ABSTRACT
On April 12, 1945, Vice President Harry Truman walked to the special Capitol Hill basement office used by House Speaker Sam Rayburn (D-TX) for an after-hours conversation and a glass of bourbon with some of his friends in Congress. On arrival, he was told that Stephen Early, President Franklin Roosevelt’s press secretary, wanted him to call the White House. Early’s strained voice and instructions for coming to the White House warned the vice president that all was not well. In fact, ashen-faced, Truman proclaimed, “Jesus Christ and General Jackson” as he put down the phone. Not many minutes later he entered the White House, where First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt awaited him. As she put her arm on his shoulder, she told him the bad news: “Harry, the President is dead.”
