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In this image taken from film shot by former Major League Baseball player Jimmie DeShong and acquired by the Pennsylvania Historical &amp; Museum Commission, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, center right, walks to his seat with the aid of an assistant at the Major League Baseball All-Star game on July 7, 1937 at Griffith Stadium in Washington. The rare footage helps dispel the myth that he tried to hide his disability and shows the courage it took to go about his daily life, experts said Friday, May 16, 2014. (AP Photo/Pennsylvania Historical &amp; Museum Commission)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Rare film footage featuring President Franklin D. Roosevelt walking to his seat at a baseball game helps dispel the myth that he completely hid his disability and shows the courage it took to go about his daily life, experts said Friday.




DeShong's daughter Judy Savastio said she showed the clip to officials at the FDR library in Hyde Park, New York, about two years ago. She allowed the footage to be used in a montage that has been on view at the museum for about a year.

"I was very surprised that they were so excited about it," Savastio said Friday.




The lack of historical imagery gives the impression that Roosevelt actively concealed his paralysis. But experts say he tried to minimize it to make the public more comfortable and to ensure that other nations didn't view him as a weak leader.

"Thousands of people saw him walk like that quite frequently, in person. That was no secret at all," said Ray Begovich, a journalism professor at Franklin College near Indianapolis who has researched Roosevelt's public image. "Americans knew he had polio, that he was sick and that he struggled, but they just did not know the extent of his disability."

The FDR snippet is about eight seconds of DeShong's silent footage, which overall is more than five minutes long.

The rest of the film, shot with an 8 millimeter camera during batting practice at Griffith Stadium, features a slew of baseball players, including Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Hank Greenberg and Dizzy Dean.


Associated Press writers Kathy Matheson in Philadelphia and Rick Callahan in Indianapolis contributed to this story.