Breathe one's last breath

1962 October, Tristram Coffin, "Peace in politics", in Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, vol. 18, nr. 8, page 43. When the isolationists were breathing their last frantic breaths in 1940, Franklin D. Roosevelt boldly campaigned on an internationally based policy.

The grease on his hand from Burt’s apron meant that slowly but surely he was losing his grip. Any moment now, he was going to breathe his last breath.