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 navy airplane atq national airport, which is also interesting to see. We all fly there today. You can see how really open it was ta that time. This event didnt exactly go as planned and youll see why. Were going to watch next. It gives me great pleasure to christen these two hospital airplanes whose purchase has beennilpw3 madet q possiblexd bd with them our love and a sincere desire that the comfort and fighting man wowbeq letq them kw we stand firmly behind ¥ wherever they are. Ambulances with wings, one each forxdq navy and army ready to b christened byw3 mrs. Harry s. Truman. But mrs. Fat truman is in for a surprise. By oversight the champagne bottle faunlike this onexd hasn been properlyni prepared, etche to breakrn u e bottle on impact. Now mrs. Truman unaware her bottle is not prepared t the new first ladyq join ine1 the crowdsfa laughter. Lets see how herjffa military lp but to the navyq forewarnes forearmed. Here is thexd hammer. o5z it just under the niw3 airplanesfaconii]nico÷n nose. All well that endsxdco xdnl television. Another thing is a few years ago i read a book by Margaret Truman about bess, and i was wondering in the book it had a lot of the letters and so forth. And was there information we could read about bess and harry truman as well as margaret . Was the book called dear bess . I dont know. Theyre letters from the president to ms. Truman. No, this is written by margaret, almost like a diary. But it was very informative because before i read that i did not ever see anything in a library or anything about bess truman. Theres been a lot of scholarly work certainly on bess truman. But we use those letters. Theyre in the Truman Library in independence, and theyre available for people to use to do research, and any book you read on harry truman is going to talk about those letters and use them as a reference, but bill, do you want to say why we dont have the letters from bess . She burned them. And 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. Harding, and mrs. Truman are the three first ladies who burned their letters and what a loss it is. Were fortunate she didnt burn the letters from harry at least. She left us those, but she did not want her words recorded. It was a partnership but she was a silent partner. On that note a question, i enjoy your book, how did the best harry dynamic inffrm his presidency . Greatly because he asked her before pretty much he did anything. Theres a little bit of controversy whether he consulted her about dropping the atomic bomb and the story has it from some sources he didnt consult bess about that but be sure he consulted her about everything else. So the dynamic was very important, and you can see his spirits got lower when she was home in missouri, and he didnt function with quite as much vigor when bess wasnt near. He was away at constand when dropped and she was at independence. It was such a scary thing. You know, roosevelt trembled at the thought. She spent a lot of time at independence. An awful lot. Can you think of face to face ladies who spent so much time away from the white house . I really cant. But washington was always the season whether you had four or five official white house dinners and she presided over those with great panache, all good reviews. We had a question earlier about how harry truman might have felt about his wifes aversion to being in public, and i found one source on that, and it is carl anthonys book on first ladies, and i wanted to read a little bit to you and to the audience about this and the reaction. He writes harry was becoming frustrated with bess refusal to play a public role. He was perhaps the first president to take an active interest stating that Abigail Adams would have made a better president than her husband and mary lincoln was unjustly criticized. He later wrote i hope someday someone will take the time to reevaluate the true role of the preside president. He wrote her several months after fdr died. Quote, the president told me mrs. R was a timid woman when he first ran for governor of new york. Now he says she talks all the time. Im not the one elected she snapped. I have nothing to say to the public. Asked which predecessor she most identified with bess chose the obscure and extremely private Elizabeth Monroe who of course followed the legendary dolly madison. Have anything to add to that . Disagree with anything said . No, i dont agree with that at all. I was looking at that letter myself the other because harry was strongly hinting hed like bess to be involved and she strongly put her foot down. She just didnt need to do so publicly. She did what she had to do. She had the parties, the reses for the military. She did those kinds of things but the extras ms. Roosevelt had a column and this one had that. She wasnt going to do that. This was her life, and maybe she was a feminist more than any this is from Margaret Truman, she wrote more and more she began to feel the presidency had virtually dissolved the Political Partnership that had been at at the heart of her husband for so many years. I 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 it over their oldfashioned which they like today have in the evening. But when you become president your decisions multiply rapidly. He did not have time to consult her on every little thing, and she grew frustrated at first but she came around. Harry truman had a lot of things to discuss and decisions to make. We have just a few of the highlights of his first term in the white house including victory in europe day, the end of world war ii in europe and the dropping of the atomic bomb and the end of world war ii with japan. The cia established, israel officially recognized as you mentioned earlier