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The Dear Bess and Dear Harry Podcast, from Harry S Truman National Historic Site

Harry S Truman

From Harry S Truman National Historic Site; a chance to share some of the stories associated with Harry Truman, Bess W. Truman and their times. We will share letters written between Harry Truman, Bess Wallace Truman, Margaret Truman, and others. We will link to digital versions of the letters in case you'd like to see them. You may need to refresh the page for the latest episode.

Episodes

Dear Mamma (Truman) and Mary (Truman): April 12, 1945

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for April 12, 2025, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service. We are coming to you from the Truman Home in Independence, Missouri.

Normally, we share letters that Harry and Bess Wallace Truman exchanged. But today we would like to spotlight a remarkable letter from Vice President Harry S Truman to his mother, Mrs. Martha Ellen Truman, and his sister, Miss Mary Jane Truman. Just a quick note about this batch of letters. At one point, the Truman Library borrowed these letters from Mary Jane Truman while her brother was working on his memoirs. And at some point after Mary Jane retrieved them, for reasons unknown, she destroyed the originals. So the Truman Library has only photocopies.

The Vice President was fulfilling his Constitutional duty of serving as the President of the Senate. He knew these Senators, loved the Senate and everything about it. But evidently, he was bored enough to write to his beloved mother and sister.

Truman’s boss, President Franklin Roosevelt, was resting in Warm Springs, Georgia.

Note the date of this letter. It’s not clear exactly what time Truman wrote this letter. It was postmarked 9:30pm April 12, 1945. But as Harry Truman was writing this letter, he may have been already president of the United States without knowing it, as Franklin Roosevelt died of a cerebral hemorrhage that afternoon. When the Senate adjourned, and before a poker game began, Truman was told to go quickly and quietly to the White House. When he met Eleanor Roosevelt there, he was told, “Harry, the President is dead.”

Here's the letter.

United States Senate Washington, D.C.

April 12, 1945

Dear Mamma & Mary:-

I am trying to write to you a letter today from the desk of the President of the Senate while a windy Senator from Wisconsin is making a speech on a subject with which he is in no way familiar. The Jr. Sen. from Arizona made a speech on the subject and he knew what he was talking about. The Wisconsin Senator is Wiley and the Arizona Senator is McFarland.

We are considering the Mexican Treaty on water in the Colorado River and the Rio Grande. It is of vital importance to South Western U.S. and northern Mexico. Hope we get it over some day soon. The Senators from California and one from Utah and a very disagreeable one from Nevada (McCarran) are fighting the ratification. I have to sit up here and make parliamentary rulings - some of which are common sense and some of which are not. Hope you are having a nice spell of weather. We've had a week of beautiful weather but it is raining and wintery today. I don't think it's going to last long. Hope not for I must fly to Providence R.I. Sunday morning.

Turn on your radio tomorrow night at 9:30 your time and you'll hear Harry make a Jefferson Day address to the nation. I think I'll be on all the networks so it ought not to be hard to get me. It will be followed by the President whom I'll introduce. Hope you are both well and stay that way. Love to you both.

Write when you can. Harry.

Vice President Harry S Truman, presiding over the United States Senate, writes to his mother and sister. What he doesn't know is that in Warm Springs, Georgia, President Franklin D Roosevelt was not well and died that afternoon. When this letter was postmarked, Harry Truman was President of the United States.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/165042140?objectPanel=transcription

Dear Bess April 1, 1911

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for April 1, 2025, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

The Dear Bess letter we’d like to share with you today was written on this date in 1911. Truman gives Miss Wallace some excellent descriptions of living on a farm like theirs, and working on a farm like theirs. This is one of the most descriptive letters Truman wrote Miss Wallace, and a vital letter in helping us understand this period in Truman’s life.

Thanks for listening, here’s the letter.

Grandview, Mo.

April 1, 1911

Dear Bessie,

April Fool Day. Mamma says it is always customary to send blank sheets of paper today instead of written ones. Well perhaps you'd rather get the blank ones, but I am going to fill these and spoil the spirit of the day.

