Franklin D. Roosevelt

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 - April 12, 1945) was the thirty-second president of the United States, elected to four terms from 1933 until his death in office in April 1945. His administration enacted the New Deal response to the Great Depression and led the country through most of World War II.¹

Wartime Intelligence and Science

In July 1941 Roosevelt appointed William J. Donovan as Coordinator of Information, and in 1942 he authorized the creation of the OSS, the wartime intelligence agency that became the institutional ancestor of the CIA. He also approved the Manhattan Project, the secret program to build an atomic bomb, and appointed Nelson Rockefeller as Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs to manage hemispheric policy and propaganda.²

Death and Succession

Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs, Georgia, on April 12, 1945, and was succeeded by Vice President Harry S. Truman, who had not been briefed on the atomic bomb and learned of its existence only after taking office.¹