During J. Edgar Hoover’s tenure as Director of the FBI (from 1924 to 1972), the Bureau collected information on the speech habits of incumbent US Presidents and had it analyzed to determine whether the President might be diagnosable as suffering from a neurologically-
Coolidge: | “...almost complete loss of speech production ability... is probably indicative of severe damage to Broca’s area. Either that, or he’s just a cretin.” | |
Roosevelt: | “...displays a fascinating ability to create lovely- | |
Kennedy: | “...seems to have an advanced case of Roosevelt’s syndrome... nice sounding phrases such as ‘Ask not, etc.’ are legion... a pretty façade devoid of content... wish we had FDR’s brain available for dissection | |
Johnson: | “...classic Tourette’s syndrome... speech (full of) random obscenities, nasty comments, grunts, groans, and snarls... as with most Tourette’s victims, the President’s close friends and advisers pay less attention to his outbursts than would those who do not know him.” | |
Nixon: | “...a milder case of Tourette’s syndrome than Johnson’s compounded by mild Broca’s aphasia... speech also affected by occasional memory loss...”
The following was added to Nixon’s file in 1974: “...memory loss has assumed tremendous proportions... seems unable to recall any conversations held in the Oval Office in 1972...” |