Bess Truman (original) (raw)
Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman (February 13, 1885 – October 18, 1982), widely known as Bess Truman, was the wife of Harry S. Truman and First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953.
Elizabeth Virginia Wallace was born to David Willock Wallace (1860-1903) and his wife the former Margaret Elizabeth Gates (1862-1952) inIndependence, Missouri and was known as Bessie during her childhood. She was the eldest of four; three brothers: Frank Gates Wallace, (4 March 1887 - 12 August 1960), George Porterfield Wallace, (1 May 1892 - 24 May 1963), David Frederick Wallace, (7 January 1900 - 30 September 1957).
Harry Truman, whose family moved to town in 1890, always kept his first impression of when he saw her at Sunday school: "Golden curls" and "the most beautiful blue eyes." A relative said, "there never was but one girl in the world" for him. They attended the same schools from fifth grade through high school.
After graduating from William Chrisman High School (then known as Independence High School) she studied at Miss Barstow's Finishing School for Girls in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1903 her father committed suicide and she returned to Independence to be with her mother.
The First World War altered the Trumans' steady courtship. Lieutenant Truman proposed and they were engaged before he left for France in 1918. They were married on June 28, 1919 and lived in her mother's home. They had one daughter, Margaret Truman, born February 17, 1924.
As Harry Truman became active in politics Bess Truman traveled with him, sharing his platform appearances as the public had come to expect of a candidate's wife. His election to the Senate in 1934 took the family to Washington, D.C.. He was elected Vice President in 1944. UponF.D.R.'s death on April 12, 1945 Harry Truman took the presidential oath of office. Bess Truman kept her composure and became the new First Lady.
Truman found the White House's lack of privacy distasteful. As her husband put it later, she was "not especially interested" in the "formalities and pomp or the artificiality which, as we had learned..., inevitably surround the family of the President." Though she steadfastly fulfilled the social obligations of her position, she did only what she thought was necessary. When the White House was rebuilt during Truman's second term, the family lived in Blair House and kept their social life to a minimum. In most years of her husband's presidency Mrs. Truman did not live in Washington other than during the social season when her presence was expected.
The contrast with Truman's predecessor Eleanor Roosevelt was marked. Unlike her, Truman held only one press conference after many requests from the mostly female press corps assigned to her. The press conference consisted of written questions in advance and the written replies were mostly monosyllabic along with many no comments. Truman's response to whether she wanted her daughter Margaret to become President was "most definitely not." Her reply to what she wanted to do after her husband left office was "return to Independence" although she had briefly entertained the thought of living in Washington after 1953.
In 1953 the Trumans went back to Independence and the family home at 219 North Delaware Street, where the former president worked on building his library and writing his memoirs. Following a 1959 mastectomy Truman thought she was going to die (her husband was quoted as saying the tumor was the size of a basketball, but it was benign).
Her husband died in 1972 and Truman continued to live quietly, enjoying visits from Margaret and her husband Clifton Daniel along with their four sons. At the time of her husband's death at age 88, she was 87 making them the oldest couple having occupied the White House at that time. Truman agreed to be the honorary chairman for the reelection campaign of Sen. Thomas Eagleton (D-Missouri).
She died on October 18, 1982 from congestive heart failure; a private funeral service was held October 21, afterwards she was buried beside her husband in the courtyard of the Harry S. Truman Library.
Aged 97 years at her death she remains the longest lived First Lady in United States history. The only close relative of a US president to live longer than Bess Truman was John F. Kennedy's mother Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, who died aged 104 in 1995.
The Congressional Evolution of the United States of America
Continental Congress of the United Colonies Presidents
Sept. 5, 1774 to July 1, 1776
Commander-in-Chief United Colonies & States of America
George Washington: June 15, 1775 - December 23, 1783
Continental Congress of the United States Presidents
July 2, 1776 to February 28, 1781
Presidents of the United States in Congress Assembled
March 1, 1781 to March 3, 1789
| Samuel Huntington | March 1, 1781 | July 6, 1781 |
|---|---|---|
| Samuel Johnston | July 10, 1781 | Declined Office |
| Thomas McKean | July 10, 1781 | November 4, 1781 |
| John Hanson | November 5, 1781 | November 3, 1782 |
| Elias Boudinot | November 4, 1782 | November 2, 1783 |
| Thomas Mifflin | November 3, 1783 | June 3, 1784 |
| Richard Henry Lee | November 30, 1784 | November 22, 1785 |
| John Hancock | November 23, 1785 | June 5, 1786 |
| Nathaniel Gorham | June 6, 1786 | February 1, 1787 |
| Arthur St. Clair | February 2, 1787 | January 21, 1788 |
| Cyrus Griffin | January 22, 1788 | January 21, 1789 |
Presidents of the United States of America
D-Democratic Party, F-Federalist Party, I-Independent, R-Republican Party, R* Republican Party of Jefferson & W-Whig Party