You see I have been sowing oats all week, got done Thursday night, and hauled about six tons of hay yesterday. My face is a sight, as the girls say. You know the wind blew something "fierce" last Tuesday and Wednesday and the sun also had some effect. Between them I look like raw beef or a confirmed "booze fighter." My voice is also somewhat weary from yelling at the horses. You know we drive four plugs to a drill-have them abreast. It is an impossibility to have four with inclinations alike. I had four whose names may be some index to their character-William, Samuel, Jane and X. X is a bronc-if you know what that is-he has an insane desire to arrive at the other end of the field in the shortest possible time. You dare not touch him with a whip or let him hear one if you can help. William-Bill we call him of course-is an ex-buggy horse. He hasn't much idea of work but to get out of it if he can. I yell at him in my sleep sometimes. When I am not hallooing "Bill, Bill go on," I am saying the same to Sam. Sam is a very large ex-dray horse and he never hurries under any consideration unless I poke him with a sharp stick or land on him with a baling wire whip. Jane, as Mrs. Barclay would say, is just right. She goes as she should. Well when I land on Sam and Bill, Jane and X want to run away. So I have to take it out in lung work and unprintable names. You can just bet that I am glad I'm done. I always sow Vivian's and mine too. This time I sowed seventy acres in five days. That is moving some. Vivian is well had has been hauling hay for me while I sowed his oats. (I do wish I had your new bottle of ink.) Did you get an invitation to the high school reception for Professor Bryant? I did but I can't go. I have a "previous engagement" to a tacky party. I am going as I usually go when at home and I bet I take the cake. My very best friends would refuse to recognize me if they ever saw me in town in my farm rags. They are dirty and tattered and torn with hog snoot marks, splashed milk, and other things too numerous to mention in their makeup. You ask Ethel what a pretty figure I cut when I pretend to work. Mamma ropes me in once in a while and makes me exchange for a clean set, but they don't feel right until I wear them a day or two.

I am glad your "umbrell" is a useful as well as ornamental article. You know they generally are not both.

I would certainly be glad to attend church with you in Independence and hear your choir.

I guess you will have a fine time at the river tomorrow morning. I haven't been down on those bluffs since I was a time-keeper for L. J. Smith. You know I was once a hobo paymaster. Not a pleasant job either.

I am sorry to hear of Miss Dicie's illness but I guess she'll soon recover. Lively people are never sick long. I hope your mother is well by this time. Our whole family is in good health. Papa only has to hop on crutches but he'll soon be over that.

You say you have gone back to W. D. Howells, well I have never come to him yet. He must be all right for he was a particular friend of Mark Twain's. It's luck I guess but I have never read one of his books. I certainly did enjoy The Mistress of Shenstone. I have read The Rosary since I read it and they are both good. I have also been reading the history of Jenghiz Khan the Tartar. He is the only great man in history who had no effect on American history, according to Miss Phelps. You know she began with Adam and came down. But I never heard of Jenghiz till recently. Well I am wound up but shall quit here. Please write me when you have the time as I enjoy your letters very much. I am

Sincerely, Harry

A fun, most descriptive letter from Harry S Truman, farmer, to Miss Bess Wallace, from early in their courtship.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/april-1-1911

Dear Bess April 1, 1911

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for April 1, 2025, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

The Dear Bess letter we’d like to share with you today was written on this date in 1911. Truman gives Miss Wallace some excellent descriptions of living on a farm like theirs, and working on a farm like theirs. This is one of the most descriptive letters Truman wrote Miss Wallace, and a vital letter in helping us understand this period in Truman’s life.

Thanks for listening, here’s the letter.

Grandview, Mo.

April 1, 1911

Dear Bessie,

April Fool Day. Mamma says it is always customary to send blank sheets of paper today instead of written ones. Well perhaps you'd rather get the blank ones, but I am going to fill these and spoil the spirit of the day.

