The death of President Franklin Roosevelt (4-12-45)

74

Many ‘firsts’ chalked up by Roosevelt

Vast powers gained by federal government

WASHINGTON (UP) – Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 31st President of the United Sates, guided American destiny through 12 of the most momentous years in history.

Years that made the federal government a vastly more powerful instrument affecting the welfare of everyone.

Years that carried the nation into its greatest wars and close to victory in Europe.

First President to fly

Mr. Roosevelt held the nation’s highest office longer than any man and was first to be elected to third and fourth terms.

He was the first President to fly.

He visited more foreign countries on the business of his office than any President before him.

He was the first President to leave the country in wartime.

His administration spent more money, taxed higher than any in history.

Loved and hated

But above all, he made of the federal government the most potent force of the American people. Some like this, some didn’t, to some, he was the champion of the “forgotten man.” To others, he was the hated man whose policies they regarded as destroying free enterprise.

Each of his terms was filled with drama. They began with dark depression and the first two were marked by major domestic reforms.

The last two found him an active war leader, making dangerous trips across ocean and continents to map strategy first-hand with leaders of the United Nations.

New Deal is born

Hardly had he taken his first oath when he called Congress into special session for what proved to be the famous “100 days” birth of the New Deal.

He took the United States off the gold standard, devalued the dollar to approximately 60 percent of its former worth.

Then, under his sponsorship, reform legislation flowed out of the halls of Congress in a steady stream. From these came the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, with power to curtail crops; the National Recovery Administration, which placed unprecedented controls on business, big and little; the Public Works Administration and the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, designed to care for the needy and to “prime” the pump of the nation’s depressed economic machinery.

Under fire, too

As new agency after agency piled up on the governmental pyramid, the New Deal of President Roosevelt began to find itself under fire. Its critics charged the government was seeking to regiment the people and the economic life of the country. Court tests of the constitutionality of some New Deal measures were instituted.

The Supreme Court held the NRA unconstitutional. It held the same for the crop control provisions of the AAA.

Undaunted, the President went on with his reform, program.

In 1937 came the “court-packing” incident which caused the most bitter intraparty strife of the President’s administration up to that time. He asked Congress for authority to add six justices to the Supreme Court if the Court’s members over 70 did not resign.

The President lost out on this one. Congress rebound. But he accomplished his purpose when the older conservative justices resigned one by one and he named their successors.

Sought to avert war

Few if any Presidents were more keenly alert to world developments than Mr. Roosevelt. During the series of international crises which preceded the present war, he resorted to every diplomatic device to head off the almost inevitable world conflict.

When Germany marched into Poland, and Britain and France declared war, he reconvened Congress. After six weeks of wild debate, Congress approved Mr. Roosevelt’s first national defense program.

He lifted the arms embargo, permitting Britain and France to place large orders for armaments here. He proclaimed a limited state of national emergency, instituted a neutrality patrol of coastal waters, and added to the manpower of the Armed Forces.

Lend-Lease follows

Later came the Lend-Lease Act, which permitted large-scale material aid to the Allies even before the United States was itself at war. In August 1941, he met at sea with Prime Minister Churchill and framed the Atlantic Charter.

Finally, the Japs tipped the scales at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The United States found itself at war not only with Japan but with Germany and its satellites.

After this, he met with the wartime leaders of the United Nations here and abroad. He went to Canada, to North Africa, to Egypt and to the Crimea to confer with Churchill, Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek.

He died at 63, just as victory over Germany appeared near at hand and as American fighting men were knocking at Japan’s front gates.

75

Cabinet to regain powers under Truman leadership

Roosevelt’s group merely carried out policies which ere decreed by President
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer

WASHINGTON – A reemergence of the President’s cabinet as a stronger, more influential part of the government is one of the first changes forecast for President Truman’s administration.

The reasons for this flow from the vast differences in personality and characteristics between Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman.

Mr. Roosevelt came to Washington a dominant, powerful figure, full of ideas for his New Deal in American social progress. He himself and the little group of brain-trusters about him developed the policies and his cabinet took a secondary role.

Cabinet members didn’t formulate such policy, they were instead administrators of departments which carried out policies Mr. Roosevelt himself decreed. The President was always regarded as being pretty much his own Secretary of State, even when Cordell Hull held that office, and in considerable degree this held for the other cabinet departments.

But with President Truman, those who know him believe, the story will be different.

Good record

Mr. Truman comes into the presidency with a record as the capable and courageous head of a Senate War Investigating Committee. which has done a superior job. But, say his friends, he realizes well that there are many areas in the vast field of government in which he has had little experience, and here he will rely heavily on men who know these subjects.

Hence Cabinet members and agency heads will have greater influence in their own right than in the last 12 years, it is reasoned, and so some personnel changes are being predicted.

James F. Byrnes flew in from South Carolina to meet the President yesterday and he said afterward that, as private citizen James F. Byrnes he had offered his help to Mr. Truman. Already the signs point to his being Secretary of State to succeed Edward R. Stettinius.

Hannegan for Walker?

President Truman, in the first hour after Mr. Roosevelt’s death had become known here, asked the present Cabinet to remain. But changes are considered pretty certain. At this stage, it is hardly more than speculation, but the names of fervent New Dealers like Secretary of Labor Perkins, Secretary of the Interior Ickes and Attorney General Biddle are always at the top in this speculation.

Another shift frequently mentioned as possible would put Democratic National Chairman Robert E. Hannegan into Postmaster General Frank Walker’s place.

