The audio readings presented here are intended to be the first in a series of letters between several future presidential couples, including James and Lucretia Garfield, John and Abigail Adams, Woodrow and Ellen Wilson, and Harry and Bess Truman. These initial readings will cover letters during courtship. They are intended to demonstrate the authors’ humanity – when they were young and mostly non-political. Couples of this era knew how to express their love to one another in a written fashion, an art that’s becoming lost in our modern times.
Learn more about the voices heard in the love letters here!
We begin with James Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph.
James A. Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph Engagement Photo
Western Reserve Historical Society
James A. Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph- November 11, 1858 Hiram, Ohio
This is the first in a series of recorded love letters between some of the presidential couples during courtship. The four letters will be from James and Lucretia Garfield, John and Abigail Adams, Ellen and Woodrow Wilson, and Harry and Bess Truman. James A. Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph were married November 11, 1858; here are their letters.
[-] Alan: The audio reading presented here is intended to be the first in a series of recordings of letters between several presidential couples, including James and Lucretia Garfield, John and Abigail Adams, Ellen and Woodrow Wilson, and Harry and Bess Truman. The initial readings will cover letters exchanged during courtship. We begin with James Garfield and Lucretia Rudolph. It is from Niagara Falls on … November 16, 1853, that James Garfield wrote…
[-] Alan: Lucretia My Sister, Please pardon the liberty I take in pointing my pen towards your name this evening, for I have taken in so much scenery today that I cannot contain it all myself. Finding a necessity of stirring around some before the confinement of another term, and having long cherished a strong desire to see the greatest waterfall upon the globe, I concluded to do so now… I stood upon the Canadian shore (having crossed the ferry below the falls) and beheld embattled myriads of hoary billows leaping along the rapids till they reached the awful brink, where they sprang with a furious bound and disappeared in “thunder and in foam.” Then clothed in an oilcloth suit, I descended a spiral staircase, and followed a guide behind the falling sheet of table rock to the distance of 230 feet. The scene there presented beggars all description. To look above you and behold a liquid world… tumbling from the skies, and thundering as it comes, would seem as though the heavens themselves were… falling to the earth… I am stunned and overwhelmed at its immensity and grandeur, and to attempt to describe it is only to desecrate it. I leave it – you can never feel it till you gaze it yourself. … Meanwhile, with kindest regards, I am as ever, J. A. Garfield Address: J.A.G., Hiram, Portage C., Ohio
[-] Debbie: Thus began a courtship that lasted five years. It was warm, it was troubled. They encouraged each other and found fault with each other, too. They explored themselves. They grew emotionally. They grew together. In his first letter to Lucretia Rudolph, James Garfield pointed his pen to her, and after a lengthy description of his trip to Niagara Falls, credited her with patience! Her very formal response – “Very Kind Brother - on November 20 expressed her gratitude for the description – and the letter – received. She reveled in thoughts of the natural wonder of Niagara, and she concluded her reply to James with a puckish play on the word “address.”
[-] Debbie: Hiram, November 20, 1853
Very Kind Brother, Your Niagara offering was not received until last Saturday evening. None the less welcome, however, nor less fraught with interest to me by its delay, for until its reception I was not aware of your visit to the world’s greatest wonder, and to receive a line prompted by the inspiration of that might torrent ‘s grandeur truly called forth a large amount of gratitude. Often as I have read or listened to descriptions of its inconceivable vastness and sublimity have I desired to stand beside it and “feel” myself the power of its overwhelming might…” … I have no apology for troubling you with this line since you charged me to “Address J.A.G., Hiram, Portage County, Ohio,” and as I know not when an opportunity would permit my doing so personally, concluded to at least acknowledge the reception of your favor an my gratitude for the same… Truly your sister, Lucretia
[-] Debbie: In the waning days of winter 1853/1854, while on a trip with his mother to Muskingum County, in southern Ohio, James also took the opportunity to visit his birthplace in Orange. The visit, recalled for Lucretia in a letter dated in early March 1854, recalled fond memories of childhood, which in turn stimulated expressions of his desire that his relationship with Lucretia would deepen.
