Young Bess Wallace, Young Harry Truman, handwriting background.

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

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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

March 29, 2024

Dear Bess: March 29, 1944

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for March 29, 2024, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service, coming to you from Independence, Missouri, a place that Harry S Truman called the center of the world.

We’d like to share with you today a brief Dear Bess letter written on this date in 1944 by United States Senator Harry S Truman. Please be sure to see the link to see a digital copy of the original letter, preserved by the Truman Library. This letter was written on special Senate letterhead. The Special Committee Investigating the National Defense Program had a more common nickname in 1944…the Truman Committee. Via a series of hearings, meetings, visits around the country, Senator Truman, the Committee and its staff were able to investigate expenditures made in the name of defense, expenditures that seemed odd for whatever reason. The Truman Committee, although Truman didn’t care for that name, was able to save the American taxpayers billions of dollars. An initial budget of $15,000 expanded to $360,000 and saved an estimated $10-15 billion. It also made Truman a national figure.

Also in this brief letter Truman refers to an in-law, his wife’s cousin Gates Wells. Bess Wallace Truman’s mother’s maiden name was Gates. Also, please note the kind regards the Senator sends to his mother in law.

Regarding the Truman Committee, we recommend checking out a new book on it by Steve Drummond called The Watchdog that came out last year. There are some important lessons we can learn from that committee.

Here’s the letter:

Southern Pacific March 29, 1944

Dear Bess:

We are progressing down the Southern Pacific at a pace which would land us in Washington in about two weeks if we were east bound instead of southbound. Left Seattle at 4:30 yesterday and now we are approaching Sacramento at about the same time today. I was supposed to fly to Los Angeles yesterday morning so I could make a speech to 1200 Democrats who had paid $2500 a plate for the privilege of being present. I felt I couldn't leave a committee hearing to make a political speech after the furor that resulted in my statement released Monday morning. But I'm going to address the same sort of a meeting in San Francisco tomorrow night. I don't care whether they like it or not. I'm not going to be completely muzzled just because the Special Committee has made good. We had a very fine hearing in Seattle. As I told you yesterday Magnusson and Wallgren had talked too much as the parrot did. The Liberty Ship program has been a success and that, I think, is what history will say. But when demagogues can get up and say that soldiers and wounded are being put into them as troop ships we had to look into it. Naturally we are bound to displease some people. Kaiser made a good witness and most of the papers seem to be happy. The Portland Oregonian said last night we were playing politics. That will be the cry from now on no matter what we do. Think I'll shut down after this trip until fall.

Will mail this in San Francisco as soon as we arrive. Your cousin Walter Gates came to see me yesterday at the Court House. He is selling insurance in Seattle. Said his family were in Portland. He couldn't get a house to live in. Kiss my baby. Love to you. My best to your mother.

Harry

In this brief letter, Senator Harry Truman talks to his wife a bit about the famed select committee he is leading investigating waste and fraud in defense spending. The committee was bearing much fruit already, saving taxpayers money.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/march-29-1944

April 10, 2024

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

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess, Dear Harry podcast for April 12, 2024, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service. We come to you from 219 North Delaware Street, Independence, Missouri, which from 1945 to 1953 was the second most famous address in the United States.

Today we would like to share with you a different type of letter written by Harry S Truman, one written by him as Vice President of the United States, and written to his mother and sister, Mrs. Martha Ellen Truman and Miss Mary Jane Truman, back home in Grandview, Missouri.

Just a note---we are grateful to have photocopies of the letters that Harry Truman wrote to his mother and sister. As former President Truman was writing his memoirs, he borrowed these letters from his sister, and had copies made. Mary Jane Truman for reasons unknown destroyed the originals.

Vice President Truman had been in that office for just over 80 days. Constitutionally, the Vice President serves as the presiding officer of the Senate, and Truman dearly loved the Senate, and had good working relationships with many of its members. Sometimes we live our lives not knowing what fate has in store for us. As Harry Truman wrote this letter to his mother and sister, he had no way of knowing that just a few hours later he would be President of the United States, and the radio address he mentions would never happen. His life would change forever, as would the lives of his family. We’d like to share this letter with you today.

April 12 1945

United States Senate Washington, D.C.

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

On April 12, 1945, Vice President Harry S Truman was presiding over the United States Senate and decided to write his mother and sister back home in Grandview, Missouri...even encouraging them to tune into a radio broadcast where Truman was going to introduce President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Fate had other plans. A few hours later America would be mourning one president and learning about their new one. And the war was still raging on two fronts.

