Pr hesident harry truman lid to refer to bess as the boss. Family was the number one priority. He had little to say to the media, destroyed many of her letters and spent a good part of the white house years at home in missouri. Bess truman served as first lady on her own terms. Welcome to first ladies influence and image. Tonight the story of the wife of the 33rd president of the United States, bess truman. Here to tell us more about her are two guests were pleased to welcome back to our set. Bill seal, and nicole anslover. Nice to meet you. Thank you. Where we left off last week was the death of franklin roosevelt. April 12, 1945. The call comes in to harry truman, where is he, then he gets the message hes needed. He is having a drink with his cronies as he was often wanting to do. He thought a lot of politics was accomplished by relaxing and having a somewhat more cordial atmosphere. He received a phone call and said he just knew. The story goes that he ran to get to his car and get to the white house. He was sworn in two hours later . Yes. At the white house itself . Mrs. Roosevelt was at a luncheon, they went and got her and didnt tell her anything. Steve early told her when she got to the white house, the press secretary. They knew roosevelt was going. No one suspected so quickly. I think it was an issue of when. 82 days. Of when. He looked horrible the last campaign. He many spoken to the Congress Sitting down. He was ashen and his inaugural address for the fourth term had to be given from the white house. He stood up on the south portico, and the audience was out front. It was not really a surprise to anyone. Two hours later, in the cabinet room at the white house, harry truman joined by his family took the oath of office delivered by chief Justice Harland stone. How surprised was the nation . Did they know who harry truman was . No, they knew he was Vice President , they knew his name. He had gotten some acclaim for his truman committee. He was an admired senator within washington. The general public was like who is harry truman . Even his own mother was nervous for him. What about bess truman . She was with him there in the apartment. I dont know. Roosevelt, he didnt admire truman, he approved him for Vice President and thought it was a good idea. It was in washington he was well known, he wasnt a household word. Roosevelt was in for 13 years. He was a fixture like a king or something. The idea of his declining, most people didnt understand he couldnt walk. He kept that well hidden. The trumans are the first couple. The roosevelts were in the white house for 13 years. Thats the longest stretch any president has been in the white house. How did the transition happen . 14 van loads of furniture were taken out of roosevelts things, because of his condition and mrs. Roosevelts nature, they liked to have everything around them all the time. They were table people. They had tables in front of things. His things were within easy reach. Thousands of things, pictures. Imagine what the trumans faced when they went in there with these squares on the wall where the pictures had been, the carpets taken up. A transition was they had a little apartment in town. They took the piano from him. Did they go immediately to the white house . No. The trumans thought they could stay in their apartment until they moved into the white house. They offered mrs. Roosevelt enough time as she needed. She took about two weeks. By then the trumans realized they could not stay in their apartment. They were living in blair house. I love the story that as Eleanor Roosevelt watched them pack up, and she and her female friends had seen a rat go across the room. She was thrust into the job. Did she have any guidance from the outgoing first lady . Eleanor established the tradition about press conferences. Bess truman went to the secretary of labor and said do i have to do that . Is it okay to set my own tone . She was assured she could do what she wanted. She put a lot of thought into it. At the last minute she decided that was not something she wanted to do and she never did hold a press conference. She said edith helm was the old white house social secretary. Went there with mrs. Woodrow wilson, and stayed through the roosevelts, all through everything. She knew everything to do. She knew where the bodies were buried. She knew everything. She handled the press conference. The other thing we should establish early on is that the trumans got their support from one another. They were a partnership, 100 . Bess, harry and daughter margaret. Yes. Ushers in the white house described them as the closest knit family they had seen. Yes. Can you tell us about how they interrelated with one another and supported one another . They reminded me a lot of the carters. They were together a lot, they liked to listen to music, read things, discuss things. Just enjoyed being together. Margaret and the president were musical. So they liked to listen to records and at the cspan facebook page, and youll see a photograph of the trumans and you can post a question there and well try to work in as many of those as we can. Thanks for your participation. Ask good questions today. Their house is in independence, missouri. How far away is that from a major city . Ten miles from kansas city. Its a National Site and run by the National Park service. It has been closed to cameras for more than 30 years as a policy. The park service was willing to open it up for cspan for this series, and with the encouragement of the trumans grandson, Clifton Truman daniel, and throughout the program you will see some tours given by mr. Daniel that helps us understand the people that his grandparents were. Lets begin with a tour of the home in independence. We are on the back pore of my grandparents home in independence, missouri. This is the way we came in, this is the way family came into the house, through the kitchen door. Came into the kitchen, and the first place i always headed was back here to the pantry. And i dont see the tin, but there was always a tin in here, and one of the shelves, a nice round