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[[image:Yaltaconference.JPG|thumb|300px|right|At Yalta, a [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580904574638352930354872.html withered and diminished] Roosevelt flanked by Stettinius (left) and Hiss (right); Churchill (foreground right, three-quarters back view); Stalin in shadows (far left). ''Courtesy [http://www.un.org/UN50/Photos/un50-016.gif United Nations Department of Public Information]'']]By this time, "[[Franklin Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] was not always master over his mind," according to Professor Felix Wittmer, a [http://www.biblio.com/books/225432106.html refugee from Nazi persecution].<ref>Felix Wittmer, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6hFWAAAAYAAJ The Yalta betrayal: data on the decline and fall of Franklin Delano Roosevelt]'' (Caxton Printers, 1953), p. 48</ref> "At Yalta he could neither think consecutively nor express himself coherently," agreed former Soviet propagandist<ref>David C. Engerman, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=UkFlO7hoxOMC Modernization from the other shore: American intellectuals and the romance of Russian development]'' (Harvard University Press, 2003) ISBN 0674011511, p. 201</ref> W.H. Chamberlin. With less than three months to live, the President suffered "occa­sional blackouts of memory, and loss of capacity for mental concen­tration."<ref>William Henry Chamberlin, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=JGQhAAAAMAAJ America's Second Crusade]'' (Regnery, 1950) ASIN 0865977070, p. 206. Cf. Rose McDermott, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=N_G-wELa3xYC Presidential Leadership, Illness, and Decision Making]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2008) ISBN 0521882729, pp. 96-110; Bert Edward Park, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=hSnUtD0-nWIC Ailing, Aging, Addicted: Studies of Compromised Leadership]'' (University Press of Kentucky, 1993) ISBN 0813118530, pp. 200, 207</ref> His face was "gray, gaunt, and sagging and the muscles controlling the lips seemed to have lost part of their function," wrote [[New Deal]] [[liberal]]<ref>Nathaniel Burt, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=L9ueb6r1uXgC The perennial Philadelphians: the anatomy of an American aristocracy]'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999) ISBN 0812216938, p. 35</ref> John Gunther. "I felt certain that he was going to die."<ref>John Gunther, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pRd3AAAAMAAJ Roosevelt in retrospect: a profile in history]'' (Harper, 1950), p. 29</ref> According to James Farley, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee:

[[image:Yaltaconference.JPG|thumb|300px|right|At Yalta, a [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580904574638352930354872.html withered and diminished] Roosevelt flanked by Stettinius (left) and Hiss (right); Churchill (foreground right, three-quarters back view); Stalin in shadows (far left). ''Courtesy [http://www.un.org/UN50/Photos/un50-016.gif United Nations Department of Public Information]'']]By this time, "[[Franklin Roosevelt|Roosevelt]] was not always master over his mind," according to Professor Felix Wittmer, a [http://www.biblio.com/books/225432106.html refugee from Nazi persecution].<ref>Felix Wittmer, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6hFWAAAAYAAJ The Yalta betrayal: data on the decline and fall of Franklin Delano Roosevelt]'' (Caxton Printers, 1953), p. 48</ref> "At Yalta he could neither think consecutively nor express himself coherently," agreed former Soviet propagandist<ref>David C. Engerman, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=UkFlO7hoxOMC Modernization from the other shore: American intellectuals and the romance of Russian development]'' (Harvard University Press, 2003) ISBN 0674011511, p. 201</ref> W.H. Chamberlin. With less than three months to live, the President suffered "occa­sional blackouts of memory, and loss of capacity for mental concen­tration."<ref>William Henry Chamberlin, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=JGQhAAAAMAAJ America's Second Crusade]'' (Regnery, 1950) ASIN 0865977070, p. 206. Cf. Rose McDermott, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=N_G-wELa3xYC Presidential Leadership, Illness, and Decision Making]'' (Cambridge University Press, 2008) ISBN 0521882729, pp. 96-110; Bert Edward Park, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=hSnUtD0-nWIC Ailing, Aging, Addicted: Studies of Compromised Leadership]'' (University Press of Kentucky, 1993) ISBN 0813118530, pp. 200, 207</ref> His face was "gray, gaunt, and sagging and the muscles controlling the lips seemed to have lost part of their function," wrote [[New Deal]] [[liberal]]<ref>Nathaniel Burt, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=L9ueb6r1uXgC The perennial Philadelphians: the anatomy of an American aristocracy]'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999) ISBN 0812216938, p. 35</ref> John Gunther. "I felt certain that he was going to die."<ref>John Gunther, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=pRd3AAAAMAAJ Roosevelt in retrospect: a profile in history]'' (Harper, 1950), p. 29</ref> According to James Farley, former Chairman of the Democratic National Committee:

{{cquote|In our evaluation of President Roosevelt, Cordell Hull and I agreed that he was a sick man at Yalta and should not have been called upon to make decisions affecting this country and the world. Physical illness, we knew, taxed his mind and left him in no shape to bargain with such hard bargainers as the Russians...<ref>James A. Farley, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=xebpf5ccGHkC Jim Farley's Story - The Roosevelt Years]'' (Read Books, 2007) ISBN 1406724548, p. 376</ref>}}