[-] Alan: Virginia Ridge, Ohio, March 2, 1854 Dear Lucretia, In Muskingham County, fifteen miles below Zanesville… in a large brick house, on a very high hill, in a nice little room, in the attic story, ALONE, I am seated to write you. The day after I saw you I went to where my home formerly was, and visited my folks there… While in Orange on Saturday morning, I walked over the lonely farm that was once my home… Strange and mingled indeed were my feelings when I stood upon the spot where I was born – that spot which is now covered with dried weeds and dead herbage is meaningless to the eye of a stranger, but not to mine. The old stone back wall to the chimney is still standing, a monument to the dead past, and as I stood there and looked upon those stones, it brought vividly to my mind the days of my childhood, when that wall served as a screen against with the blaze of the log fire was leaping and crackling, and in which I traced a thousand fantastic figures of giants on fiery steeds and hosts embattled for war, in all the wild imaginations of a childish fancy. I am again tumbling on the floor with brother and sisters, and the forms of playmates and friends long dead seemed to stand before me. The intervening years seemed to have dropped out, and I was ten again. But the wind came moaning among the old orchard trees, sighing a dirge of departed years, and youth-vision was gone… But my heart still clung to the dear old spot and I embrace that old time worn wall almost with affection. Perhaps you consider this a weakness, and probably it is, but I cannot help it. Lucretia, I am very glad we have had the opportunity of conversing… There has heretofore been a bar between us that has not given us that freedom that should suffice between schoolmates. I hope it is taken away. It is my earnest desire to “know and be known.” I fear you do not know me. AS you said in your last kind and thrice welcome letter… I am terrified when I behold the strange inconsistencies of my nature… I have wondered that I had the boldness to turn my thoughts toward you. I, whose future is yet so uncertain… But I long to hear from you, and still more to see you, to know your heart and open mine to you, for though you have it now, I fear you do not know its contents. With warmest love, I am yours affectionately, James.
[-] Alan: The spring of 1854 found the couple together in Hiram. That summer, they parted as James made his way to Williams College, in Massachusetts, in pursuit of a college degree. Education was highly valued by the pair. However, in the mid-nineteenth century the pursuit of higher learning by women was not regarded as advisable or necessary. This was a dilemma for Lucretia. In the next letter, she credited her intellectual capacity with sly wit.
[-] Debbie: July 24, 1854 Hiram, Monday morning, 4 o’clock
Dearest James, Dawn with her rosy fingers has scarce tinged the East with her crimson glow to herald the approach of another day’s glorious king, as I now treat myself to the pleasant duty of answering your last kind favor… What shall be my future course I am wholly undecided. I had almost determined that I would go through with a gentleman’s full course; but your remark in reference to it at our last interview rather disconcerted my plans… True, it has become almost a proverb that when a lady is married, she may as well lay aside her books; still I do not believe it contains very much wisdom after all; and even if it did, you know my superior powers would warrant me in being the exception. I trust you will pardon my nonsense… You acknowledge yourself somewhat lonely: remember, James, if it affords you any happiness, that among the many friends you have… there is one whose heart often turns to you in holiest love, and who would gladly cheer a lonely hour with a smile of affection would it be permitted. Trusting that I shall receive soon another long, long letter, I add no more at present. Unchanged in heart, I remain, Lucretia
[-] Alan: Williams College, July 30, 1854
Dearest Lucretia: ‘Tis a quiet, lovely Lord’s-day evening, and I am seated alone in my chamber to respond to your kind favor… Dear Lucretia, how I would love to rest this head that throbs with pain tonight upon your own dear bosom, and listen to the beating of your heart. But this cannot be… I am well pleased, very well pleased with the College and its Professors, and am very glad I determined to come here instead of Bethany. It is said that the last two years of instruction here is not equaled by that of any institution in America. About your own course, allow me to say a few words. I regret that I have ever said anything to thwart your purposes, and I hope you will let no such considerations as I may have presented keep you from any course productive of advantage to you. I felt solicitous for your health, and if that can be secured and retained the more study the better. I believe that you would be benefitted by breathing another atmosphere for a while – … I know you will understand me that I say nothing against Hiram. This is true of any and every place. No one would be more pleased than I to have you go through a course of study, and I certainly hope, nay I request that you do not let me stand in the way of that or any of your plans. I presume you could graduate in two or three years. Let me hear from you further on this point… I would say many things, but the stars are climbing to the zenith and my letter waxes long and dull I fear… Dear Lucretia, do let me hear from you often, very often… and long. Let your heart take the pen and your hand hold it not back. Lucretia, Dear Lucretia, my arm is around you now, my cheek is pressed to yours; here is my kiss.
