Transcripts For CSPAN3 First Ladies Influence Image - Bess Truman 20240712

President harry truman like to refer to his wife as the boss. Family was their number one priority. Destroyed many of her letters and spend a good part of her white house years home in missouri. Truman served as true first lady on her own terms. Cspans continuing series first ladies, influence and image. Tonight, story the 33rd president of the United States, this truman. Here to tell us more about her, we are pleased to welcome back to our set the white house historian, his latest book called the imperial season. And the history professor and author of a biography of harry truman called the coming of the cold war. Thank you for being here. Where we left off last week was the death of Franklin Roosevelt. April 12th 1945. The call comes into harry truman. Where is he . He gets the message that he is needed. He is having a drink with his cronies as he often was known to do. A lot of politics was accomplished by relaxing and having somewhat more cordial atmosphere. He received a phone call and said he just knew and the story goes that he ran to get to his car and get to the white house. He was sworn into hours later. At the white house itself. Mrs. Roosevelt was at a luncheon. They went and got her and did not tell her anything. It was not a surprise to anyone in the white house at all. And you roosevelt was going. No one expected it so quickly. I think it was an issue of when. Because he looked horrible. He had spoken to the Congress Sitting down, and he was ashen. His inaugural address for the fourth term had to be given from the white house. He was stood up on the north porch. South portico, i must say. The audience was out front. It was not really a surprise to anyone. I dont know why was a surprise to truman. In the cabinet room at the white house, harry truman is joined by his family. Took the oath of office. How surprised was the nation . Do they know who harry truman was . No. They knew he was the Vice President and he was named. He had gotten some acclaim for his truman committee. He was in an mired senator within washington. The general public was, who is harry truman . Even his own mother was nervous for him. What about bess truman . She was with him. In the apartment, i dont know. Roosevelt he did not admire truman, he approved him for via Vice President and thought it was a good idea. As nicole says, it was in washington. He was not a household word out. Roosevelt had been in for 13 years. He was a fixture. The very idea of his declining, most people did not understand that he could not walk. He had kept that very well hidden. The trumans are now the first couple as you said, that the roosevelts had been in the white house for 13 years. That is the longest stretch every president has ever been in the white house. How did the transition happen . The furniture was taken out of the roosevelt also because of his condition. Mrs. Roosevelts nature as you saw on the last show. They like to have everything around them all the time. They were table people. They had tables in front of things. All his things were in easy reach. There were thousands of things. Pictures, all sorts of things. Imagine with the trumans faced when they went in there with the squares on the wall where the pictures had been, and the carpets taken up, and the floors would jiggle. The transition was, they had a little apartment in town, and they took the piano from it. Thats all they moved. They go immediately to the white house . The trumans thought they could stay in their apartment until they moved into the white house. They offered mrs. Roosevelt as much time as she needed. She did about two weeks, i think. By then, the trumans realized that security with, they could not stay in the apartment. They were living and blair house. I love the story that as Eleanor Roosevelt watch them pack up the last of the belongings, she went across the street to the blair house to say goodbye to the trumans and she warned bess, watch out for the rats. She and her female friends had seen a rat run across the terrace recently. That was the trumans introduction to their new home. So she was thrust into the job. She was thrust into the job as first lady. Did you have any guidance from the outgoing first lady . Her first problem was that Eleanor Roosevelt had probably meaning well, set up a press conference for bess. Bess truman went to the assured do what she wanted. She put a lot of thought into it and at the last minute she decided that was not something she was going to do. She never did hold a press conference. She sent edith helm. She was the white house social secretary. Went there with mrs. Which rolled wilsons second was the second, . Correct and stayed through all through the roosevelts all through everything. She was admiral helms wife. She commuted in limousine families burglary day. She knew everything. She knew where the bodies were buried. She knew everything and she handle the press conference. The other thing we should establish earlier on is that the trumans got their support from one another. They were a partnership 100 . The best of harry and daughter margaret. The ushers worked in the white house, describe them as the closest knit family they had seen in years. Can you talk a little bit about what you know about how they enter into how they relate it and supported one another . It reminded me a lot of the carters. They were together a lot and they liked littlest into the music. They liked to read things and to discuss things. They just enjoyed being together. Margaret and the president were musical. They liked to listen to records and stuff like that, the same way the carter stud. It was very much the same thing like just intimate, personal, how they lived. Were going to go back in time and tell you a bit of the biography of this woman who came to service the first lady. Before we do that, let me tell you how you could be involved in the program. If youve been watching our series you know a lot of the things that makes the special and interesting or your comments. Theres three ways you could do that. When us by phone. We will put the phone numbers on the screen. You can dial and throughout the program with your question or comment. You can also tweet us at first ladies, and we have a conversation already underway at the cspan facebook page. You will see a photograph of the trumans and you can post a question there and we will try to work in as many as we can. Thank you for your participation and ask some good questions. We have two good guests at the table. One thing you should know is that their house, which is independents missouri, how far is that away from the major city . Ten miles from kansas city. A national site. It is run by the National Parks service. It has been closed to cameras for more than 30 years as a policy. Were looking at it as a picture on the screen. But the park was willing to open it up for the cspan series, also with encouragement that the trumans grandson Clifton Truman daniel, throughout this program, we will see inside, the tour is given by mr. Daniel. It helps us understand the people that his grandparents were. Lets begin with a tour of the home in independents. We are on the bat back porch of my grandparents home and independents missouri. This is a way we came in. This is the way family came in through the house. Through the kitchen door. We came into the kitchen, and the first place i always headed to was back here to the pantry. I dont see the ten, but there was always the ten in here on one of the shelves. A nice round ten filled with brownies. I would always make sure that that ten was in here before i went anywhere else in the house. Once i make sure that the brownies were in the ten, and next stop had to be my grandfathers steady because whenever you came into the house, he would not meet us at the airport as he got older, but once you came into the house it had to stop here and say hi to grandpa. This is where you found him most of the time, as he was getting older and i was getting older. I wanted to talk to grandpa, that is where i looked because he was always reading. My grandmother and my mother sat in those chairs. Often read in here with them. Apparently, my grandmother and mother i was used to start fights, and my grandfather would read down to the end of the page, mark his place with his finger and look up, and try to decide whether or not the fight was escalated to the point that he needed to get out of the room. If you decided everything was okay, he would go to the next page and read down and check again. Sometimes he left, sometimes he state. This is the formal dining room. This is where we ate. This is where we ate the evening meal every day. They had breakfast and the kitchen and a sandwich for lunch, but this is where we ate all formal dinner meals, was in this dining room. My grandmother sat at that end of the table is where she sat. If we go through here, we are in the center of the house in the foyer. You will notice that the biggest portrait in the house is that of my late mother, Margaret Truman daniel. She was their only child and only conceived after my grandmother suffered to miscarriages. My grandmother was 39 when she was born. She was very precious to my grandparents. They were very close to the family unit. My grandfather kind of spoiled her. My grandmother was more of the disciplinarian. But the three of them were very very tight as a family. Because she was an only child. If we go through this way, we are in the living