April 12, 1945, was a beautiful day
in Warm Springs, Georgia. Franklin D. Roosevelt relaxed inside his woodland
cottage, the “Little White House,” and was having his portrait painted. But
during lunch, a bolt of pain shot through the back of his head, causing him to
collapse. By 3:35 pm, doctors had pronounced the president dead of a cerebral
hemorrhage. A speech sat in FDR’s study, unread.
Roosevelt had edited the speech the
night before. It was an address for Jefferson Day, a celebration of Thomas
Jefferson, and was supposed to be delivered April 13 via a national radio
broadcast. Here’s an excerpt of FDR’s last words never spoken to the American people:
“Let me assure you that my hand is
the steadier for the work that is to be done, that I move more firmly into the
task, knowing that you—millions and millions of you—are joined with me in the
resolve to make this work endure.
The work, my friends, is peace, more
than an end of this war—an end to the beginning of all wars, yes, an end,
forever, to this impractical, unrealistic settlement of the differences between
governments by the mass killing of peoples.
Today as we move against the terrible
scourge of war—as we go forward toward the greatest contribution that any
generation of human beings can make in this world—the contribution of lasting
peace—I ask you to keep up your faith. . .
The only limit to our realization of
tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Let us move forward with strong and
active faith.
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