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

October 20, 2022

Dear Bess: October 20, 1917

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for October 20, 2022, brought to you by the staff of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

Our letter today was written on this day in 1917, written by Lieutenant Harry S Truman, writing from training camp in Oklahoma. Truman and his men were still in training for their eventual service in World War I. We are so grateful that Bess Wallace Truman saved these letters, as they are marvelous documents not only for the Truman story, they also provide an insight into what it was like in World War I training camps like these. Along the same line, we are grateful that Truman was such a fantastic letter writer, and loved to include minutia that make these such wonderful documents.

Thanks for listening…here’s the letter.

[October 20, 1917]

Dear Bess:

This is another bum day. No letter. I have been drilling all day today. Except to count the money this morning, I haven't been in the canteen. The weather has been as fine as it was unpleasant yesterday. If your letter had come it would have been an ideal day. We had gun practice this morning and I fired a problem (theoretically) and was very highly complimented by Major Gates and Captain Allen. Went riding this afternoon and taught some rookies how to sit on a horse and then went to officers riding school and learned a few things myself. Got on a horse that trots like a Ford and had myself jolted into a good appetite for supper. Had a grand supper too â€“ cherry pie and everything. Then school for an hour and a half and nothing to do till 5:45 A.M. tomorrow when I get up and take reveille and repeat the whole performance. Tomorrow is inspection too and we have to have a shave on our faces washed for the Colonel to look at. Shoes are supposed to be shined but I doubt if mine will be. They look as if they had cost 98 cents instead of $10.00. I think I'll wear my boots and spurs they are as good looking as ever. My Dutchman or rather our Dutchman for he works for Captain Allen, Lt. Lee and me, keeps them all polished up. He went riding this afternoon and I asked him if he learned to ride in the horse marines and he said he did. He served 5 years in the German Navy. He's plum nuts over Captain Allen as he calls Pete. Says he'll join the Navy if Pete is transferred from our Battery. Pete's the best Captain in the Regiment. This Dutchman washes our clothes shines our shoes and saves us money generally. I haven't paid a laundry bill since we've been here. The laundries raised their prices 40% for our benefit. Patriotism by practice is their theory. So is it Lawton's. Houses that formerly rented for $11.00 a month are now $27.00 etc. ad lib. $1.00 shirts are $3.00 and everything in proportion. We don't buy from them or patronize them at all. I buy everything for our bunch at wholesale. I had a letter from Myra and one from mamma today. Myra sent me a picture of an American soldier and a French girl and admitted that she didn't think it would work in my case but she'd send it anyway and I could give it to someone else. I'd like to see your widow club. I bet they have a hilarious time. I'll venture to say almost as good time as Capt. Salisbury's Y. M. C. A. meetings after school in the evening.

Had a letter from Morgan & Co. today and also one from Mrs. Hughes. Morgan & Co. seem to be coming along fine. I think they are going make us rich. Wouldn't it be fine to sell our shares for $1,000.00 a piece? I'd be willing almost to pay the income tax to do that wouldn't you? I hope you've found Kuntz. Some lowdown infantrymen or good for nothing regular artillery man stole our dog Casey. He wore about $11.00 worth of harness and was a brindle bull as ugly as any picture of one you ever saw. The ninth section (our roughnecks) are going to clean up on someone if they can find who took him. If I don't get a letter tomorrow you're going to get about a 100 word telegram collect and first class day rate. So you'd better write. I am going to take some more pictures tomorrow and will send you some when they are done. Please send a letter and some more cake for Sunday.

Your Harry.

This letter, from October 20, 1917, was written by Lieutenant Harry S Truman to Miss Bess Wallace. It includes some marvelous details about life in World War I training camp in Oklahoma. Do you have someone in your ancestry who served in the Great War? Perhaps their letters included some of the same things as Lt. Truman's.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/october-20-1917-postmark?documentid=NA&pagenumber=1

October 17, 2022

Dear Bess: October 17, 1917 (postmarked)

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for October 17, 2022, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

We have a very interesting letter for you today, written by First Lieutenant Harry S Truman, still at training camp in Oklahoma, postmarked on this date in 1917.

