Which U.S. President died in office in 1945, during World War II?

Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the U.S. president who died in office in 1945, during World War II. Commonly known as Franklin D. Roosevelt or FDR, he died on April 12, 1945, while still serving as president.

Roosevelt suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at the Little White House in Warm Springs, Georgia, a retreat and rehabilitation center associated with his treatment for polio. His death came less than three months after he began an unprecedented fourth presidential term and only weeks before Germany’s surrender in Europe.

FDR became president in 1933 after defeating Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression. His New Deal reshaped the federal government through programs aimed at relief, economic recovery, and reform. After the United States entered World War II, Roosevelt led the country through most of the conflict and worked closely with Allied leaders Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.

Vice President Harry S. Truman succeeded Roosevelt immediately. Roosevelt remains the only U.S. president elected four times and the longest-serving president in American history. The Twenty-Second Amendment later limited presidents to two elected terms.