bess truman, then president obama speaking at a congressional memorial speaker for the late speaker tom foley. then, honoring former florida governor jeb bush. >> bess truman served as first lady on her own terms. story of the wife of the 33rd president of the .nited states, bess truman is nicole anslover the

author of a biography on harry truman. wase we left off last week the death of president roosevelt , april 12, 1945. where was harry truman he got the message he was needed? >> he was having a drink as he often did. having alaxing and somewhat cordial atmosphere. he received a phone call and said he just knew. he raced to get to the white house. >> mrs. roosevelt was at a luncheon. they didn't tell her anything. ,hen she got to the white house

it was us price. surprise.ice -- a he looked horrible during the last campaign. they knew he was going. he was ashen. his a non-girl address had to be ural address inaug had to be given from the white house. it was not really a surprise to anyone. 2 hours later, in the cabinet room, at the white house, harry truman to the oath of office. how surprised was the nation? did they know who harry truman was? >> no. they knew he was the vice president, yes. they knew his name.

he was a very admired senator in washington. but for the general public, they were saying, who is harry truman? ?> where was bess truman how was she? >> she was there in the apartment, i guess. i don't know. had approved him for vice president and thought it was a good idea. wasn'twell known, but he . household world -- word the very idea of roosevelt declining among most people do not understand he could not walk. >> he kept that hidden. the roosevelts had been in the white house for 13 years. that is the longest any president has been in the white house. how did the transition happen? >> 14 van loads were taken out

of roosevelt's place. roosevelt'sof mrs. nature, they liked to have everything around them. they were table people. there were thousands of things, pictures, all sorts of things. imagine truman's face when they went in there with the squares on the walls and the carpet. was -- they have a little apartment in town and --y took be ghetto from it took the pn oh from it -- piano from it. mrs. roosevelt as much time as they needed. the trumans were living in blair house. as eleanor roosevelt watch them

pack up the last of it and she went across the street to blair house to say goodbye, and warned bess, watch out for the rats. >> that was the truman's introduction to their new home. she was thrust into the job. >> she was thrust into the job of first lady. did she have any advice from the outgoing first lady? >> her first problem was that , probablyosevelt had meaning well, had set up a press conference for bess. bess truman went to the secretary of labor and said, do i have to do that? is it ok to set my own tone. at the last minute, she decided

that was something she was never going to do. she never held a press conference. >> the white house social secretary went there with androw wilson the second stayed through, all through the roosevelts, all through everything. she was coming in a limousine from leesburg everyday. she knew everything to do. she knew where the bodies were buried. she knew everything. >> another thing we should establish is that the trumans got the support from one another. there are gray partnership. -- great partnership. they described him as the closest knit family they had seen in years. can you tell us about what you know about how they supported one another? --they were together and not

a lot and they like to listen to music, read things, discuss things, and just enjoy things together. they were musical. they like to listen to records in the same way that the carters did. that was their personal affair. that was how they lived. >> let's go back in time and tell you about the biography of this woman who came to be first lady. before we do that, let me tell you how you can get involved. there are three ways. one is by phone. you can dial in with your question or comment. you can also tweak test -- tweet us. we also have a conversation underway on the c-span facebook page.

we will try to work in as many questions as we can. thank you for your participation. --some good questions today ask some good questions today. we have two great guests. now the national park service has been closed to cameras for 30 years as part of policy. they were willing to open it up to c-span for this series. also, with the encouragement of the truman's grandson. you will see inside some tors given by mr. daniel that help us understand who his grandparents were. let's start with the tour. >> we are on the back porch of my grandparent's home. this is the way the family came in through the house, through the kitchen door. , andcame into the kitchen

the first place i was headed was , and ire to the pantry , but there wasin always tin here filled with brownies. they always made sure that was here before anything else in the house. the next op-ed to be my grandfather's study -- the next stop had to be my grandfather's study. once you came to the house, you had to stay here and say hi to grandfather. if i wanted to talk to grandpa, that is where it looked. he was always reading. my grandmother and mother sat in those chairs. apparently, my grandmother and my mother would start to fight.

my grandfather would mark the end of this page, and look up, and try to decide if the fight was escalating to the point that he had to get out of the room. if he decided it was ok, he would go to the next page and then look up and check again. >> this is the formal dining room. this is where we ate the evening meal. we would have breakfast in the kitchen and snacks for lunch. but this was where we ate formal dinner meals. my grandmother, that end of the table was where she sat. if we go through here, we are at the center of the house in the foyer. you will notice that the biggest portrait in the house is that of late mother.

