“We are not any of us happy to be where we are but there's nothing to be done about it except to do our best…”
Elizabeth Truman
Elizabeth “Bess” Virginia Wallace Truman
Years of service: 1945-1953
Born: 1885
Years of service: 1945-1953
Born: 1885
After the suicide of Bess Wallace’s father and the social scandal it caused, Bess carried a life-long disdain for public attention. Caring for her devastated mother in the long aftermath was a heavy private burden. By the time she became First Lady, following in the daunting steps of Eleanor Roosevelt, she firmly refused to give press conferences. However, behind the scenes, she ceaselessly and devotedly worked beside her husband on all aspects of his political career. She made a rare public statement supporting a new steel structure to preserve and renovate the original but crumbling White House.
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