An intro to a statistical bias that makes its brutal presence felt through a complete absence of data
On a gray November evening, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt settled in front of the radio at Springwood, some 300 miles northeast of the White House.
Nestled within the rolling wooded hills on the east bank of the Hudson, Springwood was Franklin Roosevelt’s lifelong home. It was the center of the world for the President. A place of familiarity and comfort that he returned to time and time again throughout the twelve years of his era-defining presidency.¹
On that November evening, Roosevelt and his family had planted themselves in front of the radio for a special reason.
It was the evening of November 3, 1936.