Dear Bess: September 14, 1937
Transcript
Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for September 14, 2022, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.
A short, but fascinating letter for you today, written by Senator Harry S Truman to his wife, Bess, on this date in 1937.
If there is a period in Truman’s life that should probably be talked about more, it’s his time in the United States Senate. He loved the Senate, and all that the work entailed. It’s unfortunate that it is unknown where Senator Truman’s papers from his first term, from 1935-1941, ended up. We fear they’re lost. That’s why letters like these give great insight into his work in the Senate, and what his life was like outside of the Capitol. Thank heavens Harry Truman kept up writing to Mrs. Truman and others. We suspect that some of his medical reports like this still reside in archives across the country, waiting to be discovered. This was before HIPAA, of course!
Here’s the letter.
Hotel Tulsa, Hot Springs, Ark. September 14, 1937
Dear Bess:
How do you like my new stationary? The border is a knockout. Believe I'll have some senate stationary made on the same plan. Well I moved into the hospital yesterday morning and they start doing things to me today. Photograph teeth, stomach, lungs and other parts so they say. Make blood tests etc. Say there is nothing to worry about the heart. I told you I didn't trust the navy. I have a northwest corner room on the eighth floor overlooking the town. It is cold as the dickens down here. I had to put on my blue coat and vest last night to witness a picture show on the roof of the hospital.
The weather has been beautiful and I wish I'd gone to this place to begin with. I'd have been six dollars ahead anyway. Only have to pay for eats at $150 per day and medicine, if any. Pretty soft. Wish you'd call Lou Holland and tell him I can't be there the 17th. It will take all week to do this job and since I've started I'd better go through. Feel better this morning than I have for a month. They are really feeding me. I was most starved to death.
Love to you all. Kiss Margey
Harry.
A fascinating, brief letter from Senator Harry S Truman to Mrs. Bess Wallace Truman today, written on his day in 1937. Senator Truman writes mostly about some medical tests that he is taking at a hospital in Arkansas. It seems as if Senator Truman is getting a good bill of health. You might want to look at this letter, too, as he references the unique stationary.
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/september-14-1937