Most observers date the beginning of the Cold War to a speech given by former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri on March 5, where he uses the term "Iron Curtain" for the first time.
President Franklin Roosevelt dies in office on April 12 while visiting Warm Springs, Georgia. Later that day Vice President Harry S. Truman of Missouri becomes the thirty-third President of the U.S.
President Roosevelt issues Executive Order 8802 on June 25, which prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, and creed in corporations with federal contracts. It also creates the Fair Employment Practices Committee (FEPC).
