FDR's Funeral Train: A Betrayed Widow, a Soviet Spy, and a Presidency in the Balance

"Klara revives a long-forgotten event with precision and pathos, allowing readers a coveted Pullman berth for a ride through three of this country's darkest yet most formative days." ―Gay Talese, author of A Writer's Life

"Klara charms as he informs. A little gem." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

The April 1945 journey of FDR's funeral train became a thousand-mile odyssey, fraught with heartbreak and scandal. As it passed through the night, few of the grieving onlookers gave thought to what might be happening behind the Pullman shades, where women whispered and men tossed back highballs. Inside was a Soviet spy, a newly widowed Eleanor Roosevelt, who had just discovered that her husband's mistress was in the room with him when he died, all the Supreme Court justices, and incoming president Harry S. Truman who was scrambling to learn secrets FDR had never shared with him.

Weaving together information from long-forgotten diaries and declassified Secret Service documents, journalist and historian Robert Klara enters the private world on board that famous train. He chronicles the three days during which the country grieved and despaired as never before, and a new president hammered out the policies that would galvanize a country in mourning and win the Second World War.

"[An] evocative account of the sometimes awkward juxtaposition of those who had served and now mourned one president and those who were eager to begin working for, and influencing, another." — Asbury Park Press

"A riveting tale of how several railroads brought Franklin D. Roosevelt's body home." — Trainstalk

"A book that reveals much of the heretofore hidden angst and intrigue that had accompanied a dead president on his final journey home." — The Daily Progress (Charlottesville)

"Klara, a veteran reporter, has put together a thrilling piece of history. Sixty-five years after FDR's death, Klara has managed to provide a fresh look at history as well as the political landscape of the 21st century." — The Daily Beast