tin filled with wrobrowni. I always made sure that tin was in here before i went anywhere else in the house. Once i made sure the brownies were in the tin. The next stop had to be my grandfathers study because whenever you came into the house he didnt meet us at the airport as he got older, but once you came into the house you had to stop here and say hi to grandpa. And this is where you found him most of the time as he was getting older. Thats where i looked. And my grandmother and mother sat in those chairs and often read in her with him. And apparently my grandmother and mother 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 escalating to the point he needed to get out of the room. And if he decided everything was okay he would go to the next page and read down and check again. Sometimes he left, sometimes he stayed. And this is the formal dining room. This is where we ate the evening meal every day. We had breakfast in the kitchen, a sandwich or something for lunch, but this is where we ate all formal dinner meals was in this dining room. And my grandmother sat at that end of the table was where she sat close to say the kitchen i think. So if we go through here were in the center of the house in the foyer, and youll notice that the biggest portrait in the house is that of my late mother. She was their only child and only conceived after my grandmother received two miscarriages. My grandmother was 39 when she was born, so she was very precious to my grandparents and they were a very close Little Family unit. My grandfather kind of spoiled her. My grandmother was more the disciplinarian, but the three of them were very, very tight as a family because she was their only child. If we go through this way we are in the living room i and this chair where my grandmother later in her life where she did her reading. After my grandfather passed away this is where my grandmother often sat, and she loved murder mysteries, and she had stacks of them, an in stack and on outstack, she would read and put them down and they would be donated or put on the shelf, but this is where she spent a lot of her time. She gave a lot of those cast off murder mysteries to my mother and mom of course eventually became a mystery writer. So you see the house in independence missouri that was the house that the trumans lived in throughout their married life, but lets go back even farther. How did they meet . They met when they were about 5yearolds in sunday school, but harry always spoke of the girl with the beautiful blue eyes and the long golden curl and he claims he fell in love with her that day, and as far as we know he never did look at another woman. So it was a lifelong love affairs for the trumans, and they had have very different lifestyle, very different background. Can you tell us a bit about the Wallace Family that Elizabeth Wallace came from and what Harry Trumans years were like . Well, her family owned a store in town and manufactured a flower, a queen of the pantry flower. And they were considered a little upscale than the trumans who farmed other people land. Nagt some of the land they farmed was mrs. Wallaces, beths mother. So there was that difference. And that difference surfaced all during their lives. Let me read you this letter here written while he was president on june 29th, 1949. Theyre living in the blare house and hes writing to bess. 30 years i hope to make you a happy wife and happy mother. Did i . I dont know. All i can say is ive tried. Theres no one in the world anyway who could look down on you or your daughter. Theres no onenr in the world w could look down on you or your daughter. That means much to me but ive never cared for social position or my myself except to see those dear to me were not made to suffer for my shortcomings. This the president of the United States still feeling that way, and it comes through his letters to her almost an apology never felt good enough, in other words. And when he writes this letter they never have their own marital home and her mother lives in blares house most of the time. Her mother did want approve. And never really thought of her soninlaw when he became president of the United States. Upon her death he wrote a lovely piece in his memoirs about i dont understand motherinlaw jokes because ive had such a great one. She died in the white house. Because he sent a note to the chief usher and he said mother wallace has died. Make arrangements for us to return to independence. Well, were going to return to independence and learn a little bit more through their eyes of the story. When my grandfather visited independence which is 26 miles where he lived alt the time in grand view, 1910, he often stayed across at the street at the nolan house which is where his aunt and two cousins lived. And one afternoon he was over there with his two cousins, with the family and his aunt brought in a cake plate that my great grandfather had given her a cake and mrs. Nolan had claimed the cake plate and was asking if anybody would take it back over, s my grandfather moved with what my mother would describe as approaching the speed of light and grabbed the cake plate and ran over here and rang the front door in the hope my grandmother would answer the door, and she did. And she invited them in, and thats the beginning of their formal courtship in 1910. They first met in sunday school where when my grandmother was 5, and my grandfathers family was baptist, but the First Presbyterian church down the street had a very good sunday school, thats what my great grandmother truman was interested in, so she took graup over there one day to talk to the reverend and as she was talking sunday school was in session, and 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 colors, and he sort of fell in love with her right then and there and as far as i know or anybody knows never looked at another woman. Theres the story of the skourtship. The other thing interesting that the courtship lasted many years. He had businesses. He had went off to wars. So how long did it take before they got married . Well, he first unofficially