As World War II was coming to an end, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's health was failing. After suffering from heart problems and severely high blood pressure, FDR died on April 12, 1945.

In a new book (FDR's Deadly Secret), Eric Fettmann and Steven Lomazow claim that it was not heart problems that killed FDR. Fettmann and Lomazow claim that FDR, while still in his second term as President, had been diagnosed with melanoma (the most dangerous form of skin cancer). It was this, the authors claim, that eventually killed FDR. If FDR knew he had this deadly cancer, he kept it from the public while running for his third term.

George Orwell, best known as the author of Animal Farm and 1984, was born as Eric Arthur Blair in Motihari, India in 1903. Although Orwell only spent about a year at this home before he moved to England with his mother, the birthplace of the author still represents an important part of his life.

Unfortunately, the building in India where Orwell spent his first year of life is not in good shape. For many years it has been left to the elements and has considerably decayed. Thankfully, the provincial government has recently declared that it will restore and protect the building. There are hopes that Orwell's birthplace will attract tourists.

For more information about the restoration of Orwell's birthplace, see this Telegraph article.

On January 2, 1960, John F. Kennedy publicly announced his candidacy for the presidential race. Exactly 50 years later, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library will begin tweeting JFK's day-to-day 1960 presidential campaign schedule. The information comes from the JFK Library's archives, including information gathered from old newspapers, diary entries, and press releases. To follow JFK's progress, subscribe to this new Twitter account, JFK__1960 (with two underscores).

The very first Peanuts comic strip, written by Charles M. Schulz, appeared in seven newspapers on October 2, 1950. What was on it?