Wallace’s position

Henry Wallace is expected to stay as Secretary of Commerce. But for a long time, the liberal group in the Roosevelt camp has talked up Mr. Wallace as the man they want to support for the presidency in 1948. If this move ripens into something approaching an obvious candidacy, it probably would be difficult for Mr. Wallace to remain in the Truman Cabinet.

Mr. Roosevelt always had a little group of close-in advisers between him and the Cabinet – Tommy Corcoran, Ben Cohen, Ray Moley and others in the early days, and Harry Hopkins and Judge Sam Rosenman in later days. Often Cabinet members resented it, but couldn’t do much about it. The odds are now that many of the old FDR advisers will fade from the scene.

On his first day as President, Mr. Truman went back to Capitol Hill to have lunch with his Senate colleagues, and that, too, betokens a new trend – closer relations between the White House and the Congress.

76

Truman friend of small business

Convinced of menace of ‘monopolies’
By John W. Love, Scripps-Howard staff writer

WASHINGTON – If President Truman has developed his ideas in the economic field, they include the belief the government ought to do all it can to foster small business. In particular, government ought to make sure the war-built plants in the Midwest are kept in operation after reconversion.

Mr. Truman as a Senator was convinced of the menace of “big business.” Monopoly appears to be primarily a regional concept in his mind. Monopoly to him is also bigness and power, but so far as he has expressed his ideas of what should be done about it, they run to regional solutions. He has also favored such things as competitive bidding for railroad securities.

Good experience

Certainly, few men have had a better opportunity to obtain a vast insight in the detail of American production. His Senate Investigating Committee examined the record of steel, rubber, aircraft, light metals, oil, ships and building construction, and paraded a great quantity of facts.

If an intimate examination of industry can produce a man sympathetic with the problems of production, then this country never had a man of the same preparation in the presidency.

Or if Hugh Fulton, who directed the inquiry, is the one who acquired the broader knowledge in that realm, then Mr. Fulton’s association with Mr. Truman would amount to the same thing. But Mr. Truman was ever the investigator of war production, never its organizer or leader, and the country will not know for some time what climate he will seek for American enterprise.

Inflation fight true test

Probably the greatest test of his resolution in domestic problems will be found in the degree to which he guides the fight on inflation. Pressures for higher prices and wages are tremendous. A new man in office, no matter how capable, will find the struggle harder than did his predecessor The end of the war in Europe will intensify it.

How far will Mr. Truman be able to resist the inevitable clamor for removal of controls on materials and price as soon as Germany collapses? Will he make sure that goods again flow in full measure before he lifts the restraints?

77

Trumans to live in Blair House

WASHINGTON (UP) – President and Mrs. Harry S. Truman will move within a few days to Blair House, the official government menage for visitors of state, and will remain there until the Roosevelt family has had time to move from the White House to Hyde Park.

Blair House is a famous, century-old mansion across the street from the White House. It has served as guest house for visiting foreign dignitaries since 1942.

78

Fulton hinted as successor to Hopkins

Young lawyer has Truman’s confidence

WASHINGTON (UP) – A little more than four years ago when Harry S. Truman of Missouri was appointed chairman of the Senate’s new Special War Investigating Committee, he sought a counsel who would neither “smear nor whitewash” war activities under committee scrutiny.

He asked the Justice Department to recommend a man. The Department said that Hugh Fulton, a special assistant to the Attorney General in the Criminal Division, would fill the bill.

Yesterday, Hugh Fulton was the first man to confer with President Truman as he took over the Chief Executive’s office at the White House.

New job for Fulton

Mr. Fulton spent an hour with Mr. Truman. He would not talk about it afterward, but that the meeting at such a critical hour started a strong thread of speculation running through official Washington.

The talk was that Mr. Fulton would resume his former role as a close and trusted adviser to Mr. Truman – this time in the White House instead of the Senate. There were rumors that he might become President Truman’s “Harry Hopkins.”

Before March 1941, when the “Truman Committee” was established by the Senate, Mr. Fulton and Mr. Truman had never met. But when they did, the Senator from Missouri was impressed. Mr. Fulton got the job.

Fulton not yet 37

Mr. Fulton remained with the committee until Mr. Truman resigned the chairmanship to campaign for the vice presidency last year. The chief counsel resigned at the same time but remained with Mr. Truman as his political adviser during the political campaign. Mr. Fulton then went into private law practice.

Big, boyish-looking, fair complexioned and mild-spoken, Hugh Fulton is not yet 37. He was born in North Baltimore, Ohio, May 24, 1908. Although a hefty fellow, Mr. Fulton has been ruled physically unfit for military service.

Educated at Michigan U

President Truman won national prominence as head of the Senate’s war effort investigations. But he always gave Mr. Fulton a substantial share of credit for the committee’s success.

Mr. Fulton joined the Justice Department in 1940 after serving as an executive assistant to the U.S. Attorney in New York for a year. Before that, he was in private law practice with a firm in New York. He was educated at the University of Michigan.

79

Eden may sound Truman on early meeting of ‘Big Three’

Churchill, Stalin believed desirous of discussing situation with new premier

WASHINGTON (UP) – British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, who came here by plane for Franklin D. Roosevelt’s funeral today, may take an early opportunity to sound out President Truman on the idea of an early meeting of the new “Big Three.”

The question of a new Polish government and the rapid approach of victory in Europe are creating new problems and Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph Stalin may want to survey the situation personally with their new partner.

Mr. Eden was sent here as Churchill’s personal representative at the Roosevelt funeral. Before he leaves Washington, he will talk with the new President about the role in international affairs that Mr. Roosevelt had carved out for the United States.