After Harry Truman came home from World War I, he and a friend named Eddie Jacobson opened a clothing store in downtown Kansas City. Although it ultimately failed during an economic downturn, initially it was quite successful. In this letter, perhaps more than any other, you sense the germination of this remarkable partnership between Truman and Jacobson. While in Oklahoma, Truman and Jacobson opened a canteen for the soldiers, and it was quite successful. They must have figured that what was successful in wartime must succeed in peacetime, so Truman and Jacobson, Haberdashers, opened in the fall of 1919, not long after Harry Truman married Bess Wallace.

Although the haberdashery wasn’t necessarily successful, Truman and Jacobson remained friends. Many years later, while President Harry S Truman was wrestling with whether to diplomatically recognize the new state of Israel, one person who very much influenced his decision to do so was his close Jewish friend from Kansas City, Eddie Jacobson. Mr. Jacobson is still fondly remembered in Israel today, as is Harry S Truman. They could never have imagined all of this in 1917.

Thanks for listening. Here’s the letter:

[October 17, 1917]

Dear Bess:

I am writing you in the canteen a picture of which is enclosed. It is not a very good picture either because it was taken the first day we moved into the building and things weren't very clean around the outside (or inside either).

The work still piles up. They find something new to do every day. Drill from seven thirty to nine thirty on the guns and all afternoon on horseback. I have written you a letter every night and gave it to a nut to mail and he failed to do it. He gave them to me this morning. You should have heard the cussin he go or rather you should not have heard it. It would have to be edited to go into the Police Gazette. Some of those letters were works of art at the time of their composition but are stale dope now.

Your good letter came last night and I was so near all in I couldn't answer it. When I found you hadn't received all the efforts I put in on Sunday, Monday and yesterday I was so mad I could hardly see. I am awful glad Chas Mize likes his surroundings in F Battery. He is a very competent officer and I think will have something very much better before very long.

Doc Brown says that it is going to be written in his biography that "he served in but one war" and that he was in Lawton but once. He and Salisbury and Dexter Perry as we call him are the life of our end of the street. Salisbury holds Y. M. C. A. meetings and sings church hymns while Doc Brown discusses the events of his varied career. We'll be in the midst of a most serious discussion on how to attack a Hun trench and Perry will nearly break up the meeting with some remark that just hits the nail on the head.

I am supposed to be at Captain Salisbury's equitation class now but didn't show up because I am taking an invoice for the Division Exchange Officer. They kid Salisbury a lot about his riding class. He asked the col. if he should have that equitation "ridin," school on Wednesday and tha is what every calls it, the equitation ridin' school.

I almost bought a car load of apples yesterday but they wouldn't take off enough on the price. I am some purchaser. Everyone says ours is the best canteen on the job. Jacobson is some manager. That a grand combination Jacobson and Trumanheimer. Ralph was over see me yesterday but I was out.

If Mrs. Mize isn't coming til Christmas she might as well stay at home or come to Paris because I think that's where we'll be. Ours is the best guard artillery regiment in the division or the country I think. Have you discovered what day Miss Rugg is going to have her wedding? Major Gates has been away for three days and I surely ought to be able to get away if he can. Don't you think. I wrote checks until my bank account is as weak as Morgan & Co.'s used to be when I had paid for drilling rig etc. I have taken in about 5400.00 and bough some $9000.00 worth of goods.

I always manage to get back to the canteen no matter where I start to talk. I sure wish I could see you. I'd almost desert to do it. I'm of the opinion that I'd better cripple Chas. Mize. I am still looking for that picture. I don't know if Pete's wife & Mary S. B. stay at the same place but I think not. I am going over to see the first chance I get. Please write me just one line anyway every day. I know I've fallen down on getting my letters off but they were written anyway. I think we will all be glad to have our biographies written along the lines of Doc Brown's. We are going to give Oklahoma to the Germans and call it a bet.

Send some of that cake it never did get bad. It only had 15 minutes to work in after it arrived and it was sure good. I am going to see that Uncle Frank doesn't beat you to the postman from now on if I have to sit up until 3 P.X. to do it. I'll send you some more pictures when they are done.

Your Harry

In this letter from 1917, First Lieutenant Harry S Truman writes about a lot of things but writes quite a bit about the canteen he and his friend and colleague Eddie Jacobson were operating in camp.

