A Lady in the White House

Bess Truman: 1885-1982

Her husband called her "the boss" and "my chief adviser." But months after Harry Truman became President in 1945, First Lady Bess went shopping in Washington's big department stores and no one recognized her. That was the way she wanted it, and to a surprising extent that was the way it stayed.

Bess Truman, who died last week at 97, went to Washington a Mid-western housewife who had lived all her life under the same roof with her mother. She did not smoke or drink or swear. She liked Charles Dickens...

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