FDR’s Last Official Act as President: April 12, 1945
Each year around the anniversary of FDR’s death on April 12, 1945, the FDR Library is asked about the last official action taken by Roosevelt as President.
Because of President Roosevelt’s love of stamps and stamp collecting, he was always very involved in the design and issuance of new and commemorative postage stamps.
With the first United Nations Conference scheduled to begin on April 25 in San Francisco, Postmaster General Frank Walker sent a memo to FDR on April 9th asking him to select his preferred design for the UN Conference commemorative stamp. A typed notation made at the top of this memo shows that on April 11, the day before the President died, he selected Design No. 1 to be issued as a five cent stamp and printed in blue.
But this was not the last official act. FDR’s last official directive – given just a half hour before he was stricken – was to agree to the Postmaster’s request that the President purchase the first issue of the UN Conference commemorative. Read More
-from the FDR Library
Truman to MacArthur: “You’re Fired”
Proposed Orders and Statement on Dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur.
On April 11, 1951, President Truman dismissed General Douglas MacArthur as commander of United Nations forces in Korea due to insubordination, following several incidents in which MacArthur publicly criticized the Commander-in-Chief.
Formerly classified “Top Secret,” this document consists of orders from President Truman relieving General MacArthur of his commands and designating General Matthew Ridgway as his successor, along with a statement explaining MacArthur’s dismissal.
Read more at Prologue: You’re Fired
Related: Abraham Lincoln’s General Order 182 Relieving Major General George B. McClellan of Command
(via publicdomainthing)
Source: research.archives.gov
Swearing in ceremony of George Bush as a U.S. Representative to the United Nations. 2/26/1971.
George Bush was appointed to the position by President Richard Nixon. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the UN from 1971-1973.
-from the Bush Library
Source: research.archives.gov
President Truman with United Nations Cake
Birthday cake presented to President Harry S. Truman (center) by members of the National Citizens Committee for United Nations Day. The cake is to celebrate the sixth anniversary of the United Nations. The cake is made from a recipe of Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman’s that is in the United Nations cookbook, sponsored by the Committee. 9/12/51
Source: trumanlibrary.org
George Bush as United Nations Representative, circa 1971.
-from the Bush Library
Source: research.archives.gov
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”
-Eleanor Roosevelt
She was the niece of Theodore, and the wife of Franklin D., but in her own right, Eleanor was a Roosevelt of singular leadership and vision.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born 127 years ago, on October 11, 1884. Her father was Elliott Roosevelt, President Theodore Roosevelt’s younger brother. On March 17, 1905, she married her fifth cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and between 1906 and 1916, they became the parents of six children.
With American entry in World War I, Eleanor became active in the American Red Cross and in volunteer work in Navy hospitals. In 1921, Franklin Roosevelt was stricken with polio causing Eleanor to become increasingly active in politics in part to help him maintain his interests but also to assert her own personality and goals.
Upon moving to the White House in 1933, Eleanor Roosevelt informed the nation that they should not expect their new first lady to be a symbol of elegance, but rather “plain, ordinary Mrs. Roosevelt.” Despite this disclaimer, she showed herself to be an extraordinary First Lady. In 1933, Eleanor became the first, First Lady to hold her own press conference. In an attempt to afford equal time to women—who were traditionally barred from presidential press conferences—she allowed only female reporters to attend.
Throughout FDR’s presidency, Eleanor traveled extensively around the nation, visiting relief projects, surveying working and living conditions - she was called “the President’s eyes, ears and legs.” She became an advocate of the rights and needs of the poor, of minorities, and of the disadvantaged.
After President Roosevelt’s death on April 12, 1945, Eleanor continued in her public life. President Truman appointed her to the United Nations General Assembly. She served as chair of the Human Rights Commission and worked tirelessly to draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted by the General Assembly on December 10, 1948.
In her later years, President John F. Kennedy appointed Eleanor Roosevelt to the National Advisory Committee of the Peace Corps, and as the first chairperson of the President’s Commission on the Status of Women. She died in 1962 in New York City and is buried next to FDR in Hyde Park, NY.
Happy birthday Eleanor Roosevelt!
-More Eleanor from the FDR Library
The appointment of George H.W. Bush as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations by President Richard Nixon.January 12, 1970. -from the Bush Library
August 8, 1945. Today in history, President Harry S. Truman signs the United Nations Charter.
The images here are from the Truman Library’s collection on the United Nations relief and rehabilitation efforts, circa 1945.
“And so at long last the carnage of war is to cease and the negotiation of the conference table is to begin.”
-President Dwight D. Eisenhower announcing the Korean War Armistice Agreement
Pictured, the Armistice Agreement for the Restoration of the South Korean State. July 27, 1953.
