On April 12, 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage in his cottage in Warm Springs, Georgia at 3:35 pm. The President was 63 and serving his fourth term. Vice President Harry Truman took the Presidential Oath of Office at 7:09 pm in the Cabinet Room in the White House.

On March 29, 1945, Roosevelt went to the Little White House at Warm Springs, to rest before his anticipated appearance at the founding conference of the United Nations. On the afternoon of April 12, Roosevelt said, “I have a terrific headache.” He then slumped forward in his chair, unconscious, and was carried into his bedroom.

The president’s attending cardiologist, Dr. Howard Bruenn, diagnosed the medical emergency as a massive cerebral hemorrhage.At 3:35 p.m. that day, Roosevelt died at the age of 63. An editorial by The New York Times declared, “Men will thank God on their knees a…