No change in policy

Mr. Truman has already assured his allies and the world that his foreign policies will be those of Franklin D. Roosevelt. He did so by retaining Secretary of State Edward B. Stettinius Jr., and the rest of the Roosevelt cabinet. And yesterday he formalized it by authorizing Stettinius to state: “There will be no change of purpose or break of continuity in the foreign policy of the United States government.”

That policy falls into two broad categories: (1) making certain that Nazism or Prussian militarism never again can threaten the peace of the world; (2) creating a world organization to preserve world peace and permanently outlaw the forces of aggression.

First major test

The first major test of the new administration will be at the World Security Conference in San Francisco April 25. It will mark the first time that Mr. Stettinius will be, in effect, on his own.

Mr. Truman is first to admit that he is a neophyte in the field of foreign affairs. But he will have the help of men who have been closely associated with the late President – Harry Hopkins, who served as a special Roosevelt emissary on many important occasions, and James F. Byrnes and Mr. Stettinius, who were at the recent Yalta Conference.

Mr. Roosevelt had planned to open the conference. The new President is now being urged to attend to allay any feeling that he feels less strongly about the great project.

Before the conference opens, Mr. Truman may come fact to face with a diplomatic problem that had plagued the Roosevelt administration – the Polish question. Attempts to form a new Polish government have bogged down and, barring a miracle, Poland will not be represented at San Francisco for the opening.

Many of the plans Mr. Roosevelt had for the future in foreign affairs were drafted in his historic meetings with Stalin and Churchill. It will be one of Mr. Truman’s most difficult jobs to step into that spot and carry on.

80

Jap diplomat lauds Roosevelt

By the United Press

A former Jap diplomat in a signed editorial in one of Tokyo’s newspapers today termed the late President Roosevelt “one of the world’s great leaders” and acknowledged that the Pacific War would be fought “to a finish.”

The statement, a reversal of previous Jap propaganda which had blamed the Pacific War primarily on Mr. Roosevelt, was made by Kumatoro Honda, former Jap Ambassador to Germany and China, broadcast by Radio Tokyo. In a signed editorial in the newspaper Nippon Shimbun, Honda said:

Roosevelt has died but the design he made for world hegemony will not, I think, change… Roosevelt’s death is purely an American internal affair and will have no bearing on the war against Japan.

No matter who may succeed Roosevelt or even his successor will carry on the war to a finish with Japan.

His death is a loss of one of the world’s great leaders and in that respect, it was not without a feeling of regret that I heard the news.

81

Truman likely to give future Cabinet chiefs increased authority

President is also expected to appoint his own men to White House circle
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer

WASHINGTON – Despite invitations to the Roosevelt Cabinet to “stay on,” Washington observers foresee a new political era dawning and a time of new political stars.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is still dominant here, even in death. But this is his last appearance in Washington.

President Harry S. Truman joined today in the rites for the man who last July decided that he should have his chance to be Vice President of the United States.

Will have own men

After tomorrow, the complexion of this government will begin to change as the man from Missouri and his men take over.

There is talk already of “going back to Cabinet government.” That means a Cabinet of stronger men on the average than Mr. Roosevelt was accustomed to have around him. They would be men who would expect to participate more full, in forming the policy than the late President sometimes permitted his official councilors to do.

The unofficial Cabinet will change too, in time, and Mr. Truman will have his own men around him.

Peace stressed

Fundamental in the policies of the Truman administration as in that of Mr. Roosevelt is the determination to obtain an agreement to maintain the peace.

The new President will make his first formal declaration of policy Monday in an address before a joint session of the Congress. He will speak in the chamber of the House but his words will be directed to the people of the United States and beyond them to the world.

On Tuesday, he will address the armed services by radio with a pledge to carry on the war they have so nearly won in the West and which they are winning in the East.

Victory is first

He will accompany that pledge with a promise that this nation will take its part in seeking to maintain peace, once we get it. But licking Germany and Japan is the immediate order of business.

Already established in the executive offices of the White House, the new President will attend the funeral of his predecessor in the East Room where some 200 of the senior domestic and foreign offices and some of their immediate families will gather.

The President and perhaps his wife and daughter will travel north tonight to Hyde Park where Squire Roosevelt will be buried tomorrow morning.

Secretary aide mentioned

Among the men around Truman who will have great influence, in this new administration if they want it, is Leslie Biffle, the slight, quiet secretary of the Senate who has known the new President intimately for 10 years.

Mr. Biffle is one of the few persons in Washington with a real passion for anonymity. His long service as secretary to the Democratic majority and recently as secretary of the Senate has equipped him better than most men to keep the President informed of the temper of Congress.

There is Hugh Fulton, who was counsel to the Truman committee which investigated the administration’s conduct of the war. A boyish-looking man of about 37 years, he is already on the White House scene. Max Lowenthal was an aide in earlier investigations.

Byrnes offers services

There are Sam O’Neal. former St. Louis and Washington newspaper reporter who now is publicity director of the Democratic National Committee, and Robert E. Hannegan, the committee head.

James F. Byrnes has offered his services to the President in a private capacity. Mr. Byrnes long was Mr. Roosevelt’s most effective spokesman in the Senate.

Mr. Roosevelt placed him on the Supreme Court, then enticed him to the White House to be more active in winning the war. Mr. Byrnes resigned this month as director of the Office of War Mobilization.

More conservative

Mr. Byrnes is regarded as a “strong man.” The word is passing around Washington that the new President will want stronger men in certain positions. That there will! be Cabinet changes is assumed here almost without dissent.

