Bess Truman and Mamie Eisenhower

ELIZABETH VIRGINIA "BESS" TRUMAN

Birth:
13 February 1885
Independence, Missouri

Marriage:
34 years old, on 28 June, 1919, Independence, Missouri, to Harry S. Truman, veteran, haberdasher, (born 8 May 1884, Lamar, Missouri, died 26 December 1972, Kansas City, Missouri)

Campaign and Inauguration:
In attendance at the 1944 Democratic National Convention with her husband and daughter, Bess Truman was angry when she learned that her husband had accepted the offer of President Franklin Roosevelt to run as his vice-presidential running mate. "What if he should die?" she asked him. "Then you would be President." Despite her misgivings, she supported her husband, even participating in a rare radio interview. When Roosevelt died less than three months after the January 1945 Inauguration, she was overcome not only with grief but fear of what her new role would entail. She and her daughter rushed down to the White House on 12 April, several hours after FDR's death to witness Truman's swearing-in as president, in the Cabinet Room.
When Harry Truman ran for re-election in 1948, Bess Truman viewed his chances with pessimism. She accompanied him on his famous whistlestop tour, and he developed a routine of introducing her as "the Boss" at the conclusion of his speeches from the back platform. She was known to keep at least one governor from joining the train because of his earlier criticism of Truman. Bess Truman was also known to reprimand her husband when he made what she considered strong language, often spoken in a heated moment.
At the 1949 Inaugural Parade, when Truman friend, the actress Tallulah Bankhead booed South Carolina's U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, who had bolted the Democratic Party to oppose Truman as a Dixiecrat candidate, Bess Truman cheered on her friend.

First Lady: 60 years old
12 April 1945 - 20 January 1953 Bess Truman had never wanted to be the Vice President's wife, let alone the President's wife. According to her daughter, Bess Truman's fear of public knowledge of her father's suicide was one reason she insisted on maintaining a low public profile. As she returned with the President and Cabinet to Washington from the funeral of President Roosevelt, she asked Labor Secretary Frances Perkins if it was necessary for her to conduct press conferences as Eleanor Roosevelt had; in fact, her predecessor had already scheduled one for them both to appear, as a way of introducing Bess Truman to the reporters. Assured that she could do as she wished, Bess Truman cancelled the press conference and never held one. Nor did she ever grant an interview to a newspaper or magazine, although she did respond to written questions from the press and she would answer questions when she was approached in a spontaneous moment.

MAMIE GENEVA DOUD EISENHOWER

Born:   

14 November, 1896

Boone , Iowa

Marriage:

19 years old to Dwight David Eisenhower (14 October, 1890 - 28 March, 1969), West Point graduate, second Lieutenant U.S. Army, on 1 July, 1916, Doud home, Denver, Colorado. The couple met during the winter when the Douds lived in San Antonio, Texas and Eisenhower was stationed at nearby Fort Sam Houston. Following their wedding, they lived in the officers’ barracks there, the first of 33 homes that they lived in during the next 37 years of Eisenhower's military career assignments

Presidential Campaign and Inauguration:

The 1952 marked the first presidential campaign in which the spouses of a presidential ticket were consciously marketed to women voters as part of a larger effort. Thus along with the Republican effort to enlist housewives as supporters and party volunteer workers by translating political issues into those most women of the era could relate to such as grocery bills or having their sons, husbands sent to the Korean War front, there were also "Mamie for First Lady," "We Want Mamie," and "I Like Mamie Too" buttons (the last one a play on the popular "I Like Ike" slogan). Mamie Eisenhower was an energetic and enthusiastic figure on her husband's 77-stop train tour of the nation, the candidate often finishing a speech by asking a crowd, "How'd you like to meet my Mamie?" a cue for her to appear and wave. On the whistlestop, she even willingly restaged a scene of waving to reporters and photographers in her bathrobe and slippers. Behind the scenes, she often listened to him rehearse his speeches and sometimes gave suggestions to edit them in a way that spoke more directly to the common citizen, in simple and direct language. She also maintained a degree of control over who came onto the campaign train, into their personal car to meet the candidate. During their layovers in hotels, when the campaign manager assigned her rooms that were apart from her husband's suite, she overruled him. In both the 1952 and the 1956 presidential campaigns of her husband, Mamie Eisenhower also made brief appearances on television commercials and live broadcasts with him.

 

Mamie Eisenhower was the first president's wife known to be kissed openly in public by her husband following his Inaugural ceremony. She encouraged her husband to compose an Inaugural prayer which he recited at the ceremony and also strongly approved the decision to invite African-American opera singer Marian Anderson to sing at the ceremony. She also arranged for the accommodations of her African-American maids to stay in Washington, still segregated at the time, and attend all the Inaugural events.

 

First Lady:

20 January, 1953 – 20 January, 1961

56 years old

 

Mamie Eisenhower viewed her role as First Lady without complication as being simply the wife of the president and the hostess of the White House. Indeed, few First Ladies seemed to better reflect the general role, priorities and values of most middle-aged middle class American women during her White House tenure than did MamieEisenhower in the 1950's: family, home, entertaining, and personal appearance.

 

With her experience as a high-ranking military spouse, Mamie Eisenhower knew well how to manage a large staff, demanding nothing short of excellence from them yet expressing personal, familial warmth for them. She was famous for not only ordering that the mansion's carpets and rugs be kept meticulously clean and clear of even shoe marks but for also ordering up fancily-decorated cakes for practically every occasion, including the birthdays of the domestic staff member. With her favorite color of pink showing up frequently in her public wardrobe and in the décor of the private quarters of the White House, she helped to make it a popular color for textiles of the early 1950's, one paint company even offering "First Lady Pink" among its pallet. Also copied were her famous bangs, a short hairstyle she adopted in the 1920's at a time when she rekindled her marriage; for sentimental reasons she would not change the look, despite even public letters advising her to do so. Always coordinating her accessories, she was voted onto the nation's best-dressed list for clothing and hats. In the mansion, she spent much time on overseeing flower arrangements using her preferred gladiolas. For holidays like Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and Halloween, she decorated the state rooms with paper decorations and had seasonal music piped in. Even her personal tastes reflected the majority of the nation: she was an avid television fan of the comedy series "I Love Lucy" and the "Milton Berle Show" and watched them from a porthole television set cut into the wall of the upstairs hall of the private quarters.