Many Americans remember where they were when the president died, 75 years ago

President Franklin D. Roosevelt died suddenly in Georgia on April 12th of 1945.  We didn’t have TV networks then, but the news spread quickly on radio. La Crosse Mayor Joseph Verchota ordered businesses in the city to fly their flags at half-staff.  The mayor also wanted those businesses to close during the hour of the Roosevelt funeral on a Saturday afternoon in Washington.  Roosevelt was one of three major world leaders who would die in April of 1945.  Benito Mussolini of Italy would be executed, and Adolf Hitler would commit suicide in Berlin.   

The Wisconsin legislature was working on election reforms.  A bill was proposed to guarantee that the party of the incumbent governor would be listed first on the ballot statewide, and in 1945, that was the Republicans.  State law at the time required the parties to be listed in alphabetical order.  

The Happy Hour bar on North 3rd Street in La Crosse put out a call for entertainers to compete in a talent contest.  The bar wanted singers, instrumentalists, acrobats, tap dancers, and hula dancers, in 1945, yesterday in La Crosse.