FDR's funeral train : a betrayed widow, a Soviet spy, and a presidency in the balance / Robert Klara.

Author: Klara, Robert.

Edition: 1st ed.

Publisher: New York : Palgrave Macmillan, c2010.

ISBN: 9780230619142 (hc.)
0230619142 (hc.)

Description: xx, 244 p., [8] p. of plates : ill., map ; 25 cm.

Subject: Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945 Death and burial.
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962.
Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972.
Funeral rites and ceremonies United States History 20th century.
Railroad travel United States History 20th century.
Spies Soviet Union Biography.
World War, 1939-1945 United States.
United States Politics and government 1933-1945.

Contents: Pine Mountain -- "Run slow, run silent" -- The fish room -- The main line -- Twelve hours -- The train of secrets -- Car No. 3 -- "Where the sundial stands" -- Homeward -- "We do not fear the future."

Summary: "In April 1945, the funeral train carrying the body of Franklin D. Roosevelt embarked on a three-day, thousand-mile odyssey through nine states before reaching the president's home where he was buried. It passed with darkened windows; few gave thought to what might be happening aboard. A closer look inside the train, however, would reveal a Soviet spy about to leak a state secret, a newly widowed Eleanor Roosevelt, who just found out that her husband's mistress was in the room when he died, and the entire family of incoming President Harry S. Truman. The thrilling story of what took place behind the Pullman shades, where women whispered and men tossed back highballs, has never been told. On the occasion of the sixty-fifth anniversary of FDR's death, Klara chronicles the action-packed three-day train ride during which, among other things, Truman hammered out the policies that would galvanize a country in mourning and win the Second World War"--Provided by publisher.