she was very precious to my grandparents. they were a very close little family unit. my grandfather spoiled her. my grandmother was the disciplinarian. the three of them were very tight as a family because she was their only child. if we go through this way, we are in the living room. mys chair, this is where grandmother later in her life did her reading. she read murder mysteries. she loved murder mysteries. she had stacks of them on either side of the chair. she would have one stack over here of once she hadn't read yet. then an out stack over here when she had read a ready. this is where she -- already. this is where she spent a lot of her time.

my mother did the same thing and have a stack on her side of the chair. and mom eventually became a mystery writer. >> that was the house that the trumans lived in throughout their married life. how did they meet? >> they met when they were five years old in sunday school. harry always spoke of the girl with the beautiful lies and the long golden curse -- curls -- beautiful blue eyes and the long golden girls -- curls. >> can you tell us a little bit andt the wallace family what harry truman's first years were like? she was called the queen of the pantry. they were considered a little

more upscale than the trumans. land theyome of the mother. from beth's there was a difference. that difference surfaced all throughout their lives. heree read you this letter written while he was president in june 29, 1929. " 30 years, i hoped to make you happy wife and a happy mother. did i? i don't know. there is no one in the world who can look town on you or your daughters. that means much to me. but i've never cared for social position or rank for myself, except to see those -- that those dear to me were not made

to suffer for my shortcomings." comes through his letters to her, almost an apology. >> i think part of that is, keep in mind, even when he writes this letter, her mother is still living with them. that is her mother's house that they moved into. they never had their own marital home. her mother was with him a lot of the time. that was part of the hesitation for excepting harry truman because her mother did not approve. but he became president of the united states. >> but he never set a negative word about her. he wrote this piece about how he didn't understand mother-in-law jokes because he said he had such a great one. , mother wallace has

died. make arrangements. >> let's learn more through their eyes of the story of harry and bess. from where26 miles grandfather lived. he often stayed across the week which was where his aunt and two cousins lived. one afternoon, he was over there with his cousins and the family. they brought in a cake plate that my grandmother had given her a cake. they had cleaned the cake plate and was asking if anyone would take it back over. >> my grandfather moved with the speed of light and grabbed the cake plate and ran over here and rang the bell, in the hopes that my grandmother would answer the door. and she did. and that was the beginning of

their formal courtship. they first met in sunday school when my grandmother was five and my grandfather was six. they were baptist. my grandfather's family was baptist. but the first presbyterian church had a very good sunday school. that was what my grand -- grandfather -- grandmother was interested in. as she was talking, sunday school was in session. as my great grandmother was talking to the reverend, i grandfather noticed a little girl sitting in sunday school beautifulsaw her with curls.es and long golden he never looked at another woman. >> that is the story of the courtship. >> the other thing that is he courted is that

her for many years. how long did it take before they got married? inhe unofficially proposed 1913, after the courtship started in 1910. she didn't write them a letter back, but you can tell from the letter. courting and got close to a formal engagement, and then world war one happened -- world war i happened. >> what kind of danger was he in? >> great danger. he was standing at the front leading his men. >> it meant everything to him. when you realize that, you can understand how he ran the country. he was a no-nonsense organized man. he got things in shape. he stayed in the reserve.

and he enjoyed the company of men. it's not that he sought out women. he was a mason. he went to my sonic events -- masonic events. the military had a profound effect on his life. >> let's start with the colors. we have a caller in missouri. you are living on the truman's side of town. how is that informed view -- you. >> i lived a couple doors down from him. everywhere we look we see truman. years go by, we would like to see someone like truman act in the white house. we really appreciate him here. >> do you have a question? >> i do. low profile,ad a

but i was wondering how the press responded to her, especially with the roosevelts? did harry want her to be out in the public more? >> i will take the part about how the press responded. at first they were clamoring to get more information. they were aggressive, calling the secretaries asking where she was going to go and what she was going to wear. she would invite the newspaper women -- because in those days women journalists covered the first ladies -- she would invite them and go to the luncheons, but she would insist on it being off the record. she wasn't trying to do this out of spite, she was just a private person who wished for a private kind of life. >> we have just gotten the married, but how are their early

years? when he came back from early service, were they'd pressed enter public life? >> he ran a clothing store with , and that isnd where he got into some debt. he insisted on paying that off, and he eventually, did pay off. he was trying to do all of these things to make himself more. and he did become interested in public life at that time. we missed a very important part of the story? what happened to mr. wallace? >> he committed suicide. it was a huge scandal, and a great stigma on the family. it shattered her mother. it explain why the bess wanted to keep her family life private.

she wanted to shelter her mother and shield her father. >> it was a terrible thing for everyone. nobody understood why he did it. she left right after the funeral , and went to colorado, and live there for a year. >> we have a caller from louisville. hello. >> how are you doing? >> good. >> i was thinking of a few comments, you were talking about in suicide of bess'father 1903, and it made me think about the partnership with truman. it seem like they had more of an equal partnership, which was truly unusual in that day. i think the reason why was that because she realized that her parent's marriage was lacking.