room. This chair was where my grandmother later in her life this is where she did her reading. After my grandfather passed away, this is often where my grandmother sat. She would read murder mysteries. She loved murder mysteries. She had stacks of them on either side of the chair. She would have an in stack of her books that she had not read yet and an out stack that she would just read and put down. She would donate them or put them on the shelf. This is where she spent a lot of her time. She gave a lot of those cast off murder mysteries to my mother who did the same thing. But stacks on either side of her chair. Mom eventually became a mystery writer. You see the house in independence missouri. That was the house that the tremendous lived in throughout their married life. Lets go back even farther. How did they meet . They met when they were about five years old in sunday school. Im not sure whether harry always spoke about the girl with the beautiful blue eyes and long golden curls. He claims he fell in love with her that they. As far as we know, he never did look at another woman. It was a lifelong love affair for the trumans. They had a very different background. Can you tell us a bit about the family that Elizabeth Wallace came from, bess while this came from and with the early truman life was like. They owned a store in town and manufactured flower the queen queen of the pantry flower. They were considered a little more upscale than the true mens who formed peoples land. Some of the land they farmed was besss a mother. There was a difference. That different surface throughout their lives. Let me read to this letter. He had written while he was president. June 29 1949. They are living in the house. He is writing to bess us. 30 years i hoped to make you a happy wife and mother. Did i . I dont know. All i can say is i have tried. There is no one in the world anyway, who can look down on you or your daughter. There is no one in the world who can look down on you or your daughter. That means much to me, but i have never cared for social position or rank for myself except to see that those dear to me were not made to suffer for my shortcomings. This is the president of the United States still feeling that way. It comes through his letters to her. Almost an apology of he never felt good enough . I think part of that, keep in mind, even when he writes this letter, her mother is still living with them. That is her mothers house that they moved into. They never had their own marital then her mother lives in the white house a lot of the time. So its her mother did not the approve. And never really thought well of her soninlaw even when he became president. Apparently not. But he never said and negative word. Upon her death, he wrote a lovely piece in his memoirs saying i dont understand motherinlaw jokes because i had such a great one. She died in the white house. She did. He sent a note to the chief usher and said mother wallace has died. Make arrangements for us to return. We will return to end dependeds and learn a little more through their eyes of how the story of the story of how harry and bess met. Independence is 26 miles away from where he lived in 1910. He often stayed across the street at the nolan house which is where his aunt and two cousins lived. One afternoon, he was over there with his cousins with the family. And his aunt brought in a cake plate that my great grandmother had given her a cake and mrs. Nolin had cleaned the cake plate and was asking if anyone would take it back over. My grip my grandfather moved with something my grandmother described as moving with the speed of light. He grabbed the cake plate, ran over here and rang the bell of the front door hoping that my grandmother would opened the door. She did and she invited him in and that is the beginning of their formal courtship in ytytye and my grandfather was six. They were baptist. My grandfathers family were baptist but the First Presbyterian church down the street here had a very good sunday school and that is where my great grandmother truman was most interested in. So she to grandpa over their one day to talk to the reverend and as she was talking, sunday school is in session, and as my great grandmother was talking to the reverend, my grandfather noticed this little girl sitting in sunday school class with what he described as beautiful blue eyes and long golden girls. He sort of fell in love with her right then and there. As far as i know, as far as anyone knows, he never looked at another woman. There is the story of a courtship through the grandson that is the progeny. Then midwestern architecture. Isnt it great . The other thing that is interesting is that the court ship last in many years. Yes. He had businesses, he went off to war, how long did it take before they got married . He first kind of unofficially proposed in 1913 after their courtship starts in 1910. And she did not write him a little back but you can tell from his second letter to her when he says if i bought a ring would you wear it on your left hand . No answer, she agrees to stay friends with him, they keep hoarding and they get close to a formal engagement and then world war i intervenes. What was Harry Trumans role in world war i . How much danger was he . In great danger. He was in combat at the front leading his men. And writing to bests all the time and carry her picture all the time. It meant everything to him his military service. When you see how he ran the presidency, he was a no nonsense organized man while roosevelt was not. He got things in shape and stayed in the reserves. He enjoyed the company of men. It was not that he sought out the company of women, but he was in the masons. He was a mason while he was president. He went to masonic events. He then retained this interest in the military and military people. It had a profound effect on his life. It is time to begin bringing in our colors. We will begin with gary who is in independence missouri. So you are living in the trumps hometown . How has that inform your opinion of . Them very highly of truman. I live a few doors down from him so Everything Everywhere we look we see truman. The more and more at the years go by, i think the public would like to see someone like truman back in the white house. We really appreciate him as well here. Do you have a question for our guests . I do. I know bess had a very low profile being a first lady but i was wondering how the press responded to her especially on the heels of eleanor being very visible and open in her communication style. And did harry have any desire for her to be in the public more . Well first of all, i will take the first part of your question, about how the press responded. At first they were sort of clambering to get more information and were very aggressive calling her secretaries and wondering where she was going and what she was going to wear. Its not that best would not speak to people, she would invite women journalists for things like tea or luncheons but insist on it all being off the record. They did get to know bess truman a little bit. She was not doing this out of spite but she was a private person. How were there early years . When he came back for military service. The private sector. He runs a store in kansas city for a while. Amends Clothing Store with his good friend eddie jacobson. And he was forever referred to as the haberdasher. Correct. That is where he gets into some debt which he insisted on paying off. He eventually does. He is still involved in the family farm. He is trying to do all of these things to make himself more. And he does become interested in public life at that time. They were living at a couple in the house with mrs. Wallace. Not just misses wallace but her brothers and their wives as well. What happened to mr. Wallace . Mr. Wallace committed suicide when bests was 18. In those days it was a huge scandal. Great stigma on the family. It shattered her mother. This explains why bess wants to keep her family like private. She saw how it shattered her mother. She wants to shield her mother and brothers from having the press dig through their Family History and bring that up again. It was a terrible thing for everyone. No one ever understood why he did it. She left right after the funeral with the children for colorado and lived there for a year. Then she came back and moved into the house with her mother and children. Steven is up next and louisville. Hi steven. How are you doing this . Evening good thank you. I was thinking of a few comments but i know you were talking about the suicide of bess father in 1903. It made me think of the reasons why her partnership with harry truman, like the gentleman was talking about before, it seemed like they had more of an equal partnership which was surely unusual in that day. I think the reason why was because she had realized that her parents marriage had something lacking. I think we kind of recalled that margo truman was saying that she went back and forth with bess over the years and that was why they had such a close partnership. I dont know if you guys discussed this or not but i know the trumans were the first to ever host the first integrated inauguration inaugural ball in 1949. I was just curious we were talking about womens rights for instance, what bess thought about feminism because i know in the early eighties someone sent her an article on the feminist movement and whether she would have been for the er a, but also bess opinions on civil rights for black people. Her husband had