the integration of the military and the martial plan. Theres a little bit of dispute about that. I dont think he probably had time to. Bess we think knew about thecriatithe creation of the atomic bomb, but whether he had time to get in touch with her before the order, like bill said shes at home. You talked about how lonely he was at ppotstand conference in berlin in the summer of 1945. It dear bess, it made me terribly homesick when i talked with you yesterday morning. I like stalin. Hes straightforward, knows what he wants and will compromise when he cant get it. If i come out of this one hole therell be nothing to worry over until the end of the jap war. Kiss margie and best to you. He was in april. Potstand is in july and he drops the bomb in august. It was a few months. Yeah, but finally he says to her later than this that hes trying to get the departments in order to weeding out the people he doesnt want to bring in and then he will sit down and tell them exactly what he wants done. I think the letter thats one of the things he tells us. He makes a straightforward assessment of stalin. He doesnt spend two pages going on and on about politics. But it also shows us even though this is one of his shorter letters hes taken time to tell bess what hes discovered. Hes filling her in on these important events and he misses her. I want to answer one question from twitter. Denny asked why does the park service not open the truman house to the public . They do open the truman house. You can go visit it. It hasnt been open to Television Cameras for preservation purposes for that amount of time. I can go as a private citizen and visit it, but we had permission to bring cameras in for the first time in a long time and we appreciate their help with that. Asking about the trumans and their attitude towards Race Relations. Thats the wrong one. Thats about burning letters. Asking about whether or not he integrated the military, and then later on a viewer writes one suggesting that in several books about the trootrumans ive read mrs. Truman and her husband were very prejudiced against africanamericans and jews. She see an issue early on in an invitation that involved africanamerican congressman Adam Clayton Powell. So with that as our launching pad with the subject for the trumans and race tell us what your scholarship has led you to believe . Congressman powell was upset because the daughters of the revolution husband invited bess to a tea. And he was offended because they would not let africanamerican musicians perform in Constitution Hall. And he thought that bess truman should refuse to attend a tea 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 from 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 have infuriated the president because marion anderson, the singer, the same thing had happened. The Constitution Hall wouldnt take her. Of course now theyve taken james brown anyway, they wouldnt and it was performed at the lincoln memorial. I think the issue was to get the newspaper mainly against the trumans. Im sure the president had private words about that one. He never allowed powell in the white house again. That was one incident. What about the larger record on Race Relations and how history should see that . First of all you ever to put the trumans in context of their times and where they grew up and understand many people will talk about how truman used derogatory terms in his letters and thats absolutely true, thats certainly not okay, but thats how people felt at the time. And harry truman did a remarkable job at separating his public and private sphere because even though, you know, he also famously said he didnt want margaret to marry ancuff kn american, but at the same time he desegregates the military even though its politically unpopular. He does a lot for antilynching. He helps to establish israel. Hes a man who doesnt let his personal opinions affect his policy. I think youve got to separate it. On your last show with mrs. Roosevelt when she referred to japanese as caps which he did during the war and no one thought anything of it at the time. I guess the emperor did if he heard it, but its the way people talked. On this note we were asked on facebook did bess have anything to do with integrating the military . We often talk about the power of roosevelts wife but never about trumans wife. Do we know she had any influence on that decision . I dont think she was probably pushing him to do it, but she certainly wouldnt have objected to it in any way i could see. She had great sympathies for servicemen. She was honely when harry was over in world war i. She shot all servicemen should be treated equally. Caller hi, i have a question. Actually i went to visit the museum in independence, missouri, but i wonder after truman died was bess there and he never really wanted to talk about that too much and he never really liked what he had to do. He did it because he had to do it. The trumans kind of have the same feeling. All i can say to that is who wouldnt, the thought of killing hundreds of thousands of people. I dont think theres anything written about it. He had to stop the war. It was a religious it was a military decision. In my opinion any president would have done the same thing because no president can defend losing more american lives. And it was not going to stop. It just was not going to stop, the japanese part of it. And thats how we would answer that, i guess. Theres 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 groups of School Children and that was often one of the questions he was asked. Kids wanted to know, and truman would very forcefully defend his decision to drop the atomic bomb and explain it to elementary School Children. No one really blamed him for that. Regina on twitter