Bess Truman, First Lady

by Science Source

Title

Bess Truman, First Lady

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Science Source

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Painting - Photograph

Description

Elizabeth Virginia Wallace Truman (February 13, 1885 - October 18, 1982), was the wife of Harry S. Truman and First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953. Harry Truman met Bess soon after his family moved to Independence, and the two attended school together until graduation. They married in 1919. Bess found the White House's lack of privacy distasteful. Though she fulfilled the social obligations of her position, she did only what she thought was necessary. In most years of her husband's presidency she was not regularly present in Washington other than during the social season when her presence was expected. The contrast with Bess's activist predecessor Eleanor Roosevelt was considerable. In 1953 the Truman's went back to Missouri where the former president worked on building his library and writing his memoirs. She died in 1982, from congestive heart failure at the age of 97. Bess Truman remains the longest-lived First Lady in United States history. Painting by M. Greta Kempton.

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October 21st, 2016

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