John Adams and Abigail Smith- October 25, 1764 Weymoth, Massachusetts
John and Abigail Adams were married October 25, 1764, in Abigail's family home. The recorded letters were taken from the The Book of Abigail and John, a collection of letters between John and Abigail Smith Adams.
[-]Alan: The remarks following are taken from The Book of Abigail and John, a collection of letters between John and Abigail Smith Adams, edited by Lyman Butterfield, Marc Freidlaender, Mary Jo Kline, published in 1975. John and Abigail, Abigail and John – their names are as inseparably linked as those of any human pair in history… When they met in 1759, John Adams, 23 years old and a graduate of Harvard. Abigail was 15. He had recently returned from keeping school and studying law… to establish a practice in the village of Braintree on the South Shore of Massachusetts Bay…There was a tension between determination and self-doubt that was to remain central to John Adams character throughout his life… It may not be too much to say that these opposing forces would have pulled him apart…had he not encountered Abigail Smith.
[-]October 4, 1762 Miss Adorable, By the same Token that the Bearer hereof sat up with you last night, I hereby order you to give him, as many Kisses and as many Hours of your Company after 9 O’Clock as he shall please to Demand… and I presume I have good right to draw upon you for the Kisses as I have given two or three Millions at least, when one has been received, and of Consequence the Account between us is immensely in favor of your, John Adams
[-]Braintree February 14, 1763 Dear Madam, Accidents are often more Friendly to us, than our own Prudence. I intended to have been at Weymouth Yesterday, but a storm prevented. Cruel, yet perhaps blessed storm! Cruel for detaining me from so much friendly, social Company, and perhaps blessed to you, or me or both, for keeping me at my distance. For every experimental philosopher knows, that the steel and the magnet or the glass and feather will not fly together with more celerity than somebody and somebody, when brought within striking distance… John Adams
[-] Debbie: In the mid-eighteenth century, young people wrote lots of letters, for fun and self-improvement even if they had little of consequence to tell each other. It was common to avoid signing one’s own name and to choose a name from ancient history or classical mythology. This was done not only to display one’s literary attainments but also to gain – or pretend to gain – at least temporary freedom from Puritan manners and morals. Thus in some of their earliest letters Abigail and John appear as Diana and Lysander. Diana was the Roman goddess of the hunt, while Lysander was a Spartan General whose defeat of the Athenians in 404 B.C. ended the Peloponnesian War.
[-]Weymouth September 12 1763 …. Have you heard the News? That two Apparitions were seen one evening this week hovering about this house, which very much resembled you and a Cousin of yours. How it should ever enter into the head of an Apparition to assume a form like yours, I cannot devise. When I was told of it, I could scarcely believe it, yet I could not declare the contrary, for I did not see it, and therefore had not that demonstration which generally convinces me that you are not a Ghost. The original design of this letter was to tell you that I would next week be your fellow traveler provided I shall not be any encumbrance to you, for I have too much pride to be a clog to anybody. You are to determine that point. For your – A. Smith
[-]Alan: In 1761 John Adams had inherited from his father a saltbox cottage at the foot of Penn’s Hill, with the arable orchard and wood land that went with it. … By 1763 he was formally recognized by the Smiths as Abigail’s husband-to-be. Fixing a time for their wedding was complicated by an outbreak of smallpox in Boston early in 1764. As a lawyer, Adams had to travel the court circuits, and so it seemed wise for him to be inoculated before establishing a household.” Adams was “confined’ in Boston for the month of April 1764. Abigail remained in Weymouth. May 7 and 9 saw a correspondence about Abigail’s “faults.”
[-]Boston May 7th 1764 I promised you, sometime agone [sic], a Catalogue of your faults, imperfections, defects, or whatever you please to call them. … But I must caution you, before I proceed to recollect yourself… instead of being vexed or fretted or thrown into a passion, to resolve upon a Reformation – for this is my sincere Aim, in laying before you, this Picture of yourself. In the first place, then, give me leave to say, you have been extremely [sic] negligent in attending so little to Cards. You have very little inclination to that noble and elegant diversion… Another thing which ought to be mentioned… is, the Effect of a Country Life and Education, I mean. A certain Modesty, sensibility, Bashfulness, call it … which… you will, that enkindles Blushes forsooth at every Violation of Decency, in Company and lays a most insupportable Constraint on the freedom of Behavior… In the third place, you could never be prevailed on to learn to sing… An ear for Musick would be a source of much Pleasure, and a Voice and skill, would be a private … Amusement of great Value… In the fourth place you very often hang your head like a Bullrush. You do not sit, erected as you ought, by which Means, it happens that you appear too short for a Beauty, and the Company looses [sic] the sweet smiles of that Countenance and the bright sparkles of those Eyes. This fault is the Effect and Consequence of another, still more inexcusable in a Lady. I mean an Habit of Reading, Writing and Thinking. But both the Cause and the Effect ought to be repented and amended as soon as possible. Another fault, which seems to have been obstinately persisted in… is that of sitting with the Leggs [sic] across. This ruins the figure and the Air; this injures the Health… A sixth Imperfection is that of Walking with the Toes bending inward. This Imperfection is commonly called Parrot-toed, I think… But it gives… the reverse of a bold and noble Air, Reverse of the stately strut, and the Sublime Deportment. Thus have I given a faithful portraiture of all the Spots I have hitherto discerned… Near Three weeks I have conned and Studied for more, but more are not to be discovered. All the rest is bright and luminous. Having finished the Picture, I finish my Letter… There’s a prettily turned Conclusion for You! From your --- Lysander
[-] Debbie Weymouth May 9, 1764 Your brother brought your letter… I thank you for your Catalogue, but must confess I was so hardened… to read over… my Faults with as much pleasure as another person would have read their perfections… Especially may I avoid that Freedom of Behavior which according to the plan given consists in Violations of Decency, and which would render me Unfit to Herd even with the Brutes. And permit me to tell you Sir… that there is such a thing as Modesty without either hypocrisy or Formality. As to a neglect of Singing, that I acknowledge to be a Fault which if possible shall not be complained of a second time… if I had not a voice harsh as the screech of a Peacock. The Capital fault shall be rectified, tho not with any hopes of being looked upon as a Beauty… To appear in the Eyes of Lysander has been for years past, and is still the height of my Ambition. The fifth thought will endeavor to amend… but you know I think that a gentleman has no business to concern himself about the Leggs of a Lady… But I must not write more. I borrow a hint from you, therefore will not add to my faults that of a tedious letter - a fault I never yet had reason to complain of in you, for however long, they never were otherwise than agreeable to your own A. Smith
[-]Alan: Sept 30th, 1764 My dear Diana, It happens very unfortunately that my Business calls me away at this Juncture for Two Weeks together…Tomorrow Morning I embark for Plymouth with a disordered Stomach, a pale Face, and Aching Head, and an Anxious heart. And what Company shall I find there? Why, a Number of bawling Lawyers, drunken Squires, and impertinent and stingy Clients. … Oh my dear girl, I thank Heaven that another Fortnight will restore you to me…. My soul and body have been thrown into Disorder by your Absence, and a Month… would make me the most insufferable Cynick [sic] in the World… But you who have always softened and warmed my Heart, shall restore my Benevolence as well as my Health and Tranquility of Mind. Believe me, now and ever your faithful--- Lysander
Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Axson- June 24, 1885 Savannah, Georgia
Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Axson were married June 24, 1885. Their daughter Eleanor decided to combined her parents letters into a book called, The Priceless Gift.
[-] Debbie: In the Forward to her memorial to her parents’ love affair, The Priceless Gift, Eleanor Wilson McAdoo states, “During the two years of their engagement and the almost thirty years of their marriage, Ellen and Woodrow Wilson were never separated for more than a day or two without writing to each other.” “My decision to publish [their letters] was not an easy one. To invade my parents’ privacy, which they had always treasured, seemed almost like a breach of confidence. …Yet Woodrow Wilson, in spite of the millions of words written about him, has never been entirely understood by anyone except my mother. … I decided that these letters, which reveal his inmost self, should not be withheld.” “My mother’s letters are, in my opinion, of equal importance, for they reveal not only the deepest things of her life but also how profoundly she influenced Woodrow Wilson…”
[-] Alan: On an April Sunday in 1883, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, a tall, thin, young man of twenty-six, with large gray eyes, brown hair and side-whiskers, visited the First Presbyterian Church of Rome, Georgia. During the service, he spied a young woman dressed in black. It was Ellen Louise Axson, daughter of the minister who was preaching. Miss Ellie Lou was in mourning for her mother. She was a talented artist, and “one of the rarest and most beautiful girls that ever lived in Rome,” Woodrow was told. From this time until the fall of 1883, Woodrow and Ellen had occasions to meet and occasions to write. Dissatisfied with a law practice he had only just begun, Wilson decided to pursue graduate work at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. But that September, before his studies began, he was in Ashville, North Carolina. So was Ellen Axson. Biographer John Garraty set the scene this way in 1956: “He was between trains. While wandering through the town, he spied her sitting on the porch of a hotel. She…was waiting for a train to Rome [, Georgia]. He rushed to her side. Picture the two, suddenly together in a strange city, lonely, rather unhappy, each on the verge of an uncertain…future. Right there on the hotel porch, Wilson proposed… Before they went their separate ways, they were engaged.” [-] Debbie: Miss Ellie was returning to Rome to care for her sick father and brother. Concerned about her, Wilson wrote repeatedly, but received no response. He worried that something had gone wrong back in Rome, that she had changed her mind, that, that… On September 25th he wrote:
[-] Alan: Baltimore, MD., Sept. 25, 1883
My own darling, I am sick at heart from not hearing from you. It is now a week since you must have reached home and not a line have, I had from you. I am filled with apprehensions… I have imagined you ill; I have scared myself with all sorts of images of misfortunes… I know that there must be some reason, but what can it be?... I found a ring today that suits me and shall send it to you at once… I know that you will think it pretty. I have had nothing engraved in it. I preferred having that done after conferring with you With a heart brimful of love, Your own, Woodrow
[-] Alan: Having fallen ill herself in the care of her father and brother, that same day, Ellie wrote to Woodrow…
[-] Debbie: Rome, September 25th, 1883
My dear Friend, As I find myself today at the most comfortable stage of convalescence, doomed to do nothing at all but enjoy myself, it occurs to me that there is no reason why I should not write a few lines to you … This is a perfect autumn day and I have been spending it in the most luxuriously lazy fashion, swinging in the hammock and reading Shakespeare and those letters by turns (I vow to you my love, the [letters] were the finer of the two)… I have scarcely left myself light or space to say once again that I love you. Ah, my darling, I have no words – will never find them – to tell you how much; nor how very happy it makes me to hear you say – and repeat it – that you love me. Whenever I read it in your letters, were it several times on one page, it gives me a new and distinct thrill of delight. Good night, dear love. Yours with all my heart, Ellie
[-] Debbie: This appears to be the last letter in which Ellen Axson referred to Woodrow Wilson as “My dear friend.” From this point on he became her “darling.” For Woodrow, she had long since already been “My own darling [-] Alan: 146 N. Charles Street Baltimore, Oct. 2nd, 1883
My own darling, This is a dark and stormy day and I am lonely and homesick. With all the hardening experience of eight years absence from home, I have never grown altogether reconciled to being away from those I love. I suppose there never was a man more dependent than I on love and sympathy, more devoted to home and home life; and, my darling, my heart is overflowing with gratitude and gladness because of the assurance that it now has a new love to lean upon - a love which will someday be the center of a new home and the joy of a new home life. I shall not begin to live a completed life, my love, until you are my wife… I dreamed about you all last night, my darling… That was a joyous dream… You don’t know what a goose I can make of myself upon occasion, when I am with people of whose esteem I am sure and will think no less of me for my nonsense. Can you love me in every humor [sic]? Or would you prefer to think of me as always dignified? I am afraid it would kill me to be always thoughtful and sensible, dignified and decorous. But I’m not apprehensive as to what you may think…. I have no fears as to what you will think of the boy that is constantly cropping out when I’m not under the constraint of “company manners” … [-] Debbie: A brief exchange of letters in October 1883 revealed jealousy in the hearts of the newly engaged couple. Ellen’s letter follows Woodrow’s.
