Guarding the Roosevelts National Park Service security guard Gilbert Calhoun began his employment at the FDR Historic Site in February of 1946 less than a year after FDR's death in April, 1945. Thirty-three years later in 1978, Calhoun was interviewed by FDR Library oral historian Emily Williams about his experiences keeping vigil over FDR's grave at a time when grieving citizens from around the nation were making pilgrimages to FDR's Hyde Park home. During the 14 years Calhoun served with the National Park Service in Hyde Park, he also frequently protected Eleanor Roosevelt during her visits to the FDR Home and Library. Thanks to the recording of oral histories, the unusual perspectives and surprising insights of people like Calhoun are no longer lost to history.
Gilbert Calhoun: When I first reported for duty it was early February of 1946...Our biggest problem was trying to keep the general public from coming into the home grounds and around the gravesite which was closed to the public in those days. There were no barriers at the gravesite to keep the public out. During nights we were instructed to turn people back that would be walking all the way from Route 9 after the FDR Library entrance gates were closed. Many infiltrated the grounds, and were asked to leave... We did have some problems with people by their sheer numbers trying to push their way over the guards on duty to get to the gravesite. There was an opening in the hemlock hedge between the library and the home at the northeasterly portion of the grave. Many persons would push their way to the gravesite at that point, and we would have to turn them around. People would trample the rose beds that we were trying to get in shape for the opening date [of FDR's home as a historic site]... April the 12th, 1946, President Harry Truman was here for the official dedication...One thing very amusing, that kind of distracted from the dedication ceremony, was the appearance of Frank Sinatra. The women and all the young people screaming and shouting veered away from the ceremonies to see Frank Sinatra. We had some difficulty getting him out of the scene off to one side so the dedication ceremony could continue.
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