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Post by Graveyardbride on May 13, 2016 20:33:54 GMT -5
FDR's coffin, Friday, April 13, 1945 FDR’s Lifelong Fear of Friday the 13th
In one of the most memorable moments of his political career, Franklin D. Roosevelt said in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1933, “Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” Later, as more and more Americans learned their fearless leader possessed a morbid fear of the number 13 and refused to travel on Friday the 13th, they considered his words somewhat ironic.
The Great Depression and later, World War II, took their toll, but many citizens were still heartened by Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” wherein he reassured and comforted his fellow Americans. But despite the words he employed to bolster the spirits of his countrymen, he himself continued to be riddled by fears of what many considered a superstitious nature. In No Ordinary Time, Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote: “Outside Roosevelt’s door, which he refused to lock at night as previous presidents had done, Secret Service men patrolled the corridor, alerting the guardroom to the slightest hint of movement. The refusal to lock his door was related to the president’s dread fear of fire, which surpassed his fear of assassination or anything else. The fear seems to have been rooted in his childhood, when, as a small boy, he had seen his young aunt, Laura, race down the stairs, screaming, her body and clothes aflame from an accident with an alcohol lamp.” She also describes how the president, who was struck down by polio in his 30s, would practice escaping fires by “dropping from his bed or chair and then crawling to the door.”
He was physically disabled, so perhaps his fear of fire was understandable, but his fear of the number 13 wasn’t – at least not to most. Roosevelt biographer John Gunther wrote: “He hated Friday the thirteenth, he would never start an important trip on a Friday if he could help it, and he disliked sitting down with thirteen at dinner.” In fact, Roosevelt’s terror of the number 13 was so acute that Missy LeHand, his secretary, was always on standby to join Roosevelt and his guests at the White House table in case the number present turned out to be 13.
To this day, there are rumors around Warm Springs, Georgia, the location of the Little White House where Roosevelt died in 1945, that he was aware the 13th of April was on a Friday because he had lived his life convinced the combination of Friday and the number 13 meant disaster. The day before, the ailing leader was posing at his desk in the company of Lucy Mercer Rutherford – his long ago mistress – as an artist painted his portrait. His complexion was ruddy for a change and the artist began painting quickly to capture the man who suddenly appeared so full of life. She didn’t realize the reason for his rosy appearance was because a blood vessel had burst in his brain. Then his hand began twitching and he reached toward his head. When asked if he had dropped his cigarette, he faintly replied, “I have a terrific pain in the back of my head,” and fell into a coma from which he never revived. The president was pronounced dead on April 12, 1945.
The following day, a big, black hearse arrived at the Little White House and Roosevelt’s body was brought out and transported to the depot, where it was carried onto the train and placed in a copper-lined mahogany coffin. His final journey began on Friday the 13th. Could his lifelong fear have been a premonition?
Author: Graveyardbride. Sources: Warren Perry, National Portrait Gallery; The Little White House; The Atlantic; and My Thirty Years Backstairs at the White House, by Lillian Rogers Parks. See also: “First Ladies and the Occult in the White House”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/7166/first-ladies-occult-white-house “Presidential Superstitions and Phobias”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/4280/presidential-superstitions-phobias “13 Weird Friday the 13th Incidents”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/4620/13-weird-friday-13th-incidents “Friday the 13th in Chicago”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/edit/3295 “Why Does Friday the 13th Scare Us So Much?”: whatliesbeyond.boards.net/thread/1851/friday-13th
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Post by Kate on May 18, 2016 17:00:49 GMT -5
I didn't know much about FDR until I watched that show on PBS about the Roosevelts. He's really an interesting person and he must have been in a lot of pain after he had polio.
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Post by steve on Oct 12, 2017 22:44:16 GMT -5
This is one of my favorite articles. I didn't know that Roosevelt was so superstitious until I read this. Since then, I read a biography of him and it tells about how he was perversely afraid of having 13 at the table. Does anyone know why that is? What is it about 13 at the table that scares some people?