often used derogatory terms but he was also the one who really set the course for the modern Civil Rights Movement in 1948. Thank you. Giving us lots to work with here. What about her views of feminism . Beth would not have called yourself a feminist but she did believe her marriage was a partnership. She did once famously say that a politician wife job was to sit there, be quiet and make sure her hat was on straight. She would give him the dickens if he did not can salt her on any major decision like nato, the Marshall Plan and so forth. Why did harry call bess the boss . Seems like he did what he wanted. She did not like being the first lady. I would not say that harry did what he wanted. It was a partnership. I dont think we ought to think of partnerships in marriages as anything new in that time. It goes back forever and ever. As we have learned throughout the series. This is part of what marriage is all about. Miss truman grew up her father died when she was 18. She was in the feminist movement. Suffragette movement. Bess how different it sugar on the whole way. She was supportive of margaret having a career. Its different from the notions of people regular notions of feminism. She was very organized with his Senate Office. She did not mind the name until he introduced her during the 1948 campaign. He introduced harry as the boss and margaret as the bosses boss. Bess was worried people would think margaret was spoiled. There was some controversy when he worked in her Senate Office because he paid a salary. How did they handle . That the same way they did. Straightforward. Bess did the work and this is just people trying to start problems. They knew that. But it wasnt okay thing to do. Their first time in the white house, bess sets the media you dont need to know who i am. Im not always the president. We have one of the few pieces of film available of bess truman as first lady and this is a pretty famous one. One of her first press events was the christening of airplanes. You can see how open it was at the time. The event did not go exactly as planned and you will see why. We will watch next. It gives me great pleasure to christened these two hospital airplanes whose purchase has been made possible by war bonds subscribed and sold by latest congressional. By sending forth these planes on their parents of mercy, we send with them our love and sincere desire that the comfort and solace derived from them by our fighting men will let them know that we stand firmly behind them wherever they are. At the national airport, ambulances with wings. One each for navy and army. Ready to be christened by mrs. Harry as truman who with her daughter margaret will do the honors in their first public appearance. Miss truman is in for a surprise by an oversight, the champagne bottle has not been properly prepared. Etched to break the glass an impact and glass cutting is behind the successful christenings like these. Now, mrs. Truman unaware that her bottle is unprepared, refusing to be rattled, the new first lady joyance in the crowds reaction. Lets see how her military aid meets the crisis. But to the navy, forewarn is for armed. Here armed needs a hammer. Look at it just underneath the airplanes nose. The hammer misses on the first try. All is well that ends well. Despite the stubborn bottle, this mrs. Truman sends off the possible plan to their blessing. Her little speech was charming. It reminded me a little bit of the one of mrs. Roosevelt. Maybe that went with the. Times she does not want people to laugh at her. So this was a formative event . But she was no cultural backwater to washington. She had been in washington, she had been a senators wife, she was active in the congressional club, she was active in things in town. When they got to the white house, she knew exactly what to do. They were among the most formal entertainers the white house had ever had. Next is a call from susan ember wick pennsylvania. Susan you are on the air. Yes. I just wanted to mention that i enjoyed this series greatly. Its the best thing on television. A few years ago i read a book by margo truman about beth. I was wondering in the book it had a lot of the letters and so forth. I was wondering if those are still put together, compiled in a book or anything like that . I was wondering if those were still put together compiled in a book or anything like that or what other information we could read aboutofsv bess and harry truman as well as margaret. The letters from the president miss truman . No. It wasnt. This was written by margaret. Like a diary. Almost like a diary. It was very informative because before that, before i read that, i did not ever see anything in a library or anything about bess truman. There is not a lot of scholarly work. A lot of we have is the work by margaret and her grandson that we saw on the video. They compiled letters, but we use those letters that are in the Truman Library in independence that are available to do research. Any book that you read on harry truman will talk about those letters and using them as a reference. Do you want to say why we dont have those letters . She burnt them. She brought them in the fire. Truman came upon her when she was doing this and he said, dont do that. Think of history. She said i am. Mrs. Washington, mrs. Off harding and mrs. Truman where the three that burnt their letters. How unfortunate. She did not want her words recorded. It was a partnership. She was a silent partner. I am enjoying your book. How did the inform his presidency . He asked her before he did pretty much anything. There is a little bit of controversy where the he consulted her about dropping the atomic bomb. Some sources say he did not consult bess about that. We are sure he consulted her about everything else. You can see his spirits got lower when she was in missouri. He did not function quite as much figure when best was not near. He was away at pot stand. She was an independent. It was such a scary thing. Trembled at the thought. She spent quite a bit of time at independence. She was gone a lot of the time. Can you think of other first ladies that spend so much time away from the white house . No. I really cannot. Washington had the season, you know. She was always there from december to spring. It had five or four official white house dinners. She resided over those. All good reviews. We had a question earlier about how treatment might have felt about his wifes version to being in public, and i found one source on that. It is carl anthonys book on first ladies. I want to read a little bit to you into the audience about this and the reaction. He writes, harry was becoming frustrated with besss refusal for playing a public role. He was the first president to take an act dive interest, stating that Abigail Adams wouldve made a better president and her husband and that mary lincoln was unjustly criticize. He wrote, i hope someone will take time to value the true role of the wife of the president and to assess the many burdens she has to bear and the contributions she makes. Attempting to coax bess, he wrote several months after fdr died. He said she was a timid women or would not make any speeches when he first ran for governor of new york. He says now, she talks all the time. It didnt work. Bess new her first lady history as well. I have nothing to say to the public. Ask which predecessor she most identified with. Bess shows the obscure and extremely private Elizabeth Monroe who of course followed the original dolly madison. Anything to add to that . Now. I dont disagree with that at all. I was looking at that letter myself the other day because harry was probably hinting that he would have liked bess to be more involved. It was not that she did not want to be involved in his life or his decisions. She just did not want to do it publicly. She did what she had to do. She had receptions for the military. She did those kinds of things, but the extras, miss roosevelt had a column and the send that. She just was not going to do that. That was her life. Maybe she was more of a feminist than any of them. She was not going to do what she was told. This is from Margaret Truman. She wrote, more and more, she began to feel that the presidency had virtually dissolved the Political Partnership that had been at the heart of her relationship with her husband. For so many years. I like the way that Margaret Truman explains, it because she explains it, when harry was in the senate he had time to come home in the evening and talk things out with bess and they could discuss sit over there oldfashioned switch they like to have an evening. When he became president , the decisions multiply. Its not that he did not want to consult her, but he did not have time to consult her on every little thing. She was frustrated at first but she came around. Harry truman had a lot of things to discuss and decisions to me. We have a few of the highlights of his first term in the white house. Including of course, the victory in europe day. The end of world war ii in europe. The atomic bomb. Subsequently, the end of world war ii with japan. Cia established. The israel officially recognized as you mentioned earlier. The integration of the military and Marshall Plan. Some of the Big Decisions he had. There is a little bit of dispute about the atomic bomb decision. I dont think he had time to. Bess we think knew about the creation of the atomic bomb, but whether he had time to get in touch with her before giving the order, probably not. He was not home. He was over meeting