i kind of are called that margaret truman was saying that she went back and forth threat the years. they had a close partnership. something else, i don't know if you all discuss this or not, but a know that the germans went to the first inauguration -- the truman went to the first in a inaugural ball that was integrated. i wondered what she thought about feminism. there was an article in the feminist movement. i'm also wondering about her opinions about civil rights for black people. derogatory terms, but he was also the one who set the course of the modern civil rights movement. >> that is a lot to work with

their. how about -- there. how about the view of feminism? >> she did believe her marriage was a partnership. politician wife's job was to sit there, be quiet, and make sure her hat was on straight. but she would have been mad if he did not consult her on any important decision. >> why did harry call her the boss? it seemed like he did what he wanted. it also seemed like she did not like being first lady. >> i would not say that harry did what he wanted. ofi don't think we think partnerships or marriages as anything new at the time. this was part of what marriage was all about. 1903, andn grew up in

she was in a time of strong feminism. there himsly was in and there are different layers of feminism. >> there was a well-known female journalist who went on all sorts of adventures, and bess cheered her on. she was very supportive of margaret having a career. >> what about harry calling her the boss? >> harry started calling her that because she was very organized with his senate office. she did not mind the nickname until he introduced her as the boss in front of people, and introduced margaret as the boss's boss. >> what about when she worked in

the senate, how did they handle that? he paid her salary? >> they knew people would try to stir up problems, but it was an ok thing to do then. -- bess said to the media, you don't need to know why am. i am not the president -- who i am. i am not the president. we have footage available of bess as first lady. her first event was the christening of airplanes at national airport, which was also interesting to see. we were also priced to see how open it was at that time -- we were also surprised to see how open it was. these hospital airplane

purchases have been made possible by this company. on these errands of mercy, we said with them our love. and our fighting men, we let them know that we stand firmly behind them wherever they are. >> at the national airport, one each for the army. and her daughter margaret will do the honors at her first public affair. they are in for a surprise. the champagne bottle has not been properly prepared to break the glass on impact. mrs. truman, unaware that triesttle is not prepared

to use it. the new first lady joins in the crowd's laughter. aids see how her military meets the crisis. [laughter] [laughter] >> but to the navy forewarned is forearmed. watch just under the airplane possum nose -- airplanes knows

-- nose. see that on the first try. well.at is well and is well.s >> her speech was turning. -- charming. maybe that went with the time. no cultural backwater to washington. she had been in washington. she had been a senator's wife. she was active in things in town. she knew exactly what to do. too.bears discussion to -- they were among the most formal entertainers that the white house has had. >> we have a call from susan.

you are on the air. susan --re listing, listening, susan. >> i enjoy the series. it is the best thing on television. >> thank you so much. bookfew years ago i read a about margaret truman and about bess. >> it had a lot of the letters and so forth. still putf those are together or compiled in a book, or anything like that. is there any other information we can read about bess and harry truman. called " dea,ok

bess? >> no. this was like a diary. before i read that, i did not see anything about bess truman. >> there is a lot of scholarly work on bess truman. we saw her grandson compiled some letters. in the truman library, they are available to be researched. they are going to talk about those letters and use them as a reference. truman came upon her when she was doing this. >> mrs. washington, mrs. harding

, and mrs. truman were the first lady's to burn the letters. >> she did not burn the letters harry. it was a partnership, but she was a silent partner. >> how did the dynamic inform his presidency? >> greatly. he asked her before he did anything. there was controversy about whether or not he consulted her about the atomic bomb. some say he did not consult bess about that. their dynamic was very important. withst didn't function quite as much vigor.

>> he was away. and she was away. it was such a scary thing. it was a terrible thought. >> she spent a lot of time there. she was gone a lot of the time. washington had the season. she was always there for the december to spring season. there were four or five official white house dinners. she presided over those with all good reviews. >> we had a question earlier about how harry truman might have felt about his wife possum fe's conversion. i wanted to read a little bit of this to the audience.

writes," harry was becoming frustrated. he stated that abigail adams may have made a better president than her husband. i later wrote, i hope someday hope that they will valuate the true role of the wife of the president and assess the many ."ntributions that she makes said, now she talks all the time. i am not the one elected, she snapped. i have nothing to say to the public. asked which presidential most identified with, she chose the obscure wife who

followed dollar madison. madison. >> he was hinting that he would like her to be more involved. she put her foot down. it was not that she did not want to be involved with her life or her decisions. >> she did what she had to do. she went to the receptions for the military and the parties. -- che collins, sheet olumns she just wasn't going to do that. maybe she was more of a feminist than all of us. >> she was not going to do it use told. >> she began to feel that the president began to dissolve the political partnership which had been at the heart of their

relationship with her husband for so many years. >> in the senate, he had time to come home in the evening and discuss things with bess. but when he became president, your decisions multiply rapidly. it was not that he did not want to consult her. he did not have time to consult her on every little thing. harry truman had a lot of momentous things to discuss and decisions to make. here are a few highlights. this includes the end of world war ii in europe. it also includes the end of world war ii and japan. the cia was established. israel was officially recognized. there was the integration of the military. all some of the they decisions yet before him.

