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13 April 1945: Saint Louis Post-Dispatch covers the unexpected death of President Franklin Delano the preceding day.

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13 April 1945: Saint Louis Post-Dispatch covers the unexpected death of President Franklin Delano the preceding day.

Mourning for in the US and Allied countries was widespread and profound.

Here, photo of a "Negro Prayer Service"

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Jim Wald

13 April 1945: Saint Louis Post-Dispatch covers the unexpected death of President Franklin Delano the preceding day.

We must remind ourselves, that, when died. Vice President Harry S. was a largely unknown quantity to the public. The paper included photo essays on Truman and the transition.

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13 April 1945: Saint Louis Post-Dispatch covers the unexpected death of President Franklin Delano the preceding day.

Although initially responded to the death of with equanimity--"unlikely to affect war"--it soon came to see it as a miraculous opportunity, as
@nytimes
reported two days later. nyti.ms/1iCvlpF

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The went from calmly noting the death of (12 April 1945) to seeing it as an omen of miraculous delivery, echoing the demise of Russian Empress Elizabeth in 1762 during the Seven Years' War against Prussia (cambridge.org/core/journals/hi)

For some reason, though, even serious historians often erroneously speak of the death of *Catherine the Great* (reigned 1762-96)

google.com/books/edition/Berli

@histodons

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@CitizenWald Didn't you know that Catherine was the only Russian empress who ruled in her own right? 😜

@lizl_genealogy Hi, Liz. How's life? Have not heard from you for awhile

@CitizenWald Hi Jim! Traveling in Italy at present. How's life back in Massachusetts?

@lizl_genealogy Lucky you! Though lucky us, if not as great as that: record heat wave, '80s and '90s. Bliss.

But then there's all the work that has to get done nonetheless 🤮 . Still, sun and warmth raise the spirits! I feel it

For now, though: just muddling through, or--what does Churchill say in films?--just keep buggering on 😞

(BTW one day we must meet up in Boston or wherever.)

@CitizenWald I think his exact phrasing was, "If you're going through hell, keep going," which I've always thought was a good mantra personally. 😁

I had seen before I left that it was forecast to be very warm by the end of the week, although I believe you are warmer out there than Eastern Mass. is. Here it's been chilly and rainy, with a cold wind.