withcucucuce of those letters that harry wrote to bess. You talked about how lonely he was in 1945. Heres some of what he wrote to her onetime. Dear bess, it made me terribly homesick when i talked with you yesterday morning. Stalin and all the tough are coming to see 11 00 this morning. I like stalin. He is straightforward, knows what he wants and will compromise when he cannot get it. If i come out of this one hole, there will be nothing to worry over until the end of the chap war. Lots of left to you. When we learn about truman from that . A little bit of naive today. He had been taken into nothing by roosevelt. Youre talking about august. He was in april, he chops the bomb in august. A few months. But still, he says to her later, that he is trying to get the departments in order for weeding out the people he doesnt want bringing in new ones, and he will sit down and tell them exactly what he wants done. And that is how he handled. It it is. I think that letter, thats one of the thing it tells. As he makes a straightforward assessment of stolid. I like him. He does not spend two pages going on and on about politics. But it also shows us that even though this is one of his shorter letters, he is taking time to tell bess what he has discovered. Hes filling her in on these important events. He misses her. I want to answer one question from twitter. Denny asks, why does the park service not open the truman house to the public . They do open the truman house. You can go visit it but it hasnt been open to Television Cameras for preservation purposes for that amount of time. You can go if you want. I can go as a private citizen and visit, but we have permission to bring cameras and for the first time in a long time, and we appreciate their help with. That early on in her term, and let me preface this. Ive got to different folks on facebook who are asking about the trumans and their attitude toward Race Relations. Kurt turner writes, one of my favorite harry and bess stories oh no, thats the wrong. One asking about whether or not he integrated the military. Then later on, if you are rights, suggesting that in several books about the trumans, ive read that mrs. Truman and her mother, mrs. Wallace were very prejudiced against African Americans and choose. She had an issue early on in a var invitation that involved in africanamerican congressman adam clayton. With that is our launching pad, subject of the trumans and race, tell us what youre scholarship led you to believe. Congressman powell was upset because the daughters of the American Revolution had invited best to a tee and he was offended because it would not let African American musicians perform in a Constitution Hall. He thought that bess truman should refuse to attend 18 by an organization who had that policy. And bess truman wrote a public letter saying, i certainly dont approve of this sort of racial prejudice, i dont believe that should be in the arts at all, but we cannot stop a private organization for making their own policies. And she said, ive already accepted the invitation so im not going to back out now. And so she went. And Adam Clayton Powell responded by calling her the last lady of the land, which did not go over well with the president. But the whole thing must of been infuriating to the president , because marion anderson, the color returns singer, the same thing had happened Constitution Hall wouldnt take. Her of course now they have taken james ground and, anyway. And so is performed at the lincoln memorial. They knew that. The trumans news that. I think the issue is get into the newspapers was to get in the newspapers mainly against humans. And im sure the president had some private words on that. One well, he never allow powell in the white house again. So that was an incident. But what about their larger record on Race Relations and how history should see that . First of all, you have to put the trends in context of their times. And where they grew up and understand many people will talk about how truman used derogatory terms and his letters, and thats absolutely true, and that is certainly not okay. But thats how people spoke at the time. And harry truman did a remarkable job that separating his public and private sphere, because even though, you know, he also famously said that he did not want margaret to marry an African American, but at the same time, he desegregates the military, even though it is politically unpopular. He does a lot for antilynching. He helps to establish israel. So he is the man who, you know, does not let his personal opinions affect his policy. It makes a pretty poor showing as a racist in his actions. Thats a good way to put. It but i think youve got to for that era, youve got to separate. It on your last show with mrs. Roosevelt, when she was referred to japanese as chaps, my japanese friends dont like that term, but she did during the war and no one thought a thing of it at the time. I guess the emperor did if you heard it. But they its the way the people. Talked. Right well, on the snow Archie Jackson asks us on facebook, did bess have anything to do it truman integrating the military . We often talk about the power roosevelts wipe never about trumans wife. Do we know if she had any influence on that decision . Oh, i dont think that what she was probably pushing him to do, it but you certainly wouldnt have objected to it in any way that i can see. She would probably thought it was the right thing to do. She had a great sympathy for servicemen. She was only one harry was lonely and when harry was over in world war i. She thought all serviceman should be treated equally. Marty is watching us in Columbus Ohio and is on. Next hi. Marty i have a question. Actually i went to visit the museum in independence missouri, but i wondered after mr. Truman died, did bess live there by herself . Or did margaret end up moving in with . Her and the other thing is i also worked for politics for a while, who is involved with the and olivier and drop the bomb on hiroshima. And you know, he never really wanted to talk about that too much and never really liked what he had to do. He did it because he had to do. It did truman kind of have the same feeling . Well, i can say to this who wouldnt . You know, the thought of killing hundreds of thousands of people, i dont think theres anything written about it. He had to stop the war. I mean, it was a religious it was a military decision. Yeah. And in my opinion, any president would have done the same thing, because no president can defend losing more american lives. No, and it was not going to stop. I mean it was just not going to stop. The japanese part of it. Right. And thats how we would answer to that, i guess, to the collar. There is a great clip. Harry truman spent a lot of time in his library after he moved out of the white house and he would speak to a group of schoolchildren, and i was often one of the questions he was asked. Kids want to know and truman went very forcefully defend his decision to drop the atomic bomb and explain it to Elementary School children. No one really blamed him for that is a personal thing. That apparently not at that time. No regina on twitter asks with bess in missouri, did she hold social functions and gay less . You mentioned early on that they opened the of 1946 social season washington. This was significant because it had been enduring. The war he has stirred been no formal entertaining at the white house during. The war now this doesnt seem like it would be in the trumans personal style to like all of this faulder. All president truman and one of the most interesting things about him to me is he identify the president like his private life, its Something Different from him in something bigger than him that he was representing. What was revived after all those years, they were sticklers to keeping it just as it had been. Black tie, even close and all that. And these dinners, the chief assure mr. West in his memoirs says, the white house had never been so formal and so devoted to diplomatic precedent as it was under the trumans. Everything was done exactly as it had been before the roosevelts. Ironically they only got one social season. Yes. They did entertain at the mayflower from time to time but they had to move out. Theres a story about their major renovation. Almost every president had done some renovation but nothing like the trumans. We will tell the story later. But one thing they did to the white house in the first term was the addition of the balcony. Yes. Today it is always referred to as the truman balcony. Tell us about the concept of it and how hard it was for that to get through. It was done basically for spite. He had had west wing prepared that how the big staff. Roosevelts staff double the west wing. So truman wanted to build down 17th street along edition with a large oratorio press conferences. It passed through congress and then congress rescinded it. He was as mad as he could be. The Reason Congress did was because he was defacing the white house. So he got in his head to build a porch on the outside of the white house where there was no upstairs access to a porch or anything. And he did it on his own and took it out of the household budget. He did not ask congress or anyone. They built that balcony and it is the truman balcony. That is what he did. Once finished how did they use it . They used it all the time like a patio. And practically every president after that wrote him a letter saying the one thing im glad you did to this house was at the truman