You see I have been sowing oats all week, got done Thursday night, and hauled about six tons of hay yesterday. My face is a sight, as the girls say. You know the wind blew something "fierce" last Tuesday and Wednesday and the sun also had some effect. Between them I look like raw beef or a confirmed "booze fighter." My voice is also somewhat weary from yelling at the horses. You know we drive four plugs to a drill-have them abreast. It is an impossibility to have four with inclinations alike. I had four whose names may be some index to their character-William, Samuel, Jane and X. X is a bronc-if you know what that is-he has an insane desire to arrive at the other end of the field in the shortest possible time. You dare not touch him with a whip or let him hear one if you can help. William-Bill we call him of course-is an ex-buggy horse. He hasn't much idea of work but to get out of it if he can. I yell at him in my sleep sometimes. When I am not hallooing "Bill, Bill go on," I am saying the same to Sam. Sam is a very large ex-dray horse and he never hurries under any consideration unless I poke him with a sharp stick or land on him with a baling wire whip. Jane, as Mrs. Barclay would say, is just right. She goes as she should. Well when I land on Sam and Bill, Jane and X want to run away. So I have to take it out in lung work and unprintable names. You can just bet that I am glad I'm done. I always sow Vivian's and mine too. This time I sowed seventy acres in five days. That is moving some. Vivian is well had has been hauling hay for me while I sowed his oats. (I do wish I had your new bottle of ink.) Did you get an invitation to the high school reception for Professor Bryant? I did but I can't go. I have a "previous engagement" to a tacky party. I am going as I usually go when at home and I bet I take the cake. My very best friends would refuse to recognize me if they ever saw me in town in my farm rags. They are dirty and tattered and torn with hog snoot marks, splashed milk, and other things too numerous to mention in their makeup. You ask Ethel what a pretty figure I cut when I pretend to work. Mamma ropes me in once in a while and makes me exchange for a clean set, but they don't feel right until I wear them a day or two.

I am glad your "umbrell" is a useful as well as ornamental article. You know they generally are not both.

I would certainly be glad to attend church with you in Independence and hear your choir.

I guess you will have a fine time at the river tomorrow morning. I haven't been down on those bluffs since I was a time-keeper for L. J. Smith. You know I was once a hobo paymaster. Not a pleasant job either.

I am sorry to hear of Miss Dicie's illness but I guess she'll soon recover. Lively people are never sick long. I hope your mother is well by this time. Our whole family is in good health. Papa only has to hop on crutches but he'll soon be over that.

You say you have gone back to W. D. Howells, well I have never come to him yet. He must be all right for he was a particular friend of Mark Twain's. It's luck I guess but I have never read one of his books. I certainly did enjoy The Mistress of Shenstone. I have read The Rosary since I read it and they are both good. I have also been reading the history of Jenghiz Khan the Tartar. He is the only great man in history who had no effect on American history, according to Miss Phelps. You know she began with Adam and came down. But I never heard of Jenghiz till recently. Well I am wound up but shall quit here. Please write me when you have the time as I enjoy your letters very much. I am

Sincerely, Harry

A fun, most descriptive letter from Harry S Truman, farmer, to Miss Bess Wallace, from early in their courtship.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/april-1-1911

Dear Bess: March 28, 1944 (postmarked)

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for March 28, 2025, brought to you by the staff of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, and coming to you from Independence, Missouri.

Today’s charming letter was written on this date in 1944. Senator Harry S Truman is in Seattle, and, in this letter, reveals more about the history between himself and Mrs. Truman than in almost any other letter. It’s why we wanted to share this letter with you. It’s so unfortunate that letters like this aren’t written much anymore.

Thanks for listening, here’s the letter.

Olympic Hotel Seattle, Washington March 28, 1944 [Postmark]

Dear Bess:

Well it was sure grand to talk to you yesterday. I'm so far away I don't feel so well about it. Miss you and my baby and your mother. Specially miss that evening ceremony of taking the medicine with you. Hope someday you and I can just sit around and enjoy a perpetual honeymoon without worrying about bread and butter and public opinion. Guess I'm just a damned, sentimental old fool. I've always had you on a pedestal and despite the fact that you try to climb down sometimes, and I don't blame you for trying, I'm not going to let you. From Sunday school days, to grade school days, to First World War days, to the Senate, to World War II days you are just the same to me--the nicest, prettiest girl in the world. Most of my associates think there's something wrong with me because I believe in that oath I took in a certain little Episcopal Church in Independence, Missouri, about twenty-five years ago. But I don't care what they think.

We are holding some of the most touchy and ticklish hearings since we started. Wallgren and Magnuson talked too much out here. The papa of Roosevelt's son-in-law is worse than the Washington Herald and the Chicago Tribune combined. They have a rival paper which goes on the other side no matter whether it's right or wrong. Mon took Jackson and me to Everett to see his wife on Sunday. We had dinner on the way back. The hearing here is to be concluded today. Then to San Francisco. I refused to go to Los Angeles by plane today to address the Jackson Day dinner down there because I can't mix my politics with my religion. Religion being "win the war quickly." Hugh Fulton and Kilgore are waiting for me so I'll have to run. Will do better next time. Wish I'd had a letter here.

My best to your mother. Kiss my pretty girl and lots of love to you.

Harry

Has Margie forgotten how to write too?