Mr. Truman’s tendency to lean more to the conservative wing of the Democratic Party than did Mr. Roosevelt’s would seem to assure that.

It also is a fact that Mr. Truman concedes his lack of mastery of some matters which require executive decision. Mr. Roosevelt’s habit of acting as his own secretary of this or that when tough decisions were to be made is not one Mr. Truman is likely to adopt right away.

State Department watched

Foreign relations is a field in which he certainly is no expert. It remains to be seen, therefore, whether the team which Mr. Roosevelt placed in the State Department this year to carry out White House policies will be the team Mr. Truman will need to participate more fully in the making of policies before they have to be carried out.

There is no disposition to underrate Secretary of State Edward R. Stettinius, but one fact stands out.

Mr. Stettinius, a young man, is next in line of succession to the Presidency. Mr. Truman is a vigorous man who will be 61 years old next month. Even vigorous men die.

Strict party man

One of the things which endears Mr. Truman to many Democrats is that he not only is a strict party man, but a strict organization man, too.

Mr. Truman’s loyalty to his Democratic organization is as firm as that of James A. Farley, who used to be Mr. Roosevelt’s political manager.

Regular men are delighted to have an organization man in the White House. Mr. Roosevelt was not an organization man. His first exploit as a 28-year-old freshman member of the New York State Legislature was to lead a bolt against the party organization. Regular Democrats have been bemoaning Mr. Roosevelt’s party irregularity for years.

Liked in Congress

Mr. Stettinius is not an organization Democrat. either. The Democrats in Congress like Mr. Stettinius fine but they probably would be appalled at the idea of his succeeding to the party leadership.

In the more than 12 years that he was in office, Mr. Roosevelt personalized the executive departments. Around himself he gathered a little group of advisers who came and went, causing anxiety and mistrust among regular party men at every appearance Harry L. Hopkins is currently the best known of these.

Mr. Hopkins was Mr. Roosevelt’s confidante at the various international conferences in which the late President met with the leaders of other great nations. Now there is speculation that there will be another Big Three meeting soon. Mr. Hopkins probably would not be there. Mr. Byrnes would be a more likely choice.

Gets Yalta program

Some persons suggest that things have not gone so well as was expected after the Yalta Conference. If so, adjustment is in order and it might have to be made at the top. Mr. Byrnes outlined to Mr. Truman yesterday his inside slant on the Yalta meeting. He also discussed problems to be created by Germany’s imminent collapse.

It is suggested here that a meeting of the Big Three is indicated. An unchallenged fact is that Mr. Truman, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph V. Stalin ultimately must decide on methods of Anglo-American-Soviet discussion of top priority matters. The question is whether Mr. Truman cares to continue the personal contact which so pleased Mr. Roosevelt.

82

Roosevelt ‘gay until end,’ Russian-born artist says

Woman was alone with President when he complained of ‘terrific headache’

RALEIGH, North Carolina (UP) – The last impression left by Franklin D. Roosevelt on the woman portrait painter who was alone with him when he was stricken was a man who was kind, pleasant and “gay until the end.”

Mrs. Elizabeth Shoumatoff, middle-aged artist, who was sketching the late President as he worked on some papers in the “Little White House” at Warm Springs, Georgia, was on her way home to Locust Valley, New York, today.

Mrs. Shoumatoff was still shaken by the sudden collapse of the man who had been chatting cheerfully as he arranged his papers a short time before.

Friend of cousins

Mrs. Shoumatoff, a Russian-born artist, was a friend of the late President’s two cousins, Laura Delano and Margaret Suckley, who were with him at Warm Springs.

She had done a watercolor in 1943 of Mr. Roosevelt wearing his favorite Navy cape which he liked so well that he had it copied and distributed prints to close friends at his last birthday party.

She had gone to Warm Springs to sketch the President for another portrait while he relaxed at his Southern retreat. Mrs. Shoumatoff was accompanied by Nicholas “Robbins” Katzubinsky, a Russian-born photographer whom she employs to photograph in character studies persons who do not have time to pose at length for portraits.

Wrong identity

It was Katzubinsky who in the contusion following Mr. Roosevelt’s death was identified as N. Robbins and was said to be the artist with him at the time he was stricken.

But it was Mrs. Shoumatoff who was alone with the President when he complained of a “terrific headache.” He was sitting before the open fireplace. She summoned Miss Delano, who sailed one of the physicians attached to the Presidents staff. Mr. Roosevelt was unconscious when they reached his side.

“The President never looked better than he did just before he was stricken,” Mrs. Shoumatoff said. “He was such a wonderful person, and he was so gay until the end.”

83

Roosevelt’s death means ‘end of world’ for valet

Navy steward was close to President

WASHINGTON (UP) – The happy little world, in which Chief Petty Officer Arthur Prettyman lived in quiet dignity during the last six years he served as President Roosevelt’s valet, has collapsed.

Few men were as close to the President, or as devoted, as was this Negro Navy steward.

It was PO Prettyman who carried the prostrate form of his “Chief” from the room in which he fainted to a bed in the “Little White House” at Warm Springs, Georgia. White House attendants say the President’s death was tantamount to the end of the world for PO Prettyman.

Served aboard cruiser

His happy association with the President began some years ago while he was serving aboard the cruiser USS Tuscaloosa during one of the President’s many trips out of the country. Mr. Roosevelt took a fancy to PO Prettyman and when his old valet retired, he called in PO Prettyman to serve him.

PO Prettyman retired from the Navy and went to the White House. For the last six years, he had helped the President dress, took care of his dog Fala and went with him on every trip. Mr. Roosevelt would trust no one except him to bathe Fala.

