80 years ago, FDR’s death ended one of nation’s most consequential presidencies

Roosevelt led the nation through the Depression and World War II through a record 12 years in office.

(Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division).

By Frederic J. Frommer

Franklin D. Roosevelt, who transformed the federal government’s role in the welfare of Americans like none other, died 80 years ago this Saturday. His death, on April 12, 1945, came as the United States was closing in on the Nazis but still had a huge fight on its hands with Japan in the final year of World War II.

“The President, stricken by a cerebral hemorrhage, passed from unconsciousness to death on the eighty-third day of his fourth term and in an hour of high triumph,” the New York Times wrote in a story the next day. “The armies and fleets under his direction as Commander in Chief were at the gates of Berlin and the shores of Japan's home islands as Mr. Roosevelt died, and the cause he represented and led was nearing the conclusive phase of success.”

Roosevelt died at what was dubbed the “Little White House” in Warm Springs, Ga., on a 1,200-acre property he had purchased years before and transformed into a center to treat polio, from which he had suffered for nearly a quarter-century. “I have a terrific pain in the back of my head,” he said before collapsing. The president had been in failing health for some time, including heart ailments, high blood pressure and bronchitis, but the White House physician declared that his death “came out of a clear sky.”

Back in Washington, Vice President Harry Truman was having a drink with House Speaker Sam Rayburn, House parliamentarian Lewis Deschler and James Barnes, a White House staffer assigned to congressional liaison, in Rayburn’s private hideaway known as the “Board of Education.” According to David McCullough’s biography of Truman, Deschler told him he had a call from the White House, and Rayburn said, “Steve Early wants you to call him right away,” referring to FDR’s press secretary.

Truman first poured himself a drink before dialing the White House, announcing, “This is the V.P.” Early told Truman to come to the White House as soon as possible. Truman, who thought he was being summoned to meet the president, exclaimed, “Jesus Christ and General Jackson” as he hung up the phone. He raced back to his office on the Senate side before getting driven through rush hour traffic to the White House. Arriving at 5:25 p.m., he walked into a room with Early, Eleanor Roosevelt, and her daughter and son-in-law.

“Harry, the president is dead,” the first lady told him.

After a long pause, Truman asked if there was anything he could do for her.

“Is there anything we can do for you,” she replied. “For you are the one in trouble now.”

Truman, wearing a gray suit, a white shirt and a polka-dot tie, took the oath of office at 7:09 p.m. that night from Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone in a ceremony that lasted just one minute. "The world may be sure that we will prosecute the war on both fronts, East and West, with all the vigor we possess to a successful conclusion,” he said in his first statement as president.

The next day, he told reporters, “Boys, if you ever pray, pray for me now.”

“I don't know whether you fellows ever had a load of hay fall on you, but when they told me yesterday what had happened, I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me,” he added.

As FDR’s body made its way from Georgia to D.C. by train, hundreds of thousands of Americans lined the route. He would be buried on April 15 in Hyde Park, New York. For millions of American kids, Roosevelt, who served just over 12 years, was the only president they could remember. He was the first and only president to serve more than two terms. In 1951, the 22^nd Amendment to the Constitution would bar future presidents from being elected to a third full term.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill later said that when he heard of FDR’s death, he felt like he had "been struck a physical blow." Meanwhile, when U.S. Ambassador Averell Harriman mmet America’s other World War II ally, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. “I noticed that he was obviously deeply distressed at the news at the death of President Roosevelt,” Harriman wrote in a memo. Stalin told him, “President Roosevelt has died but his cause must live on. We shall support President Truman with all our forces and all our will.”

The Times wrote that FDR “was regarded by millions as indispensable to winning the war and making a just and lasting peace. On the basis of this opinion, they elected him to a fourth term in 1944. He was regarded by those same millions as the one American qualified to deal successfully and effectively with the leaders of other nations – particularly Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin – and this was another reason for his re-election.”

Even one of his sharpest critics, Republican Sen. Robert A. Taft of Ohio, called FDR “the greatest figure of our time.”

Domestically, Roosevelt’s New Deal not only helped a reeling nation get through the Depression with programs such as the Works Progress Administration, which put millions of unemployed Americans to work, but it also cemented the social safety net through the creation of Social Security. As FDR biographer Jean Edward Smith wrote, “He lifted himself from his wheelchair to lift this nation from its knees.”

Frederic J. Frommer, a writer and sports and politics historian, has written for the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine and other national publications. He is the author of several books, including “You Gotta Have Heart: Washington Baseball from Walter Johnson to the 2019 World Series Champion Nationals." Follow him on X and Bluesky.

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