balcony because it was so great. They liked to sit on it. They could access off of it from their private space . The oval room upstairs. How is the . View magnificent. With the Jefferson Memorial detriment roosevelt built. Its just a carpet. Its a beautiful beautiful view. The film footage of the forts during the centennial shows the view with Queen Elizabeth there. What can you tell the audience about the trumans private life in the white house . Especially during the first term. Especially with all these momentous things going on. They certainly didnt get much time to relax. It is very busy. As we have talked about, bess spends a lot of time traveling back and forth to independents. That is not just her being spiteful. She still feels like she needs to be the caretaker for her mother. Trumans mother is still alive. They have Family Business to take care of. When they are in the white house together they would do the same things that they did at home. They read. They enjoy an even cocktail. They liked to listen to music and they chat with margaret. You are talking about the truman about comey and the way they used it. They used it the same way they used their porch and independents. As a time to spend time together. One thing we often talk about is this first lady as beyond their image. How they might have influenced, we see this more and more as years progress, american style and culture. Was bess truman known for that . Well, she certainly did not dress poorly or an fashionably. I do not think she was mocked for her fashion sense. Jackie kennedy really sets the tone today. When we look at the first ladies that come before her, we do not think of them having these wonderful fashion sense. But bess was a stylish lady. Her High School Friends always talked about how she knew the latest fashions into pride in her appearance and liked to go shopping. Remember what truman said about her . She looks exactly what a woman her age ought to look like. He thought she was sensible inappropriate and market that so to. We will visit the truman independent president ial library. We will learn about more about her style. We are at the harry yes Truman Library in independence missouri. We are going into a collection space where we have artifacts and hats and clothes and jewelry related to mrs. Trumans time in the white house. Bess always had an excellent sense of style, even when she was a young woman. One of her friends noted that she always wore more stylish clothes or wore clothes more stylishly than many than her friends did. This is a hat that was made by bess truman favorite designers. Her name was mitt him aghast. It has a brownie great feather on it, it is made of brown will felt. She wore this hat when presents elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip came to United States in october 1951. That is one of the nice things about working here in the library. Its that we have a lot of artifacts and photos and documents and you can put the whole thing together. This is a hat we did not originally know very much about. We had no idea what events she might have worn it at and it is quite a hat. In the process of going through mrs. Trumans papers, we located a letter that she had written. This is a handwritten draft that she would have given to her secretary to type. She says i am simply delighted with my hat i love that part. She says it is the most attractive when i have seen all spring and i am happy it is mine. She says i wore it and one of the most important occasions when Queen Giuliani was here the day she presented the caroline to the nation. She had many but isnt pleasant things said about it. When we read that letter, we realized we have photos of that event. So we can look back at that event and know what hat she wore. We looked through the photos and found one, a good one, of her and you can see what shes wearing. We took the photo down after and compared it to some of the has in our collection. We realized we had the hat. Once again, it is nice to connect document to the photo to the artifacts and be able to tell that whole story. Another interesting part of it bess was that she was a very private person. This is a dress that kind of demonstrates that fact. This is a dress that she wore in 1952 to the Jefferson Jackson state dinner. That was the dinnerware president truman officially allowance that he was not going to run for president in 1952. He had the opportunity to do that but he chose not to. And so it was an important event for bess that signaled she was not going to be living in washington d. C. After 1953. She would be coming back to independents. We did not originally have this dress. Bess donated this dress to her church bazaar. And someone at the bizarre bought it, realized what it was and turned around and donated to the library. That kind of signals how bess felt about her time in the white house. Now that she did not necessarily like it but it was not something that defined her or was important to her. She kept giving things away. The dinner was two days after they had moved back into the white house. Speaking of clothing, the president was a palm beach dresser. That was the haberdasher right . Yes. He had gorgeous taste in clothes. Very modern and kind of young. It was a trim man. Yes. He was in shape. He walked like a mad men. He wore pebble colored shoes and really good everything. Everything pressed. On twitter we are asked, did the first lady have many women friends . Absolutely. One of her highlights in the of her early days in the white house, she invited her entire bridge club from independence in 1946 to spent a long weekend. This is the type of thing. Bess was doing it for herself and for her friends to have a good time. But it was the sort of thing that played very well in the press as well. Because her women friends were so excited to be there. She showed them the town, she took them out to lunch, listened to musicals and shopping. They so enjoyed the white house. Her women friends were very dear to her and she kept many of her friendships during her entire life. Here is pat invented mississippi. You are on the air. Thats in michigan. Offensive michigan, sorry. We had the pleasure of going to independence and during the house. We had to go and through the back door just like the family. Seeing the president ial library which we really enjoyed. My question is about the true mans tremendous financial circumstances. It was controversial that she was paid, perhaps they needed the money. Certainly the president was the reason that congress has established a pension for retiring president s. I wonder if their financial circumstances might have led them not to do is much entertaining and so forth as previous president s who had their own budgets. Absolutely. Financial reasons were why he does put bess on the payroll. Margaret truman always described her mother as a penny pincher but margaret all so admitted it was a good thing she did. The finances were often very tight. It was somewhat ironic for trumans second term. No one expected the democrats to win and that pesky congress had approved a bill that would double be president s salary. So imagine their dismay. To . What up to 50,000 from 10,000. Thats a huge flip. Imagine their dismay when harry truman received that money instead. President s did not have pensions before truman. They were kind of just put out. We will take another call. This is jose from philadelphia. Hi jose. Good evening. My question is about the attempt the assassination attempt on president truman. How did that affect drummonds family . What was his political opinion on the puerto rican question . You want to do it nickel . Go ahead. He had definitely favored independence for puerto rico. That is what is so strange. He had made to importance beaches. Went to congress and won their, favoring the independence of puerto rico and this was just two killers who came along in 1950 on december. They got tangled up in a screen door and the shooting started. A Young Secret Service man was killed. The trumans were both there. They were on their way to arlington cemetery. They were getting dressed to get to go to the dedication of a general. The english general who died who was in the war and requested to be buried in arlington. They were going to his dedication. Mrs. Truman said, according to Margaret Truman, she said harry, they are shooting at our policeman. Yelled get dow. It was a pretty messy thing. Dow. The assassin survived and went to prison and president carter released him from prison after 40 years or Something Like that. This was during the second term. When they were living in the blair house. We have not gotten to the reason why they spend so much time there. The 1948 election. Did bess truman want perry to run for reelection . She did not try to stop him. In her heart of hearts does she want to keep being first lady . No. But again this is a partnership. She might have been able to persuade him not to run but she knew that in his heart of hearts, that is what he believed was best for the country. And so she supported him. Not everyone remembers the do we defeats truman headline. Everyone expected to wait to win. Give us an insight into what the problems were on the campaign. Truman was not popular at the time. The economy was not really converting as fast as it could have. He was a liberal. He was a liberal. But not liberal enough for many people. Harry truman could do very little right in 1948. His own party did not really support him. He was not even sure he was going to get the