Unique Perspectives in the Papers and Records at the FDR Library
President Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945, less than three months into his fourth term, was the first in a series of events in 1945 that dramatically marked the end of one era and the beginning of another. Along with V-E Day, the atom bombs, and V-J Day, FDR’s death heralded a new post-war world, one in which the United States would be the most powerful nation on earth. FDR had known the future would be different, but it would be for others to steward change, including his widow, Eleanor Roosevelt.
The singular events of 1945 began that mild April day in West Georgia, in that modest clapboard home in Warm Springs, the Little White House, where the President had returned for what would be his last visit. He was gaunt, the trip to Yalta and back arduous, his February speech before a joint session of Congress conducted sitting down at a table in the well of the House. His last visit to this Library would be a quiet one, and then he travelled to Georgia.
A gaunt Roosevelt shortly before his death and with his secretary, Grace Tully, in Warm Springs.
We know the main events of that April day–the time spent with his cousins Laura Delano and Margaret “Daisy” Suckley, his visit with Lucy Mercer Rutherford, his sitting for the portraitist Elizabeth Shoumatoff, his collapse, and his final moments before the end that afternoon. And it was an end to more than one man’s life, more than the end of an era. For many people around FDR, it was an end to the professional and personal lives they had known in support of the President and his Administration. That end, a transition really, is reflected in records and papers at the Library.
Above, the main Library stacks at the FDR Library, April 2025.
The following are a few examples of how the President’s death is simply and sometimes powerfully reflected in the notes and papers of his staff and associates, as well as in administrative records which ultimately made their way to the Library. Though death had come quickly to FDR, so too did the transition to the Truman Administration. A war still raged, and in wartime, victory took precedence over reflection and grief. Yes, there would be honors, but in 1945, events of historical significance came one after another at a pace hard for us to grasp today.
William Hassett, Secretary to the President, who was in Warm Springs, described April 12th in his diary, portions of which were later published. Hassett provided photostats to the Library.
Above, a portion of William Hassett’s diary entry for April 12, 1945, FDR Library.
Louise Hachmeister, head of the White House switchboard, travelled with the Presidential party to ensure uninterrupted telephone communications for the President. She kept a small diary which contains her account of the day.
Above, Louise Hackmeister Diary, FDR Library.
White House administrative staff including backrow, center, Louise Hachmeister, 1938. Photo Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress.
Stephen Early, the President’s Press Secretary, who had remained at the White House, was notified of the President’s collapse by telephone. In one volume of his scrapbook collection, he taped the wire flashes spreading the news worldwide.
Left, Stephen Early’s Scrapbooks at the FDR Library, April 2025; Right, wire service news including the “flash” announcing FDR’s death. Early highlighted the entry with red pencil, Stephen Early Scrapbook, April 12, 1945.
In the West Wing, the new Administration was already at work. White House stenographer Joseph Romagna noted FDR’s death on the cover of his steno pad and continued his work through the evening.
Above, Joseph Romagna’s steno pad. The cover served as an index recording the date and the corresponding page number inside the pad. He also noted the the President’s death on the cover. Two pages of steno notes of press conferences on the 12th. Romagna took dictation exceptionally quickly and was almost always used for press conferences. These notes were transcribed after a meeting or at the end of the day.
In matter-of-fact terms reflecting the work of war and government, staffers referenced the President’s death in a variety of ways.
The White House police force entered the news in their daily log.
Above, White House Police Log, April 12, 1945. Note earlier in the day an officer had been injured on the stairs coming from the bomb shelter. FDR Library.
At the FDR Library, the director’s secretary, Alma Van Curran did the same.
Alma Van Curran, FDR Library Daily Log, 1944-1947. With the President at his death, Margaret “Daisy” Suckley was also an archivist on staff at the Library. Note her return to work on April 17, 1945.
Solicitor General Charles Fahy was in a meeting with former Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes.
Above, The Fahy diary in the FDR Library stacks and the entries for April 12, 1945.
Deputy Administrator of the Foreign Economic Administration Oscar S. Cox simply left the page blank for April 12th.
Above, the Cox diary in the FDR Library stacks and the blank page for April 12, 1945.
Edith Helm, White House social secretary, began cancelling events marking each appointment memo in red.
Above, scheduling memos marked in red, “cancelled,” by Edith Helm in the White House Social and Entertainment Files, FDR Library.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Edith Helm, and Malvina Thompson, the White House. FDR Library.
War communications were redirected to the new President. An aide records the last international message sent by FDR, a teletype to Ambassador Averill Harriman in Moscow.
Above, cable and coversheet noting this dispatch as the last diplomatic message sent by President Roosevelt. It concerned discussions regarding German surrender among FDR, Churchill and Stalin, April 12, 1945. Map Room Files, MR370, Germany (2), Sec. 1, Italian Negotiations, February 27-April 12, 1945, FDR Library.
On a more routine matter, the Roosevelts’ White House accounts came to an end. These accounts, broken down in several ways in different volumes, account for the number of diners, meals, and food and drink consumed. A note is also provided for Warm Springs. The accounts continued to April 19th, when Eleanor Roosevelt vacated the White House.
Above, White House account books for food and beverage, April 1945, FDR Library. These account books also evidence the number of guests staying or visiting the White House at any given time.
The State Department began compiling cables and telegrams from world leaders and provisional governments around the war-torn world.
Above, a State Department binder containing cables, telegrams, and messages of condolence. The message above is from King George VI of the United Kingdom, addressed to the new president, Harry S. Truman. U.S. Department of State Records, FDR Condolences, FDR Library.
In his expansive diary, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau, Jr., recorded his meeting with Eleanor Roosevelt and included his draft and final statement on the President’s death.
Above, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Diary, FDR Library.
This is but a small window into the worlds of the White House and Administration figures in April 1945. Though some are routine, together, they record a historic moment in American history, one that we commemorate today, eighty years later.
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