[-] Alan: 146 North Charles St. Baltimore, MD., Oct. 4th, 1883
…Have you written yet to that poor fellow in Florida? I pit him from the bottom of my heart. He has lost what it has made me to win, the sweetest treasure in the world, the love of a peerless woman… But he is not the only one – is he? – whose hopes have been dashed. In spite of all your shy avoidance of society, I know that you have not been able to hide yourself from men’s eyes, and I have a recollection of a certain persistent widower who made me furious one night at prayer meeting by presuming to join you in your own pew; and of a certain young jeweler… for whom I was at one time inclined to feel the utmost antipathy…
[-] Debbie: In her reply, Ellen responds to Woodrow’s need to be loved in his every humor, and she lightheartedly addresses the topic of “jealousy.”
[-] Debbie: East Rome, Oct. 6, 1883
… Your charming letter of the second full of dreams and other good omens was received yesterday. Dear dear, delightful boy! … Now… I will play jealous and ply you with questions. So you will inform me, Sir, if you please, who the girl was and when and where and how and why and wherefore – the beginning and the end! …By the way, I don’t know what could possibly have suggested that jeweler story. I solemnly assure you that never in my life have I had even a “bowing acquaintance” with any jeweler. As for the little widower, why should we waste time over him when there are so many more interesting subjects to talk about? [-] Alan: There would be more to talk about. In late May 1884, Ellen’s father, the Reverend Edward Axson, died. By early July, it was clear that he had provided for his children well enough that she would not need to go out and earn a living - much to Woodrow’s relief. (She had considered the possibility of teaching painting.) After the funeral services, Wilson returned to Baltimore. In October, he and a Hopkins associate attended a lecture together. Eleanor McAdoo noted that her father, who would later approve the Women’s Suffrage Amendment, wrote of this lecture: [-] Alan: Balto., MD., Oct. 31, 1884 My own darling, Yesterday, Mr. Wright and I… went downtown to the YMCA and attended the afternoon session of the Woman’s Congress. We viewed the remarkable assembly from the gallery. … Barring the chilled, scandalized feeling that always comes over me when I hear and see a woman speak in public, I derived a good deal of whimsical delight… Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was in the chair – a most attractive, motherly old lady, born, apparently, to control rather by affection than by… authority… The only noticeable “orator” who spoke from the floor was a severely dressed person from Boston, an old maid of the straightest sect of old maids. Not trousers and a Prince Albert coat could have made her more manly in bearing. She was a living example – and lively commentary – on what might be done by giving men’s places and duties to women…
[-] Debbie: Earlier, in September, Ellen had decided to pursue study at the Art Students’ League in New York. She found a room to her liking in a boarding house on West 11th Street. Ellen was soon involved in a reading club at the boardinghouse.