Neither Harry nor Bess Truman were known to have talked publicly about their romantic history. This letter is among the few places where Harry Truman did so. It's charming, and we thought you'd like to hear it.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/march-28-1944

Dear Bess: March 24, 1914 (Postmarked)

Transcript

Greetings to you from Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service in Independence and Grandview Missouri and welcome to our podcast for March 24, 2025

We would like to share with you a letter that was postmarked on this date in 1914. There are two especially intriguing aspects of this letter we’d like to explain.

By the time Harry Truman wrote this letter Harry Truman’s mother had had some medical challenges, including a hernia operation. And that operation was performed in the family home, and Harry Truman himself held the light to help the surgeon.

Also, in 1909, Truman’s grandmother…his mother’s mother…Harriet Young died, and her will sparked an explosion in the family. Most of the children of Solomon and Harriet Young received token amounts, while the Truman family received the farm property and all that entailed. As today, lawsuits cost money, and the lawsuit Truman mentions began eating at whatever profits the farm was making. Also, we have the first real mention of the famous Truman-owned Stafford car…this car played a vital role in Truman’s life the next few years.

Thanks for listening. Here’s the letter.

Dear Bess:-

Your note came Sunday morning. I was very glad to get it. It helped to get the day by to some extent as it should have gone. Mamma said thank you for your sympathy and kind expressions. She is getting along fine. The doctor said he'd never had a case like hers to do so well.

I am still staying with her and will have to for a few days yet. Vivian was here yesterday, and I made a flying trip to K.C. to see Uncle Harry and Boxley about our infernal suit. There is a prospect of settlement now. It will stretch our finances until they crack, but I guess we'll get over it eventually.

I made an effort to call you up but didn't even succeed in getting Independence. I didn't get another chance because I had to go with Mr. Ferson to buy a carload of hay and when I got to the train there were only about four minutes to spare.

Ferson wants to sell me a Stafford car for $650. It's an old one but will outlast and outlook some of the new ones they are selling now. I told him that unless I could filch the amount from the Young estate while the settlement was being made there was no prospect of my owning a car. It sure is a bargain though. Uncle Harrison thinks we'll have to sell some of the farm, but I hope not. It will bring probably $200 an acre now but in four or five years it may be worth three times that. I hope I never have anything more to do with an estate like this one. It is a hoodoo from start to finish. If there are any other pieces of bad luck loose, I suppose they'll come our way before long. There's no use bothering about what may happen though. I've got my hands full looking after the results of what's already taken place. The gamblers say that fate can't always hand out one brand of luck and I'm hoping strongly for a change in our brand. A bigger crop than ever was raised is what would convince me we were in good again. I got that oat sowed as I told you before, the hired man is just now finishing up with the harrow. We thought we were going to lose him Sunday. I gave him $15 Saturday night and he said he was going to pay some bills he owed. I guess he must have hit a crap game first because he didn't get home until Sunday morning. He came up here about noon looking rather dilapidated and said his wife had given him a round with the poker. Said he guessed he'd have to leave as it looked as if he wasn't going to be able to stay home. I guess they must have patched things up because he hasn't said anything more about leaving. He's a great big man, and his wife won't weigh over a hundred pounds. I'm going to work your mother's system and pay on Monday after this. I wouldn't have this fellow leave for anything. He's the best man we ever had. Mamma is of the opinion that he needed braining, but there is always a bond of sympathy between women when a man has been shooting craps and every good man has his failings. I mean good hired men. Luke, for instance! Vivian is going back to Cass County this morning. He rode up horseback on Thursday night and is going to drive back. I think it is safe for him to leave, Mamma is doing so well. I am hoping to see you before the week is out.

As soon as she can have company there'll be someone here all the time, but we don't allow her to walk any yet to amount to anything. Please send me a long letter as it has been some years since a week ago Sunday.

Sincerely Harry

A great letter. Mamma Truman is recovering from a serious operation, the Truman family is fighting a bitter lawsuit against kin...and Harry Truman is tempted to buy a car.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/157639058

Dear Bess: March 20, 1918

Transcript

En route to East Coast Mar. 20, 1918

Dear Bess:

We are moving out at last. Sat up all night last night waiting for the train. It pulled in at 1:30 A.M. this Wednesday morning. We have a fine Pullman observation car with all 129th officers except five or six. They are 130th. We are going north and hoping to hit Kansas City. They say we'll go around the outer edge if we do. Your package was just in time and sure was fine. I never tasted such good candy in my life and the cakes were just as fine. This train is so rough I can hardly write but I am afraid if I wait I won't get to mail it. We are sure glad to leave Ft. Sill but we may see the time when it will look good to us. They turned down Lt. Lee at the last minute. I was so mad I could have cussed all the doctors in Christendom off the map if I could have done it. They sent him before a physical efficiency board and he beat them there and got his baggage loaded into the car after spending all day chasing back and forth to division headquarters. Then they made him stay behind and sent a substitute. He was the most thoroughly disappointed person you ever saw. I hated it almost as badly as he did. We don't know where we are going but it looks like we might come through Kansas City now as we are going north on the Rock Island. I'd give anything in the world to see you and Mamma and Mary before I go across but I doubt very much if that is possible except by good luck. I shall keep you informed by wire where I am until I leave this country. All cables will come to Boxley through the chief cable censor so you will be informed immediately on my safe arrival across. You can write me Detachment 35th Division, 129th F.A., Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and I'll probably get it. The train is slowing and I'd better quit, will write some more tomorrow and wire you today.

Yours always, Harry

Harry S Truman, United States Army, and his men are finally mobilizing for war after months of intense training.

Will he be able to stop and visit his mother, sister, fiancee, and future in-laws en route?

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/march-20-1918-postmark

Dear Bess: March 8, 1918 (postmarked)

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess and Dear Harry podcast, for March 8, 2025, brought to you by the staff of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service. We love sharing these letters between Harry Truman and Bess Wallace Truman. Each letter is like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, with each letter giving us a clearer image of one of the most dynamic relationships in our history.

Today’s letter was written on this date in 1918. Lieutenant Harry Truman and his men remain in Oklahoma, and are anxiously awaiting orders to mobilize to Europe to serve in the Great War. By this time Lieutenant Truman and Miss Wallace were engaged. Truman’s experiences in the military, including the instructions in mathematics, military and other disciplines, plus his leadership ability, served his country well, not only in World War I but helped America the rest of his life, especially from 1945-1953.

As always, thanks for listening. Here’s the letter:

[March 8, 1918]

Dear Bess:

I got your letter yesterday and one the day before and I was sure glad to hear from you. We are still here and I haven't much faith in our moving out at all. The inspector general has been looking the whole regiment over and the Colonel said he was very much pleased with the appearance we made. All of us had to go on the hill and pitch shelter tents even the officers. It was right comical to see the amount of luggage some of these dud officers took along with them. Some of them thought we were going to leave right from the field and they took along enough stuff to weight four men down. As it was we were only out there about an hour. The inspector looked us over and sent us back to camp. He is still here looking around. I suppose his report to Washington will affect the moving of the Division. There were some Tulsa oil men down here looking things over the other day and Gen. Wright told them to see the 129 F. A. and the 138 Inf regiments if they wanted to see the best. That was pretty nice wasn't it. Your dream about our coming through Kansas City is a perfectly good one. I have it on reliable authority that we will go by way of KC & Chicago. When you get my telegram you'll know then that we are leaving so don't put any faith in the rumors you hear even if they come direct from here by way of a first Lieutenant. He thought he was telling it straight because we all thought we'd leave last Monday. Just keep on writing for I sure do like to get your letters. I've got to run now. Here's hoping your dream comes true.

Yours always,

Harry

A charming letter from an anxious First Lieutenant Harry S Truman, who, with his men, is awaiting orders to mobilize to Europe to fight in the war. The last paragraph is especially charming.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/march-8-1918-postmark

Dear Bess: March 8, 1918 (postmarked)

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess and Dear Harry podcast, for March 8, 2025, brought to you by the staff of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service. We love sharing these letters between Harry Truman and Bess Wallace Truman. Each letter is like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle, with each letter giving us a clearer image of one of the most dynamic relationships in our history.

Today’s letter was written on this date in 1918. Lieutenant Harry Truman and his men remain in Oklahoma, and are anxiously awaiting orders to mobilize to Europe to serve in the Great War. By this time Lieutenant Truman and Miss Wallace were engaged. Truman’s experiences in the military, including the instructions in mathematics, military and other disciplines, plus his leadership ability, served his country well, not only in World War I but helped America the rest of his life, especially from 1945-1953.