Truman and Jacobson didn't know it yet in 1917, but they had a destiny...and they would help change the world, particularly in 1948.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/october-17-1917-postmark?documentid=NA&pagenumber=7

October 11, 2022

Dear Bess: October 11, 1918

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for October 11, 2022…brought to you by the staff of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

Captain Harry S Truman wrote this letter to his fiancée Bess Wallace on this date in 1918…from somewhere in France. He used that phrase because he couldn’t reveal his position on paper, lest it fall into enemy hands. While World War I would end in just a few weeks, that war was still raging in France, and Captain Truman and his Battery D, 129th Field Artillery, was in the thick of it.

In the letter, Captain Truman expresses his regret that Miss Wallace’s youngest brother, Fred Wallace, wasn’t having the best experience in college. At the time, Mr. Wallace was attending the University of Missouri. David Frederick Wallace was born in Independence in January, 1900, and was the final child of David Willock Wallace and Madge Gates Wallace. Young Fred Wallace was only 3 years old when his father died tragically. He was then essentially raised in his grandparents’ house, that of George and Elizabeth Gates, at 219 North Delaware Street. Fred Wallace graduated high school at the local Chrisman High School, and briefly attended the University of Missouri in Columbia. Although he didn’t finish, he was a well regarded architect, with some of his legacies still standing in Jackson County, today. Although he was the last born of the Wallace siblings, he was the first to pass away, in 1957. He and his wife Christine had three beautiful children, and called 219 North Delaware Street home for many years.

Thanks for listening, here’s the letter.

Somewhere in France October 11, 1918

Dear Bess:

Your good letter dated September 9 and numbered 19 came this morning. You undoubtedly are right in giving me the dickens for not writing oftener but my duties have been so strenuous and my work so hard in the last two months that I have hardly had a minute to call my own. If I'd written you every time I have thought of doing it, you'd get several every day.

Since I have been at this rest cantonment I have written every day. But when we go back in, which will be shortly it will probably be another 30 days before I can write with any sense or regularity. I am awfully sorry Fred is dissatisfied with the University and I hope that when he gets settled in the classes he will like it better. I sent one of my bright kids out of the battery to West Point yesterday. If he makes the grade on the examinations he'll get in all right. I think he'll make it because he's a very bright boy. His name is John Uncles. I am very glad you found the Saturday Evening Post showing the inspection at our training camp. My battery is a 75 battery and the shooting ability of it is only equaled by some other 75 batteries. Our regiment has quite a reputation as a firing regiment and the little argument we just came out of didn't dampen our reputation any. You have probably heard of a city named Verdun and a forest named Argonne. They are both familiar to me because I did some shooting into one (the forest) and I hope it was effective. Our Division had a very hard nut to crack but succeeded in gaining more than was expected of it.

I wish I could have gone to Lone Jack with you on your hunt for a chicken dinner. I'd have taken you back through Lee's Summit and about eight miles west, where I know there are chickens and a good old mother who can cook them and we'd have had a real chicken dinner without any expense whatever although from what Mary tells me it is necessary for each one to carry his own sugar. When we go anywhere to dine out over here we carry both bread and sugar. Sometimes we forget it and then it is necessary to use all our arts and wiles to persuade the proprietor of the place to let us have some. If it happens that the proprietor is feminine, there is normally a chance of success by an added compensation of some francs. These people love francs better than their country and they are extracting just as many of them from us as they possibly can. There are parts of their country that are very beautiful and worth fighting for, but most of it would be a punishment to inflict on the Germans to make them take it. I suppose Germany though is the same kind of country only with a different brand of smells. You can always tell a French village by day or night, even if you can't see anything. They are very beautiful to stand off and look at, nestling down in pretty little valleys, as they always do, with red roofs and a church spire. But when you arrive there are narrow dirty streets and a malodorous atmosphere that makes you want to go back to the hill and take out your visit in scenery.

Please keep on writing even if I am delinquent and shouldn't be. Your letters put pep into me and make me want to finish the job and get to New York as fast as possible. I have come to the conclusion that the Statue of Liberty is going to have to turn around if she ever sees me again after I land in U.S.A. once more.

I'll never cease to think of you.