[-] Debbie: New York, Nov. 11, 1884
… We decided to have another meeting of the reading club close upon the last, and a very pleasant time we had too! No formality or stiffness whatever. Mr. Goodrich read from Bret Harte’s stories, while Miss M. and I sketched her cousin and Mrs. Jenkins. Mrs. J. is perfectly lovely! And so is Mrs. Weiler!! And so is Mr. Goodrich!!! His loveliness consisting in the fact that he is going to take me to see [Henry] Irving and Ellen Terry [perform on stage]. … [Mr. Goodrich] is a thorough gentleman, born and bred – of good old Massachusetts Puritan stock… He is quite a young man – only finished Andover last year – fresh and unspoiled, yet very intelligent, entertaining, and well-read. You would have been amused the other night, when he asked me to go to hear Irving; he was very awkward and embarrassed and, as you will readily understand, I liked him the better for it – “Miss Axson, would you object? – may I – ah! – I would like so much to ask – if I only dared – for the pleasure of taking you,” etc.
Harry S. Truman and Bess Truman
National Archives
Harry S. Truman and Elizabeth- June 28, 1919 Independence, Missouri
Harry S. Truman and Bess Wallace were married June 28, 1919, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Independence, Missouri. Before marrying in 1919 the couple knew each other through their grade school and high school years. When Harry returned from WW1 their courtship blossomed and the recordings are from that time.
[-] Alan: The late historian and author of Dear Bess, Professor Robert Ferrell, provided additional background to the beginnings of the romance between Bess and Harry. Dr. Ferrell wrote, “One day in 1890 the minister of the Presbyterian Church in Independence, Missouri, was walking along a quiet, shady street at the edge of town when he noticed some children he did not know. [He] asked for their names and invited the little Trumans to visit his Sunday school if their mother would permit them to come. Mrs. Martha Ellen Truman approved, the children enrolled, and Harry Truman soon glimpsed a little girl with golden curls named Elizabeth Virginia (Bess) Wallace. He fell in love, he afterward said, and never really liked another girl. Harry was six years old; Bess, five.”
Harry Truman and Bess Wallace knew each other throughout grade school and high school. After high school, Harry found himself employed as a timekeeper for a construction company, wrapping newspapers, taking accounting classes, working in a bank. In 1906, he and his family moved to the farm of his grandfather, in Grandview, Missouri. There, his father and Harry worked until 1917, when Harry entered the army for service during The Great War.
[-] Debbie: Though they kept in touch, Harry and Bess had little opportunity to develop a relationship after high school graduation in 1901. In 1910, the story goes, Harry was visiting his Aunt Ella and cousins, Ethel and Nellie Noland at 216 North Delaware Street. One evening, having come into the kitchen, Aunt Ella mentioned that a cake plate needed to be returned to 219 North Delaware, the home of Bess and her mother, Madge. According to Margaret Truman, he seized the cake plate “with something approaching the speed of light,” walked across the street, and rang the bell. Bess answered. The courtship began.
Harry and Bess were readers. They enjoyed now defunct magazines like Everybody’s and Adventure. Harry liked Mark Twain. Bess took pleasure in Charles Dickens and Robert Louis Stevenson.
[-] Alan: Grandview, Mo., December 31, 1910
My Dear Bessie: I am very glad you liked the book. I liked it so well myself I nearly kept it. I saw it advertised in Life and remembered that you were fond of Scott when we went to school Nothing would please me better than to come see you during the holidays or any other time for the matter of that, but Papa broke his leg the other day and I am chief nurse, next to my mother, besides being farm boss now. So you see I’ll be somewhat closely confined for some time to come. I hope you’ll let the invitation be a standing one, though and I shall avail myself of it at the very first opportunity. … A horse pulled a big beam over on [Dad] …in the barn. We were so glad he wasn’t killed we didn’t know what to do. If you see fit to let me hear from you sometimes, I shall certainly appreciate it. Farm life as an everyday affair is not generally exciting. Wishing you, and all of you, the very happiest New Year, I am Very sincerely, Harry S. Truman [-] Alan: In the Introduction to his book, Dear Harry, Love Bess, grandson Clifton Truman Daniel explains that on one evening “close to Christmas in 1955, Grandpa came home from his office in Kansas City and found my grandmother sitting in the living room burning stacks of her letters in the fireplace. “Bess!” he said in alarm, “What are you doing? Think of history!”
