Bess Truman Quotes
It looks like you're going to have to put up with us for another four years.
Truman, Margaret. Bess W. Truman. Macmillan, 1986.
The senator had taken positions that were sometimes unpopular with voters.
World War I veterans had been promised bonuses for their service, but Congress and the President would not deliver. The economy was terrible and thousands of veterans came to Washington, set up a camp in Anacostia, and asked for help and their bonuses. Hoover had given orders to General Douglas MacArthur to remove the protesters from government buildings, but MacArthur, establishing a pattern that he would follow throughout his career, exceeded he orders and chased the protesters all the way back to their tent camp and then destroyed the camp. The Great Depression was raging and the protesters had no other place to live, and Hoover opposed any direct federal aid to the poor and needy making the Depression even worse. The public reaction was shock and anger. Hoover, however, demonstrating political character and integrity, took the responsibility and did not blame MacArthur. It was the nail in Hoover’s political coffin. Roosevelt easily won the election.
Elizabeth Virginia Truman was the wife of President Harry S. Truman and the First Lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953. She also served as the Second Lady of the United States in 1945.