asked with bess in missouri did she hold social functions and galas . You mentioned early on they opened the 1946 social season in washington. This is significant because it had been ended during the war. Yes, there had been no formal entertaining at the white house during the war. This doesnt seem it would be in the trumans personal style to like all this. President truman and one of the most interesting things about him to me is he identified the president like his private life as Something Different from him and something bigger than him that he was representing. So when the social season was revived after all these years they were sticklers for having it exactly as it had been. Just i mean white tie, black tie, evening clothes and all that. In these dinners the chief usher mr. West in his memoir said 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 really before in the roosevelt. But ironically they only got one social season. They did entertain at the may flower from time to time, but they had to move out. And well tell the story of their major renovation. Almost every president weve talked about and first lady have done some renovation, nothing like the trumans, and well tell that story a bit later, but one thing they did do to the white house i believe in the first term was the addition of the balcony. Yes. Its today always referred to as the trumanble kane. Tell us about the concept of it and how hard it was for that to get through here. It was done basically for spite. He had had west wing prepared that held big staff. Even though roosevelt had doubled the west wing. Truman wanted to build down 17th street, a long addition with a larg large auditorium for press conferences. Well, it passed through congress, and then congress rescinded it. And he was as mad as he could be. And the Reason Congress did they said he was defacing the white house. He got in his head to build a porch on the south side of the white house where there was no outside access to a porch or anything, and he did it on his own and he took it out of the Household Budget and he didnt ask congress or anything. And they built that balcony, and it is the truman balcony because thats what it is. And once finished how did they use it . Oh, 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 is add the truman balcony because its great. Off the oval room they now call the yellow oval room up stairs, kind of a parlor. And whats the view from there . Its stunning, absolutely magnificent. The Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument which should be with the Jefferson Memorial over here and washington just at your feet with its height limitations and the carpet. Its a beautiful, beautiful view. The film footage during the centennial just beautiful with Queen Elizabeth there. What can you tell the audience about the trumans private life in the white house especially during the first time especially with all these momentous things going on . Well, they certainly didnt much time to relax, its very busy. And bess spent a lot of time traveling back and forth to independence. Now, its not just her being spiteful. She still feels she has to be the caretaker to her mothers. They have Family Business to take care of. When they are in the white house they would do the same things. They would read, enjoy an evening cocktail. They liked to listen to music and they would chat with margaret. They used it the same way they used their porch in independence to spend time together. One of the things we often talk about is the first lady on their image and how they may have influenced and were seeing this more and more as the years progressed american style and culture. Is bess truman known for that in. Well, she certainly didnt dress poorly or unfashionably. I dont think she was mocked for her fashion sense. Today really Jackie Kennedy sets the tone. When we look at the first ladies who come before her we dont think aboutysw them having thi wonderful fashion sense but bess was a stylish lady. And her High School Friends always talked about she knew the latest fashions and she took pride in her appearance and liked to go shopping. He thought she was appropriate and sensible and margaret thought so, too. Were going to visit the truman president ial library in independence missouri and learn more about bess trumans style. Were at the harry s. Truman library in independence, missouri, and were going into one of our collection storage spaces where we have artifacts and hats and clothes, jewelry related to mr. 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 she wore clothes her stylishly than many of her friends did. This is a hat that was made by one of bess trumans favorite designers favorite designered. Her name was madame agasta. She wore this hat when princess elizabeth and her husband came to the United States in october of 1951. That is one of the nice things about working here in the library is that we have a lot of art facts, photos, and documents. It goes along with one of the hats that we have over here. This is a hat that we didnt originally know very much about. We had no idea what event she might have worn it at. We located a letter she wrote, a handwritten letter of a draft that says im simply delighted with my hat. Its the most attractive one i have seen all spring and im happy it is mine. I wore it at one of the most important occasions when queen jou julia julianna was here. So we looked back at the event and know what hat she wore. We looked through the photos and found a good one of her and we took it down and compare itd to some of the hats in the collection and realized we had this hat. So it is nice to connect the document to the photo to the hat and tell the whole story together. Another interesting part is that