PO Prettyman carried himself with a quiet dignity. In conversation he referred to Mr. Roosevelt as “Chief.” But in addressing Mr. Roosevelt, he always said “Mr. President.”

Never talked of President

He had very little contact with members of the White House staff and, as one messenger said, “We could never get a word out of him about the President.”

After the outbreak of war, PO Prettyman was placed on active duty as a chief steward in the Navy but remained assigned to the President. The only difference was that PO Prettyman wore a gray Navy uniform.

When the President was in Washington, PO Prettyman usually went home nights to his family in Marshall, Virginia, near the capital. But if the President needed him in the evening, or at any time, he was always on hand.

84

Roosevelt death to spur last-ditch stand by Nazis

Hitler expected to seize on event to demand just a little more resistance by followers

PARIS (UP) – A senior officer at Allied Supreme Headquarters said today that the death of President Roosevelt would encourage a German withdrawal into “national redoubts” in the northern port area or the Southern Alps.

Such a movement, in apparent preparation for a last-ditch stand, has been evident for several weeks. But it is believed that not all Nazis were convinced they would win anything from a long-drawn-out suicide stand.

It is believed that Adolf Hitler’s strategists may view the death of President Roosevelt as weakening the bond among Britain, Russia, and the United States.

Hope to escape justice

The Allied officer pointed out that Berlin repeatedly has denounced Mr. Roosevelt as the man who welded the three major Allied powers against Germany and the Nazis may feel that there is a greater chance now of a falling-out among Allied powers which would give the Nazis a chance to escape justice if they held out long enough.

Therefore, they are driving their forces at top speed, first north of a line running roughly from Emden east to Luebeck, secondly into a resistance zone running from the Black Forest of Germany to Prague, Czechoslovakia.

Kiel, former headquarters of the German Grand Fleet, would be the capital of the northern “redoubt” and Berchtesgaden, Hitler’s hideout, would be the capital of the southern.

Without commenting upon the merits of the Nazi belief of the effects of Mr. Roosevelt’s death, it obviously is the kind of occurrence which Hitler and Nazi Propaganda Minister Goebbels would seize upon as an excuse to demand just a little more resistance by their followers.

According to some observers here, in the beginning Hitler’s demand for protracted resistance was based on the claim that Nazi inventors soon would bring new weapons from their laboratories to change the face of the war and to nullify Allied superiority in manpower and weapons.

Plants smashed

As the battle of Germany roared to a climax, more and more of the laboratories and factories which might have produced a new weapon were reduced to ashes. Hitler’s weapon argument lost its punch.

At the same time, German desertions increased manyfold. Prisoners admitted their high hopes for the effect from a new weapon were shattered.

The tragedy of Mr. Roosevelt’s death gives Hitler something new to use.

“Fight a little longer,” he will say. “Soon our enemies will be quarreling with one another. Perhaps we can escape the trap. Only keep fighting.”

85

Patton leads prayer

WITH THE U.S. THIRD ARMY, Germany – Lt. Gen. George S. Patton, in the absence of his chaplain, today led a one-minute silent prayer for the late President Roosevelt during a staff conference.

86

Österreichische Zeitung (April 15, 1945)

An die Legation der Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika

Mit tiefstem Schmerz haben wir Österreicher in Schweden von dem großen, unersetzlichen Verlust Kenntnis genommen, den das amerikanische Volk und die freigesinnte Menschheit der ganzen Welt durch den Abgang des Präsidenten Franklin D. Roosevelt erlitten hat. Wir Freien Österreicher in Schweden fühlen ein inniges Bedürfnis, unserer Trauer über den Tod des großen Freundes und Förderers aller kleinen Nationen Ausdruck zu verleihen. Präsident Franklin D. Roosevelt, der regesten Anteil bei der Wiederherstellung der nationalen Freiheit Österreichs genommen hat, wird stets einen Denkstein im Herzen aller freien Österreicher haben.

Wir bitten Sie, auf diesem Wege unsere Trauergefühle dem amerikanischen Volke zu übermitteln.

Im Zeichen tiefster Hochachtung zeichnet für die FREIE ÖSTERREICHISCHE BEWEGUNG

A. MOSER
DR. K. BITTNER
F. SCHLEIFER

87

The Pittsburgh Press (April 15, 1945)

‘Eternity’ stressed at Roosevelt bier

‘Yet shall he live,’ bishop intones
By Merriman Smith, United Press staff writer
Saturday, April 14, 1945

WASHINGTON – A handful of the millions who loved Franklin D. Roosevelt heard in a hushed White House today this promise “Yet Shall He Live.”

Those words, essence of all that the Bible contains of hope and assurance were uttered while Americans everywhere stood silent at 4 p.m. in tribute to the leader and friend who piloted them to the threshold of victory and peace.

Other words of hope – words voiced by Mr. Roosevelt at his first inaugural in the depression days of 1933 – were also given utterance in his name.

Warning against fear

The Rt. Rev. Angus Dun, Episcopal Bishop of Washington, departing from the text of the moving Episcopal service, quoted: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself…”

Then, the bishop added:

As that was his first word to us, I am sure he would wish it to be his last, and that we should go forward into the future as those who go forward without fear…

A few hours before, the nation’s great helmsman in its greatest war had completed his long last journey to the White House. A few hours later – at 10:42 p m. – he began the final trip home to his beloved ancestral estate on the Hudson at Hyde Park, New York.

But now, in the East Room of the mansion which was his home for 12 years of ceaseless labor, they were saying over his flag-draped casket the simple words of faith and hope which are the Episcopal service for the dead.