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/165042140

April 29, 2024

Dear Bess: April 29, 1912

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for April 29, 2024, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site. It was just about 40 years ago that the Truman Home opened to the public, and, since then, millions of visitors from around the world have come here to learn about Harry S Truman, his family, and his legacy. We are honored that visitors continue to do so.

Today’s letter was written on this date in 1912. Some interesting family gossip in this letter. When Harry Truman writes about his ornery cousins he is writing about Ethel and Nellie Noland, daughters of Joseph and Ella Noland, who lived at 216 North Delaware Street in Independence…this recording is being made from their home right now! Ella Noland was Harry Truman’s father’s sister, his father being John Anderson Truman. Now Truman was close to the Nolands, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get frustrated with them once in a while!

These letters from Harry Truman to Bess Wallace remain a tremendous document of Truman’s life on the farm and how some of his family relations were.

Here’s the letter.

Grandview, Mo. April 29, 1912

Dear Bess:

Your letter came yesterday but I was so all fired lazy I didn't answer it. Do you know those ornery cousins of mine came out Saturday morning and went back Saturday evening, after I'd already made arrangements with the hired man so I couldn't leave Sunday. Wasn't that the height of pure cussedness? I guess they had a good excuse though. Aunt Ella was sick. We had a barbecue and land auction at Grandview Saturday and I had to stay home and work. Doesn't that sound unusual? So I didn't get to see the girls at all. I was just about to finish sowing clover seed and as all indications pointed to rain I couldn't stop. I finished at five-o'clock-115 acres, which means that I probably rode 120 miles on the drill. If you'd only prayed a little harder Thursday, I'd have got off but as it was it only stopped me an hour. Now I'm done and will have to go to plowing. It takes a deluge to stop a plow so I guess I'll have to wait until Sunday. This time Mr. hired man stays if all the relations in the county choose to come. There were about a thousand people at Grandview Saturday. Everybody and his brother was present. If he didn't happen to have a brother, he brought his mother-in-law. That what mine did. (My brother.) Mr. Davidson's feed was the most scrumptious affair you ever saw. He had roast cow and several roast hogs with salad and pie and all the trimmings for the whole bunch. He paid $10,000 for ten acres and got $16,500 for it. Probably made $3,000 clear in a month. Wish I could coin money at that rate. You know he made $3,000 on Jost's election.

This letter is a sort of "continued in our next." I started it at noon, then went and plowed a half day, and now I hope to finish it if Mary doesn't announce supper too quickly. I raked all the hide off the end of my left thumb this afternoon while trying to punch a hole in a strap. It wasn't my Sunday knife, so you needn't be afraid to use the one I carry on holidays. You have no idea how very inconvenient it is to try to wash your face with one hand, especially if that one is the wrong one. I did mine as Tom Sawyer did his-gave it a lick and promised it a better one Sunday maybe. Won't I be pretty by then? I'll come down and let you see how I look if you will be at home. I'll stop at a barber shop on the way though and except for an immense amount of sunburn I'll be as usual. I got axle grease all over my nose this morning. That was before I scratched my thumb and also before dinner so I got it washed off. You've no notion how big my nose is until you see it blacked. I was greasing a plow and got a gob of grease on my glove and for some unknown reason immediately smeared it on the side of my nose. I guess I was trying brush off a freckle. I 'm trying to erase it from the side I did a good job and plastered the whole thing. You'd think that would take a whole bucket of grease but just the little bit I had on my glove was entirely sufficient.

This stationary is a box Mary bought me Saturday so you see I don't have to use a tablet. Though I have one I use on my cousins and my aunts.

I hope you and Mary had a good time on the chaperon job. I suppose the reason they take you two is because they don't need any, isn't it?

"The Jingo" is a story with a brazen moral I guess, and like The Squirrel Cage, won't be fit to read in a few numbers. Did you read the article on Getting up Pinafore in Everybody's? It's a killer. Please send me a letter for this, and may I come Sunday and also May 19 to hear the Bishop and a few other times if I get a chance?

Sincerely, Harry

A fascinating letter to Miss Wallace from the Spring of 1912. We've done this letter before, but it's just that fascinating!

https://catalog.archives.gov/id/157638962

May 17, 2024

Dear Bess: May 32, 1911 (misdated)

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for May 17, 2024, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

This podcast series has been sharing letters written by Harry S Truman to Bess Wallace Truman between 1910 and 1959, while also spotlighting letters from Bess Truman to Harry Truman, and letters to others in their family. These letters are an outstanding example of primary documents, and are key to understanding the interpersonal dynamic of Harry Truman’s relationships.