nomination. One issue is that he campaigned on a Recalcitrant Congress will not work for him with him or get let him get anything done. He campaigned on foreign policy, look what i have done with the Marshall Plan and the tremendous octane. This is where one of everyones favorite truman story comes out. His Vice President ial nominee tells him on a train to go out there and give them help harry. One of the reporters here is that and from then on that is what people yelled at him everywhere. Give them help harry. He did that before once when the machine got him elected in missouri. And they fell apart and he ran again on his own and he went out and spoke to people and got them in court houses in everything and won it on his own personality so he may must of had an enormous personality. Absolutely. He was not a great orator, we do not look at from his speeches the same way we look at lincoln speeches. They say that in a small group and because he made a Cross Country and you know he had done that before, once when the print aghast machine i got him elected missouri in the philip art and ran again on his own. He did, 1940. I he went out and spoke to people and got in front of court houses and we did not talk about key west. Adrian myers asked on facebook, i remember visiting key west florida and visiting the little white house. I wonder what bess thought about visiting key west. He used a lot to go fishing and swimming. And one of the secret service many used to go with them, rex scouten, said he had a little tricky like to do. He liked hold you under the water until you were almost stead and then we let you get up. But it was mostly men, and men things. He liked as i said earlier the company man, poker and all that. Stuff mrs. Truman didnt go many times. No. But she did go, and you know, margaret had a public persona. She was kind of easing the press and things like that. People like her we are watching some whats called, b roll, some footage without some of the trumans in key west. And it looks like he could relax there. He absolutely did. And it also reminds me his fashion sense was always remarked upon when he went down to key west with hawaiian shirts. Flashy shirts. Yes. They also they cut up a lot. They did, i mean they took movie niece and him partying around. Jumping up and down in carrying on. He just let it go when he was with the masons or with the he went over to alexandria to the big may sonic building over there and they introduced him, and he interrupted and said, here im harry. And can you imagine a president being this casual . Today he was, but he was in. Control casually and control. He was casually in control. Yes he. Was no. And why not . Because of the media or well things have. Changed i mean i just slipped even at the blair house, the assassination attempt the president leaning out the window watching this happen. They dont have the freedom to move around like they used. To the wind it would be unlocked. You could write. There was no way that was going to happen. So harry truman was elected, surprising the press at least and the political establishment his second term, and it is the second term it was. Hes just a list of some of the highlights of the second Truman Administration the establishment of nato. The korean war, that assassination attempt we talked about and the 22nd amendment to the constitution, following roosevelt, which created president ial term. Limits how challenging a time was the second . Term first here was set to be their happiest in the white house. The thought that there was the chance well, they harry thought there was the chance to be president in his own. Right this is when the fair deal starts really kicking off but then things go horribly wrong, largely because of korea. That shatters the economy it shattered the peoples faith in him in their willingness to. Understand and then he fires mcarthur. Yeah, and mccarthy make the biggest show out of it on earth. He went an interest to congress and said, old soldiers never die. They just fade away and became a popular song. And it was they threw a lot of mud. It was a very and dignified, really to tell you the truth but it best changer approached firstly ship in the second term . Did she spend more time in the white house, more time in missouri . She still going back and forth a lot but again, thats why to because of family issues. Theyre established their partnership. They kind of get over the personal tensions that they had during those early days where hes feeling a little bit left. Out they find their rhythm again. And the unions happier and steadier the second. Term lets take a call from lewis watching us in los angeles. What was miss trumans opinion about her Husbands Association about with Tom Pendergrass . I know mr. Seal mentioned tom printer grassed, but what was her thinking and her opinion about Tom Pendergrass and associated with President Trump . Thank. Here thank you its a question. Who was he, first of . All he was a political boss in missouri. And he was a kingmaker and his son mrs. Trumans family knew him. I mean he was a prominent person, and i doubt that she thought much of. It i mean she thought he was probably just. Fine truman says in his letters you see that hes going that way with pendergast, doing what pendergast wants, because thats how he got in office, but he quickly began to splinter off from. That but answer your question, i dont imagine mrs. Truman thought much of it because she knew. Them. Robert is in branson west, missouri. Hello, i was wondering if best truman ever attended former or future first ladies funerals. Thank you. Gosh, i dont. No i know three first ladies attended her funeral but its a very good question. She would have certainly some died, because she lived such a long. Time when im trying to think of it actually misses Theodore Roosevelt died during his presidency. She certainly probably went to mrs. Roosevelts funeral. I would think so. I would imagine. And when did more any eisenhower Mimi Eisenhower . Oh no, late much later as did mrs. Franklin roosevelt, but mrs. Theodore roosevelt so there was really would have been a huge opportunity. No, and probably was unexpected but no thats a tough. One thats a really interesting question. I dont. No jack cutting wants to know what was best trumans pet issue . Did she have won . I dont believe they had any. Pets she urged her to increase funding for the National Institute some sort of research foundation, and you could look at the numbers in a second term. That budget does go up. She really thought people should have Better Health care. He proposed universal health care. That was one of the reasons he was so unpopular. I want to tell you about a book into the question about the best truman portrait. This book has been published by partners in the series for the White House Historical association and it is a collection of biographies of the first leaders of the United States. As all of the official portraits and biographies of each of them, as a keep sake for those who have been watching the series, you see that little yellow bubble at the bottom. It is listed as a special edition for first ladies influence in the original series. If youre interested in this, it is available on our website on cspan dot or slash first ladies. And you will find among all the others best tremendous official portrait. Her how to how white house portrait was done. We have a video that explains some of the background about bess trumans official portraits. Ppainted as my grandmothers official white house portrait, in the 1960s ladybird shots and went looking for portraits a first ladies to hang, to rehang in the white house. She thought that was important. And she looked high and low and she could not find my grandmothers official portrait, so she called my grandmother and she said mrs. Truman, do you know where that painting is . We cant find it. My grandmother said yes, its on my wall. This is johnson said, you really shouldnt have that. It belongs to the white house. My grandmother said, no. That is my painting. It is on my wall and that is where its going to stay. I think mrs. Johnston tried a couple more times and eventually she gave up and had their actually two copies by the artist. One of them hangs in the Truman Library just on the road and the other one is in the white house, but those are the two copies. This any regional portrait. I dont know who did the portrait, i can look at up for you but back to the table, here bill. Okay. We have to tell the story about the renovations of the white house. Okay. Because the tremendous, theyre almost eight years in the white house, spent less time in that building than any other president. There you go. You want to do it . Absolutely. It was falling down. The leg of margarets piano fell through the floor, and the engineers were concerned that the whole thing was going to collapse on to the treatments, essentially. So so what did they do . The trouble started right after pearl harbor, when the court of army engineers, the old enemies of the white house came in and did an engineering survey. I talked to some members of the crew, long gone now, but the ceiling in the east room had dropped 40 inches. The rooms so long, 85 feet, you cannot tell. He said he walked in there under the plaster. It was but it was considered a fire trap, and they recommended that roosevelt moved out. Of course he wouldnt do it, and he then they said they wanted to painted camouflaged during the war. He wouldnt do that. Well after the war, when truman was