she was very private. This is a tredress that she worn 1952 to the din wrer president truman announced to the people that he would not run for the president in 1952. He had the opportunity to but he chose not to. It was an important event for bess signaling she would not be living in washington dc. We didnt originally have this address. Bess donated it to her dress bizarre, and someone bought it and turned around and donated it to the library. That signals to people about how bess felt about her time in the white house. She didnt necessarily not like it, but it was not important to her. That dinner was two days after they moved back into the white house. And speaking of clothing, the president was quite a dresser. He had gorgeous taste in clothes, very modern and young. And he was a trim man. He was in good shape and he walked like a madman. He wore double colored shoes, and prints. On twitter did the first lady have many women friends . Yes, one of besss highlights was she invited her entire bridge club from independence to come out and spend a long weekend. This is the type of thing that bess was doing it for herself and her friends to have a good time but it played very well in the press, too. Her women friends were so excited to be there. She showed them the town, to launch, musicals, shopping, and they so enjoyed the white house. Her women friends were very, very dear to her and she kept many friendships throughout her life. Here is pat in fenton, michigan. We have the pleasure of going to independence and touring the house they had, they had to go in the back door like the family, and seeing the president ial library which we really enjoyed, but my question is about the trumans financial circumstances. When you mentioned that bess worked in his Senate Office and it was controversial, and that she was paid, perhaps they needed the money. And certainly the spthd a reason that congress established a pension. And i wonder if their financial circumstances led them to not doing as much entertaining. Financial reasons is exactly why bess was on the payroll. Margaret admitted it was a good thing she can. And it was somewhat ie chronic. The pesky Congress Approved the salary. From 50,000 to 100,000. But president s did not have pensions before truman, they were just sort of print out. Caller yes, my question is about the assassination attempt on president truman, how did that affect the family and what was his political opinion on the puerto rico situation . He definitely favors independence for puerto rico. He made two important speeches, favoring the independence of puerto rico and this was i guess two killers that just came along and assaulted ran into the bra blair house, got tangled in a screen door. And a wonderful Young Secret Service member was killed. They were on their way to arlington to go to a dedication of general dills. An english general that died. And he asked to be buried in arlington. And mrs. Truman said harry, theyre shooting at our policemen. It was a pretty mess any thing. The assassin that survived was sent to friday. And they expressed no regret. The 1948 election, did bess truman want harry to run for reelection. She didnt try to stop him. She didnt want to be first lady but it is a hardship. She supported him. So many people would remember the Dewey Defeats Truman hedlihe headline. What was the expectation that truman would lose. He was not popular at this time. The economy was not reconverting. He was liberal. Not liberal enough for many people. He could do very little. It was not even 100 sure he would get the nomination. He campaigned on a congress that wont work with him and let him get anything done and he campaigns on foreign policy. Look what i have done with the Marshall Plan and the truman doctrine. His Vice President ial nominee tells him on a train go out and give him hell harry. And thats what people yelled at him. And you know he had done that before once when the machine got him elected in missouri, and he ran again on his own and he went out and spoke to people and got into courses we dont look at truman speeches the same way. And he did. Absolutely. What was the Media Coverage like at that time. The radio and in the print. And of course he brought us into television. It was to be at the end. But yeah. And they stopped polling. He was so far ahead they stopped polling before the election took place and thats why their numbers were so off. Did bess and margaret campaign . Yes, they spent a lot of time on the train. They were all exhausted and ready to go tokey west after that. I remember visiting key west florida. He used the house a lot to go fishing and swimming. And one of the secret servicemen said he liked to hold you under the water until you were almost dead. Men thinks he liked the company of men. Poker and all of that. Mrs. Truman didnt go many times, but she did go. And you know margaret had a public persona. She was easy with the press and things like that. People liked her. Watching sop b rocome b roll. And his fashion sense was always remarked upon when he went to key west. He wore flashy hawaii shirts. They he just let it go when he was with the masons or to alexandria to the big masonic temple. Can you imagine a president being so casual . Things have changed. Even look at the blair house assassination attempt. So harry truman was elected, and a busy second term it was. Here is just a list of some of the highlights of the second administration. The establishment of nato that assassination that we talked about. How challenging of a time was the second term . The first term was said to be their happiest. Here is the chance to be president in his own right and this is a fair deal that starts really kicking off but then things go horribly wrong. Largely