Race Relations Term Paper

Elizabeth Virginia "Bess" Truman was born February 13, 1885 to David and Margaret "Madge" Wallace in Independence, Missouri. She was the eldest of four children and had three brothers: Fred, George, and Frank Wallace.

At six years old, Harry Truman first met Bess in Sunday School. He described her as a "little blue-eyed golden-haired girl" and "the most beautiful and sweetest person on earth". Bess was a tomboy; an outstanding tennis player, horseback rider, and baseball player. She won tournaments, and played shot-put. Harry, who wore glasses, couldn't participate in these activities, and they spent little time together. They both graduated from high school in 1901, but Bess did not go on to college as some of her friends did; her father did not have the money to send her.

Unable to provide Bess' mother with the luxurious life she insisted on, David Wallace began to drink heavily. In 1903 he shot and killed himself. In those days, suicide was treated as a weakness of character. Madge Wallace collapsed, unable to deal with the disgrace. She took the children to Colorado Springs for a year.

In 1905, the Wallace family returned to Independence, and lived with Madge's parents. Grandfather Gates sent twenty-year-old Bess to a girls' finishing school in Kansas City. She was a good student and outstanding basketball player. But she did not continue to college because her mother had become increasingly withdrawn, and needed Bess to take care of the boys and act as a companion.

In the summer of 1910, Bess was reunited with Harry Truman. He had grown into a sturdy, muscular young man and was farming in partnership with his father. His honesty, humor, and optimism impressed Bess, who was pessimistic and saw life as gloomy and filled with trouble. When Harry proposed in 1911, she rejected him but agreed to remain his friend. Madge Wallace objected to Bess seeing Harry; she felt that a farmer was not Bess' social equal. But in 1917, Bess demanded her mother announce her engagement to Harry.

In April 1917, the United States entered World War I and Harry, who could have gotten out of military duty, decided to serve his country be reenrolling in the Missouri National Guard. He asked Bess to postpone the wedding until the war was over.

In 1918, Bess' beloved Grandfather Gates died, and later that year the war was over. On June 28, 1919, Harry and Bess Truman were finally married in an small church. In 1919, Harry Truman and his army buddy Eddie Jacobsen opened a men's clothing store in Kansas City. At night, Bess did the bookkeeping for the store. By 1922, the store closed because the economy had slowed down. Harry was elected Jackson County judge later that year. This was really a county commissioner, who supervised public buildings and roads. They lived with Madge Wallace, who