Created shortly after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a memorial, this silent Official Films newsreel was sold to the home market at stores like Sears and Macy’s. The film begins with footage of FDR visiting a military training camp at :38, and at 1:40 visiting a war production plant.At 3:00 he is shown at the Casablanca Conference with Gen. Giraud and Gen. DeGaulle of the Free French forces. At 3:29 he is shown at the Cairo Conference with Gen. Chiang Kai Shek of the Nationalist Chinese Army as well as Churchill (who is seen smoking) and Stalin. At 4:40 the President visits Hawaii to map out Pacific strategy with Gen. MacArthur and Admiral Nimitz. They are seen again at 6:40. At 7:20 the Bretton Woods Conference is shown and at 7:50 the 4th Inaugural. At 8:45 the film announces the President’s untimely death, and shows images of the funeral parade and mourning events.
The backstory of the President’s death is this: in the early afternoon of April 12, 1945 President Roosevelt was in his private cottage at Warm Springs Georgia signing papers and sitting for a portrait painter. Suddenly, he raised his hand to his head complaining of a headache. He then slumped forward, losing consciousness.
At 3:35 PM he was pronounced dead from a massive cerebral hemorrhage. FDR’s sudden death stunned the nation. The public’s shock was magnified by the fact that Roosevelt had been America’s chief executive for over twelve years. Young Americans had no memory of any other President. The timing of his death, at a moment when victory in World War II seemed at hand, added to the country’s grief.
The President’s body was carried by train back to Washington D.C. Full military honors were rendered in a procession from the train station to the White House. The streets were lined with units of the nation’s armed forces and thousands of grieving citizens. At the White House the casket was placed in the East Room where a private Episcopal Funeral Service was conducted at 4:00PM. That evening the casket was removed and placed on a train for the trip to the President’s Hyde Park home.
At Hyde Park the casket was transferred to a horse-drawn gun carriage and carried up the hill to the estate preceded by a military band and a battalion of West Point cadets. Limousines containing President Truman, the Roosevelt Family, and close associates followed. The president was buried in the Rose Garden at Hyde Park.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