proposed in 1913 after their courtship starts in 1910, and she didnt write him a letter back, but you can tell from his second letter to her if i bought a ring would you wear it on your left hand, no answer. They keep courting and they get close to a formal engagement but world war i intervenes. What was Harry Trumans role in world war i . How many danger was he in . Great danger. He was in combat leading his men and writing to bess and carrying her picture with him every day. It meant everything to him his military service and i think everyone has to realize that to see how he ran the presidency. He was a no nonsense organized man, but he got things in shape. And he stayed in the reserve and he enjoyed the company of men. It wasnt he sought out the company of women, but he was in the masons. He was a mason. While he was president went to masonic events. He then retained this interest in the military and military people. Well, its time to begin bringing in our callers. Were going to start with gary whos in independence missouri, so you grew up or living in the trumans hometown. How has that informed your opinion of them . Very highly of truman. In fact, i live just a couple of doors down from him. Every year we see truman and i think as much as the American Public would like to see truman back in the white house we really appreciate him here. And do you have a question for our guest . I do. I know bess had a low proofile being first lady but i was wondering how the press responded to her especially on the heels of eleanor being visible and open in her communication style, and did harry have any desire for her to be out in the public more . At first they were sort of clamoring to get more information and they were very aggressive and calling her secretaries and asking where she was going to go and what she was going to wear, and its not bess wouldnt speak to people. She would invite the newspaper women because in those days largely Women Journalist would cover the first ladies. She would invite them over for things like teas or go to their luncheons but insist on it being offtherecord. So they did get to know bess truman a little bit. She was just a private person and wished for a private family life. I want to wait for the other question until we get further into the story. So how were the early years . When he came back from military service did no go to the private sector or immediately into public life . He runs a store in kansas city for a while, a Mens Clothing store with his good friend. And was forever described as the habadasher. Thats correct. Hes involved in the family farm. Hes trying to do all these things to make himself more, and he does become interested in public life at that time. They were living as a couple in the house we just saw with mrs. Wallace. Not just mrs. Wallace but her wife and brothers as well. What happened to mrs. Wa wallace . Mrs. Wallace brother committed suicide. She saw how this shattered her mother. She wants to shield her mother, she wants to shield her brothers from having the press dig through her Family History and dig that up again. It was a terrible thing for everyone. No one ever understood why he did it. She left with the children for colorado and lived there for a year and came back and lived in the house with her mother and the children. Steven up next in louisville. Hi, steven. How are you doing this evening . Good, thank you. I was thinking of a few communities i know you were talking about the suicide of bess father in 1903 and it made me think of the reason why her partnership with hairy truman like they were talking about before they had an Unusual Partnership at that day in time and i think the reason why is she realized her parents marriage was something lacking. And i think i had kind of recalled she sort of went back and forth and thats sort of the reason why they had such a close partnership. I know something else. I dont know if you all discussed this or not. I know the trumans were the first to host the first ever inaugural ball in 1949. And i was just curious, and when we were talking about womens rights, for instance, what she thought about feminism, because i know that in the earlypxg u2 like that sent her on article in thexd feminist movement whether she would have been in theni er or also civil rights for blacke people. I know her husband alsooknr use derogatory terms, butymozei]1m for the modern Civil Rights Movement in 1948. Giving us lots to work would there. How about her use of feminism . I certainly wouldnt have calle6 herself a feminist butfa she dsdx believe her marriage ws a partnership. She did once famously say that a 3zmakeni sure she se sureo[ni his hat wasnr one1 st. Bess the boss . I wouldnt say harry didcoz]r he wanted, it was a partnership. Kind of aco joke. I dont thinkq we ought to see s partnerships and marriage as anythinp new in that time. That goes back forever and ever. All about. And ms. Truman grewnup, well, n 1903 her father died. She was 18 as nicole qrpr, an she was in a periode1 of very strong feminqs and she obviously wasns e okth and different layers coqt fajff. Absolutely. One of t bess best friends was wellknown female journalistf . O went all all sorts of t adventus way. Margaret having a career. Its veryn1xd different. Nickname, the boss . Harry started calling her that innrt the mid1930s becau she was very interested in the senatefa office. And he didnt mind, and he introduced her as the boss and and the reason that irritated bess so muchq she thought peopl were going to think margaret wa spoiled. There was a controversyfa wh office because he paid her a salary. They saidq other peoplejfjf just people trying to start and they knew people would t. nc to start problems bute1 it was so their first time in the white house bess said tojf the media you dont really need to know whoe1 i am, im not the president , decides not to have any press conferences. We have one of the very feww3 pieces of film available of bes1 truman as first lady, and this is aqxd prae pretty famous one one of her first press events airplanes, both an army and n