[282] Howard Snyder, his personal physician, misdiagnosed the symptoms as indigestion, and failed to call in help that was urgently needed. Snyder later falsified his own records to cover his blunder and to allow Eisenhower to imply that he was healthy enough to do his job.[283][284][285]
The heart attack required six weeks' hospitalization, during which time Nixon, Dulles, and Sherman Adams assumed administrative duties and provided communication with the president.[286] He was treated by Paul Dudley White, a cardiologist with a national reputation, who regularly informed the press of the president's progress. Instead of discounting him as a candidate for a second term as president, his physician recommended a second term as essential to his recovery.[287]
As a consequence of his heart attack Eisenhower developed a left ventricular aneurysm, which caused a mild stroke during a cabinet meeting on November 25, 1957, when Eisenhower suddenly found himself unable to move his right hand, or to speak as the stroke had caused aphasia. The president also suffered from Crohn's disease,[288] chronic inflammatory condition of the intestine,[289] which necessitated surgery for a bowel obstruction on June 9, 1956.