Warm Springs

I've heard stories of multiple sightings and strange noises throughout that area.

The region around the Flint River, including the areas near the national forest around Warm Springs, Georgia, has a long history of stories about unusual things happening in the woods.

Growing up in that part of Georgia, I heard a lot of old stories from people who had lived there for generations.

My hometown was a mill village, and people used to come into Thomaston because of the textile mill.

But what they didn't know, because his doctors didn't tell them, was that by his fourth term, Roosevelt was dying of uncontrolled hypertension, heart disease, and the slow erosion of someone who believed the world could only be saved if he stayed upright long enough.

In the spring of 1945, he retreated to Warm Springs, Georgia, a place where he had once felt restored, his little White House.

There on a peaceful afternoon, as an artist painted his portrait, Roosevelt placed his hand on his head and said, "I have a terrific pain in the back of my head." And that was it.

He slumped forward.

Let me start by giving you a little background information.

On April 12th, 1945, FDR passes away in Warm Springs, Georgia.

He'd been president for 12 years.

He'd been elected four times more than anyone before or since.

He outlasted his critics, outlasted his failures, and proved that even the most hated presidents can find redemption if they live long enough.

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Warm Springs farewell.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt died on April 12th, 1945, at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, from a massive cerebral hemorrhage.

He was sixty-three years old and serving his fourth term as president.

According to witnesses, his Scottish terrier, Fala, was nearby when it happened.

Roosevelt had gone to Warm Springs seeking rest and relief from the burdens of leading America through World War II.

He'd been president for twelve years, longer than anyone before or since, and the strain had aged him dramatically.

Photos from his final months show a gaunt, exhausted man, barely recognizable from the vigorous politician who'd first taken office in 1933.

The last photograph of FDR was taken on April 11th, 1945.

The next day, he's in Georgia at Warm Springs.

He's sitting for a portrait, and he says, reportedly, "I have a terrific headache." He slumps unconscious, and then he dies that afternoon, likely of a cerebral hemorrhage, 3:35 PM.

Mm.

54.

On the afternoon of April 12th, 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt sat in his Warm Springs, Georgia retreat, having his portrait painted on that day.

Without warning, he clutched the back of his head, complaining of a terrible headache before collapsing unconscious.

At 63 years old, the commander-in-chief, who had guided America through the Great Depression and to the brink of victory in World War II, had suffered a fatal brain hemorrhage.

Yeah.

What are you going to do to make your life bearable, especially with the physical pain that comes along with this? And so he ends up finding this place that would define the rest of his life, Warm Springs, Georgia.

Hmm.

which was a healing spa.

That makes it sound like it's fancy.

It really is just warm springs pools down in Georgia.

And he thought that taking the waters was going to help him walk again.

That doesn't happen, but he does find more comfort there.

You can go to misslillians.com, okay? And you can see here, just I'm gonna give you like kind of a, like a, a history, but we lived in, um, we lived in Peachtree City and I told you I would drive for storage.

So I literally drove, like this is Fayetteville, here's Fairburn, here's, um, this is Newnan, this is Franklin, and this is, uh, Warm Springs.

All right.

So I was...

I just drove around in this area.

Notice I did not go up north into the Atlanta area and, and just in, in fact I st- I went south because south is more secondary or tertiary.

And so and then I would just drive around and all these little tiny facilities, these are the ones that I would just like, I went right, I would just drive up, I would call the number and I would be like, "Hey, I'd be interested in buying your storage facility." This is exactly what happened like right here on this Warm Springs facility.

So this is the one I wanted to go over today.

Roosevelt kept up appearances, giving speeches, meeting with world leaders, pushing through meetings even when he could barely stay awake.

On April 12th, 1945, Roosevelt was at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia.

He was sitting for a portrait.

The painter, Elizabeth Shoumatoff, was working.