FDR Biography - The Last Year

In the spring of 1945, after four long years as commander-in-chief and an exhausting trip to the Crimean Peninsula to meet with Soviet Premier, Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, FDR traveled to Warm Springs for a much-needed rest. He would never return to the White House again. On April 12, 1945, while posing for a portrait by the well-known watercolor artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff, FDR noted that he had a terrific headache, slumped in his chair, and passed out. Within two hours he was pronounced dead, the victim of a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

The nation, still in the final throngs of the struggle to defeat Hitler, was stunned by the news. It did not seem possible that the man who had exuded so much

energy and confidence during the dark days of depression and war was no longer there to lead. On the morning of April 13, FDR's train departed Warm Springs for the last time. As it made its way slowly northward, first to Washington and then to Hyde Park, thousands of grieving mourners lined the tracks, many of whom wept openly. Two days later the train finally arrived at the platform that stood at the foot of the long trail that winds its way down to the Hudson from Springwood. FDR had come home.