you mentioned he did not share the atomic bomb decision? >> i don't think he probably had time to. knew about the creation of the atomic bomb, but whether he had time to get in touch with her before he gave the order, probably not. it was just another example. >> here is an example of a letter that he wrote to her one- time. it made me terribly homesick when i talked with you yesterday morning. otov --." and mol what do we learn about truman

from that? >> a little bit of naïveté. he was in in april. >> he dropped the bomb in august. -- he says tol her later than this that he is trying to get the departments in order, weeding out the people he does not want, and bringing in new ones. that is how he handled it. >> that is one of the things it tells us. he made a straightforward assessment. he did not go on and on about politics. even though this was one of the taking letters, he is time to share would he discovered and filling her in on important events. and he misses her. >> i want to answer one question from twitter.

why does the park service not open the terminals -- to the truman house. >> you can go. i can go. but this was the first time we could bring cameras and. -- in. there are people asking about truman and the attitude toward race relations. wait, this is the wrong one. this is the wrong about burning letters. this is the one asking about integrating the military. a viewer writes later suggesting her motherruman and were prejudiced against african- americans and jews. she had an issue early on that involved african-american visitors at the house.

was up a launching pad on the subject of the trumans and race -- was that a launching pad on the subject of trumans and race? tosomeone had invited bess tea, and he was offended that they would not allow african-americans there. he thought that she should turn down an invitation from a place that would have this policy. he did not believe in prejudice. but he said he could not stop a private organization from making their own policies. -- she said, i ready accepted the invitation, and i am not going back now. the colored singer, the same

thing had happened to her. now they have taken james brown and others. but at the time, they wouldn't. they knew that. trumansans knew that -- knew that. i'm sure the president had some private words on that. what about the record on race relations and how history should see it? >> we want to look at the trumans in the context of their times and where they grew up, and understand that many people will talk about how he used derogatory terms and his letters. that is absolutely true, and it is not ok. but that is how people talk at the time. job atruman did a great separating his public and

private sphere. he also said he did not want margaret to marry an african- american. he also desegregated the military, even though it was politically unpopular. he helped to establish israel. he is a man who did not let his personal feelings affect his policy. >> for that year, you've got to separate it. when he referred to japanese is a one theythat used during the war, and knowing the -- no one thought anything of it. it was the way people talked. have anything to do with truman integrating the military? do we know she had an influence on the decision? >> i don't think she was pushing

him to do it. but she would not have objected to it in any way that i can say. she probably would've thought it was the right thing to do. she got all service men should be treated equally. >> we have another call. hi. >> hi, i have a question. i went to visit the museum and misery. i want -- in missouri. wondered because i worked for paul in a while -- for a while who helped drop the bomb on here shema, and he never -- hi roshima, he never wanted to talk about it. the truman have the same feelings? >> who wouldn't?

the thought of killing hundreds of thousands of people, it was difficult. >> it was a military decision. in my opinion, any president would've done the same thing. they were defending american lives. >> it was not going to end. it was just not going to and. -- end. that is how we would answer that. >> harry truman spent a lot of time in his library after he moved into the white house, and that was often one of the questions he was asked. truman would forcefully defend his decision to drop the atomic bomb. >> no one really blame him for that. >> certainly not at the time. on thatentioned early they opened the 1946 social

season in washington? yes?was significant, this does not see like this would be in that trumans style -- truman's style. >> it was something different from him and bigger than him that he was representing. when the social season was years,, after all these they wanted things the way they -- been, lacked eye, evening close, -- evening evening clothes and all that. ironically, they only got one social season.

they only got one. they entertained at the mayflower from time to time, but they had to move out. >> every first lady has done some renovations, but nothing like the trumans. we will tell that story a little bit later. was theg they did do addition of the balcony. it is still referred to as the truman balcony. tells about the concept of and how hard it was to get up there. spite.as done for builthough roosevelt had the west wing, truman wanted to build a large auditorium for press conferences. andassed through congress then congress rescinded it. he was as mad as he could be.

he said -- and they said he was defacing the white house. there was no upstairs access to a porch. he built the balcony on his own. he took it out of the household budget. he did not ask congress or anyone. and it is the truman balcony. that is what he did. >> once finished, how did they use it? a they use it all the time as patio. presidents would write to him and say, i'm glad you added the truman balcony. and there was the yellow oval room upstairs. >> how was the view from up there? >> it is stunning.