Today’s letter is a good example. It was written by Harry S Truman in the spring of 1911, within the first six months of his courtship with Bess Wallace. He initially misdates it May 32, 1911, but humorously explains why he kept that date.

A little context…when Truman wrote this letter, he was recovering from a broken leg. That’s difficult for a farmer, one whose livelihood relies on being able to be mobile. We wish we had the corresponding letter from Bess Wallace, but Mrs. Truman destroyed most of her share of the correspondence, unfortunately.

This letter is a great example of documenting life on the Truman Farm in the spring of 1911, and we would love to share it with you!

Grandview, Mo. May 32, 1911

Dear Bessie,

You'll notice that I have dated this May 32. If I scratch May right at the beginning, it won't look well and it is easier anyway just to give the month another day. Julius Caesar or Augustus you know could add or subtract days from any month they chose and I guess I can do the same to the one that holds my birthday.

I am dying of curiosity. What on earth is the job I'll have? Of course I'll have to sit tight and wait I guess, but it's mighty disagreeable to burn up slowly with a strictly feminine prerogative. I have really got anxious to work since I can't. I once thought if I could only lay off I could sleep at least two days at a stretch but I simply can't do over five hours now to save me, and I believe I'd really pitch hay with pleasure. So come on with your job. I am getting to be something of an organ-grinding pianist myself now and I can't appreciate your torture at the neighbor's hands at all, because if we had any neighbors close enough to listen I'd be doing them the same way. I can play "Happy Heinie" and "Yankee Doodle" to a fare you well. I suppose it is sometimes good for the neighbors when you have to use an opera glass to see the front gate.

Don't you think Dr. Cyrus Townsend Brady is a fine fellow? I do. When a man has the ability and courage to tell old Bill Nelson what he is, he sure is all right with me. He'll make a success in K.C. too. The Star never did win a political or any other kind of fight of any importance. You know they made a special fight on Jim Reed & W. P. Borland. The Journal said the Star had won an old time victory when Borland was elected. When a man wants to win in this end of the state he wants the Star against him. I hope they don't disrupt the Church in K.C. but I hope they make Grace Church take their pastor back.

Mamma came in just now and gave me a job. Picking stems off strawberries. She had nearly three gallons. It was some job too. I like strawberry jam so well though I ought not to kick about getting the berries ready. They are not very good this year. It has been too dry. We have patch enough for a wagon load but if we get ten gallons we'll do well. I guess blackberries will be fine though. Our patch is white with bloom. Rain Rain. That's what we need and badly too. Do you like to hear how farm crops do? That is all a farmer thinks of this time of year. I hope we have good ones this year anyway. I won't mind my enforced vacation then.

Say, when I am able to walk like a gentleman again will you go to a ball game with me? I mean a real professional game at Assination Park. I am so crazy to walk I don't know what to do. I have been buggy riding a time or two and can go around on three legs. I am like the mathematical dog. I put down three and carry one. That infernal calf is veal now.

Vivian and Mr. McBroom are plowing corn just north of the house and their language is forceful to say the least when they go to turn here at the house. A horse when he is hitched to a cultivator can make a religious crank use profanity. It is not possible to reach him as your hands are fully holding the play, so you have to take it out in strong talk. I have found on investigation that Vivian was entirely responsible for your book going astray. He put it under the buggy seat when they started for Dodson, and Ethel and Aunt Ella had to run for a car and he never mentioned the book. He took both the book and Life to his girl that evening and never said a word until yesterday when he brought the book home. I'll bring it myself next time. Well I hope you'll consider this worth an answer. Don't keep me waiting long or I'll die of curiosity.

Sincerely, Harry

This fascinating letter from Harry Truman to Bess Wallace is from the first few months of their courtship. Truman was recuperating from a broken leg, and he passes some time writing to his one true love.

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

June 6, 2024

Dear Bess: June 6, 1945

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for June 6, 2024, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, and coming to you from Independence, Missouri.

For today’s episode, we would like to share a Dear Bess letter from June 6, 1945. Today is the 80th anniversary of the day known as D-Day. We pause to remember those who exhibited incredible courage that day, and thank them for their honor and sacrifice.

Two notes of context for this letter: • One, this letter was written by President Harry S Truman on the first anniversary of D-Day. A year before, Harry S Truman was a United States Senator from Missouri and that summer of 1944 quickly found himself elevated to being the Democratic nominee for Vice President, with Franklin Roosevelt at the top of the ticket for the fourth time. • In early June of 1945, early in Truman’s term, his wife Bess and daughter Margaret went home to Independence, Missouri, mostly to supervise some work being done on their home at 219 North Delaware Street. Truman missed them terribly, and felt quite lonely without them.

