At the Little White House in Warm Springs, Roosevelt slept late on the morning of April 12. The mail had been delayed, so he had few official papers with which to be concerned, plus only one newspaper -- the Atlanta Constitution. News from the war in Europe was good, as the United States Ninth Army had reached the Elbe River in Germany the previous day. Roosevelt had a slight headache when he awoke, but was soon up and about. He ate a light breakfast around 9:30 a.m. in preparation for a barbecue planned for that afternoon; he also planned a light lunch. FDR seated himself at his desk to go over some State Department papers, while chatting with two visiting cousins and two other women (click here for more details), one of whom was there to do his portrait. A touch of humor had even returned to him as he commented upon one of the official papers: "a typical State Department letter, it says nothing at all." (1)
Roosevelt continued to sign routine official papers, while the artist worked on her portrait. At 1:00 p.m., he told her that they only had fifteen more minutes before they were to eat lunch and prepare for the barbecue. Actually, the artist was just filling in colors around the portrait [see photo of the unfinished water color], because Roosevelt had slid down in his chair while working and she did not want to disturb him. He continued working and chatting, making another witty remark that a servant noticed had the visiting ladies smiling. He lit a cigarette, then raised his left hand to his forehead and pressed. Suddenly his hand fell, with the fingers twitching. One of his cousins asked if he had dropped something, and he murmured "I have a terrific headache." Then, Roosevelt's arm fell to his side, his head sagged, and his entire body slumped in the chair. It was 1:15 p.m.