As always, thanks for listening. Here’s the letter:

[March 8, 1918]

Dear Bess:

I got your letter yesterday and one the day before and I was sure glad to hear from you. We are still here and I haven't much faith in our moving out at all. The inspector general has been looking the whole regiment over and the Colonel said he was very much pleased with the appearance we made. All of us had to go on the hill and pitch shelter tents even the officers. It was right comical to see the amount of luggage some of these dud officers took along with them. Some of them thought we were going to leave right from the field and they took along enough stuff to weight four men down. As it was we were only out there about an hour. The inspector looked us over and sent us back to camp. He is still here looking around. I suppose his report to Washington will affect the moving of the Division. There were some Tulsa oil men down here looking things over the other day and Gen. Wright told them to see the 129 F. A. and the 138 Inf regiments if they wanted to see the best. That was pretty nice wasn't it. Your dream about our coming through Kansas City is a perfectly good one. I have it on reliable authority that we will go by way of KC & Chicago. When you get my telegram you'll know then that we are leaving so don't put any faith in the rumors you hear even if they come direct from here by way of a first Lieutenant. He thought he was telling it straight because we all thought we'd leave last Monday. Just keep on writing for I sure do like to get your letters. I've got to run now. Here's hoping your dream comes true.

Yours always,

Harry

A charming letter from an anxious First Lieutenant Harry S Truman, who, with his men, is awaiting orders to mobilize to Europe to fight in the war. The last paragraph is especially charming.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/march-8-1918-postmark

Dear Bess: February 18, 1913

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for February 18, 2025, brought to you by the staff of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, which is a unit of the National Park Service. This series is dedicated to sharing with you letters between Harry S Truman and Bess Wallace Truman, letters that not only document a terrific love story, but also document a partnership that helped change our world in the 20th century.

There’s a lot in this letter…all of it wonderful. Harry Truman, farmer, writes his special lady about literature, health, family, and more. We wonder which photographs Truman makes reference to. Thanks to the Truman family, these letters now belong to you, the American people. They are preserved forever at the Truman Library. It’s our pleasure to share them with you, and we thank you for listening.

Grandview Feb. 18, 1913

Dear Bess:

I am having a hard time finding a pen. There are some half dozen around but none that will write. The folks insisted on my going to see an osteopath today. I went but thank heaven he wasn't in. I am totally cured by just having been at the office. I stole a book on theosophy off his desk and I've an idea that had something to do with the cure. It has an article on India in the year 11,182 B.C. telling about the birth of Jupiter, Saturn, and the Indian god Siva the destroyer, a letter from Mrs. Annie Besant, and various other stuff. They contend that we are born until we become perfect, then we enter the bosom of some god or other. It is a very convenient and satisfying system if a person could subdue his brains and make himself believe it. It would be about as easy to believe Greek and Roman mythology. I guess I'll have to plod along with the four Gospels as my foundation for a while longer. They are the best yet. The trouble with the churches is that they don't teach enough of those books. They're too strong on St. Paul and the rest of the Apostles. I don't believe there'd ever have been any split if the teachers had stayed by the original four books. Not to change the subject suddenly but I got two show tickets today for Julius Caesar Thursday night Feb 27 sixth row. How does that suit you? I do wish I could get away this week to see the Blue Bird or Kitty Gordon. Something good is always on hand when I have to stay home. I hope you'll go see them anyway though. I guess Kitty is pretty fine. I'd prefer her to the Blue Bird. Also I'd rather see Eva Tanguey than Sarah B. Let's hope we see them both. A fellow writing in Brgans Commoner this week says his hands applaud Beethoven and Grand Opera but his feet want to move to the old time fiddle tunes. He believes his heart is nearer his feet in this case. I don't know if I love Eva better than Sarah or not because I never saw Sarah.

I busted a camera into four pieces today. I told the lady manager I wanted to get my face in a small enough space to go inside the rim of a silver dollar. I can tell you if I succeeded or not day after tomorrow. It always makes me feel embarrassed to get in front of a picture machine. I suppose a person who can keep his poise in that position makes a good actor or public speaker. I notice they all look very much at ease in their pictures anyway. I am positively confident mine will look very scared or very mulish, one. In either case I'll not find fault with the cameraman for my own shortcoming. This picture is going to be as small as you want it to be. It sure would be a shame to waste any good money to frame it. It will be too highly honored just by your accepting it. I'll show you the proof Sunday if I get them before then.

I'm very glad you liked the roses. I wish I'd had brains enough to think of something really worthwhile but I didn't. I thought of stationery and then decided that would look like an Indian present, at least one with string to it. I'm glad you got some though and I hope you continue to let it come my way.

