Elizabeth Bess Research Paper

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Pages: 2

Elizabeth “Bess” Truman was an intensely private woman who reluctantly agreed to attend political events with her husband throughout his career. In contrast to her activist predecessor Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess rarely offered her own opinions on issues, but Harry called her his best advisor. Overseeing an extensive structural renovation of the White House to save the aging executive mansion from demolition was perhaps her most significant contribution as First Lady.
Bess Wallace was 5 when she met 6-year-old Harry Truman at the First Presbyterian Church’s Sunday school in Independence, Missouri. Truman’s family had just moved to town with his family and was smitten by his new acquaintance; later writing of her golden curls and beautiful blue eyes. They became classmates in the fifth grade and in 1901 graduated from
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After her husband became a U.S. senator, Bess again worked for him, this time as a paid office clerk, by answering mail and helping to edit reports and speeches. She was called “Payroll Bess” by one political opponent, but the negative fallout dissipated.
As first lady, Bess ended the weekly press conferences held by Eleanor Roosevelt and declined interview requests. Though she revealed very little publicly, Bess developed a reputation as a steadying influence behind the scenes. In later years she was described by former aides describing her as warm, reliable and down to earth.
Her last public appearance was at Truman’s funeral in December 1972; but Bess continued to receive visitors at her old family home for another decade. She died in 1982 from congestive heart failure at age 97. After her funeral services, in which successors Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter and Nancy Reagan paid their respects, Bess was buried next to her husband at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in