Thanks for listening. Here’s the letter: June 6, 1945

Dear Bess: Well I'm getting better organized now. My office force soon will be shaken down and so will my Cabinet when I've gotten State straightened out. War and Navy I shall let alone until the Japanese are out of the picture.

It won't be long until I can sit back and study the whole picture and tell 'em what is to be done in each department. When things come to that stage there'll be no more to this job than there was to running Jackson County and not any more worry.

Foreign relations, national finances, reconversion, and a postwar military policy will be the big headaches--and they can all be solved if the Congress decides to help me do a bang-up job, and I believe they will do that.

Had a grand time last night at Biffle's party. Barkley, Lucas, Hatch, Overton, Radcliff, Chavez, Fullbright and Charlie Ross and Harry Vaughan from my office were there as well as several of Biffle's friends from around town. I'd say about 25 in all were there. Old Barkley paid high tribute to both me and Biffle.

Well I'm facing another tall day as usual. But I like 'em that way. I'm never half so worn out when I have too much to do as I am when there is too little. Trouble is I'm working the help to death. Tell my baby I was glad to talk to her last night as well as to her mamma.

Lots of love,

Harry

Written on the first anniversary of D-Day, President Harry S Truman, still in his first months of his administration, shares with his wife (back home in Missouri) a bit of how he intended to shape his administration.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/june-6-1945

June 12, 2024

Dear Bess: June 12, 1945

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess, Dear Harry podcast for June 12, 2024, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

Today’s Dear Bess letter we’d like to share is from this date in 1945. President Harry S Truman writes his First Lady, who was back home in Independence, Missouri.

Truman was still in his first months of his presidency, and he misses his First Lady. But while in the White House, Truman feels a connection to some of his predecessors who lived there. There’s an interesting line in the middle of the letter when Truman alludes to being a County Judge in Jackson County, Missouri. At that time, County Judges were more of an administrative job, and not a judicial one. But Truman seems to make reference to his days as a Pendergast man, and it cannot be denied that he won those local elections with the help of Thomas J Pendergast and his machine.

We’ve shared this letter before, but we love it so we’re sharing it again!

The White House

June 12, 1945 Dear Bess: Just two mo nths ago today, I was a reasonably happy and contented Vice President. Maybe you can remember that far back too. But things have changed so much it hardly seems real.

I sit here in this old house and work on foreign affairs, read reports, and work on speeches--all the while listening to the ghosts walk up and down the hallway and even right in here in the study. The floors pop and the drapes move back and forth--I can just imagine old Andy and Teddy having an argument over Franklin. Or James Buchanan and Franklin Pierce deciding which was the more useless to the country. And when Millard Fillmore and Chester Arthur join in for place and show the din is almost unbearable. But I still get some work done.

Hope the weather lets up and you will be able to do some work on the house. The Gibson boy should have been taken care of long ago. I'll see what's happened. I'm not able to do as many things for my friends now as I did when I was just a dirty organization Democrat and a County Judge.

Guess you and Helen will have a grand time. Hope you do. We are working on Dr. Wallace. Glad everybody was in his right mind at the family party. Undoubtedly they were walking the straight and narrow for your mother. But I'm sure you had a nice time anyway.

That address mixed up is causing me some embarrassment (if that's the way you spell that blushing word). I addressed a letter to you at 4701 Conn. Ave, Independence, MO., and another one 219 North Delaware, Washington, D.C. Now it seems I sent one to the Nolands. The boys in the House here didn't catch that one but they did the other two. I'll have Reathal attend to the chores you suggest. I haven't seen her but twice since you left. She comes in after I go over to the office, usually goes out to lunch and doesn't come back until I am gone again and then goes home before I get over here. Had Charlie Ross and Rosenman to lunch yesterday. We worked on my San Francisco speech. That date is postponed until next week now on account of the slow windup and Gen. Eisenhower's visit.

Write me when you can--I hope every day.

Lots of love, Harry

Glad you saw Mamma and Mary

President Harry S Truman, in the White House, writes to his First Lady, back home in Independence, Missouri, supervising some repairs to their home at 219 North Delaware Street. Lots of charming tidbits in this letter!

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/june-12-1945

June 28, 2024

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

December 10, 2024

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

February 18, 2025

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

March 7, 2025

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

March 7, 2025

Dear Bess: March 8, 1918 (postmarked)

Transcript

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

[March 8, 1918]

Dear Bess:

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

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