April 28, 1945: How America — Not Hitler — Decided the End of the War: Roosevelt's Death and the Rise of Truman
On April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt died suddenly, and Vice President Harry Truman stepped into the heaviest role in the world — one that would reshape history. The story of an unprepared man who led the world's greatest power through the final chapter of World War II.
"Please Pray for Me" — A President Who Wasn't Ready
April 12, 1945, 5:25 PM. The State Department building in Washington, D.C. Harry S. Truman was sipping a glass of bourbon and chatting with colleagues when the phone rang. It was the White House calling. "Mr. Vice President, please come immediately. As quietly as you can." In that moment, Truman sensed that he was about to take on the heaviest burden in the world.
The Departure of a Giant Who Led for Twelve Years
Franklin D. Roosevelt had led the United States for twelve years, since 1933. He was the man who fought through the Great Depression with the New Deal, steered the country into World War II after Pearl Harbor, and held the Allied forces together. He was the only president in American history to be elected to four terms.
By the spring of 1945, however, Roosevelt was already gravely ill. The photos from the Yalta Conference showed a man shockingly gaunt and frail. On April 12th, while sitting for a portrait at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died. He was 63 years old.
The war was not over. In Europe, Nazi Germany was drawing its last breath, and in the Pacific, Japan was still resisting fiercely. And no one had told Truman that the atomic bomb project even existed.
"I Felt Like the Moon, the Stars, and All the Planets Had Fallen on Me"
Truman became president just 82 days after being sworn in as Vice President. During Roosevelt's lifetime, the two men had met one-on-one only twice. Roosevelt had shared neither the major war plans nor the diplomatic secrets with him.
What Truman said to reporters after taking the oath of office that night has become legendary: "If you ever pray, pray for me now. I felt like the moon, the stars, and all the planets had fallen on me."
Sixteen days later, on April 28th, Mussolini was executed by Italian partisans. Hitler's suicide came two days after that. Truman had been thrown into the very center of history's fastest-turning wheel.
And in the end, he made his choice. The Manhattan Project. Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That decision is still debated to this day.
🎬 This History on Screen
"Truman" (1995) — An HBO film starring Gary Sinise in a masterful performance, depicting everything from the moment Truman learns of Roosevelt's death to his decision to drop the atomic bomb with remarkable nuance. It is widely regarded as historically faithful, though Truman's inner monologue is dramatized in places.
"Manhattan" (2014) — A drama following the scientists who worked on the atomic bomb project, which indirectly reveals the enormous human conflict underlying Truman's decision. Real historical figures appear in fictionalized form.
"The Decision to Drop the Bomb" (1965) — An NBC documentary featuring interviews with Truman himself and archival footage from the era, making it an invaluable historical record.
Greater Precisely Because He Wasn't Ready
History has a way of giving its biggest stages to those who aren't prepared for them. Truman was an ordinary man. He never graduated from college, failed in business, and came to politics late in life. And yet he ended the war, created the Marshall Plan, and founded NATO.
On April 28th, as Europe's dictators fell one by one in the spring light, the full weight of history had settled squarely onto the shoulders of one unremarkable man from Missouri.
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