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once, and the same message had been conveyed to Mr. Vinson, who was then acting as assistant to the President, you remember, holding things together. She had not told Mr. Truman over the telephone what had happened, but had asked him to come at once, saying it was important, and he had gone down in some consternation--because it was very unusual for Mrs. Roosevelt to ask him to come.

He went right to her floor--she was on the second floor of the residential quarters-- and he learned from her the fact that not only had the President had a stroke, but he was now dead. He'd had a stroke and did not live but a short time. She was preparing to go at once. Somebody was packing her bag and she was about to take off. He learned from her that he was now President, and that was that.

Mrs. Roosevelt was holding herself together very well-- was obviously excited and disturbed but was doing what seemed to be the right thing. She had called the Vice President and he had called in the members of the Cabinet, and they were gathering. That was all that he knew: the fact that Roosevelt had had a stroke in the late afternoon, or middle afternoon, and then had died of it in a very short time. I forget how long it was, but it was quite a short time before he died. None of the other detail, which has since become