and washington is just at your feet. it is just a carpet. footage of this and -- the shows the view event shows the view. >> they didn't get much time to relax. bess truman did spend a lot of time traveling back and forth. that was not her being spiteful. she had to be the caretaker for her mother. they have family business to take care of. when they are in the white house together, they do the same things that they did at home. they read. enjoy evening cocktails.

and they chatted with margaret. they used at the same way they use their place before. they used it together. >> what about the first lady and it might have how influenced culture? that?ss truman known for >> she did not dress poorly or unfashionably. she was not made fun of. jackie kennedy really set the style. but when you think about the people before her, you don't really think about style. but bess truman was a fashionable lady. she took pride in her appearance. >> you know a truman said about her? she looked just like a woman her age ought to look. >> he thought she was appropriate and she was. about bessarn more

truman style. >> we are going into the storage spaces where we have artifex and close -- artifacts and clothes. . bess truman had an excellent sense of style. she wore stylish close even as a young woman. and she were the more stylishly than her friends did. this was a hat made by one of 's favorite designers. it is made of brown felt. hadwore this when they regaled visitors in 1951. that is the nice thing about working in this library. we have a lot of photos, documents, and you can put

everything together and tell a lot of stories. this goes along with one of the hats we have your. this is a hat we don't know very much about. we have no idea what a bench you might have learned at. it is quite a hat. in the process of going through papers, we located a letter she had written. this is a handwritten draft of a letter that she would have given to her secretary. she says, it is the most effective, and i am happy it is mine. i have wearing it and one of the and itportant occasions had many pleasant thing said about it. we realized that, we had photos of that event. we could look back at that day and know what has she works. -- wore. we looked through the photos,

and compared it with the hats. then we realized, we have this hat. it is nice to connect the photos with the artifact and pull the story altogether. >> another interesting part of bess truman is that she was a private person. this is a dress that demonstrates that fact. this is a dress that she wore in 1952 to the dinnerware president truman announced he was not going to run for president in 1952. he had the opportunity to do that, but he chose not to do that. it was important for her to know that she was not going to have to live in washington dc anymore. she was going to get to go home. we did not have originally have the stress. it was at the church bazaar.

someone to realize what it was an around to donate it to the library. that signal to people how bess truman felt about her time in the white house. it was not that she did not like it. it was just that she could throw things away. >> that dinner was two days after they moved back into the white house. the president was a great dresser. close,gorgeous tasting very modern and young. >> and he was a tremendous. and inas a trim man shape. it was really good looking and everything, pressed and just fine. he was very aware of close -- slothes. -- clothes.

>> did the first lady have women friends? friendsted in 1946 her to spend a long weekend. thatwas the type of thing bess truman was doing for her friends to have a good time. this was the kind of thing that also played great in the press. she took them out and show them the town. she took them to musicals and shopping. they so enjoy the white house. bess truman friends were very dear to her, and she kept him throughout her life. >> we have a caller. you are on the air. >> we had the pleasure of going and touring the house through the back door, just like the family, and seeing the

presidential family, -- library, which we really enjoyed. my question was about their financial circumstances. you said it was quite controversial that she was paid, but perhaps they needed the money. , the president was the reason that they have established a pension for retiring presidents. wonder if it was the circumstances that led them not to do as much entertaining. >> absolutely. financial reasons were white he put her on the payroll. it was a good thing she did. the finances were often very tight. it was ironic in the second term. no one expected democrats to

win. approved thehad idea that the president salary would be doubled. it went from $50,000 to a hundred thousand dollars -- $100,000. the president did not have pensions before truman. they did not even of security. >> this is from jose in philadelphia. >> yes. my question is about the assassination attempt on truman. how did that affect the family? and what was the of -- the political opinion? favoredfinitely independence for puerto rico. he made two important speeches about the independence of puerto rico. there were two killers who came

along, and i remember the first --ht, they assaulted attempted to run into the house. and the shooting started. and a very wonderful secret service man was killed. the trumans were both there. they were on their way to the cemetery. they were getting dressed. they were on their way to the dedication of a general, the english general who died in the war. and the usa had requested he be buried in arlington, they were on their way to his event. >> and he said, they are shooting. he stuck his head out the window. one of the assassins who survived was sent to prison.

senator carter released him from prison after 40 years. term.the second we haven't gotten to the explanation of why they spent so much time in the blair house. women got married yet. one kerry toan run? heart of hearts, did she want him to run, no. that in his heart of hearts he knew that was best for the country. she supported him. >> how many people would remember that famous headline? everyone was expecting the other contender to win. give us a flavor of the campaign and why those were the expectations? >> he was not popular at that

time. the economy was not converting. >> he was liberal. >> he was liberal. and he could do very little correctly. he was not 100% certain he was even going to get the nomination. with acampaigns difficult congress who would not work with him. and he campaigned with foreign policy, look at what i've done with the marshall plan and the truman doctrine. nominee presidential told him on a train to go out there and give them hell. is then from then on, that what people yelled from everywhere. >> that machine had gotten him elected in missouri. and they fell apart.