there, the house was kind of empty in the upstairs and the florist tickled and all that. Roosevelt love houses that that, but the plaster would begin to trickle down from the light fixtures. Yeah, and the light fixtures and wood and so they decided that they had to get out. So they moved across the street and great plans were done for redoing the white house. Now i bet you consulted with this with mrs. Truman. He wanted to tear it down. That was the easiest thing to do. But George Washington built those walls and truman win here of. It he had the house gutted, but the stonewalls on the outside were never touched. In fact, they wanted to take a bulldozer in through one of the doors, and they were about to open it up with pick axes, and he saw them and he said stop and they took the bulldozer down and a dump truck and reassemble them in the sellers of the house to dig the lower sellers. And the house was rebuilt with steel and concrete. Here you are your old walls with the brick take and they had a brick backing of three feet and then in his doing, and anyway thats a steel frame on the inside, and its eight inches away from the original stonewalls, and each room is a cage. And when i was finished, it was believed to be bomb proof. Well of course, thats the joke now. Unfortunately. And they moved over to blair, house where they lived most of the time. And they loved. It they thought it was beautiful and its still holds all the blared things and it had never been decorated or anything like that. He did definitely consult with bess. He also consulted with her because why was not this done in their first term . It was falling down then. And this and here were both convinced that somehow the press would blame the trumans for bringing down the white house. And so they waited until he was reelected to tackle this project. Did living in the flare house have any positive or negative influence on his presidency . It might have allowed him to relax a little bit more every meal he lived by himself. All the silver, and all the stuff like that. Theres funny descriptions. One of my favorite things to see often wrote bess letters while he was in the white house. He was convinced he could hear the ghost of his predecessors wandering in the halls. I think he enjoyed imagining they were there to keep him company. She thought it was silly until one night, she and margaret hurd a crash, and then they thought just a minute that maybe there were ghosts. Theyre well if you took the insights out, maybe the ghost went with. Them they might. Have how much of the original white house was preserved in this process, mantles . Thatll priests were preserved. Some doors, not much of it was to be preserved, because it was cheaper to put crest would in and stuff, but lorenzo winds low, the architect really was the hero, as far as the original things. He saved what he could. And during the Clinton Administration with the blue room was being redone, and the paint was taken, off there was all that old original pine. Enormous sports, the most gorgeous thing in the world that wind slow had insisted that they had to be put back in the house while he was there to do it and didnt have to listen to anyone else. So i dont know what percentage. You know, of course next year is the 20th 200th anniversary of its burning. And about 30 of it was torn down after that fire. But you know, the walls are 100 . And what percentage is that of the house . I dont know. Everything else was and then the sub basements were duck. And when secret one was dug and truman ordered the Park Services to surrender 750,000 dollars of its budget to do the sub basement, the one in 9 11, that the Vice President was in and its the secure place. It was done secretly. And not secure anymore, but that became secretly out of the park service birds budget, and those bulldozers went down and dug it but no one knew it. We have some film, video when the president reintroduce the white house to the nation afterwards. What was the public reaction when it was reopened again . I think people thought it was beautiful. Would you agree, just thought absolutely. National geographic did a beautiful issue on it after truman moved out of office. It was all done by a Department Store in new york, the decorating be alderman. And chuck height made the decisions, mrs. Truman on the president refused to make decisions on wallpaper and things like that, because they said it was not their house. It was for the future. And so mr. Hate and the made most of these decisions. And it was then cheaply. I mean theyve beat everybody. Down scallop mandarin, frankly scale manner gay fabrics of three dollars and 50 cents a yard, which you know, are hundreds of dollars a yard so for the prestige. So Sheldon Cooper asks on twitter, how much influence did best have in the rebuilding of the white house . The answer is as much as she wanted, which as much as she wanted, but they both felt that they werent going to live there and that it was something more. Important what is your question, neeson . Once, since the world series is on, we see a sports fan . Like did she root for the cardinals . And number two Kansas City Royals all the. Way they were big sports. People she was not. Not herring. Actually she. Was not. Harry and the second question was, you mention that harry overcame is prejudices, but i heard the story through murrow miller wrote the plane speaking that went time when they came to the house he said he couldnt let them in because he was jewish and the family was kind of antisemitic. One of harrys best friends, one of his army buddies, was jewish. He ran the mens Clothing Store in kansas city with him. Eddie jacobson. The trumans associated certainly with jewish people. Wasnt his best man . A taylor was in the wedding did issue for him but charged him. He was a dear friend. A twitter viewer wanted to know after watching that where did they raise the money to fix the white house . Congress. All of it . Public appropriations. No. Would you believe it cost five and a half million . Think of what it would be today. Peter is in boston. Hi peter. Hi how are you . Good thanks. Was she friendly with any other first ladies . She admired Eleanor Roosevelt. They were friendly, not dear friends, Mimi Eisenhower before she was first lady she took a spanish class with bess. Bess grew very fond of her then and there was later a rift between her and the trumans between the trumans and the eisenhower. s bess was fond of mimi. Others . I think she liked ladybird johnson. They very much enjoyed the company of the kennedys. Yes. They went for the inauguration. Did not like joe kennedy but liked the sun. We mentioned earlier our website which has all the video of all the first ladies programs weve done so far and also lots of other videos you have not seen here. You can find it at cspan. Each week we put one special thing about the first lady that we are featuring that we have not used during the program. If you go there now, you will find Clifton Truman daniels sharing another story from his grandmother in the home in independence. Something for you online. Could they have run again the trends if they wanted to . Yes. The constitutional amendment not only did not apply to the incumbent but it would have been his second time being elected. But bess said to him that she could not take another four years as first lady. How old were they . Then in their sixties. He was 61 when he left the white house. She did not think he could take it either. They were in good health for their age but korea and mccarthy isnt was starting to spread and they were getting warned. Down once eisenhower turned republican, it was pretty clear he was going to win. He was the hero. What was the Truman Eisenhower relationship like . Part of the trouble was that eisenhower turned out to be a republican. Truman had hinted that he might support eisenhower if he wanted to run in it as a democrat in 1948. Truman really and mired eisenhower for a long time. Eisenhower was somewhat aloof to him from all the letters and memos we see. Then truman was highly offended during the transition period when eisenhower did not appear to want to take his advice. And then a big social snub occurred on inauguration day. It is customary for the incoming president to stop by the white house and have tea and pick up the outgoing president and writing together. First eisenhower had said he wanted to be picked up at his hotel. The trumans said no. Yeah so he and mimi arrived at the white house but they would not come inside and greet the trumans. They sat in the car. And the president of the United States had to walk out to him. You can feel the tension if you look at the pictures of that inauguration. After the inauguration, truman was almost forgotten. He was almost thrown out. He had no pensioner anything coming to him. One of the members of the secret Service Detail took an annual leave to accompany them back on the train to independents. No one told him goodbye until they were at the train station. They were about 100 people cheering them . No, i think there were more. When they returned home there were thousands in the independence. They were gratified but someone offended. But his glasses were gone and his handkerchief was gone win the crowd pushed in on him and they built an iron fence that is still there now. They did not expect the crowds and people kept walking by wanting to see them. There is a crowd there is a story about margaret coming out on the porch telling people to go away and they found out he was