Franklin Delano Roosevelt  (1933-1945)

Report to Congress, 1945

In February of 1945, FDR returned from the Conference at Yalta, where he had met with Stalin and Churchill to discuss the post-war configuration of Europe.  Too weak to stand to deliver his address, Roosevelt could no longer hide the physical disability that he had previously concealed from the general public.  Although he had been confined to a wheelchair for years, he asked those present to forgive his "unusual posture of sitting down" and attributed his condition to weariness induced by his long journey.  After this event, one of the last times that he was seen in public, Roosevelt's condition continued to decline until he suffered a fatal stroke on April 12, 1945, only weeks before Germany surrendered on May 7, and five months before Harry Truman, who stepped into office upon Roosevelt's death, ordered atomic bombs to be dropped on on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  

• Transcript of FDR Address from TeachingAmericanHistory.org

• FDR Memorial in Washington D.C.

• New Deal Network