| April
12, 1945 — President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
in poor health for months and suffering from a severe
lack of rest, took to his cottage in Warm Springs,
Georgia, for a short vacation.
Attempts to arrest his deteriorating
health with Talent powers failed;the British Talent
Nightingale was even brought into the
country in May, with little effect.
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Even
on vacation, the president remained in constant
contact with Washington, but tried at his wife's
request to take some time for himself.
At 8:49 P.M., Roosevelt's personal
adjutant Maj. Lloyd Feit (better known to the world
as the British Talent Bulldog) went to fetch the
President some aspirin for a headache.
When he returned, he found the president dead of
a massive cerebral hemorrhage.
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Vice
President Harry Truman was sworn in as president
immediately. The news spread around the globe, reaching
even the front lines in just a matter of hours,
and the world paused for a moment.
One of the guiding forces of the
Allies, a man who held the presidency of the United
States longer than any other, was dead at 63, just
weeks before victory was achieved in Europe.
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