Bess Truman's Hat
Spring 2009, vol. 41, no. 1 | Pieces of History
Bess Truman, wearing a black wool felt hat trimmed with velvet ribbon, waves goodbye as she departs from National Airport, ca. 1950. (Harry S. Truman Library)
The hat she wore is now in the Truman Library, which has 55 of Bess Truman’s hats in its artifacts collection. (Harry S. