Truman Administrations - Family Life
Family Life
Truman married Elizabeth (Bess) Virginia Wallace on June 28, 1919, at the Episcopal Church in Independence, after a nine-year engagement. He had known her since their school days in Independence but Truman came from a distinctly lower social class than Bess, and had not been part of her social circle. Bess's mother, Madge Wallace, disapproved of Truman. Truman and Bess Wallace began courting in 1910, but at a distance because he was working on his family's farm outside town. She had several other suitors whereas he was devoted to Bess. In his hundreds of letters to Bess Truman throughout his life he treated her with great respect and restraint, seeing her willingness even to consider him as an act of generosity. Her rejection of his first proposal of marriage in 1911 was gentle and did not discourage him. But even after becoming an honored war veteran and rising businessman, and finally winning Bess's hand, Bess's mother...
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