Show jr X Wrilace and Louise Wells Her tall handsome brother Rank escorted Bess up the aisle and gave her away In a huiy to make some real money ‘Human sold his equity m the family farm to his mother and sister Maryana went into the haberdashery busmess His partner was Eddie Jacobson the man with whom he had nm a canteen at Camp Doniphan in Oklahoma before they sailed to France They opened a very spiffy store opposite die Muehlebach Hotel on 12m Street in Kansas City Both men worked very hard The store was open 12 hours a day six days a week Business was fantastic Although the first year of Bess' marriage was brightened by Harry's suc-- I cess as a businessman mere was sharp disappointment at the end of it She had a miscarriage h upset her a great deal She and Harry were both anxious to have a child and this unhappy accident at the age of 35 made her rear she had wailed too long Other events in 1920 were also inauspicious The Republicans kicked die Democrats out of the White House and elected Warren G Harding in a landslide Almost immediately a sharp deflation in the economy began doubt in her troubled heart The full import of the election only dawned in my 1 brain when Bess explained that we would spend six months of every year in Washington starting on Jan I 1935 I burst into tears I realize now that Mother was probably tempted to join me But she concealed her feelings fas usual and briskly told me there was no point in crying about it Only now after entering the I hidden part of her life do I realize that leaving North Delaware St was more painful and threatening to her than St was to me With daughter clutching her battered Raggedy Ann doll ror which Aunt May Wallace had sewed a new dress and some hair we drove to St Louis and took a train to Washington DCOnJan3 1935 Mother and I sat in the Senate gallery and watched Hany S Truman walk down the center aisle and take his oath of office before Vice Resident John Gamer in ' 1 ' As 1942 began Washington became the capital ofa global war The Senator and his committee on defense contracts zoomed around the country making headline after head- Throughout 1921 Human andJacob-so- o slid slowly inevitably toward collapse It was a bitter disappointment for Harry Human But he was not the sort of man who sat still in the face of disaster- - or took to chink He had an ooosideidJeuxykiBM Reviving an idea he had mentioned in a letter fiom France he was planning to run for Eastern Judge of Jackson County The campaign reached its climax in the blazing neat of the summer of 1922 Between June I and Aug 5 the date of the primary Harry Human visited every township and precinct in the county Bess did notgo with him She stayed home fora supremely important reason: She was pregnant again In late June or early July she had another miscarriage In 1922 candidate Human won his first election becoming the Eastern Judge of Jackson County by 500 votes Bess’ nerves took a turn for the better Throughout the fall of 1923 Bess who was pregnant again struggled with a tangle of nope and fear After two disappointments she had become so superstitious about presuming a happy ending to ber pregnancy that she presumed the opposite She refused to buy a single item of baby clothes or even a bassinet Christinas that year was nevertheless a time of hope By then Bess was almost in her eighth month and was feeling fine Bess decided to have her baby at home It turned out to be a good decision On Feb 17 when Bess went into labor one of the wont blizzards in memory was burying Independence and most of the Midwest It would have been a nightmare to get to a hospital The doctor MMDC i t MttZMI HUOI M tM had enough trouble getting to the house After 12 houn of labor the writer of this book was born four days after Bess 39th birthday On Aug 3 1926 ld Hairy Human won the Democratic nomination for Presiding Judge and swept to victory in November leading a tremen- dous Democratic comeback in Jackson County Bess Truman had become a professional politician's wife That election victory caused a rather mpi-cqoard between Harry and Bos who complained that Sunday was “poky" without her husband She had wanted to go to a reception for Queen Marie of Romania who visited Kansas City during a world tour Harry was away on an official trip and Bess declared herself unable to go without him She had succeeded in making him nr feel guilty Although I think I have made it clear that I love both my parents 1 must confess to a certain prejudice in favor of my father The man was only trying to make a living for himself and his family! On May 14 1934 alone Harry Human paced die floor in die Pickwick Hotel in Kansas City on the eve of announcing his candidacy for the United States Senate Perfect union suggests that there has to be a surrender of one self to the other self— usually the woman to the man Bess Human never did that But she also never forgot the promise that she had made to Captain Truman in Trinity Episcopal Church bade in 1919 When he announced his candidacy for the United States Senate she was there beside him No one except the candidate was aware of the reluctance and line Bess stayed in Washington running the office signing letters dealing withjotvseeken and visihngMissourians For their 23id wedding anniversary Dad sent Mother 23 roses and one of his moKDeanztKieam twenty mrccyean have been extremely short and for me altogether most happy ones Thanks to the right kind of a fife pardner for me we ve come out reasonably well A failure as a fanner a miner an oil promoter and a merchant but finally hit the groove as a public servant— and that due mostly to you and lady luck The lady's best roll cifthe dice was June 28 19l9She was still his sweetheart "as good looking and loveable as when she was sixteen" Bess replied that "it always amazes me that you can write a so called love letter when you have had so little practice" In the spring of 1943 Senator Truman wrote his wife one of his most important letters from an historical point of view It began with a report on his brother Vivian's visit to the capital and Dad's efforts to show him a good time With no warning Dad switched to a meeting he and Vivian had had with Senator Guffey of Pennsylvania "The Senator from Pennsylvania took me out into his beautiful back yard (garden in the capital) and very confidentially wanted to know what I thought of (Vice President! Henry Wallace I told him that Henry is the best Secretary of Agriculture we ever did have He laughed and said that is what he thinks Then he wanted to know if I would help out the ticket if it became necessary by accepting the nomination for Vice Presi- - continued |