[-] Debbie: “Oh, I have,” she said, and tossed in another stack. Bess Truman’s destruction of her letters to Harry Truman during their courtship was almost entirely successful. But in the 1980s, 184 of Bess’s letters were discovered in books and at the backs of drawers in the Truman home in Missouri. Of those 184 letters, one is from the courtship period. Written in 1919, it is a response to Captain Harry Truman’s letter to her, written in France on
[-] Alan: February 18, 1919
Dear Bess, I wrote to you day before yesterday but I very much fear you won’t get it. The mail orderly doesn’t know whether he got it or not and can’t find it. I had just gotten some letters from you and naturally told you how glad I was. Also I told you that we are coming home right away. I know it officially now because General Pershing shook hands with me – and told me so. I also met the Prince of Wales, as did every other company and battery commander in the 35th Division. … My battery got to stand in front of the whole regiment. I don’t know if it was luck or if they looked the best. They looked pretty fine if I do say it – as I shouldn’t. The new Colonel gave me a good calling down because I gave Colonel Elliott a public sassing, and I guess I deserved it, but so did Colonel Elliott. The new Colonel is a regular and can’t see this National Guard lack of cringing when a Colonel or Lt. Colonel comes around. I have an awful habit of using a very sharp tongue when one of ‘em says something he has no business [saying] to me. It doesn’t work in play soldiering. You have to say yes sir and no sir and alright sir when you want to punch his head. Hence my urgent desire to get back to the farm. There’s one or two whom -- I want to meet -- when I get on my overalls -- and they’d better have on their armor. … Please get ready to march down the aisle with me just as soon as you decently can when I get back. … I have some army friends I’d like to ask and my own family and that’s all I care about, and the army friends can go hang if you don’t want ‘em. … I have enough money to buy a Ford, and we can set sail in that, and arrive in Happyland at once and quickly. Don’t fail to write just ’cause I’m starting home. Yours always, Harry [-] Debbie: March 16, 1919
Dear Harry, According to the Star’s latest information you are on your way to Le Mans and I’m wondering if any of these last letters will ever be delivered. It seems to take them long enough to get to you even when postal authorities know where you are exactly – and you begin to move again, what will happen to the letters? Was mighty glad to get your letter of Feb. 18. Hadn’t heard for such an age – was afraid you were sick! You may invite the entire 35th Division to our wedding if you want to. I guess it’s going to be yours as well as mine. I guess we might as well have the church full while we are at it. I rather think it will be anyway whether we invite them or not, judging from the few remarks I’ve heard. What an experience the review, etc. must have been. I’ll bet D Battery looked grand and no wonder they led the Division… Were you at all overcome at greeting the Prince of Wales? He doesn’t mean any more to me than the orneriest doughboy but I know I’d choke if I had to address him. It was splendid you got to shake hands with Pershing. … Hold on to the money for the car! We’ll surely need one. Most anything that will run on four wheels. I’ve been looking at used car bargains today. I’ll frankly admit that I’m scared to death of Fords. I’ve seen and heard of so many turning turtle this winter… Did you hear that Mr. Morgan said he was going to give you a suit! Pretty fine – eh? … Am glad you gave Colonel Elliot the calling down – in spite of Colonel Smith. I bet he needed it. It’s strange that such widely different things as war and picnics will so surely show a man up. I’ve liked lots of people ‘til I went on a picnic jaunt with them and you can say the same thing about several men ‘til you went on a war “jaunt” with them – eh? The dear ex-Colonel landed on Friday.
I must quit. Hope you have the chance to cable as you said. Loads of love, Devotedly, Bess
Mother sends her love. This certainly is some scratching but I’m sitting in the big chair under the light and it isn’t easy to write.
Last updated: January 2, 2021
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