**Chart Comparing Presidential Powers **- Click Here
**United Colonies and States First Ladies
**1774-1788
| Constitution of 1787 First Ladies | President | Term | Age |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martha Washington | George Washington | April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797 | 57 |
| Abigail Adams | John Adams | March 4, 1797 – March 4, 1801 | 52 |
| Martha Wayles Jefferson Deceased | Thomas Jefferson | September 6, 1782 (Aged 33) | n/a |
| Dolley Madison | James Madison | March 4, 1809 – March 4, 1817 | 40 |
| Elizabeth Monroe | James Monroe | March 4, 1817 – March 4, 1825 | 48 |
| Louisa Adams | John Quincy Adams | March 4, 1825 – March 4, 1829 | 50 |
| Rachel Jackson Deceased | Andrew Jackson | December 22, 1828 (aged 61) | n/a |
| Hannah Van Buren Deceased | Martin Van Buren | February 5, 1819 (aged 35) | n/a |
| Anna Harrison | William H. Harrison | March 4, 1841 – April 4, 1841 | 65 |
| Letitia Tyler | John Tyler | April 4, 1841 – September 10, 1842 | 50 |
| Julia Tyler | John Tyler | June 26, 1844 – March 4, 1845 | 23 |
| Sarah Polk | James K. Polk | March 4, 1845 – March 4, 1849 | 41 |
| Margaret Taylor | Zachary Taylor | March 4, 1849 – July 9, 1850 | 60 |
| Abigail Fillmore | Millard Fillmore | July 9, 1850 – March 4, 1853 | 52 |
| Jane Means Pierce | Franklin Pierce | March 4, 1853 – March 4, 1857 | 46 |
| Lifelong Bachelor | James Buchanan | n/a | n/a |
| Mary Todd Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln | March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865 | 42 |
| Varina Davis* | Jefferson Davis* | February 22, 1862 – May 10, 1865 | |
| Eliza McCardle Johnson | Andrew Johnson | April 15, 1865 – March 4, 1869 | 54 |
| Julia Boggs Dent Grant | Ulysses S. Grant | March 4, 1869 – March 4, 1877 | 43 |
| Lucy Ware Webb Hayes | Rutherford B. Hayes | March 4, 1877 – March 4, 1881 | 45 |
| Lucretia Rudolph Garfield | James A. Garfield | March 4, 1881 – September 19, 1881 | 48 |
| Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur | Chester Arthur | January 12, 1880 (Aged 43) | n/a |
| Frances Folsom Cleveland | Grover Cleveland | June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889 | 21 |
| Caroline Scott Harrison | Benjamin Harrison | March 4, 1889 – October 25, 1892 | 56 |
| Frances Folsom Cleveland | Grover Cleveland | June 2, 1886 – March 4, 1889 | 28 |
| Ida Saxton McKinley | William McKinley | March 4, 1897 – September 14, 1901 | 49 |
| Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt | Theodore Roosevelt | September 14, 1901 – March 4, 1909 | 40 |
| Helen Louise Herron Taft | William H. Taft | March 4, 1909 – March 4, 1913 | 47 |
| Ellen Axson Wilson | Woodrow Wilson | March 4, 1913 – August 6, 1914 | 52 |
| Edith Bolling Galt Wilson | Woodrow Wilson | December 18, 1915 – March 4, 1921 | 43 |
| Florence Mabel King Harding | Warren G. Harding | March 4, 1921 – August 2, 1923 | 60 |
| Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge | Calvin Coolidge | August 2, 1923 – March 4, 1929 | 44 |
| Lou Henry Hoover | Herbert C. Hoover | March 4, 1929 – March 4, 1933 | 54 |
| Eleanor Roosevelt | Franklin D. Roosevelt | March 4, 1933 – April 12, 1945 | 48 |
| Elizabeth Virginia "Bess" Truman | Harry S. Truman | April 12, 1945 – January 20, 1953 | 60 |
| Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower | Dwight D. Eisenhower | January 20, 1953 – January 20, 1961 | 56 |
| Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy | John F. Kennedy | January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963 | 31 |
| Claudia Alta Taylor "Lady Bird" Johnson | Lyndon B. Johnson | November 22, 1963 – January 20, 1969 | 50 |
| Thelma Catherine "Pat" Ryan Nixon | Richard M. Nixon | January 20, 1969 – August 9, 1974 | 56 |
| Elizabeth Ann "Betty" Ford | Gerald R. Ford | August 9, 1974 – January 20, 1977 | 56 |
| Eleanor Rosalynn Carter | James Earl Carter, Jr. | January 20, 1977 – January 20, 1981 | 49 |
| Nancy Davis Reagan | Ronald Wilson Reagan | January 20, 1981 – January 20, 1989 | 59 |
| Barbara Pierce Bush | George H. W. Bush | January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 | 63 |
| Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton | William Jefferson Clinton | January 20, 1993 – January 20, 2001 | 45 |
| Laura Lane Welch Bush | George W. Bush | January 20, 2001 – January 20, 2009 | 54 |
| Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama | Barack H. Obama | January 20, 2009 to date | 45 |
Capitals of the United Colonies and States of America
| Philadelphia | Sept. 5, 1774 to Oct. 24, 1774 | City Tavern & Carpenter’s Hall |
|---|---|---|
| Philadelphia | May 10, 1775 to Dec. 12, 1776 | Pennsylvania State House |
| Baltimore | Dec. 20, 1776 to Feb. 27, 1777 | Henry Fite’s House |
| Philadelphia | March 4, 1777 to Sept. 18, 1777 | Pennsylvania State House |
| Lancaster | September 27, 1777 | Lancaster Court House |
| York | Sept. 30, 1777 to June 27, 1778 | York-town Court House |
| Philadelphia | July 2, 1778 to June 21, 1783 | College Hall - PA State House |
| Princeton | June 30, 1783 to Nov. 4, 1783 | Prospect House - Nassau Hall |
| Annapolis | Nov. 26, 1783 to Aug. 19, 1784 | Maryland, State House |
| Trenton | Nov. 1, 1784 to Dec. 24, 1784 | French Arms Tavern |
| New York City | Jan. 11, 1785 to Nov. 13, 1788 | New York City Hall |
| New York City | October 6, 1788 to March 3,1789 | Walter Livingston House |
| New York City | March 3,1789 to August 12, 1790 | Federal Hall |
| Philadelphia | Dec. 6,1790 to May 14, 1800 | Congress Hall |
| Washington DC | November 17,1800 to Present | Two US Capitol Buildings |
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