Always, Harry

Captain Harry S Truman wrote this letter to his fiancee, Miss Bess Wallace, from "somewhere in France." There's a lot in this letter, dealing with war, family, and love.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/october-11-1918

October 4, 2022

Dear Bess: October 4 1917 (Postmarked)

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for October 4, 2022, brought to you by the staff of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

This letter from Lieutenant Harry S Truman was postmarked on this date in 1917, and written in Oklahoma, while Lieutenant Truman continued his training in advance for his service in the Great War. This letter gives us terrific insight into his life in training, everything from laundry to the canteen store Truman was operating with Eddie Jacobson. But most of all you sense that Harry Truman is just enjoying it all, except for the separation from Miss Wallace and his family.

Near the end of the letter, Truman refers to Bess Wallace’s brother Frank Gates Wallace. We know that Frank Wallace was married to Natalie by then, and had completed a draft form for World War I. Was Frank Wallace called up to serve in the war? We don’t know, but we can suspect that the prospect of Frank Wallace, or his brothers George and Fred, going to war was worrisome to their sister Bess and mother Madge Gates Wallace.

Thanks for listening. Here’s the letter.

Lawton, Okla. October 3, 1917

Dear Bess:

This is the banner day of my stay here so far. I got two letters from you. One of them was postmarked the twenty-ninth, and the other the second.

I was on the point of wiring you but was afraid it would cause you more worry than gladness and so I didn't do it. I slipped up a day on writing you but couldn't help it. You no doubt got my spasm from the Lee-Huckins written on Sunday night. Monday was my most strenuous day. I began having callers at eight-thirty and from then on until twelve-thirty salesmen nearly ran me ragged. At two-thirty I got a car and began making the rounds, trying to buy some pop and get into connection with a laundry. Pop seems to be unobtainable. I could only get fifty cases and I wanted a carload. The laundries have formed a combination and advanced the prices 40 percent for our benefit. I told them that we would do our own washing. It would cost fifty-four cents to get a shirt, pants, and socks washed. Colonel told me to send the laundry to Kansas City. I am hiring a man here in the Battery to do mine. After I'd seen the laundries and wholesale house to the tune of seven dollars worth of auto hire, I had to run to catch my train back here and get into camp at 12:30 a.m. The canteen is a whiz. I did four hundred dollars worth of business today. It gets bigger all the time. Sold six hundred bottles of Puritan in two hours this evening. It takes six men to wait on the trade and keeps me phoning all the time to keep in supplies. I am writing this at 11:30 p.m. after my day is over. We had a grand time yesterday selecting our mounts from the issued horses. There were one thousand to pick from and we took turns on precedence. I am the seventh first lieutenant from the top and had a grand allotment to pick from. Picked a sorrel with a flax mane and tail. He proceeded to pile three men on the ground one after the other. I am going to get another horse to rest up on when he gets done with me. It was like a bunch of six-year-old kids turned loose in a candy shop when those officers were told to select their mounts. The chaplain was given first choice. He picked a beautiful black with one white hind foot. Everyone was offering him advice but I don't think he needed any. We all had lots of fun and I think everyone is happy with the choice he made. I can't understand why you haven't had my letters. I have written one to you every day but yesterday. All our mail goes to Lawton then comes over here, and I suppose they haven't their system properly arranged as yet.

Don't you give any thought to what that rotten sheet at 17th and Grand says about us. We have an ideal camping place good water and plenty of it; will have electric lights in a few days; have to [six] much to eat good beds to sleep on and our hospitals are going to be palaces when completed which will be very shortly. They are not needed any way as no one has been seriously sick except a fellow who got too familiar with one of these plug's heels, and he's only got a cracked rib. They sent him to the Post about two miles away which has a hospital as fine as R.A. Long's or St. Joseph's. Our doctors have less to do than any of us except the horse doctors. I guess the horse doctors will be pretty busy very shortly though. It looks as if we meant business by getting our horses so soon. I understand that guns are on the way. I'm tickled pink to hear you are going to see Mrs. Klemm. She's sure nice.

My hat is too small really after what Mrs. Montague said. You know that's some compliment from a mother of boys. I appreciate and only wish I could live up to it. I am awful glad Frank is free to do as he likes. I was uneasy when I heard he'd been called. Wish I could have gone to the river with you. I'm awful glad you saw Mamma and Mary and that they were well. I have had a letter from Mary and two today from you and one from you Saturday.

Don't forget the picture for I'm sure lonesome to see you. Thank your mother for her love and give her mine if there is any left from you.