in escaped mental patient, one of the people in the crowd. The city of independence put up but enough duty policeman was put on the back porch and that was the only guy they had until after kennedy was killed and then the pension started and the secret Service Detail. During the white house years when she would go back home in independence she would not allow secret service protection. No. She wanted to live is normally as possible. What did they go with her anyway . Not that i am aware of. No. Im surprised they got hurt let her get by with that one. Don in pennsylvania. I dont. Hello. Your question please . Yes. I had the good privilege of corresponding with mrs. Truman twice after her husbands death. I center a copy of attribute that i had written for a school paper and she very graciously responded with a nice letter. I center birthday greetings and she made a personal reply. She had terrible arthritis and just made the are effort. And markets book about her mother, she comments that president truman was very protective of mrs. Truman concerning her fathers death. We a cousin told margaret the circumstances of her fathers death and truman had a fit about that. Ripped into the woman which was unusual because he was a very courtly gentlemen. That was a very interesting footnote to the truman Family History. And she was with the johnsons in the kennedys. Don how did you get so interested in the truman . Hours before Robert Kennedy was killed, i picked up a book on president kennedy and that got me interested in general. Since then, i have really become particular aficionados of the president s. Banks for your call tonight. In their years after the white house, one of the things they did was an interview for National Television in 1955. Talk about easy interviews. Who were they interviewed by . Their daughter margaret. Their daughter margaret asked their parents the questions. It was a program on cbs called person to person which was a big hit program at the time. It was the only Television Interview that bess truman ever did in her whole public career. You are going to see a little bit of that. Mother . Yes. Police tell everyone why you went back to missouri instead of staying in washington. There was never in any question of staying in washington or not coming home. Is that reason enough . Thats all right. Ill buy that. Mother . Yes. Are we still getting a lot of sightseers and visitors . Lots of them yes. All the time . All the time. Every day. There were some of them so many of them outside the house we had to spend most of the evening on the front porch. What about the time someone faked picked your two lips remember . Oh. Well yes. Someone came into the back yard and started picking all of my beautiful white tulips. One of the men on the place went down to ask what she thought she was doing and she said she did not think that miss truman would care if she took some of her tulips. Thats a funny thing after all the work you did on them. Isnt it. Mother . Yes. For years we had to walk with secret service around. Yes do you miss washington . Yes i miss washington but im very happy at home. Of course the secret service men did not bother me as much they did your dad. I remember you lost them. Yes i did. Early in the day. Just how much influence and help was mother when you were in the white house . She was a wonderful influence and wonderful help. A president is in a bad way if he does not have a first lady that knows her job and a support to him. Shes the greatest i could have had. Has your Baseball Team doing . We are doing pretty well. We will have a great team. Have you seen anything good on tv lately . Well a few good things yes but i have not been able to find any wrestling matches. No good wrestling matches hot . Not at all. Mommy, do you want to say a few words about politics specifically or in general . No. Not in either category thank you. That . Dont talk to mueller about politics. That is just a glimpse of a much longer person to person interview by Margaret Truman of her parents in 1955 after they left the white house. They do come across as just plain folks. They really work. They valued that. They valued loyalty and hard work and honesty and they liked a good laugh but they were normal people. He was not popular when he left the white house. It took many years for his reputation to be reestablished. Why were so many people going to see them in missouri . Well part of it, he was not necessarily unpopular at home. He is still the hometown hero. Independents missouri has not had any other president s. They probably thought they could walk right up and say hello to the treatments as they had in the past. How did they spend their post white house years . There were long. Once he wrote his memoirs first of all because he needed money. He was not getting a pension. Several lucrative officers off first came his way but he did not believe anyone should profit on the presidency. The establishment of the Truman Library . He was intimate to that. Intimate to that and believed very much that it was a matter of history, interpreting history. And he did the original design himself for the exhibit. And kept an office there. If you visit there today you can see the office. One of the striking things is his office looked right out on his future grave site. The great story with that he said i can just see bess you are going to stay there later next to me and. Thats how they expected to spend. We are seeing pictures of the truman family grave sites. Margaret truman by the way had four sons. As you saw, Clifton Truman is very involved in the legacy of his grandparents. One of the four sons passed away. Im not sure if the other two are involved in the library. There is one story, and we are running out of time, but it is such a great story. Someone asked what i want to know more about is did they take a trip in a convertible after the presidency . Its a wonderful book. One of the stories that i remember is of people passing them on the road and nearly having accidents because he was in a convertible and all of a sudden they recognized they had just passed the president of the United States and the first lady. As we wrap up here, we have about two minutes left, someone keeps asking, what would bess truman say is her greatest contribution to the role of first lady . Her greatest contribution to the role of first lady . Demonstrating that you can be a strong influential partner and you do not have to be on the front page or on the tv every day. Your influence can be strong without being overbearing. And she supported her husband. The president , when he became the president. She supported him and they were aware that of that. Harry died in 1972, bess died ten years later. How did she spend that time after he passed . She was at home. She tried to keep up or correspondence. She had a caregiver. Several of them at the end. She died at home. She died in her own home. I imagine that swish wouldve wanted. It he died in a hospital. She died at home. How should we remember . Her i think we should remember the way she wanted to be remembered. The wonderful influential first lady, even if people did not know it at the time. Did she have then any influence on the role of first lady . I wish she really, truly her own person in that shot . I would say she was her own person. Absolutely. Because its not really possible anymore. Mrs. Reagan said, while she was going to play cards with reference, which is something bess truman would have done. Oh my goodness, you would think she had committed treason and so she got causes going. But mrs. Truman would have responded to that saying, its my life and im not elected. Right. But not possible today. So she was an independent minded person. It depends on the woman. She wanted to not get involved, but today women are so much more out than they were then. And this was 19 forties and 19 fifties american women. She was her own person. Well thanks to both of you for telling us the story of thank you susan. Of bess, harry and Margaret Truman, the tightknit family in the white house thrust into the job after the death of Franklin Roosevelt and then making it their own. We appreciate your. Time and thanks to the White House Historical association, our partners in the series, and to the folks at the Truman Library and the truman house and independence for their help with the video tonight. First ladies, influence an image on American History tv. Examines the private lives and the public roles of a nations first ladies with interviews with top historians. Friday night, we look at ramy eisenhower and jacqueline kennedy. Maybe eisenhower was the first first lady to use camp david as a president ial retreat. Jacqueline kennedy won an mp for her televised toward the white house. Watch first ladies, influence and image, friday night at eight eastern. On American History tv. On cspan three. American history tv continues now with excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelts advice column. Written for more than 20 years for ladies home journal and recalls magazine. Held at the Franklin Roosevelt library and museum, this is one hour. Hello. Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to the Wallace Center here at the Franklin Roosevelt president ial Library Museum and happy birthday Eleanor Roosevelt. applause you know, its one of the things we are so lucky to have other norris papers here along with the papers of Franklin Roosevelt and his administration. If you go over and look at the building, the two wings of the