Video: 'FDR: A Presidency Revealed: Part 18' (Apr. 12, 1945, at 7:22)

(Thursday, April 12, 1945, at about 1:00 p.m. CWT/2:00 p.m. EWT; during World War II) — U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 63, was stricken by a massive cerebral hemorrhage (stroke) today at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia, while artist Elizabeth Shoumatoff painted his portrait in the living room in the presence of Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd (with whom he resumed an extramarital affair), two cousins and his dog Fala.

The president had suddenly complained of a “terrific pain in the back of my head” and collapsed unconscious. One of the women summoned a doctor, who immediately recognized the symptoms of a massive cerebral hemorrhage and gave the president a shot of adrenaline into the heart in a vain attempt to revive him.

Rutherfurd and Shoumatoff quickly left the house, expecting FDR’s family to arrive as soon as word got out.

Video: 'American Experience - FDR (Franklin Roosevelt) - Part 1/2 (PBS Documentary' (Apr. 12, 1945, 2:10:53)