he ran again on his own. in 1940., >> he must have had a norma's personality. -- huge personality. with small groups and small crowds he could win anyone over. that affected the campaign hugely. >> that got him elected. they brought him to the people. >> what was coverage like at that time? >> print and radio. >> the polling was so far ahead that they stopped polling a couple weeks before the election took place. that was why the numbers were so off. >> they spent a lot of time on the train. they were always ready. >> we do not talk about key west.

how did they use key west? >> he used it to go fishing and swimming. one of the secret service men who used to go with said he had a tricky like to do. he'd like to hold you under the water until you thought you were going to drown. he enjoyed the company of men. poker and all of that. bess did not go many times. margaret had a public persona. she was kind easy with the press. people liked her. >> watching some b roll, footage without sound. it looks like he could relax there. >> he absolutely did. it reminds me his fashion sense was remarked when he went to key west.

>> they cut up a lot. they did. they took the movies of them jumping up and down. he let go. when he was with the masons. he went to alexandria to the masonic building. he said, hi, i am harry. >> you imagine a president being that casual today? >> no. >> and why not, because of the media? >> it has changed. they do not have them freedom to move around. >> harry truman was elected. a busy second term. some the highlights. the establishment of nato. the korean war. the assassination attempt.

the 22nd amendment. how challenging a time was the second term? >> the first year was said to be their happiest in the white house. they thought here is the chance, harry thought because this was when the fair deal started. it really started to kick off. then things go horribly wrong. largely because of korea. that shattered the economy and the people's faith in him and their willingness to understand. >> he threw a lot of mud. >> bess spent more time in the white house. >> she was going back and forth.

because of family issues. they reestablish their partnership. they get over the personal tensions they had in the early days when she was feeling a little left out. their union is happier and steadier for a second term. >> let's take a a call from lewis. >> what was mrs. truman's opinion about her husband's association with tom pendergast? i know you mentioned him, what was her thinking and her opinion about tom pendergast? >> thank you. a good question. he was a political boss. in missouri. he was a king maker. he and his son, mrs. truman's family knew him. i doubt if she thought much of him. she probably thought he was just

fine. truman said in his letters, he is going that way. that is how he got into office. he quickly began to splinter off from that. to answer your question, i cannot imagine she doubt much of them because she knew him. >> how politics were done in kansas city. >> they were a prominent family. she knew him. >> robert is in branson west, missouri. you are on the air. >> i was wondering if bess truman ever attended former or future first ladies funerals. thank you. >> gosh, i do not know. but i know three first ladies attended her funeral. a very good question. >> she would've it >> she lived such a long time.

>> she probably went to mrs. roosevelt's funeral. when did mamie eisenhower >> much later. >> there would not have been a huge opportunity. probably not expected. that is a tough one. >> i do not know. >> i did not believe they had any pets. >> no. >> actually, she was interested in health care. she believed, she urged harry to increase funding to the national institute for health. you can look at the numbers in a second term. that budget goes up. she thought people should have better health care. but he proposed universal health care.

>> one of the reasons he was so unpopular. >> i want to tell you about a book. a question about bess truman's portrait. it has been published by our partners in the series, the white house historical association. it has all of their portraits and biographies of each of them. there -- you see the little yellow bubble. it is a special edition for first ladies. if you're interested in this, it is a global on our website at c- span.org/firstladies. her white house portrait was done. we have a video that explains some of the background about bess truman's official portrait. [video clip] >> this painting was original painted as my grandmother's

official white house portrait. in the 1960's, lady bird johnson went looking for portraits of first ladies to rehang in the white house. she looked high and low but she cannot find my grandmother's official portrait. she called my grandmother and said mrs. truman do you know where the portrait is? my grandmother said it is on your wall. mrs. johnson said, you're not supposed to have that. my grandmother said it is my painting. that is where it's going to stay. mrs. johnson tried a couple of more times and she gave up. she had a copy painted. there were two copies made. one of them hangs in the truman library down the road. >> i do not know who did the portrait.

