Jerry Sanson
Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum
August 2026
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt passed away at his favorite retreat, the “Little White House,” near Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945, after suffering a massive stroke just before lunchtime. His sudden death removed the only president that younger Americans ever knew. Elected in 1932 and inaugurated in March 1933, he loomed over Washington and the country for more than a decade. Older Americans remembered him as a familiar voice on their radios as he reported to them his administration’s efforts to help them survive the Great Depression. The country’s experience during World War II brought him closer to them as they saw him meeting with foreign leaders, planning with military figures, and leading the country through the trials of wartime with a steady hand.
Roosevelt retreated to Warm Springs shortly after returning from a long and difficult trip to Yalta to help plan for the post-war world with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin. He had experienced declining health for some time, but his exhaustion and frailty became obvious when he asked Congress for permission to sit when he reported to members about his trip. This appearance was also one of the few times that he referred in public to the steel braces that he wore on his legs because of the polio attack that had crippled him in 1921. He evidently believed that his body would repair damage caused by the physical and emotional stress of leading a country at war in his Georgia home.
Many people in Louisiana felt a deep personal attachment to the president and found it difficult to believe that he was no longer present in their lives. Louisiana Lieutenant Governor J. Emile Verrret articulated their sentiment in a memorial service for the president in New Iberia: “I personally had never seen or known the President, yet I personally feel that I have lost a friend.” A New Orleans woman revealed the same feeling of closeness. She was in her yard on the afternoon of April 12 when a neighbor called to her to turn on her radio. She reported that she overheard the news of Roosevelt’s death as she made her way to her house: “I couldn’t get up the steps. I felt like a member of my family [had passed away].”
Downtown New Orleans stores remained open that night for their regular hours, but clerks reported that crowds were small and bought very little. People gathered around radios in hotel lobbies and department stores listening for the latest bulletins from Warm Springs and Washington. The Roosevelt Hotel closed its lounge and restaurant because of a lack of customers. A security guard at Pat O’Brien’s nightclub reported that the few people there were “quiet and gloomy.” The city’s Catholic churches tolled their bells for five minutes in memorium beginning at 8:00 o’clock that night. Mayor Robert Maestri ordered all flags on city property lowered to half-staff. Officials closed public and parochial schools, colleges, and universities in the city.
Governor Jimmie Davis ordered flags on all state buildings lowered in respect and declared April 15, the day of Roosevelt’s funeral, an official day of mourning for him throughout Louisiana. All state offices closed on that day, as did many stores and business offices. The New Orleans Stock Exchange, Cotton Exchange, and Board of Trade suspended operations for the day, and many people attended memorial services conducted in communities throughout the state.
Even though many felt Roosevelt’s loss deeply, Louisianans recognized that they still had a war to win and lives to conduct. The Morning Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge editorially summed up the feeling that even though Roosevelt would always occupy a unique place in American hearts and minds, “there is always a place in the sun for others. The truly great are always needed and there is always a place for them.”
The Louisiana Maneuvers and Military Museum exhibits a portrait of President Roosevelt obtained from the Little White House gift shop in Warm Springs that is a collage of images from achievements of his administrations.
