FDR DIES UNEXPECTEDLY IN WARM SPRINGS, GEORGIA; TRUMAN SWORN IN AT THE WHITE HOUSE
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) On April 12, 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had led the Nation out of the Great Depression and through most of the Second World War, "died unexpectedly" of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Death came to the President at his summer cottage here in Warm Springs* where he had been residing for about a week. Mr. Roosevelt was pronounced dead at 3:35 p.m. Eastern War Time.
Vice-President Harry S Truman "has been notified" and rushed to the White House where Eleanor Roosevelt gave him the bad news. Mr. Truman's response to the First Lady was "Mrs. Roosevelt, is there anything we can do for you?" to which she answered, "No, Harry, is there anything we can do for you, for you are the one in trouble now."
The Associated Press reports the Vice-President's staff stood around the Senate Office Building with "their faces pale as though they had been stunned by the unexpected news."
Mr. Truman was sworn in as President of the United States at 7:09 p.m. (EWT) at the White House on April 12, 1945.
The Apache Sentinel states...
"The death of President Roosevelt shocked Washington to its foundation."
*Warm Springs is located in Meriwether County, 39 miles NE of Columbus, Georgia. Originally named Bullochville, the town remains the home of the Roosevelt Warm Springs Institute for Rehabilitation.
JFK+50 NOTE
FDR had come to Warm Springs to avail himself of the therapeutic waters there since 1924. During his presidency, his cottage built in 1932, was known as "The Little White House."
On April 12 1945, the President had been sitting for a portrait when he said "I have a terrific headache." FDR was taken to his bedroom where he passed away.
SOURCES
"President Dies Of Cerebral Hemorrhage At Warm Springs, Ga," The Apache Sentinel, April 13, 1945, Fort Huachuca, Arizona, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"Warm Springs Historic District," www.nps.gov/