[laughter] i can look it up. we have to tell the story about the renovation to the white house. the trumans were there are almost eight years in the white house and spent less time in the building than any other president. absolutely. >> it was falling down. the piano almost fell through the floor. the engineer was worried it would fall on them. >> and there was an engineering survey. members of the crew, the ceiling in the east room had dropped 40 inches. he said he walked in there. it was considered a fire trap. they recommended that they moved

out. they said they wanted to paint it. after the war, when truman was there, the house was kind of empty upstairs and the floor jiggled and teddy roosevelt loved houses that did that. the plaster began to trickle down. from the light fixtures. they found they had to get out. they moved across the street. plans were done. they wanted to tear it down. that was the easiest thing to do. george washington had built the walls and truman would not hear of it. they were never touched. they wanted to take a bulldozer in through one of the doors. they wanted to open the with pick axes. he said stop and they took the bulldozer down. they reassemble them. that house was rebuilt in steel and concrete.

and then, that is a steel frame on the inside. it was believed to be bomb proof. they moved over to blair house where they lived most of the time. they loved it. they thought it was beautiful. it had never been decorated or anything. >> more intimate. she won at the original structure to remain. he consulted with her because of why it was falling down in the first term. there were convinced somehow the press would blame the white house. they waited until he was reelected. >> did living in the blair house have any influence on his presidency? >> it might've allowed him to relax a little bit more.

>> he ate every meal by himself. on the silver stuff like that. >> one of my favorite stories, when she was in independence and he was in the white house and he was convinced he could hear the ghosts of his predecessors wandering the halls. bess thought it was funny. until she heard a crash. >> he took the insides out. how much of the original white house was preserved? >> a mantelpiece were preserved. not much was preserved. pressed wood. the architect was really the hero. there was all of the original pine.

they insisted they be put back in the home. i do not know what to the percent is. next year is the 200th anniversary. about 30% of it was torn down. the walls are 100%. the percentage of that is the house i do not know. some of basements were dug. one secret one was dug. truman ordered them to spend $750,000 of the budget. it was done secretly. secretly out of the park service budget. >> we have some film or video of when the president introduced the white house to the nation. what was the public reaction?

>> people thought it was beautiful. it was all done by a department store today. chuck made the decision. mrs. truman and the president refused to make decisions on wallpaper. they said it was not their house above for the future. the staff made most of the decisions. they beat everybody down. hundreds of dollars of yard. >> how much influence did bess have and the rebuilding? as much as she wanted. >> they felt they were not going to live there long. >> what is your question? >> i have two questions.

was she a sports fan? did she root for the cardinals? the second question, you mentioned harry overcame his prejudices. i heard the story that one time when they came to the house, he said he cannot elect him in because he was jewish and the family was anti-semitic. >> one of harry's best friends, one of his army buddies was jewish. he was the one who ran in the men's clothing store with. the truman's certainly did associate with the jewish people. >> was he the best man? >> i think bess's brother was the best man. [laughter] he was a dear friend.

>> a twitter viewer. i wanted to know where the rest of money to fix the white house? >> congress. would you believe they cost about $5.5 million? think of what it would be today. >> peter is in boston. >> any other first ladies -- [inaudible] >> she admired roosevelt. they were friendly. mamie eisenhower before she was the first lady when bess was the first lady they took a spanish class together and the white house. washington ladies learned spanish. bess was very fond, there was later a rift. bess was fond of mamie.

they enjoyed the company of the kennedys. >> they did not like joe kennedy. >> i mentioned our website which has all of the video. lots of other video you have not seen here. you can go to www.c- span.org/firstladies. if you go there now, you will find clifton truman sharing another store about his grandmother. the 1952 election. and have run again? >> and yes, but bess could not take another four years.

they were in their 60's. 69 he would've been. she did not think he could take it. they were in good health for their age. korea and mccarthyism was starting to spread. they were getting worn down. >> it was pretty clear who was going to win. he was a hero. >> what was the truman- eisenhower relationship? >> he hinted he might support eisenhower if he wanted to run as a democrat in 1948. he really admired eisenhower for a long time. eisenhower was aloof from all of the letters we see. truman was highly offended during the transition when

eisenhower do not appear to want to take his advice. a big social snub occurred on inauguration day. it is customer for the incoming president to stop at the white house. eisenhower said he wanted to be picked up at his hotel. truman said, no. he and mamie arrived at the white house but they would not come inside. they sat in the car. the president of the united states had to walk out to him. you can feel the tension. >> after the integration, truman was almost forgotten. he was almost thrown out. he had no pension or anything coming to him. one of the members of the secret service took an annual leave to accompany them back on the train. nobody told them good bye until they got to the train station.

there were met by 100 people cheering them. >> i think there were more. there was another time when nobody had turned out. i think when they left there were more. when they returned home, there were thousands in independence. they were gratified. >> he had trouble with the thousands. the story about him getting out of the car. his glasses were gone. the crowd pushed him. this handkerchief was gone. they build an iron fence. they did not expected the crowd. people walking by and wanted to see them. a story about margaret coming on the porch and yelling at somebody to go away. they found that it was a mental patient or something like that. very different. >> the city of independence put an off-duty officer on the porch.

