Evening star., 1941-09-08
Whole Nation Joins
President in Mourning
Death Of His Mother e
Executive Postpones
lmportont Radio Tolk
Until Thursday Night
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
HYDE PARK. N. Y, Sept. 8-The
Presidents mother is deao; and a
Nation Joined it's Chief Executive
in mourning today.
Mrs. Sara Delano Roosevelt, who
thrice saw her only son inaugurated
as President of the United States,
died yesterday at the rambling old
house which has been the Roosevelt
family home for three quarters of
q century. She would have been 81
years old on September 81.
Her death. attributed largely to
her advanced years, resulted in the
postponement from tonight until 9
pm. Thursday Of a presidential
radio address which the White
House said would be Of major i'm
portance."
The speech, it is expected, will
embrace a discussion of the entire
international situation and. in par
ticular, the naval action last Thurs
day between an American destroyer
and a German submarine OF Ice
land.
Messages Flood Wires.
From the Franklin D. Roosevelt
Library, some 200 yards from the
family home, the Stars and Stripes
few at half staff today.
From lowly citizens and from many
highly placed in the life of the
Nation came messages of sympathy
for the President. Telegraph offices
were flooded, and special wires were
set up to handle them.
From late Saturday night on the
President and Mrs. Roosevelt had
kept a sorrowful watch by the bed
side of his mother. They were
with her when the end came shortly
after noon yesterday.
So was the family physician. DR..
Scott L. Smith, who said the mother
of the Chief Executive had had "an
acute circulatory collapse, due
principally to her advanced age"
She had been in a coma for IL
hours.
The funeral services, limited to
relatives and to old neighbors and
friends, will be held at the family
home tomorrow.
Mrs. Roosevelt will be buried in
the family plot in the churchyard
of picturesque St. James Episcopal
Church. Several generations of
Roosevelts have worshiped at the
little church and behind it, under
. canopy of aged oaks and elms, is
buried the Presidents father.
Never Quite Approved Of Politics.
The Chief Executive was only 18
when his father, James Roosevelt,
died in 1900 and he and his mother
have been exceptionally close. Her
home has been his home all his life.
Proudly she had seen her son
inaugurated as the only three-term
President of the United States.
Yet she had never quite approved
of politics as q career for him. To
her he was more MY boy, Frank
lin" than "the President"
The matriarch of Hyde Park
House was supposed to have been
one individual who subdued the
vociferous Huey Long, the late Sem
ator and "Kingfish" from Louisiana,
at dinner party.
Other guests said he had monopo-
lized the conversation, expounding
his ideas of government and pass
ing along advice to the President,
until Mrs. Roosevelt turned to a
neighbor and said in stage whis-
per:
There was only one reason why
I didn't want Franklin to 60 into
politics. He has to deal with such
peculiar people"
She had taken in stride such his
toric events as the visit in June,
1899, of King George and Queen
Elizabeth of England. And she was
not hesitant to interrupt her son,
even when he was comforting with a
distinguished parsonage in his clut-
tered study, If she wanted to know
what he desired for lunch.
Had Some Royal Blood.
But then, Sara Delano had some
royal blood, as . descendant OF the
Prince of Scyrri of France and of
the Delanos, who originally spelled
the name De Lannoy.
The first of the family to come
to America, in 1921, was Philip
Delano.
Mrs. Roosevelt's father, Warren
Delano, who engaged in banking and
commerce, came from q long line
1see MRS. ROOSEVELT, Page AID