Your Harry

A terrific letter from First Lieutenant Harry S Truman, written from camp in Oklahoma. Lt. Truman wonderfully describes life in the camp...talking laundry, choosing horses, finding soda pop. Other than missing Bess Wallace and his family, Truman is thoroughly enjoying it!

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/october-4-1917-postmark

September 27, 2022

Dear Bess: September 27, 1947

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for September 27, 2022, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

We have a very interesting Dear Bess letter for you today, written on September 27, 1947. President Harry S Truman is writing from the White House, writing to First Lady Bess Wallace Truman, who was back home in Independence, Missouri. For the Truman family, adapting to the 24/7 protection of the Secret Service was a challenge. It wasn’t that the Trumans weren’t grateful for the work of the Secret Service, but being private people, there was always some give-and-take. But note President Truman’s descriptions of the FBI…he is concerned that J Edgar Hoover’s agency would become like the police states in Russia or Germany.

Truman also makes reference to his Aunt Ella. Aunt Ella Noland was the sister of the President’s father, John Anderson Truman. By the time of this letter, Aunt Ella was almost 100 years old, and it’s clear that her health concerns her famous nephew. Truman’s Aunt Ella and her children played an important role in reuniting Harry Truman and Bess Wallace back in 1910…Aunt Ella and Uncle Joseph Noland lived across the street from 219 North Delaware. You can visit the Noland Home today when visiting us…it is at 216 North Delaware Street. There are exhibits and small films you can watch to prepare for visiting the Truman Home.

[The White House] Sept. 27, 1947

Dear Bess:

Received your Thursday letter yesterday afternoon, also one from Mary and one from Vivian--but none from daughter Margaret. I am sure glad the Secret Service is doing a better job. I was worried about that situation. Edgar Hoover would give his right eye to take over and all Congressmen and Senators are afraid of him. I'm not and he knows it. If I can prevent there'll be no NKVD or Gestapo in this country. Edgar Hoover's organization would make a good start toward a citizen spy system. Not for me.

I am glad Aunt Ella is improving. I've become so I don't like to go see her. So maybe if her mind clears up we can go with pleasure again. Glad you had a nice time at the Kings. I had a nice time at the Vaughan's party as I told you yesterday.

Had to make a radio speech last night to open the Community Chests. Was terribly hoarse but Dr. Graham sprayed me out and gave me cough medicine so I got by. Have had a cough ever since we returned from Brazil. But it is much better today.

The Chief Justice is bringing in a lot of senior circuit judges to see me this afternoon. They came to the office last year but I am having them in the study this afternoon for "tea"--sure enough tea too. The weather has been cool and clear the last two days. I hope it stays that way. I have been over sleeping--didn't get up until a quarter to seven yesterday and 6:30 today. Mays says I'm getting younger--thinking of Margaret no doubt. Hope Frank is better.

Lots of love, Harry.

An interesting letter from President Truman to his First Lady from September, 1947. In this letter, Truman makes clear his opinion of the FBI and its director, discusses the health of his beloved Aunt Ella, and more.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/september-27-1947?documentid=NA&pagenumber=4

September 23, 2022

Dear Bess: September 23, 1912

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for Friday, September 23, 2022, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

We have an interesting letter for you today, written on this date in 1912. In this letter, Truman writes from Saint Louis. Today, Saint Louis is about a 4 hour drive. In Truman’s world, it was like it was a whole country away. Truman’s observations on the theater are fascinating.

But you’ll notice that in the middle of the letter, Truman inserts what we would call today an ethnic and racial slur. We share it with you exactly as written. Indeed, in several of these “Dear Bess” letters, there are, unfortunately, phrases like this. In 2022, how do we interpret that? A few years after writing this letter, Harry Truman, while in World War I, served with men from a variety of backgrounds, including a Jewish gentleman with whom he established a clothing store after the War. Subsequently, in his political career, Truman represented constituents of all different backgrounds, in Jackson County and as United States Senator for Missouri. Then, as President of the United States, after much deliberation, Truman set precedent and recognized Israel as a sovereign state, and also desegregated the Federal workforce and the armed services. Could it be interpreted as Harry Truman growing wiser as he got older? Is that how he would describe himself? We’ll let you decide.

Thank you for listening. Here’s the letter.

