I was six years old when President Franklin Roosevelt died. I remember we were eating in our dining room when a boy came to our side porch shouting "Extra! Extra! The President is dead!" It was the only time in my life that I can recall newsboys going through neighborhoods to sell papers.
Of course my father bought a copy. In my mind's eye I can still see the large black letters of the headline and the huge photograph of the President on the front page. It was the moment when the concept of death registered in my mind. My grandmother had died when I was four but I don't recall it having much an effect on me, other than I knew my mother was sad.
It is amazing how events that at the time are monumental quickly pass from the public's consciousness. Roosevelt was a giant on the national and world scene. He was elected President four times by landslides, leading the nation through the Great Recession and to victory in World War 2. It was almost as if God Himself was dead. But today Franklin Roosevelt is just another name that students have to memorize for History class.
This YouTube video is from a newsreel of the time. In those times, before television, the weekly newsreel at the movie theater was how we saw the major events in the world.
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