Franklin and Lucy

by Joseph E. Persico

Vice President Harry Truman had just returned from presiding over the Senate and had gone to Room H-128, a high-ceilinged after-hours hideaway, to sip bourbon with the Speaker of the House, Sam Rayburn. At 5:15 P.M. he received the call from Mrs. Roosevelt telling him that the president was dead. He snatched his hat and ran from the room. Upon arriving at the White House, face taut, mouth set in a thin line, wearing a gray suit and a polka dot tie, he asked Eleanor, “What can I do?” She answered, “Is there anything we can do for you? You are the one in trouble now.” She sent off a message to her four sons in uniform, Marine Colonel James Roosevelt, Navy lieutenants Franklin Jr. and John, all in the Pacific, and Brigadier General Elliott Roosevelt in Europe. “Darlings,” she wrote, “Pa slept away this afternoon. He did his job to the end as he would want you to do. Bless you. All our love, Mother.”