[The American Hotel, St. Louis, Mo.] September 23, 1912

Dear Bess:

You see, I've followed Frank's advice and hung up at The American. It looks as imposing from the sidewalk as it does in the illustration, too, which isn't usual. The dummy that brought me here was exactly on the tick but it ran so fast I didn't get much sleep. I've already been stung on a vaudeville show at the Columbia. It was either that or Mr. Shea in A Man and His Wife, which seemed from comments and pictures to be an ultra highbrow "drammer." I took the punk vaudeville. Also, I saw the divine Sarah in a movie. It was also necessary to suffer some extra acts to see her at the Hippodrome. She was worth it, though, even if she did play Queen Elizabeth as a very emotional person. Imagine a woman like that great Queen making love as Sarah can and does. Still, I hoped against my convictions that Elizabeth was like that. I also hope that she is. This evening I attended the session of the Tuscan Lodge out on Kings Highway. They have the finest individual building in the state. All of the big guns were present and performed to the best of their ability in the limelight. Some fine highbrow time was had. I came downtown with Judge C. A. Mossman of St. Joe, who is Junior Grand Warden for this state. He is just a nice old man and not one bit stuck up.

Every time I come to this sleepy old town I am more thoroughly convinced that K.C. is a live one. It may not contain square miles or so many Jew jewelers, but it's far and away ahead of this place for things doing. Louisiana Lou is the leading show at the high-class theaters, and I wouldn't go see it because it's already been to K.C. The Shubert is putting on some other musical comedy, and every other show house in town has moving pictures! Except the Gayety, and Gayety shows are not always good. Real business begins in the morning. Tomorrow afternoon I can go on a two-mile parade if I want to and help dedicate the new Home Building. Little Harry thinks he'll skip the parade and go to the St. Louis Fair. I can do that and get back for the dedication. I guess I'll have to turn this sheet or ring for more. It is forty minutes after 12:00 p.m., and as I'm on the twelfth floor I'll not ring this time.

I am wondering if you'll consider this worth anything. I hope you will. I had a bad dream this morning. I thought I went back home from here immediately on arriving to get something I'd forgot and the folks wouldn't let me come back. I was almost ready to do some desperate trick when I woke up. I've been wondering all day if something's gone wrong at home. I never did have a more vivid dream and really thought I was home when I woke up. I am hoping to see you sometime Thursday if I can. Please send me a letter for this.

Most sincerely, Harry

In this Dear Bess letter from 1912, Harry Truman writes to Bess Wallace while staying in a hotel in Saint Louis. His views on the theater in Saint Louis are interesting. But this letter is an example of how, sometimes, Harry Truman used phrases that can, well, make us cringe in 2022. How do we deal with that in 2022? And can it be argued that as Truman grew older, he grew wiser?

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-1910-1919/september-23-1912

September 21, 2022

Dear Bess: September 21, 1946

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for September 21, 2022, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

Today we’d like to share a letter written by President Harry S Truman to First Lady Bess Wallace Truman, who was back home at 219 North Delaware Street, in Independence, Missouri. In this letter, Truman writes about firing his Secretary of the Commerce, Henry A Wallace.

Henry Wallace served as one of Franklin Roosevelt’s vice presidents, but was replaced on the 1944 ticket by Senator Harry S Truman of Missouri. Wallace was well regarded by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, but he soon found himself at odds with the Truman administration, particularly Truman’s hard line on the Soviet Union. This is what led, ultimately, to Truman demanding Wallace’s resignation, and receiving it.

Thanks for listening. Here’s the letter.

[The White House] September 21, 1946

Dear Bess:

Well I fired Wallace but not by the letter I'd written. I called him and told him he ought to get out. He was so nice about it I almost backed up. I just don't understand the man and he doesn't either. Now that's some statement. I am enclosing you two clippings from the News. One by Tom Stokes on Wallace, which I think may be correct, and an editorial--over which I almost shed tears. I did sit down and write John O'Rourke a note (he's the editor of the News) telling him that now he could call me crazy, crook, or incompetent and I'd never fall out with him.