>> bess would not allow them in the house. >> when she would go back home to independence, she would not allow secret service to go inside. >> she wanted to live as normally as possible. >> did they go anyway? >> not that i know of. >> hello. hello? your question. >> i had the privilege of corresponding with mrs. truman twice after her husband's death. i sent her a copy of attribute i wrote for our school paper. she responded with a nice letter. she had terrible arthritis. she made the effort to be down home. margaret's book about her mother, she comments that the president was very protective of mrs. truman concerning her

father's death. her cousin told margaret about her grandfather's death. she had a fit about that. it is very unusual. that was a very interesting footnote to the truman family history. she was at mrs. roosevelt funeral with her husband. there are pictures. >> how to do get so interested in the trumans? >> interesting enough, hours before robert kennedy was killed and that got me interested in politics in general. since then, i have become particular aficionado of the presidents. politics in general. 1932-present. >> thank you for your call. years after the presidency, one of the things they did was

interview for national television in 1955. talk about the interviews. who were they interviewed by? >> their daughter, margaret. >> we have a program that was on cbs. "person to person." a big hit program at the time. it was the only television interview that bess truman ever did. how about that? you will see that now. [video clip] >> and tell everybody why you went back to missouri instead of staying in washington. >> there was no question about coming home. is there reason enough? >> i will buy that. >> mother, are we still getting a lot of visitors? >> yes. >> all of the time? >> every day.

[indiscernible] we can see your cousins across the street. [indiscernible] your cousins were not at home. what about the time somebody pick your tulips? >> oh, someone became started to pick all of my beautiful white tulips. i asked her what she was doing and she said she didn't think of mrs. truman would care about her tulips. [laughter] she helped herself. >> all the work you did on them. >> mother, you had secret service men around. at least dad and i. >> yes, i miss washington. i miss washington a lot.

completely happy at home. >> i remember -- >> i did. ed murrow wanted me to ask you just how much influence and help was mom when you are in the white house? >> the president is in a bad way if you does not have a first lady did that does not know her job. >> mother, let me switch from a washington to kansas city. how is your baseball team doing? >> pretty good. we'll have a good team. >> and did you see anything good on tv lately? >> a few good things. i have not been able to find a wrestling match.

>> do want to say a few words about politics specifically or in general? >> no, neither category. >> your mother never talked politics. >> that is a clip. person to person interview by margaret truman of her parents. they come across as plain folks. >> they were and they value that. they like a good laugh. they were normal people. she was not popular when he left the white house. it took many years for his reputation to be reestablished. >> why were so many people going to see them? >> he was a hometown hero. they probably thought they go

walk up and say hello to the trumans as they had in the past. >> how did they spend their post white house years and they were long was? >> he wrote his memoirs. he never received pension. he needed the money. bess edited every word. that was their project. >> he was intimate to the library. it was a matter of history. he did in the original design himself. >> if you visit there today you can see the office. one of the striking things is a looks out of his future gravesite. >> the great story what he said i can see bess is going to lay next to me and i will say one day i can see myself a seeing like going to the office and she will say harry you ought not.

>> we are seeing pictures of the grave site right now. margaret truman had four sons. you saw clifton truman is very involved in the legacy of its grandparents. one of those four sons passed away. not sure if the others are involved in the library. there's one story and we are running out of time. a great story. somebody asked, i would like to know about the trip she took my car leaving the white house. did they do it, just the two of them? >> there are good stories. >> from washington to missouri. >> a wonderful book. >> people were passing them on the road and nearly having accidents. he was in a convertible.

they recognize they just passed the president and though first lady. we have a few minutes left. somebody's asking, we should ask it, what is bess's greatest contribution to the role of first lady? >> for demonstrating you could be a strong influential partner and you do not have to be on the front page or a tv. it does not have to be public. >> and she supported her husband when he became the president. she supported him. she was very aware. >> harry died in 1972 and she died in 1982. how did she spend the 10 years after he died? >> she was at home. she tried to keep up her correspondence. >> she had rheumatoid arthritis. she had a caregiver.

and several at the end. she died at home. >> i imagine that was the way she would've wanted. >> how should we remember? >> the way she wanted to be remembered that you could be a wonderful, influential first lady even if people do not know it at the time. >> did she have any influence on the role of first lady or was she really truly her on person? >> she was her own person. it is not really possible anymore. mrs. reagan said she would play cards with her friends. oh my goodness, you would think she committed treason. mrs. truman would say i -- it is my life and that is not possible today. she was independent. >> it depends on the woman.

if she wanted to get involved, women are so much more out now than they were then. >> this was the 1940's and 1950's. she was her own woman. >> thank you to both of you. we appreciate your time. thank you to the white house historical association and partners as to the folks at the truman library in the truman house and independence for their help with the video tonight. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2013] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]