{{cquote|In our evaluation of President Roosevelt, Cordell Hull and I agreed that he was a sick man at Yalta and should not have been called upon to make decisions affecting this country and the world. Physical illness, we knew, taxed his mind and left him in no shape to bargain with such hard bargainers as the Russians...<ref>James A. Farley, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=xebpf5ccGHkC Jim Farley's Story - The Roosevelt Years]'' (Read Books, 2007) ISBN 1406724548, p. 376</ref>}}

Roosevelt's cardiologist agreed: At the conference, Roosevelt “was obviously greatly fatigued,” he observed. “His color was very poor (gray).”<ref>Edward Shorter, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=3scUP7B_R7kC Doctors and Their Patients: A Social History]'', 3rd Ed. (Transaction Publishers, 1991) ISBN 088738871X, p. 100</ref> Dr. Roger Lee, then president of the American Medical Association, wrote during Yalta that Roosevelt “was irascible and became very irritable if he had to concentrate his mind for long. If anything was brought up that wanted thinking out he would change the subject.”<ref>[[#refWilson2002|Wilson 2002]]: 276</ref> According to ''Chicago Tribune'' reporter Orville Dwyer, Dr. Louis E. Schmidt, a confidante of Roosevelt’s daughter Anna, told him that at Yalta FDR suffered frequent brain seizures, during which

Roosevelt's cardiologist agreed: At the conference, Roosevelt “was obviously greatly fatigued,” he observed. “His color was very poor (gray).”<ref>Edward Shorter, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=3scUP7B_R7kC Doctors and Their Patients: A Social History]'', 3rd Ed. (Transaction Publishers, 1991) ISBN 088738871X, p. 100</ref> Dr. Roger Lee, then president of the American Medical Association, wrote during Yalta that Roosevelt “was irascible and became very irritable if he had to concentrate his mind for long. If anything was brought up that wanted thinking out he would change the subject.”<ref>[[#refWilson2002|Wilson 2002]]: 276</ref> ''Chicago Tribune'' reporter Orville Dwyer reported that Dr. Louis E. Schmidt, a confidante of Roosevelt’s daughter Anna, informed him that at Yalta FDR suffered frequent brain seizures, during which

{{cquote|he would be unconscious (completely out) although sitting up and apparently functioning for periods of from a few seconds to several minutes. Dr Schmidt said he has no doubt from his conversations with Anna that these were occurring regularly at the time he was meeting with Churchill and Stalin and holding other momentous conferences of the utmost importance to the United States.  He said the effect would be that he would be cognizant of what was going on, then suddenly lose the thread completely for anywhere from a few seconds to two or three minutes&mdash;and that he could not possibly have known what was going on in between.<ref>Steven Lomazow , "[http://hnn.us/articles/126978.html The Truth About 'The Sick Man At Yalta']," History News Network (George Mason University), May 24, 2010</ref>}}

{{cquote|he would be unconscious (completely out) although sitting up and apparently functioning for periods of from a few seconds to several minutes. Dr Schmidt said he has no doubt from his conversations with Anna that these were occurring regularly at the time he was meeting with Churchill and Stalin and holding other momentous conferences of the utmost importance to the United States.  He said the effect would be that he would be cognizant of what was going on, then suddenly lose the thread completely for anywhere from a few seconds to two or three minutes&mdash;and that he could not possibly have known what was going on in between.<ref>Steven Lomazow , "[http://hnn.us/articles/126978.html The Truth About 'The Sick Man At Yalta']," History News Network (George Mason University), May 24, 2010</ref>}}

“The President seemed placid and frail,” wrote [[Winston Churchill]]. “I felt that he had a slender contact with life.”<ref>Sir Winston Churchill, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=M_6cljKX0uUC Triumph and Tragedy]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986) ISBN 0395410606, p. 348</ref> "Winston is puzzled and distressed," noted Churchill's physician. "The President no longer seems to the P.M. to take an intelligent interest in the war; often he does not seem even to read the papers the P.M. gives him."<ref>This may have been due to FDR's "inability to follow the text," perhaps due to "a dysfunction in the right posterior portion of the brain." Claude R. Marx, "[http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/01/02/a_journalist_and_neurologist_examine_fdrs_deadly_secret/ A Second Opinion on FDR’s Condition]," ''Boston Globe'', January 2, 2010. Cf. Steven Lomazow and Eric Fettmann, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=usRaPgAACAAJ FDR's Deadly Secret]'' (PublicAffairs, 2010) ISBN 1586487442</ref> He commented:

“The President seemed placid and frail,” wrote [[Winston Churchill]]. “I felt that he had a slender contact with life.”<ref>Sir Winston Churchill, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=M_6cljKX0uUC Triumph and Tragedy]'' (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1986) ISBN 0395410606, p. 348</ref> "Winston is puzzled and distressed," noted Churchill's physician. "The President no longer seems to the P.M. to take an intelligent interest in the war; often he does not seem even to read the papers the P.M. gives him."<ref>This may have been due to FDR's "inability to follow the text," perhaps due to "a dysfunction in the right posterior portion of the brain." Claude R. Marx, "[http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2010/01/02/a_journalist_and_neurologist_examine_fdrs_deadly_secret/ A Second Opinion on FDR’s Condition]," ''Boston Globe'', January 2, 2010. Cf. Steven Lomazow and Eric Fettmann, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=usRaPgAACAAJ FDR's Deadly Secret]'' (PublicAffairs, 2010) ISBN 1586487442</ref> He commented: