact, done polio sufferers a disservice, when simple acknowledgement on his part would have been a tremendous boon for the physically handicapped across a wide spectrum. Coming to Terms is an engaging documentary about one man's struggle to accept his polio condition even while it details another man's struggle to conceal the condition. Recently made available in a closed-caption version, Coming to Terms is highly recommended. (Available from: The Cinema Guild, 1697 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.)