Mary can't get over my bringing Keeping up with Lizzie home with me. She wants to put something in the name. She and Myra Colgan both had a great deal to say about that book. I'm not going to let either of them read it for that. They both know how I love the name and how thoroughly pleased I am to have them call you Lizzie. They're both in bad for the balance of the week anyway. Lizzie sure was a goer in this case. Would you care to have me extract that East Indian story from the back of Adventure and send it to you? I like it a lot. I'd offer you the whole magazine but I'm afraid you like it about like you do Nick Carter. It is lots better than Nick and not nearly so bad as Ainslee's. The only thing about it is the tough paper it is printed on.

Please send me a letter for this and I'll do better next time. I've had a strenuous day you know, almost saw an osteopath, got my [illegible] mapped, and did a half-day's real work.

Most Sincerely, Harry

A fascinating letter from early 1913. Harry S Truman muses about religion, literature, family, theater, and more.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/february-18-1913

Dear Bess: December 10, 1912

Transcript

Greetings, and welcome to the Dear Bess and Dear Harry podcast for December 10, 2024, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

This series is intended to share with you the incredible correspondence between Harry and Bess Wallace Truman…a correspondence that started in 1910 and continued for over 40 years. It’s a correspondence that documents for us a great love story and a great partnership.

Today’s letter was written on this date in 1912. Harry Truman, a farmer in Grandview, Missouri, describes a day in the life of a harsh winter in his family’s farm home. That home today is preserved on your behalf by the National Park Service. Next summer, come and visit the Truman Farm…and imagine what it was like to live in that house in extreme heat and extreme cold. That’s the power of these letters. They help us connect with their world.

Here's the letter.

December 10, 1912

Grandview, Mo.

Dear Bess:

Here goes a bid for two letters. Fact is I'd bid for one every day in the week if it would bring it. You really have no idea how broadly I can smile when your letter comes. I almost got my face cracked last week. Fact, because it was nearly frozen when your second came. I wish I could devise some plan to make them come that way every week.

That infernal 10:37 car didn't go until 10:50 or thereabouts and I was so sure I was going to miss the train that I was about to explode with good humor. The lowbrowed motorman whoopederup on account of his lateness though and I had a whole ten minutes to spare. It was a cussin moment when I found that old green and yellow KCS carryall still placidly waiting for me. The thing sat down in Sheffield and lost forty good minutes consequently I hit the hay at 2 p.m. If it could only have been the street car that lost the forty minutes I might have been treading the streets of K.C. as assistant shopper. Probably would have been studying up a place to eat about this time and sincerely hoping that your buying mania would wear off before the Orpheum opened its daily session. Here's hoping you did wear it off before that time. They say the bills good.

I am not shucking corn this morning, as you have probably surmised by the time. You see Mary has not arrived as yet. We are expecting a man to mend the kitchen flue, therefore I had to empty the kitchen and do some other tall stunts - start a fire in the parlor for instance. The parlor stove is the most pigheaded one on the place. I had a roaring fire in the bloomin' thing, departed to the coal shed for more fuel, and when I came back the whole shebang was as cold as a tomb. Now stove, pipe, fire and all are endeavoring to up the flue. I gave it some encouragement with a little John D. extract. I have hopes that the flue is good and that the wind won't get any stronger, in which case we'll still do business at the old stand. I must chase in and see what's happening. It may be necessary to scale the roof and dump a bucket of salt where it will do the most good. It's all right and behaving as a good fire should. You know salt has a most quieting effect on a roaring flue. It is also very quieting to a conversation mill when thrown in in huge quantities. Mamma said that Uncle Harrison once got an unsuspecting neighbor boy to lie on his back, open his mouth, and shut his eyes with the expectation that said uncle would raise him up with a straw. Mamma was standing by with a handful of salt and when the poor fellow got his mouth widest open she dashed in the salt. From all accounts he riz up all right. It seems that he had heated a penny and gave it to Mamma. She enlisted Uncle Harry to help her even up, hence the salt episode. He gave Mamma no more hot pennies.

I am going to mail this so you'll get it on Wednesday A.M. Also I am going to meet the mail train in the morning if it can be so arranged. Hoping for the first edition second to come on Friday as usual. You must be sure and read the "Sob Sister" in the last post, it's a dinger. The author quotes our disputed Otempora O Mortius. The Ike doesn't spell it that way though. The Count Around the Course is also a passable time killer. I got the January Adventure last night and if the cover speaks true it reeks with murder and sudden demise in serious pieces. Mamma's calling me to do some menial job in the other end of the house.

