Of all the doctors who have served as personal physician to the president of the United States, none has enjoyed as close, longstanding - or as controversial - a personal relationship with his patient as did Ross Thomas McIntire (1889-1959). For 11 years, he was not only Franklin Delano Roosevelt's doctor, he was also his personal confidante, traveling companion, fishing and poker buddy, and an integral member of FDR's small, innermost circle of trusted advisors.
During most of that same period, he served as Surgeon General of the United States Navy, a position whose prestige McIntire clearly enjoyed and at which, by all accounts, he excelled; one that ultimately left him accountable to the commander-in-chief, who also happened to be his personal patient.
This relationship raised questions that linger to this day as to whether McIntire placed his loyalty and sense of responsibility to his patient over that of the country - by concealing the true state of FDR's precarious and declining health from the American people.