Widow bears up bravely

There in the great room, where in happier times gaiety had ruled, stood the trustees of a world’s grief.

They were few – compared to the many who mourned. At their head was the new President, Harry S. Truman, the man who had given his pledge to fight on for the dead President’s goals.

At Mr. Truman’s side was the gallant lady, the mother of four fighting sons, who had shared as best she could with Franklin Roosevelt the burdens which finally killed him. Clad simply in black, she bore a grief too great for tears.

With Mrs. Roosevelt was Brig. Gen. Elliott Roosevelt, the only one of her four fighting sons who was able to come home for his father’s funeral. With her, too, were her only daughter, Anna Boettiger, and her four daughters-in-law.

There were also the official representatives of all the freedom-loving nations. Among them was Anthony Eden, British Foreign Secretary and personal representative of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the dead President’s friend and co-architect of doom for the Axis.

Bowed by a grief as great as any in that grief-filled room was one of Mr. Roosevelt’s most intimate friends – dark-skinned Arthur Prettyman, wearing the uniform of a Navy chief petty officer, who for six years had been the President’s personal valet. Two days before, he had carried his stricken chief to the bed on which he died.

Old friends mourn

Also in the funeral chamber were two friends of old, on whom Mr. Roosevelt had leaned constantly for years – White House Secretaries Stephen T. Early and William Hassett.

Among those who rushed here from various parts of the world for the funeral were Bernard M. Baruch, who flew from London: Harry L. Hopkins, who came by plane from the Mayo Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota; Gov. Thomas E. Dewey of New York, and the Earl of Athlone, Governor General of Canada.

Hymn opens services

The brief services began with a hymn the President loved – “Eternal Father! Strong to Save.” They ended 24 minutes later with a prayer, composed and spoken by Bishop Dun who asked of God this boon:

Quicken and knit together in common loyalty the willy of this whole people, that we may resolutely take to ourselves the responsibilities bequeathed to us by our stricken leader.

Keep us in this land and those peoples who struggle at our side peoples who struggle at our side steadfast and united in the unfinished task of war.

Seven hours before the funeral, under a cloud-flecked April sky, the President had come back to his greatest triumph. Nearly 40,000 persons, more than ever had paid homage to him alive, watched with grief-constricted throats while his casket moved from Union Station to the White House.

Military procession

The funeral train had rolled slowly northward during the night from that “Other Home” in Warm Springs, Georgia, where a cerebral hemorrhage snuffed out the President’s life at 4:35 p.m. Thursday. It arrived in the capital at 9:58 a.m.

A great military procession, symbolizing a peaceful nation’s might in a righteous cause, led the way to the White House. The President’s mahogany casket, wrapped in the flag. rede on a shining, jet-black caisson drawn by six gray horses.

It entered the White House at 11:17 a.m. as a military band softly played “Lead Kindly Light.”

At the White House, President Truman took leave of Mrs. Roosevelt and went to the executive office to work until funeral time – the old President was dead but the new one was carrying on.

Honor Guard of servicemen

The casket was carried to the East Room where an Honor Guard of two soldiers, a sailor, and a marine, with a naval lieutenant at the head, took charge of it.

The walls were banked high with flowers – despite Mrs. Roosevelt’s request that no flowers be sent. Their fragrance permeated the mansion.

Between the casket and one wall was a walnut pulpit. The portraits of Martha and George Washington looked down on it. Gilt chairs, a little more than 200 of them, were placed in semi-circular rows on either side.

In the center front raw were 12 special chairs, upholstered in pale green tapestry, for the family. On each chair was a prayer book.

The funeral was conducted by Bishop Dun, assisted by the Rev. John G. Magee, pastor of St. John’s Church, the “Church of Presidents” where Mr. Roosevelt went to pray on the morning of his first Inauguration Day, March 4, 1933.

Wesley Steele. organist of St. John’s Church, opened the services with “Eternal Father,” the hymn which concludes:

O Trinity of love and power!
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe’er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Bishop Dun’s first words were the reiteration of Christ’s promise:

I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith The Lord: He that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me, shall never die.

Then the Bishop said: “The Lord gave and The Lord hath taken away, Blessed be The Name of The Lord.”

The Rev. Mr. Magee then read two Psalms, the 46th – “Lord of Hosts is with us, and the 21st – “The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in, from this time forth forevermore.”

Bible lessons read

The Rev. Howard S. Wilkinson, rector of St. Thomas’ Church, read the Bible lessons. They included this from Romans VIII-14: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” and these words of promise from St. John XIV-1:

“In My Father’s house are many mansions: If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.”

Then followed another of Mr. Roosevelt’s best-beloved hymns, “Faith of Our Fathers” with the refrain “Faith of Our Fathers, Holy Faith! We will be true to thee till death.”

The Bishop then intoned the words “The Lord be with you,” and the congregation replied, “and with thy spirit.”

In his concluding prayer, Bishop Dun thanked God “for the qualities of heart and mind which this Thy servant brought to the service of our nation and our world.”

He prayed:

As we look ahead to final victory, enable us to strive even more mightily in peace than in way to bring new freedom and dignity to every member of our human race, and to bear without stint our destined responsibilities in the family of nations.

Make ready our shoulders to carry the burdens of victory; to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to free the oppressed, and to lay the foundation for a more just and ordered human life for all Thy people.

The prayer closed with:

…Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.

AMEN.

