GEN. WALTER BEDELL SMITH REFLECTS ON THE GERMAN SURRENDER, THE DEATH OF F.D.R., AND HARRY TRUMAN�S NEW PRESIDENCY

GEN. WALTER BEDELL SMITH REFLECTS ON THE GERMAN SURRENDER, THE DEATH OF F.D.R., AND HARRY TRUMAN�S NEW PRESIDENCY
GEN. WALTER BEDELL SMITH REFLECTS ON THE GERMAN SURRENDER, THE DEATH OF F.D.R., AND HARRY TRUMAN'S NEW PRESIDENCY
On May 7, 1945 at 0241 hours local, Lt. General WALTER BEDELL SMITH (1895-1961) signed the German military surrender document on behalf of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and the Allied Expeditionary Force, effectively ending the war in Europe. President Franklin D. Roosevelt had tragically died of a massive stroke on April 12th as he sat for a portrait, and a shaken Vice President Harry Truman immediately assumed the presidency of a country at war. Offered here is a May 27, 1945 one page, 10 x 8 inch letter by Walter Bedell Smith on his SHAEF Chief of Staff letterhead to a Washington, DC Boy Scout troop reflecting on the surrender and these other political events. He modestly responds to the boys' praise, in part: "�I am delighted to accept your congratulations, but only in the same way that I signed the surrender � as the instrument of the thousands of men and women whose courage and skill brought it about. It is indeed a pity that President Roosevelt did not live to see it signed, but it is a great source of satisfaction to us all that we were able to bring about the Unconditional Surrender for which he was so largely responsible, and that his successor, our new Commander-in-Chief, has his hand so firmly on the helm�" Boldly signed at conclusion, and in fine condition. After World War II, "Beetle" Smith would serve Truman as Ambassador to the Soviet Union and as Director of the CIA. Photo for illustrative purposes only and not included.