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Post by Graveyardbride on Oct 14, 2017 3:53:33 GMT -5
This is one of my favorite articles. I didn't know that Roosevelt was so superstitious until I read this. Since then, I read a biography of him and it tells about how he was perversely afraid of having 13 at the table. Does anyone know why that is? What is it about 13 at the table that scares some people? There’s an old superstition that if there are 13 people at the table, before a year passes, one of them will die.
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Post by Isbeau on Apr 20, 2018 18:08:32 GMT -5
Hello, the fear of 13 at the table could come from the Last Supper. Both Jesus and Judas were dead within days.
Friday the 13 fear supposedly comes from the Knights Templars who were arrested on Friday the 13 of October 1307. FDR was a Freemason who was involved at one time in the Oak Island Treasure Hunt. Oak Island and the Freemasons are both linked in theory to the Templars.
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Post by Isbeau on Apr 20, 2018 22:36:09 GMT -5
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Post by Isbeau on Apr 20, 2018 22:44:03 GMT -5
National Geographic's "hottest take on Friday the 13th" isn't so good. One search on Google Books turns up Friday the 13th as bad luck in 1882.
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Post by steve on Apr 21, 2018 6:07:32 GMT -5
From what I've read about FDR, his fear of Friday the 13th went way back to his childhood and he was born in 1888. That would have made him around 20 when the book was published, so his fear couldn't have come from the book.
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Post by pat on Apr 21, 2018 8:54:43 GMT -5
Hello, the fear of 13 at the table could come from the Last Supper. Both Jesus and Judas were dead within days. Friday the 13 fear supposedly comes from the Knights Templars who were arrested on Friday the 13 of October 1307. FDR was a Freemason who was involved at one time in the Oak Island Treasure Hunt. Oak Island and the Freemasons are both linked in theory to the Templars. I've always heard that the 13 present at The Lord's Supper was the reason for the superstition about bad luck having 13 at the table. I've also heard that the reason for the superstitions about Friday is because Christ was crucified on a Friday. There's also a superstition that if you start something on a Friday, you won't ever finish it, so some people are reluctant to start a new project on Friday.
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Post by steve on Sept 13, 2019 5:27:45 GMT -5
Every time there's a Friday the 13th, I always think of FDR and how he feared Friday the 13th all of his life and his last trip was on Friday the 13th.
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Post by pat on Nov 13, 2020 8:29:00 GMT -5
Since I first read this article, I always think of it on Friday the 13th.
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Post by jason on Nov 13, 2020 12:44:39 GMT -5
The article asks, "Could his lifelong fear have been a premonition?" It's very strange that the only trip he ever took on Friday the 13th was after he was dead, but I wouldn't call it a premonition.
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Post by JoannaL on Jan 12, 2023 16:54:50 GMT -5
In case there’s anyone who isn’t aware of tomorrow’s date, it's Friday the 13th!
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Post by steve on Apr 13, 2023 11:50:43 GMT -5
If I ever get down to Georgia, I'm going to visit Warm Springs. I read a biography of FDR and he believed the springs would help his polio. All it did was offer temporary relief, but he developed a lot of upper body strength from swimming in the springs. I've heard that the house is haunted.
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Post by madeline on Apr 13, 2023 13:34:05 GMT -5
If I ever get down to Georgia, I'm going to visit Warm Springs. I read a biography of FDR and he believed the springs would help his polio. All it did was offer temporary relief, but he developed a lot of upper body strength from swimming in the springs. I've heard that the house is haunted. The house is rustic and quite small for the home of a president, even a vacation home. It's supposed to be haunted by Roosevelt. Some say Lucy Rutherford, his long-time mistress, also haunts the house. She was with him when he died and when Eleanor found out, she was livid. Actually, he probably wouldn't have died when he did if Eleanor hadn't kept him on the phone for hours discussing one of her pet projects.
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