EMOTIONAL SCENES

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25177, 14 April 1945, Page 7

EMOTIONAL SCENES

CITY CROWDS STUNNED RECEPTION OF THE NEWS (Reed. 11.45 p.m.) NEW YORK, April IS Emotional scenes were witnessed in cities throughout the United States when the news of Mr Roosevelt's death reached the public. In Times Square 50,000 people collected within a few minutes and stood too stunned to move. * Broadcasting stations immediately suspended all normal programmes and flags broke out at half-mast throughout the city. Theatres, night clubs, restaurants and concerts were cancelled or curtailed their programmes. Some hotels closed their bars. The impact of the news of the death of President Roosevelt on the capital was tremendous, says the Washington correspondent of the New York Times. No President died in circumstances so triumphant yet so grave. He was regarded by millions as indispensable to winning the war, making a just and lasting peace and the only American qualified to deal successfully with leaders of other nations, particularly Marshal Stalin and Mr Churchill. Mr Truman has entered upon the duties imposed by destiny with modest, calm and yet resolute manner. One observer said he is conscious of limitations greater than he has, but for the time being that is not a bad thing for the country. The correspondent says that the unexpected nature of the President's death, in spite of his obvious physical decline in the past few months, is attested by the circumstance that no member of his family or high-ranking associate was with him at Warm Springs, and his personal physician, Admiral Mdntyre, was totally unprepared for the news.