Predicting Presidential Disability with Modern Medical Techniques

Come join the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library at our Library and Research Center on Monday, March 20th at 7:00 pm to hear Dr. Michael Dickens discuss the topic of Predicting Presidential Disability with Modern Medical Techniques. The program will also be offered virtually on Zoom.

Dr. Dickens is an acknowledged expert on the topic of Presidents and health. In particular, he will address issues such as:

-Although the 25th Amendment is difficult to invoke, what circumstances regarding health would need to be present?
– What would be the differences between identifying a physical and mental impairment in triggering the Amendment?
– What level of certainty would be required to disqualify a candidate or remove an office holder?
– And, what are the benefits of injecting more health considerations into the public space counterbalanced by a potential dampening effect on candidates with disabilities or medical conditions?

Dr. Dickens graduated with honors from Princeton University and received his M.D. degree from Columbia University. In addition to practicing medicine for forty years, He has served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library.

At the request of the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine & Surgery, Dr. Dickens published two articles on Presidential disability and the role of Wilson’s physician in managing and hiding from public view of Wilson’s many severe medical problems.

He was the first physician to access the previously private letters of Dr. Cary Grayson, President Wilson’s White House physician, and Dr. Grayson’s private medical records of Wilson.