Bess Truman

Elizabeth Virginia “Bess” Wallace Truman (1885–1982) was First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953 as the wife of President Harry S. Truman, and a lifelong resident of Independence, Missouri.¹² Born in Independence and educated there and at a Kansas City finishing school, she made her home for nearly her entire life at 219 North Delaware Street — the Gates family house that later became the centerpiece of the Harry S Truman National Historic Site.¹³ She was among the most private women to hold the role, declining the regular press conferences her predecessor had held, while serving as one of her husband’s closest political advisers.²⁴ At her death at 97 she was the longest-lived First Lady in United States history.²

Biography

Independence childhood

Bess Truman was born February 13, 1885, at 117 West Ruby Street in Independence, Missouri, the oldest child of David Willock Wallace and Madge Gates Wallace.¹² She was christened Elizabeth Virginia but was called Bess throughout her life.¹ Her father, a local officeholder, died by suicide in 1903, after which the family moved into the home of her maternal grandfather, George Porterfield Gates, a co-founder of the Waggoner-Gates Milling Company.¹² That house — 219 North Delaware Street — remained her home for the rest of her life.¹

She and Harry Truman met as children in Sunday school at the First Presbyterian Church on the Independence Square, when he was six and she was five.¹ The National Park Service describes her as “a gregarious tomboy as a child,” a public contrast to the reserve of her later years.⁴

Education

Bess Wallace graduated from Independence High School in 1901 in the same class as Harry Truman.¹ She afterward studied language and literature at Miss Barstow’s Finishing School for Girls in Kansas City, Missouri.¹²

Marriage and family

She became engaged to Harry Truman in 1917. After his return from service in Europe in the First World War, the two were married on June 28, 1919, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Independence.¹² Truman moved into 219 North Delaware after the wedding and lived there until his death in 1972.³ Their only child, Margaret Truman, was born February 17, 1924.¹

Washington and the Senate years

When Harry Truman was elected to the United States Senate in 1934, Bess divided her time between Independence and Washington.¹ She joined her husband’s Senate staff as a paid clerk, answering personal mail and editing committee reports and speeches.² The arrangement was not unusual for the era, though it drew comment during later campaigns.²

First Lady, 1945–1953

Bess Truman became First Lady on April 12, 1945, when Franklin D. Roosevelt’s death elevated her husband to the presidency after roughly three months as vice president.¹² She had no appetite for the public role and sought to preserve the private life she was accustomed to.¹ She discontinued the weekly press conferences held by Eleanor Roosevelt, holding only one press conference of her own despite repeated requests from reporters.² She accepted a number of honorary posts, including Honorary President of the Girl Scouts.² Harry Truman consulted her regularly on political matters and on the drafting of speeches.¹ Throughout the presidency she returned frequently to Independence, and the Delaware Street house came to be known as the “Summer White House.”³

Return to Independence and later life

The Trumans came home to Independence in January 1953 and resumed a largely private life on Delaware Street.¹³ Bess Truman outlived her husband by a decade, dying at home on October 18, 1982, at the age of 97 — the longest-lived First Lady in American history.¹² Funeral services were held October 21 at Trinity Episcopal Church, and she was buried beside her husband in the courtyard of the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence.¹²

In her will she left 219 North Delaware Street to the American people; Congress established the Harry S Truman National Historic Site shortly after her death, and the home was designated in 1983.³⁵

Significance to Kansas City

Bess Truman is the metropolitan area’s most prominent First Lady and one of the few nationally known figures who spent essentially an entire life inside Jackson County. Her insistence on remaining rooted in Independence — through the Senate years, the presidency, and two decades of retirement — is the reason the town, rather than Washington, holds the Truman family’s principal historic landscape: the Truman Home at 219 North Delaware, Trinity Episcopal Church, the Independence Square, and the Truman Library courtyard where she and the president are buried.¹³ Her bequest of the family home converted a private Independence residence into a unit of the National Park System, making her directly responsible for one of the region’s most-visited historic sites.³⁵

Sources

Footnotes

1. Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum — “Biographical Sketch of Mrs. Harry S. Truman.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹

2. Wikipedia — “Bess Truman.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

3. Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum — “219 North Delaware Street.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. National Park Service, Harry S Truman National Historic Site — “Bess Truman: A Lady First, Then a First Lady.” ↩ ↩²

5. National Park Service — “The Truman Home.” ↩ ↩²