Bess Truman

Marriage and family


Harry and Bess Truman on their wedding day, June 28, 1919.

Harry S. Truman met Bess soon after his family moved to Independence in 1890, and the two attended school together until graduation.  Many factors kept them from forming a closer bond in school, including their differences in social class and religion, Harry's time-consuming job at a drugstore, and Harry's inability to participate in athletics with Bess due to his thick glasses.  They sometimes studied Latin together, and he often volunteered to carry her books, but they did not become close friends.

Bess had many suitors in the years after high school, but none won her love.  In 1910, long after their time in school, Harry volunteered to return a cake plate to the Wallaces as an excuse to speak to Bess. They reconnected and began a courtship.  Harry was insecure about his lack of money, and he attempted to impress Bess by purchasing tickets to shows and building her a tennis court. Bess' mother disapproved of the relationship. 

Harry proposed in 1911 in a long letter, which he later admitted was clumsily written, but Bess turned him down.  He later said that he intended to propose again when he would be earning more money than a farmer. They became informally engaged in November 1913,  though Harry still doubted himself regarding his finances. Over the following years, the couple regularly corresponded while Harry traveled throughout the United States for his work in mining and petroleum. Bess wished to marry before Harry departed to fight in World War I in 1917, but he refused to risk making her a young widow.  She worked to support the war effort while he was gone by selling war bonds, and she served on a committee for entertaining soldiers.

Bess and Harry married on June 28, 1919, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Independence. The newlyweds honeymooned in Chicago and Detroit and then moved into Bess's childhood home so she could care for her mother.  During their marriage, Bess tried in vain to teach her husband the etiquette with which she had been raised. Their only child, Margaret, was born in 1924. Bess's two previous pregnancies had ended in miscarriages. Bess became the primary authority figure in Margaret's life, while Harry would spoil her.

Bess held several jobs working with her husband, which provided more income for the Truman family. She was accounts manager at Truman-Jacobsen Haberdashery from 1919 to 1922, when the business went bankrupt. After Harry was elected county judge in the eastern district of Jackson County, she worked as his aide from 1922 to 1924 and from 1926 to 1934. Corruption and violence were prominent in Jackson County politics at the time, and working with her husband in his early political career caused her great distress, including when they feared a plot to kidnap their young daughter. In addition to helping Harry in his political work, Bess also managed the family's household and finances. As part of her social life, Bess helped found the Junior Service League of Independence and a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

{snip}

Harry and Bess Truman (here at home in Independence, Missouri) were married a hundred years ago today:

Not sure why Harry doted on such a dreary woman.

Shows what you know.