On April 12, 1945, the 32nd president of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, died in Georgia. Harry Truman along with an entire nation was stunned by Roosevelt’s unexpected passing.
Franklin_Roosevelt_funeral_procession_535The President had gone to Warm Springs, Georgia, on doctor’s advice on March 29, 1945, to recover from what was believed to be exhaustion. Around 1:15 p.m., Roosevelt collapsed in a chair as he sat for a portrait painting as he complained of a terrific headache. Within two hours, he was pronounced dead at the age of 63.
Truman, in particular, had little contact with Roosevelt since becoming FDR’s third Vice President in January 1945. Nine months earlier, the former Senator from Missouri had been a compromise choice among Democratic leaders to replace Roosevelt’s second Vice President, Henry Wallace.
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