Apr 14, 2015

Sat, Apr 14, 1945: President Roosevelt's death

"Dear Folks:
"The shock of President Roosevelt's death has certainly left it's mark on the routine of our school.
"Although classes and tests have continued as usual, a much soberer note has been lent to the dormitory. Everyday seems like Sunday afternoon with radios broadcasting only organ music.  And even the blatant jazz of the chow room loud speaker has been replaced by music of a more stately nature.
"Last Friday in accordance with the 'Rocks and Shoals', all men put on 3" black mourning crepe bands.  However by noon an AlNav (rule applying the entire Navy) had come through abolishing this provision of the Articles for Govt. of the U.S. Navy.  Otherwise we would have worn them for 29 days.
"A number of services have been held in his memory.  Yesterday the entire University gathered in Macky Auditorium to hear Pres. Gustafson speak and tomorrow evening at 8 P.M. a more formal memorial service will be held.
"Pres. Truman doesn't appear to be a spectacular man, but apparently he's honest and determined.  There seems to be a tendency to ridicule the man here; and, true he didn't have a statesmanlike appearance in Life's recent Picture of the Week which showed him playing a piano upon which Lauren Bacall was roosted.
"But I think we should give the man a chance to show what he's made of before writing him off as another Johnson."

-- Letter from my father, Boulder, Colo., to his family, Bloomington, Kans., Saturday, April 14, 1945.  Franklin D. Roosevelt died in Warm Springs, Ga., on April 12, 1945, at age 63, less than three months after having been sworn in for his fourth term as president.  He died of a massive stroke, after months of declining health. Harry S. Truman was sworn in as president at the White House within three hours of Roosevelt’s death.

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