US East Coast 2018: The Little White House

It was April 12 1945. The end of the war in Europe was in sight. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was recuperating in his "Little White House", in Warm Springs, Georgia. It was the healing waters here that he had first visited more than 20 years before, to seek relief for his immobile lower limbs. This was FDR's Little White House in Warm Springs, away from the public eye; and it was here that Roosevelt found solace. On that day, just before lunch, the 32nd President of the United States was in the midst of editing his Jefferson Day Address, which was to be delivered the next day. With him was Elizabeth Shoumatoff, an artist, who was painting a portrait of the US leader. FDR suddenly complained of a headache and collapsed. He was carried away into his bedroom, and within minutes he was dead from a brain haemorrhage; Vice President Harry S. Truman was then sworn in as the 33rd President of the United States.

We visited FDR's Little White House en route from Thomasville in South Georgia to Helen in North Georgia. The drive was tiring and we were glad to come to our mid-point rest stop. It was a poignant visit, and we were filled with awe for the man who served his country faithfully for four terms, even unto his death during World War 2.

Eyewitnesses describe an emotional scene following the President's death. One of the rangers we met was 13 when FDR died. She still remembers the entire series of events vividly; for example how people lined the streets in the hope of catching a glimpse of FDR's casket as it travelled by train from Warm Springs to Washington D. C. "When the President died that it was almost as if the whole of Warm Springs died with him," she described.

FDR was deeply loved, and when he died, the whole town of Warm Springs
was in deep mourning for their beloved leader.

The "Unfinished Portrait". This was what painter Elizabeth Shoumatoff was working on when FDR suddenly
complained of a headache and died subsequently.

The Previous Page - Good 'Ol Fashion Southern Hospitality. Read here.
What's Next? - A German Experience. Read here.

From the Beginning - Start reading the record pages of our US East Coast Travel Adventure here.

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