Eighty years ago today, April 12, 1945, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died, and Vice President Harry S Truman assumed the office. This photo of his being sworn in appeared in the April 23, 1945, issue of Life Magazine.

At 5:15, Truman was summoned to the White House and was shown to Mrs. Roosevelt’s study, where she informed him that the President was dead. He asked, “what can I do,” to which she replied, “tell us what we can do.” At 7:10, Chief Justice Stone administered the oath. Truman slept that night at his own apartment, and the next morning, set up his office, from which Roosevelt’s effects had already been removed.

At noon, Truman greeted a group of reporters with tears in his eyes, saying, “last night the whole weight of the moon and stars fell on me. If you fellows ever pray, please pray for me.”