because of korea. That sharders the economy and the peoples old soldiers never die, they just fade away and become a popular song. He through a lot of mud, it was very undignified. Did be eerks ss change in th second term . She was going back and forth a lot. They reestablished their partnership. They kind of get over the personal tensions where she is feeling a little left out. They find their rhythm again and it is happier and steadier. Caller what was mrs. Trumans opinion about her association with mr. Tom pentergast what was her thinking and associations thats a good question. He was a political boss and he was a kingmaker. And his son mr. Trumans family knew him and she probably did not think much of it. Truman says in his letters that s he is going that way doing what he wants. But he quickly started to splinter off from that. But i dont imagine she thought much of it. It is sort of the way that politics was cone in kansas city at that time. They were a family that she knew. Robert is in branson west missouri. Did bess truman attend former or future first lady funerals. Oh, gosh, i dont know. I know three first ladies attended her funeral, but that is a very good question. She would have certainly some died because she lived such a long time. Mrs. Theodore roosevelt. What about mrs. Eisenhower. There was probably not a lot of opportunity. What was bess trumans pet issue. Did she had one. I dont think they had pets. She had no causes. No. Well, actually. I take that back, she was interested in health care. She urged harry to increase funding to the National Institute for health, a Research Foundation and you can look at the numbers, that budget does go up. She really thought people should start having Better Health care. He proposed universal health care. I want to tell you about a book. This book is published by our partners in the series, the White House Historical series, and it is a collection of all of the first ladies. And as a keepsake, you will see that little yellow bubble at the bottom. If youre interested in this you will find the other official por grants. It was done and we have a video that explains some of the background about her official or traits. This was painted as my grandmothers official white house portrait. In the 1960s Lady Bird Johnson went looking for portraits of first ladies to hang, she called my grandmother and she said yeah, its on my wall. And mrs. Johnson said you really shouldnt have that, it belongs in the white house, and my grandmother said no. Its my painting, its on my wall, and thats where it is going to stay. I think eventually mrs. Johnson gave up and had a copy painted. There are two copies made by the artist, and one of them hangs in the Truman Library down the road and the other is in the white house. But those are the two copies, this is the original portrait. I dont know who did the portrait, i could look it up for you, but back to the table here we have to tell the story about the renovations at the white house. The trumans and their almost eight yars in the white house spent less time in that building than any other president. Absolutely. It was falling down. The leg of margarets piano fell through the floor, and they were concerned that the whole thing would collapse on to the trumans essentially. The trouble started after pearl harbor where the army corp of engineers came in and did a survey. I talked to members of the crew, but the ceiling in the east room had fallen. It was considered a fire trap and they recommended that roosevelt move out. He would not do it and then they said they wanted to paint it camouflage during the war, and he would not do that. After the war when truman was there the house was kind of empty on the upstairs. And roosevelt loved houses that did that, but the blast tplaste trickle down from the light fixtures. They decided to get out. They moved across the street. And big plans were done. Im sure he consulted with mrs. Truman. They wanted to tear it down but George Washington built those walls. The stone walls on the outside were never touched. They wanted to take a bulldozer in through the doors and he saw them and he said stop, and they took the bulldozer and a dump truck down and reassembled them, and the house was rebuilt with steel and concrete. Is this doing anyway, that is a steel frame on the inside. It is eight inches from the original stone walls, and each room is a cage, and it was believed to be bombproof, and they moved over to blair house where they lived most of the time and they loved it. They thought it was beautiful. It had never been deck raids or anything. It was smaller, and more intimate. He did consult with bess she wanted the original structure to remain but also because why was this not done in their first term, and bess and harry were convinced that the press would blame the truemmans for bringin down the white house. Did living in the blair house have any positive or negative influence on his presidency. It might have allowed him to relax a little more. Every meal by himself with finger bowls and the silver. He did funny descriptions of it. One of my favorite is he would write bess letters when she was home in independence. He was convinced that he could heart hehear the goehosts of predecessors. Mantelpieces, some doors, but most was redone. Architect was. Winslow insisted they be put back in the house. He was there do to do it and he didnt have to listen to anyone else. Next year is the 200th anniversary of its burning and about 30 was attorntorn down a the fire. One secret one was done, and the park service had to surrender 750,000 of their budget to make a secret space. The one the Vice President was in during 9 11. But the bulldozers went down and dug it and no one knew. What was the public reaction when it was reopened . I think people thought it was just beautiful. National geographic did a tour on it. People thought it was beautiful. It was all done by a Department Store in new york. And mrs. Truman and the president refused to make decisions on wallpaper and things like that. So the staff made o most of those decisions, and it was done. They beat everybody down. They gave fabric at 3. 