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Franklin D. Roosevelt: First Person Account of the Preparation of FDR's Body for Burial.. -Three pages, typed, undated, on J...
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$956.00
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Description
Franklin D. Roosevelt: First Person Account of the Preparation of FDR's Body for Burial.-Three pages, typed, undated, on J. Austin Dillon Company Funeral Directors, Atlanta, Georgia letterhead.
-With slight soiling and with a central vertical and horizontal fold crease, else near fine.
This account of the preparation of FDR's mortal remains was presumably written by J. Austin Dillon, the president and manager of the funeral home. Though rife with misspellings and other mistakes, the narrative is morbidly detailed and must certainly be the only first-hand account of this nature extant. Space and propriety don't permit a full transcription of the narrative but a few excerpts will, no doubt, suffice to give a sense of the intensely personal and detailed nature of the preparation of FDR's remains. The men arrived at Warm Springs at 10:40pm on April 12, 1945, about seven hours after FDR's death. The writer states that the "paramount thought in my mind while en route was would we be able to get proper Preservation, Restoration and Sanitation on this case, since so much time had elapsed from time of death until time we would begin to prepare the remains." The narrator indicates that Eleanor requested to visit FDR's body before the remains were embalmed: "At 11:30 Mrs. Roosevelt arrived and in her quiet and dignified manner, greeted the officials there and embraced the President's cousin. She then entered the House to go to the President's room." An extremely detailed account of the condition of FDR's body and the embalming procedure ensues. Decorum prohibits a full accounting but the narrative ends thusly: "We then trimmed the hair around the temples, removed the hair from nostrils and cleaned finger nails, then proceeded to dress the remains, using a dark gray business suti [sic], white shirt, and black tie with white strips [sic] and white pocket handerchief [sic]. We, of course had to use heavy cosmetics to cover the discolored area. We had Arthur Pretty man [sic], the Presidents [sic] valet, to come in and comb hair." The narrative also includes a detailed description of "The Little White House" at Warm Springs and the President's security attached to it. A gruesome, yet historically important document.
Auction Info
2008 December Signature Collection of the FDR Museum Auction, Part 2 #6010 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2008
2nd
Tuesday
Bids + Registered Phone Bidders: 8
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19.5% of the successful bid per lot.
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