Services list body bearers

WASHINGTON (UP) – The following are the servicemen who acted as body bearers in the Roosevelt funeral cortege today:

  • Army: Sgt. James W. Powder, Rockford, Illinois; Sgt. Bentley K. Hurt, Williamsson, West Virginia; Sgt. Richard O’Neil, Arlington, Virginia.

  • Marines: Sgt. Roy A. Culberson, Syracuse, Alabama; Sgt. Robert F. Buckley, Detroit.

  • Navy: Chief Fire Controlman Thomas E. Ballew, El Paso, Texas; Chief Gunner’s Mate David H. Cleaver, Dunsmuir, California.

  • Air Forces: Sgt. William I. Murray, McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania.

  • Coast Guard: Boatswains Mate Arthur A. Arnold, New Alexandria, Virginia.

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Mrs. Roosevelt wavers only once

She bears ordeal like a soldier
Saturday, April 14, 1945

WASHINGTON (UP) – Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt bore the ordeal of her husband’s last ride to the White House like a soldier.

Only once did she waver.

Her black limousine drew to one side as the caisson stopped before the White House portico. She didn’t wait for help but opened the car door and stepped out alone.

For a moment, her tall figure seemed to crumple slightly but she quickly gathered herself together and waited for her son, Brig. Gen. Elliott Roosevelt, and her daughter, Mrs. Anna Boettiger, to join her.

They were a lone little group, standing by the side of the car those few, long minutes.

Soon the four daughters-in-law, all of a size and all wearing black dresses and very small black hats, arrived in a single straight line behind them.

Col. John Boettiger, the Roosevelts’ son-in-law, was at Mrs. John Roosevelt’s left. To her right were Mrs. Franklin Roosevelt Jr., Mrs. James Roosevelt and Mrs. Elliott Roosevelt, the former Faye Emerson.

Mrs. Roosevelt’s face, looked drawn and tired in the bright sunlight, but she wore no heavy veiling. She was meeting the ordeal openly.

A moment for family

Suddenly, the band began the Star-Spangled Banner. The honor guard started to lift the casket from the caisson. Mrs. Roosevelt instinctively stepped forward. She moved towards the caisson, walking ahead of Elliott and Anna.

It was a family moment. President and Mrs. Truman were not there. Mr. Truman had slipped into the executive offices, apart from the mansion. Mrs. Truman did not arrive until half an hour before funeral time.

Behind the daughters and son-in-law, were Miss Malvina Thompson who always accompanies Mrs. Roosevelt; Mrs. James Helm, White House social secretary since the days of President Wilson, and Presidential Secretary Stephen T. Early.

Fala led into house

Then came the President’s two cousins who were at Warm Springs with him – Miss Margaret Suckley and Miss Laura Delano.

Miss Delano was leading Fala, Mr. Roosevelt’s Scottie, who trotted eagerly ahead as if he expected to find his master at home.

Old family friends came after them – the President’s old boss, former Secretary of Navy Josephus Daniels, Bernard M. Baruch, and Maj. James Hooker.

Mrs. Roosevelt’s head was bent as she approached the White House door. But it lifted up when the band began to play softly one of the President’s favorite hymns. It was “Abide with Me.”

89

Nazis call Roosevelt death a stroke of luck

Goebbels and his propagandists exploit passing of President to the fullest
By Paul Ghali
Saturday, April 14, 1945

BERNE, Switzerland – Like a drowning man clutching at straws, the German propaganda machine today seized on the death of President Roosevelt as a stroke of luck and exhorted the tottering Reich to fight on at all costs because “other welcome surprises may be in store for us.”

As had been expected, the President’s death, which had shocked and saddened the entire democratic world, was being exploited to the fullest by Dr. Joseph Goebbels.

The German press developed the theme that it was Roosevelt’s fault that the war had not “remained localized,” actually an admission that the Germans had not expected to find in him such a staunch opponent of their aggression.

The death of the American President was described as one of those events by which a benevolent God sometimes extricates the Reich from disaster. It was compared with the death of Empress Catherine of Russia, which saved Frederick II of Prussia from complete defeat.

The press mouthpieces of the new Fascist regime in Northern Italy openly gloated over repercussions that the President’s death might have. They asserted that the event had caused a feeling of uncertainty among Allied troops, which might slow the impetus of their offensive.

The northern Italian papers asserted that Mr. Roosevelt’s death was not due to natural causes and implied that there was a strong anti-war opposition in the United States.

The Milan radio, which yesterday abused the President’s memory, has taken a more moderate tone. Reports reaching here say that public reaction to the radio outbursts was far from favorable.

In Switzerland, Roosevelt’s death remains the one item of news and the avalanche of victories in the east and west impress the Swiss less than the passing of “America’s greatest statesman of modern times.”

A special memorial service will be held Monday in Bern’s 14th-century Gothic Cathedral in memory of the President.

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London expects victory news

Death casts shadow over triumph
Saturday, April 14, 1945

LONDON, England – Victory in Europe was near tonight but the Allies approached their triumph saddened and troubled by the death of President Roosevelt.

The British press believed the news of an Allied entry into Berlin and a junction with the Russian armies would come at any hour. It reported an air of “high expectancy” in all government offices.

Sunday morning newspaper headlines were in the same vein.

Called victory weekend

“This Is Victory Weekend,” said the Sunday Dispatch. The Times, in a three-column tophead, said, “Germans Unable to Save Berlin.” The Observer said, “News of first-class importance reached ministers in Downing Street yesterday and high officials who rarely are to be found in their offices on Saturday were on duty all day.”

The London News of the World, quoting an American broadcast, said that “entry into Berlin is imminent.”