50 a yard. Sheldon cooper said how much influence did bess cooper have. The answer was as much as she wanted. What is your question for snus. I have two questions. Was she a sports span . Did she cheer for the cardinals . Kansas city royals all of the way. They were sports fans . Bess was, not harry. You said that harry overcame his prejudices, but i heard the story through meryl miller, he said he went to the house but he could not let him in because he was jewish. The trumans certainly did associate with jewish. I think bess brother was the best man. The tailor was in the wedding and did a suit for him but charged him for it. A twitter viewer wanted to know after watching that where did they raise the money to fix the white house . Congress. All of it . No public appropriations . Would you believe it cost about 5. 5 million . Think of what it would be today. Peter is in boston, hi, peter. Caller hi, how are you . Fine, thanks. Caller was bess friends with any other first ladies . She really liked mrs. Roosevelt. Bess grew found of another first lady while they took a spanish class together. Bess was found of mamie. I think she liked ladybird johnson. They enjoyed both of the kennedys. They certainly did, they went for the inauginauguration, didn they . They didnt like joe kennedy, but they liked the son. Our website that has all of the video of all of the first lady programs we have done so far and lots of others you have seen so far they are sharing another story habit his grandmother from the home in independence. Just for you online. Could the trumans have return again as we go . The constitutional amendment did not just apply to the incumbent. Bess said she could not take another four years at first lady. In his 60s when he was in the white house. She didnt think he could take it, either. They were in good health for their age, but the korea, mccarthyism was starting to spread and they were getting worn down. What was the Truman Eisenhower relationship . He might support eisenhower in 1948. Truman really admired eisenhower for a long time and eisenhower was kind of aloof to him. And then truman was highly offended in the transition period when eisenhower didnt want to take his advice and a big social snub occurred on inauguration day. Its custom for the incoming president to stop by the white house. Have tea, pick up the outgoing president and ride together. Ize eisenhower arrived at the white house, but they would not come in and arrive. They sat in the car and the president of the United States had to walk out to him. So you can feel the tension if you look at the pictures of that inauguration. And after that inauguration trouman was almost forgotten. The guards were gone. No pension. One member of the secret Service Detail took leave to accompany them on the train back to independence. No one told them goodbye until they got to the train station and then no, i think there was more. It was another time that no one turned out. I think when they left there were more and when they returned home there was thousands in independence. So they were gratified, but somewhat offended. That story about him getting out of his car and going to the front door, and the crowd pushed in on him, his glasses and his hanker chief were gone and they built an iron fence. They didnt expect the crowds. Margaret came out on the porch and yelled at someone to get away, and it turned out to be an escaped patient with a gun. A policeman that was off duty was put on the back porch and that was the only guard they had until after kennedy was killed. Bess would not allow them in the house, still. No, she would not allow them in the house. In the white house years when she would go back home she would not allow secret service protection. She wanted to do her Christmas Shopping and live as normally as possible. Im surprised they let her get by with that one. Don in pennsylvania. Hello . Your question, please. I spoke to mrs. Truman twice, and she very graciously responded with a letter, and she made it personal, she had terrible arthritis and she really made an effort to be down home. In margarets book about her mother she comments that president truman was very protective of mrs. Truman, and a cousin told her about the circumstances of her grandfathers death, and it was unusual because he was very courtly. That was an interesting footnote to the truman Family History. And she was at the funeral with her husband, the johnsons, and the kennedys. How did you get so interested in the trumans . Interestingly enough just hours before Robert Kennedy was killed i picked up a book on president kennedy and that got me interested. And since that 45 years ago i have become an o fiinterested i president s. In their years after the white house they did a interview for National Television in 1955. Talk about these interviews. Who were they interviewed by . Their daughter margaret. Their daughter asked her parents the question. We had a program on cbs called person to person. It was a big hit program at the time. The only Television Interview that bess truman ever did. How about that. Youre going to see a little bit of that next. Mother, please tell everyone why you went back to missouri instead of staying in washington. It was never a question of staying in washington, it was a question of not coming home. Is that reason enough. Ill buy that. Mother, are