The reaction to firing Henry is terrific. The stock market went up twenty points! I've had an avalanche of telegrams from Maine to California agreeing with the action. I've also had some from New York, Detroit, and California calling me a traitor to F.D.R. and a warmonger. But I think I'm right. Charlie Ross told me I'd shown I'd rather be right than President and I told him I'd rather be anything than President, and Clifford said, "Please don't say that." Anyway it's done and I feel like Mon Wallgren's Swede. This Swede owned a fine retail business and was doing fine, but according to Mon he became somewhat intimate with a lady named Gina Olson. Gina came to his store one day and told Ole (Mon's Swede) that she thought she was due to produce a child but that she wasn't sure. She told him that she was going to see the local doctor and find out for sure. Well Ole walked the floor, kicked and cussed himself for a fool and wished he'd behaved. Gina came back shortly and told Ole that the Doc could not see her until the next day. So they decided to take a walk and discuss the situation. The walk led them to the town reservoir. Gina said to Ole with Mon's Swede accent, "You know if what I believe is true is confirmed by the doctor tomorrow, I shall come up here and jump into that reservoir." Ole threw his arms around her and said, "Oh Gina, you don't know what a load you take off my mind." Also in Mon's Swedish dialect.

Well Henry's demise makes me feel like Ole did--but not for the same reason, thank God. That reminds me, I had a telegram from Steve Early which said, "Thank God. Steve." Just three days.

Lots of love, Harry

In this Dear Bess letter, President Harry S Truman writes about firing his Secretary of Commerce, Henry A. Wallace. But the Truman-Henry Wallace story doesn't end there...in 1948, Henry Wallace ran against Truman (and Thomas Dewey and Strom Thurmond) for president. But Wallace for only a small fraction of the vote, about 2.38%.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/september-21-1946

September 15, 2022

Dear Harry: September 15, 1937

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for September 15, 2022, brought to you by Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

We have a treat for you today, a rather rare “Dear Harry” letter. Rare because it’s believed that in the mid 1950s, Bess Wallace Truman destroyed much of her correspondence with her husband in their fireplace at 219 North Delaware Street. How much was destroyed? We’ll probably never know. We know this story because their daughter Margaret Truman shared it in her memoir ¬Souvenir, and repeated the story afterwards. Why did Mrs. Truman do this? It’s hard to say. She was an intensely private person. But rather than be mournful of what we don’t have, let’s be grateful for what we do have.

This letter ties to a letter that we published yesterday on this podcast, a letter Senator Truman wrote to Bess Truman, from a hospital in Arkansas. Senator Truman was going through a battery of tests, and put a positive, even humorous, take on it. In this letter, Mrs. Truman is being very concerned about her husband. The letter also makes mention of Mr. Fred Canfil. Harry Truman would, if he could, likely say that Mr. Canfil was essential to him, but almost every Truman scholar would state we wish we knew more about Mr. Canfil. For many years, Mr. Canfil served as a manager of the Jackson County, Missouri, courthouse, then served as an assistant to Senator Truman. Then, for almost ten years, Mr. Canfil was US Marshall for the Western District of Missouri. Fred Canfil was loyal to Harry Truman, and the feeling was very much mutual.

Thank you for listening. Here’s the letter.

[Independence, Mo.] [September 15, 1937] Wednesday

Dear Harry -

Was surely glad to finally get you last night - had to tell who I was - so I guess you are pretty well barricaded. Nobody but Fred Canfil knows where you are - & he and I have been telling everyone you were out of reach of telephone & wire - and I guess you are at that! I'm afraid you have been holding out on me - judging from your letter which just came the Navy Dr. told you something unpleasant about your heart - and you swore he said it was O.K. after promising to tell me exactly what the report was!

I guess I'll have to write to the hospital down there to get the correct dope on you this time. Here's hoping it's all fine. Am glad it's cool down there. It's grand here but somewhat warmer. May, Natalie, Marg & I are going riding after school. Marg was delighted about the imminent arrival of your pralines. She laid me out for not calling her when I got you last night - but I couldn't have gotten her without waking up both babies.

We had an announcement this morning of Clyde Williams' daughter's marriage. You know what that means.

Mr. Canfil calls every morning to see if there is anything he can do - I gave him a couple of apple growers' telegrams to answer. He found out from Mildred they were already working on it in Wash. - Am sending mail to Vic every day - Stay as long as you possibly can.

