Columnist Dale Courtney may well be correct in his belief that President Joe Biden is in cognitive decline and that the media has failed to report it. (July 18 Daily News, page 7A)

Some people begin experiencing cognitive decline in their 20s or 30s, but more commonly in their 50s. It becomes very common in people in their 70s and beyond.

If Biden is becoming cognitively impaired, he’s not the first cognitively impaired or incapacitated president to hold office.

Nor is today’s news media the first to ignore, or help hide it.

The important question is whether his mental acuity has declined so much that he shouldn’t seek reelection. If so, neither is he fit to serve six more months, in which case Biden should resign now and let Vice President Kamala Harris move into the White House.

However, many of the Parkinson's disease symptoms that Courtney lists as evidence don’t justify a Biden exit, post haste, or by not seeking reelection.

Hold the thought for a little history.

Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe, debilitating stroke in October 1919 and his wife pre-screened all visitors, deciding who could see the bedridden president. Edith Bolling Wilson functionally ran the Executive branch of government for nearly a year and a half.

She said she “... never made a single decision regarding the disposition of public affairs.”

But she became the only communication link between the president and his cabinet, requiring members to send all pressing matters, memos, correspondence, questions, and requests to her and she decided which would be seen by the president, and when.

Both President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill were in significant cognitive decline as they led the Allies during World War II. Both were seriously worn down by the five-year war and, no, the news media didn’t report the seriousness of their problems; especially not Roosevelt’s.

Great pains were taken to cloak Franklin’s longstanding paralysis from polio.

The University of Virginia’s Miller Center reports, “Those close to the President — and even those who saw him speak in public — noted his haggard and weak appearance, his flagging energy, and his increasing lapses of concentration and memory."

Many who worked with him also noted personality changes during the final stages of the war, and, that may explain some of his problems with relationships at that time.

Similarly, British citizens were not informed that Churchill was diagnosed as having suffered a heart attack in December 1941 while visiting the White House. His recovery was long. He also was disabled several times by pneumonia, before penicillin. Fortunately, he survived.

Neither American nor British citizens knew of their leaders’ serious health problems, which were magnified by the crushing pressures of managing the largest world war in history and they brought it to a successful end.

Successful, but not perfect.

Some historians believe that their frailty, which was evident to participants at the Potsdam Conference (July 17 to August 2, 1945) allowed Joseph Stalin (Russia then was our ally) to have his way with them on settlement of the terms of peace.

The media, and that includes Courtney, focus on things that may be insignificant or meaningless. Things such as word-finding difficulties, balance problems, falling down, postural rigidity, forgetfulness and bouncing off of doorway jams, all traits or symptoms that I’ve experienced now for 86 years and counting.

My primary physician laughed out loud at the thought that I might be flirting with senility.

I’m politically a man without a party who supports Biden. However, President Lyndon B. Johnson decided not to run for reelection after CBS’ Walter Cronkite aired a damning report on the Vietnam War, famously saying "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."

Well, folks, Biden has lost television news. He won’t survive TV’s hammering and yammering. Senile or not, Biden has lost the election. Hang it up, Joe. Bow out with grace and enjoy a great legacy.

Day has lived in Pullman since 1972. During his 11-year career in journalism, he reported on politics. He then served on the Washington State University faculty for 32 years as a science communicator. He enjoys email at terence@moscow.com.