MORE ON ROOSEVELT’S DEATH
WORLD WAR II: 70 years later
Over the next few months, our reporters will share stories of local people and key events marking the last months of World War II in 1945. Do you have a story about the war we should share? Call us at 937-225-7353.
On a warm spring day in April 1945 a country at war lost its commander-in-chief — a shocked nation mourned as the city of Dayton came to a halt and a 10-year-old girl lost the only man she ever called president.
“I didn’t understand how that could ever happen. How would the country function without Roosevelt,” Violet Gelhot, Springfield, said last week.
Today, April 12, marks 70 years since the death of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a man who saw the country through the Great Depression and World War II. F.D.R., who ran for vice president with Gov. James Cox of Dayton in 1920, had been president for 12 years when he died — a death still fresh in the minds of some.
A Nation Lost
“I was playing outside, it seems to me it was a warm day, and it came over the radio,” Gelhot said. “I sort of grew up in that moment, I realized it was something I couldn’t just wish away.”
Gelhot couldn’t wish it away and neither could the several mourners who gathered in Dayton that evening, wondering who would navigate the nation through the end of the war and lead the world to peace.
Here are some comments that ran in the Dayton Daily News just after Roosevelt’s death:
* “The president’s death at this time has been a great blow to the nation. I, as everyone else, am worried about the future of the country,” Emerson H. Landis, Dayton.
* “The untimely death of President Roosevelt is a tragic blow to our country. A powerful leader has passed on at a moment in history when important decisions were to be made,” said W.J. Blanchard, president of the Dayton Chamber of Commerce.
* “The death of President Roosevelt is probably one of the worst calamities that could hit the United States at this time.” F.O. Eichelberger, city of Dayton manager.
A personal loss
Jean Lanter, 87, of Dayton credits F.D.R. with helping her family survive during very lean times after her fathers death which helped reinforce Roosevelt’s status in her family.
“Everyone loved Roosevelt, when he died it was like losing someone you knew,” Lanter said. “I was heartbroken.”
Gelhot agreed adding, “It was personal, everyone thought of him as family. I mean after all, he came right into our living room over the radio with his fireside chats. Of course, I didn’t know what he was talking about at the time, but I knew not to speak while he was speaking.”
So many Daytonians loved F.D.R. because he was able to fuse various interests to bring people together. His support of organized labor unions and commitment to winning the war, gained him a lot of support locally, according to Drew Swanson, Ph.D., history professor at Wright State University.
Americans believed F.D.R. led the nation through two of its most traumatic moments — the Great Depression and WWII — that certainly forged an impressive popular image, Swanson said.
“Roosevelt, to me, was not someone remote apart, I felt that he was someone very close, whom I knew personally,” Don R. Thomas, judge of Dayton common pleas court told the Dayton Daily News in April 1945.
The Aftermath and the Funeral
The day following Roosevelt’s death, “a hushed atmosphere pervaded the city” of Dayton, the Dayton Daily News reported. Flags were flown at half-staff and many businesses closed. WHIO and WLW cancelled all scheduled radio programs up until 5 p.m. and instead broadcast programs in respect to Roosevelt.
On the day of the funeral, Saturday April 14, 1945, the region mourned along with the nation at various services held throughout the area.
The streets were empty, the theaters closed and for the first time in history the Dayton Daily News locked its doors during business hours, so employees could gather for a special tribute service. WHIO music director Harry Lange played softly on the station organ and newscaster William L. Sanders gave a short eulogy which only broadcast for employees.
James M. Cox published a tribute to F.D.R. in the Dayton Daily News the day after the funeral.
“In this hour of a nation’s grief, we cannot but feel that death, that mute autocrat from whose decisions there is no appeal, has been most unkind,” Cox wrote.
Visits to Dayton
Cox accompanied Roosevelt throughout his final visit to Dayton in October 1940. More than 100,000 people gathered along the Main Street route to welcome the president, who was in town to inspect Wright and Patterson Fields. Roosevelt’s Dayton visit was just one month before he became the first president to win a third term. Roosevelt defeated Republican Wendell Willkie, 52-48 percent in Ohio. Nationally, Roosevelt won an electoral vote landslide that year, 449-82.
During his last visit to Dayton, Roosevelt traveled in an open-topped car with Cox and Orville Wright. The motorcade traveled east on Third Street to Wright Field. Upon leaving Roosevelt’s vehicle passed through Oakwood and Belmont and all along the way there were groups of cheering people.
F.D.R. visited Dayton twice before, once in 1920 to announce Gov. James M. Cox nomination for president and his for vice president. Cox lost the 1920 election to Warren Harding.
The second time Roosevelt visited Dayton was a quick stop during his 1936 campaign. During his short speech, given on the rear platform of his train — once again, along side Cox— he commended Dayton for a strong recovery since the Banking and Builder and Loan crisis and promised to return to the area during his next term as president, a promise he kept.
A Piece of Roosevelt Remains in Dayton
In 1984 a significant part of F.D.R. history came to Dayton in the form of an airplane, the Flying Cow, the first official Air Force One.
Roosevelt was the first sitting president to fly in an airplane but during his presidency he rarely flew because it was too difficult for him to get on and off the planes, Jeff Underwood, historian of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force and author of “The Wings of Democracy: The Influence of Air Power on the Roosevelt Administration, 1933-1941.”
So, the Army set out to build a plane suited for F.D.R. with all of his health needs in mind, although it took more than one attempt.
The plane had an elevator and swing-around desks. Roosevelt only flew in the plane once, in February 1945 the Sacred Cow helped transport F.D.R. to and from the Yalta Conference, Underwood said. At Yalta, Roosevelt met with Allied leaders U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Permier Joseph Stalin.
“People forget how important travel is to diplomacy,” Underwood said. “Had they been able to get an airplane sooner it would have made the stress a lot less and would have made it a lot easier for him to do all the things he wanted to do.”
Roosevelt’s plane is currently open to the public in the Presidential section of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.
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