Lots of love, Bess

We have two treats for you today. For one, this is a relatively rare "Dear Harry" letter, written by Bess Wallace Truman to her husband, Senator Harry S Truman of Missouri. Secondly, we have a guest voice...sharing the letter and story today is our Superintendent, Carol Dage. Carol recently marked her 33rd year at the park. She started as Curator, and is now Superintendent.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/personal-papers/harry-s-truman-correspondence-file-1919-1943/september-15-1937-postmark

September 14, 2022

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

September 11, 2022

Dear Bess: September 11, 1948

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for September 11, 2022, a service of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

Today, when we hear “September 11,” a variety of images come to mind from that dreadful day in 2001. We hold in our hearts all who were lost, and all who have terrible memories from that day. And for many of us, we may always have those bad memories when hearing the words “September 11.” Will we ever have a time where it is just another day for us? Perhaps not, and that’s perhaps the way it should be.

On September 11, 1948, President Harry S Truman wrote this letter to First Lady Bess Wallace Truman, written in the midst of the 1948 campaign. He writes from aboard the presidential yacht, the USS Williamsburg. By September of 1948, few pollsters or media were expecting Truman to win the election; most, in fact, thought he was going to lose to Governor Thomas Dewey in a landslide. But you’ll hear some of that trademark Truman optimism at the end of the letter.

And here is that letter.

[U.S.S. Williamsburg, AGC-369] September 11, 1948

Dear Bess:

I accompanied Margie to the train yesterday at noon. We arrived at the station just about two minutes ahead of leaving time for the train. They drove us into the east entrance but we walked from the fence to the train. Margie thought that was showing discrimination.

We made it to the car and she plastered my left cheek with lipstick as she went aboard and very carefully wiped it off with her glove! Had a wire from her about 5 P.M. signed "Skinny." I'd been stewing around about not hearing from her and Capt. Dennison started to call Mrs. Steward and they told him at the White House that this telegram signed "Skinny" was there. He very timidly asked me if that by any chance could be Margie. Went back to the White House and saw a lot of customers and finally arrived aboard here at 1:30 when I was due at 12:30. It rained and rained but I won a bet that the sun would shine all day today and it has and is. I'm out on the "back porch" of my deck in a swimming suit taking more burning. We've had a very satisfactory conference on the western speeches. Farm speech at Des Moines on September 18, conservation at Denver on the 20th, reclamation at Salt Lake City on the 21th in the great Mormon Tabernacle, believe it or not--only Presidents of U.S. and high Mormons can do that. Then San Francisco, L.A., San Diego, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Ky. West Va and Washington D.C. Seems like a nice little trip - what.

Charlie Ross is flying up to D.C. to attend the wedding of his neice Virginia's daughter. I'm sending letter up on the plane that brings him back. We are anchored at the mouth of the Potomac at Blakiston Island where Lord Baltimore landed in 1734. There is a monument on it which says that's so. I went and looked at it--that's how I can tell you. This is a most restful day --and how I needed it. Six speeches on Monday was rather strenuous. I told the press boys on Thursday that Labor Day was only a sample of what they'd get on the western trip.

We had pictures on Wednesday and Thursday night. Had Irv, Annette, and Mrs. Davis Wednesday and Jane, Drucie and Irv and Annette on Thursday.

My finance meeting Thursday was a grand success. Margie "stole the show." We're off to win I think.

Lots of love, Harry.

It's September 11. We hold in our hearts all who have terrible memories of that day in 2001. We will never hear "September 11" the same way again.

But we wanted to share a Dear Bess letter from September 11, 1948, from the thick of the 1948 presidential campaign. Few thought Harry Truman had a chance of winning...except Truman himself.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/september-11-1948

September 11, 2022

Dear Bess: September 11, 1948

Transcript

Welcome to the Dear Bess/ Dear Harry podcast for September 11, 2022, a service of Harry S Truman National Historic Site, a unit of the National Park Service.

And here is that letter.

[U.S.S. Williamsburg, AGC-369] September 11, 1948

Dear Bess:

We had pictures on Wednesday and Thursday night. Had Irv, Annette, and Mrs. Davis Wednesday and Jane, Drucie and Irv and Annette on Thursday.

My finance meeting Thursday was a grand success. Margie "stole the show." We're off to win I think.

Lots of love, Harry.

It's September 11. We hold in our hearts all who have terrible memories of that day in 2001. We will never hear "September 11" the same way again.

But we wanted to share a Dear Bess letter from September 11, 1948, from the thick of the 1948 presidential campaign. Few thought Harry Truman had a chance of winning...except Truman himself.

https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/truman-papers/correspondence-harry-s-truman-bess-wallace-truman-1921-1959/september-11-1948

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