we still getting a lot of site sght seers and visitors . Yes . Loads of them. The other night we between the see your cousins across the street and there was so many of them out there in front of the house we could not come home. We had to spend most of the evening on the front porch over there by ourselves because the cousins werent at home. What about the time someone pecked your toulips, remember . Yes, someone came into the backyard and started picking all of my beautiful white tulips. They went down to ask her what she thought she was doing and she said she didnt think anyone would care. She helped herself, took all she wanted. Thats a fine thing after the work you did on them. Mother, for years we had secret service around us. Do you miss washington . Oh, yes, i miss washington. I miss washington a lot, i loved it there. But im completely happy at home. Secret servicemen didnt bother me as much as you and dad. You lost them. Yes. Early in the game. How much influence and help was mother when you were in the white house. She was a wonderful influence and a wonderful help. A president is in a bad way if he doesnt have a first lady that knows her job and is a loyal support. She is the greatest help near a president can have. Good. Mother, let me switch from washington to kansas city, how is your Baseball Team doing . Pretty well. Sounds good. Youre the sports fan in the family, anything good on tv lately . A few good things, but i have not been able to find the wrestling matches. No good wrestling matches. 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 is definite enough. Dad your mother never talks politics. That is just a glimpse of a much longer person to person interview of margaret of her parents. They come across as plain folks. They were and they valued that. They valued loyalty, hard work, honesty, they liked a good laugh but they were normal people. But he was not popular when he left the white house. It took many years for his reputation to be reestablished, so why was so many people going to see him. He was not necessarily unpopular at home. He was still a hometown hero. How did they spend their rouse years . He was not getting a pension. Laich bill said he didnt think he should trade. They were intimate to that and they believed that it was a matter of history, interpreting history, and he did the original design himself of an exhibit. And he kept an office there. If you visit there today he can see the office. The great story, he said bess, youre going to lay there next to me and one day i can see myself saying i feel like going into the office and you will say harry you ought not. Margaret truman, by the way, had four sons. As you saw Clifton Truman who s was very involved in the legacy, im not sure if the others are involved. There is one story, it is such a great story. Someone asked i would like to know about the trip she took with the president by car after leaving the white house. Was it the convertible trip across the country. There is good stories. The trumans automobile trip. They drove to washington from missouri. A wonderful book. One of the stories i will tell you that i remember is people passing them on the road and nearly having accidents. They realized they just passed the president and the first lady. As we wrap up here, someone keeps asking and wants to know what on twitter, what would bess truman say is her greater contribution to the role of first lady . Her greatest contribution to her role of first lady. Demonstrating you can be a strong influential partner and you dont have to be on the front page and the tv every day. It can be strong without it being political. And she supported her hud. They were very aware that the president harry died in 1972. Bess died in 1982. How did she spend those ten years . She was at home. She kept up, trying to keep up her correspondence with margaret. She had a care giver, but she died in her own home, thats the way i imagine she would have wanted it. How should we remember her . The way we wanted, that you can be a wonderful influential first lady even if people dont know it at the time. Mrs. Reagan said i wanted to play cards with her friends. Bess said it was like you would have thought she committed trooestrooe trooeson. I think it departments on the woman. Today women are so much more out than they were then. This was the 1940s and 1950s american woman. She was her own person. Thank you for tells us the story. The tight knit family in the white house thrust into the job. We appreciate your time. Thanks to the White House Historical association for our partners in the series and to the folks at the Truman Library and the truman house and independence for helping with the video dont. Tonight. If you enjoyed watching first ladies pick up the book. Now available in paperback, hardcover, or as an ebook. American history tv on cspan 3 exploring the people and events that tell the american story every weekend. Coming up this weekend, a discussion on the decklatilarde origins with professor richard bell. On sunday, the 1970 film fresh colors detailing a refugee and his first job upon coming to the United States. Hired to create the American Flag using his own narration, animation, and archival footage. And a tour of the American Revolution museum. Discussing the history and the design. And the crown jewel, George Washingtons camp tent. Watch American History tv this weekend on cspan 3. Youre watching American History tv with archival films. All weekend every weekend on cspan 3. American history tv continues now with excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelts vad vice column held at the frankly Roosevelt Library museum, this is an hour. Hello, welcome here to the wal lace museum and happy birthday Eleanor Roosevelt