An estimated 3,000 people attended a community memorial service April 14, 1945, outside the Fayette County Courthouse in honor of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR, as he was more commonly known, had died in office two days earlier from a stroke. Harry Truman became the 31st U.S. president. Religious leaders and politicians spoke during the service before a crowd that stood motionless and mute, even during a downpour that forced the ceremony to move inside the courthouse from Cheapside Park. The ceremony ended with mourners singing God Bless America. See the front page reporting the death of Roosevelt here. And read the story on the memorial service in Lexington here. Published in the Sunday Herald-Leader on April 15, 1945. Herald-Leader Archive Photo

Mourners listened to Rev. Father George O’Bryan during a memorial service for President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 14, 1945, at Cheapside. Published in the Lexington Herald-Leader ib April 15, 1945. Herald-Leader Archive Photo

The flag at the Fayette County courthouse on April 12, 1945, flew at half-staff in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Herald-Leader archive photo