Before next week is out, the United Nations may have their victory in Europe, but they also will have to adjust themselves to an American government lacking the leadership of President Roosevelt.

Churchill to speak

Prime Minister Winston Churchill will speak at least twice in Commons and possibly three times during the week.

Tuesday, as orator and a grieving friend, he will pay tribute to Mr. Roosevelt. Thursday he will review the climax of the war and tackle the ticklish Polish situation. Should final victory come, he may proclaim it to the House in still another address.

These appearances emphasize the increased burden which Mr. Roosevelt’s death has cast upon Mr. Churchill. Some observers believe that on the Polish issue he will be speaking as much to the United States as to Britain.

Mr. Churchill’s statement on Poland will be made after Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, now in the United States, has conferred with President Truman and reported privately to him.

Against this background, millions in Britain awaited the news that American and Russian armies had linked in Germany. Central London for 24 hours has buzzed with rumors that the Americans had already entered the German capital.

The London Evening Standard said that:

We are on the eve of tidings of really sensational events. News of the greatest importance is expected hourly in London. Some of these events may even already have happened. for published war news is behind the private dispatches which reach Whitehall from the generals in Germany.

The expectation in London today was that there will be news of:

One, entry of Allied troops into Berlin, or,
Two, the capitulation of the German Army.

The Evening Standard added that there was “no confirmation” that big events already had been reported to the government and were being withheld pending still more important information.

Cabinet ministers were in daily meetings, press dispatches said.

Generals and privates crowded into Grosvenor Chapel today for a memorial service to President Roosevelt. Hundreds of servicemen were turned away for lack of room conducted by three Army chaplains. Navy and Marine memorial services were held at St. Mark’s Church on Audley Street.

91

Oof. Off by 3 weeks.

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92

Truman brings capital new political era

Cabinet shakeup called inevitable
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
Saturday, April 14, 1945

WASHINGTON – The dawning of a new political era was marked here today as this capital said a sorrowful farewell to Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Despite President Truman’s invitation to Roosevelt Cabinet members to “stay on,” the time is near after more than 12 years for new faces in high places.

Mr. Roosevelt’s last appearance in the capital he so long dominated marked an end and a beginning, like the midnight minute of a century’s turn. In the final hours of this day, the late President went away.

To return tonight

Mr. Truman was aboard the Roosevelt funeral train. He will be back tomorrow night moving briskly beyond the shadow of mourning. Great business of stale and war will not wait for tears. When Mr. Truman turns back from Hyde Park, New York, tomorrow en route to Washington it will be the President’s special train which he rides. The Roosevelt train will have made its last run.

Political Washington expects plenty of action. Roosevelt intimates predict a clean – or almost clean – sweep of top White House personnel. Maurice Latta, the venerable chief clerk, and perhaps Secretary William D. Hassett will remain.

Mr. Hassett’s forte is handling presidential correspondence, writing letters for the presidential signature. He performs it with the humor and grace bubbling from a full mind.

Shakeup inevitable

A Cabinet shakeup within a few months is almost inevitable. The so-called Roosevelt Palace Guard – the unofficial advisers variously on and off the government payroll – is expected to be packing shortly. Or if they have significant and permanent positions here, they will spend more time on their official cuties and considerably less, if any, giving the President advice. There is, for instance, Associate Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter.

For the time being, however, Mr. Truman will carry on about as is. His first formal declaration of policy comes Monday when he addresses a joint session of the Congress in the House chamber.

All major networks will broadcast Mr. Truman’s address at 1 p.m. Monday ET.

The world will listen to that address with more than usual interest.

To address troops

Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph V. Stalin will want to know with what kind of a man they now have to deal. In the broadcast will be their first opportunity to begin forming a judgment.

On Tuesday the President will address the armed forces. He is already committed to the Roosevelt policies and in his Missouri lingo says, simply, “We have to lick ‘em and lick ‘em good.”

His associates say that he has decided not to attend the United Nations Conference m San Francisco. It meets April 25 to formulate a world security pact. His opening address will be broadcast from here.

There is speculation, however, that a new Big Three meeting may be coming soon. The war has gone well but Big Three diplomacy has had its troubles since the Yalta Conference.

If an adjustment is necessary, perhaps Mr. Truman, Mr. Churchill, and Marshal Stalin will find that they must make it themselves.

Senators and representatives may expect to be consulted and already high on the list of advisers is James F. Byrnes, former director of the Office of War Mobilization.

Invited by Truman

Mr. Byrnes has been invited to accompany Mr. Truman to the Hyde Park funeral. For the moment, at least, he seems to be the Harry L. Hopkins of the Truman administration. Whether he will continue in that role cannot be determined now.

Mr. Hopkins is being counted out hereabouts. He was the closest of Mr. Roosevelt’s advisers. He is ill and will return to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota after the Roosevelt funeral. Today, Mr. Truman conferred with Mr. Hopkins. Chances are he asked Mr. Hopkins to “stay on,” too. If so, it scarcely can be for long.

If Mr. Byrnes takes over the Hopkins duties, he may well succeed in time to the Secretaryship of State. That speculation could be unfair to Secretary Edward R. Stettinius except for one explosive fact.

The 44-year-old, personable Stettinius is next in line for the White House should anything happen to Mr. Truman. He might make a good President but regular Democrats would shudder at the thought of Mr. Stettinius as party leader.

Mr. Stettinius is not an organization man. The regulars had enough of non-organization irregularity under Mr. Roosevelt.

93

I thought the main idea was to defeat them. Aah… the licking part is to inflict same horrors they have inflicted upon the rest of Europe. But by licking? Weird strategy, Roosevelt.

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