I must quit but be sure and send the two to

Most sincerely, Harry

That chocolate kept me warm till I got home.

Are you a homeowner facing significant repairs this winter? Harry Truman could sympathize with you, as you hear in this letter from 1912. There are also some nifty reading recommendations that he sent to Miss Wallace that you can search for.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/december-10-1912

Dear Bess: June 28, 1957

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, and coming to you from the Noland Home, 216 North Delaware Street, Independence, Missouri. Joseph and Ella Noland were an aunt and uncle of Harry Truman, and they had daughters that were close to Truman. Aunt Ella was the sister of Truman’s father, John Anderson Truman.

Over the last three years, and over the course of 150 episodes, we have used this podcast series to share with you some of our favorite letters between Harry and Bess Wallace Truman, letters written between 1910 and 1959. These letters not only document one of the greatest love stories in American history, they also document the partnership that existed with these two people. When their correspondence started in 1910, Harry Truman was a farmer working on his maternal grandparents’ farm near Grandview, Missouri. Truman was a partner in this farm in every sense, from the work to the actual business arrangement, particularly with his grandmother Harriet Louisa Young and his uncle Harrison Young. But the letters document that this wasn’t the easiest time in Truman’s life, from broken legs to financial setbacks to litigation to the death of John Truman. The letters capture Truman’s inner thoughts as he served as an artillery officer in World War I. They capture the family dynamics on all sides, showing us that his family faced many of the same challenges that ours do. The last letter was written by Harry Truman as a former President of the United States.

From a farmer in western Missouri to the most powerful individual in the world, and, then, back to being “Mr. Citizen.” Is there a more American story than that?

We wish we had more of the letters from Bess Wallace Truman, but that sadly is not the case. But we are grateful to have what we have. So thank you for listening to these for the last three years. We would like to share today one of the last Dear Bess letters, from June 28, 1957. Former President Truman wrote this to his bride on their 38th wedding anniversary. In his eyes, she was still the pretty girl he first saw at First Presbyterian Church on that day in 1890.

[June 28, 1957. Envelope addressed "To: Mrs. Harry S. Truman. From: H.S.T. No. 38."]

June 28, 1920 One happy year.

June 28, 1921 Going very well.

June 28, 1922 Broke and in a bad way.

June 28, 1923 Eatern Judge. Eating.

June 28, 1924 Daughter 4 mo. old.

June 28, 1925 Out of a job.

June 28, 1926 Still out of a job.

June 28, 1927 Presiding Judge - eating again.

June 28, 1928 All going well. Piano. Al Smith.

June 28, 1929 Panic, in October

June 28, 1930 Depression. Still going.

June 28, 1931 Six-year old daughter

June 28, 1932 Roads finished.

June 28, 1933 Employment Director.

June 28, 1934 Buildings finished. Ran for the Senate

June 28, 1935 U.S. Senator. Gunston.

June 28, 1936 Resolutions Philadelphia. Roosevelt reelected.

June 28, 1937 Grand time in Washington

June 28, 1938 Very happy time. Margie 14.

June 28, 1939 Named legislation.

June 28, 1940 Senate fight coming [sic].

June 28, 1941 Special Senate Committee. Margie wants to sing.

June 28, 1942 Also a happy time.

June 28, 1943 Lots of work.

June 28, 1944 Talk of V.P. Bad business.

June 28, 1945 V.P. & President. War End.

June 28, 1946 Margie graduate & singer. 80th Congress.

June 28, 1947 Marshall Plan & Greece & Turkey. A grand time 28th Anniversary.

June 28, 1948 A terrible campaign. Happy day.

June 28, 1949 President again. Another happy day.

June 28, 1950 Korea - a terrible time

June 28, 1951 Key West - a very happy day

June 28, 1952 All happy. Finish, Jan. 20, 1953.

June 28, 1953 Back home. Lots of Roses.

June 28, 1954 A happy 35th.

June 28, 1955 All cut up but still happy.

June 28, 1956 A great day - more elation.

June 28, 1957 Well here we are again, as Harry Jobes would say.

Only 37 to go for the diamond jubilee!

H.S.T.

Written on their 38th wedding anniversary, former President Harry S Truman recounts where they were in life, together, on every June 28, from 1919 to 1957. This is one of the last known Dear Bess letters.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/june-28-1957

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