Woodrow Wilson caught the Spanish Flu in April of 1919.

[Renew Deal]

<snip>
Even President Wilson could not avoid the contagious disease, and became ill in the midst of the peace talks. In April 1919, Rear Admiral Cary T. Grayson, personal physician to the president, wrote to a friend, explaining that: “These past two weeks have certainly been strenuous days for me. The President was suddenly taken violently sick with the influenza at a time when the whole of civilization seemed to be in the balance.”13
The extent of President Wilson’s illness was not revealed to the American people, however. Instead, Grayson informed the press that it was merely a cold caused by the “chilly and rainy weather” in Paris to maintain confidence in the president.14
Wilson’s absence came at a critical moment of the negotiations. The Big Four were attempting to solve larger questions of German reparations, the creation of the League of Nations, and the threat of Bolshevism—all of which were jeopardized by Wilson’s sickness.15
As Grayson’s assuring reports of Wilson’s speedy recovery were printed in The New York Times and The Washington Post, influenza confined Wilson to his bed, where he was barely able to talk or stand upright.16
The press reported his condition back to concerned American audiences daily. One columnist for The Washington Post wrote:

The country will be anxious regarding President Wilson until he is again at work…It is a time when an hour lost means the loss of millions of hours to these individuals who are awaiting to begin reconstruction…the allied world hopes for the sake of its material interests that his illness will be light and brief.

Back at the White House, worried citizens expressed sympathy for their sick president abroad and well-wishers across America sent “scores of telegrams” to the Executive Mansion.18
To the country’s delight, Wilson recovered his strength and quickly returned to negotiations.
<snip>

https://www.whitehousehistory.org/spanish-influenza-in-the-presidents-neighborhood

A lot of his staff including FDR also caught it. The article is a history of the Spanish Flu in the White House.

[Cha]

3. My paternal grandfather

Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2020, 12:46 AM - Edit history (1)

perished from it.

Thank you for this history, RD

[Walleye]

4. My maternal grandmother had it.

My mom was an infant. She would tell how her mom gave her to a relative, because she didn’t think she would survive.

[Cha]

5. Wow.. I so glad she did.. I wish

my grandfather had.

[Walleye]

6. Me too. Unfortunately I never knew her.

She died of cancer long before I was born. My mom died of the same cancer. So now I’m doing my best to avoid that fate.

[Cha]

7. Best of Good Health to you, Walleye!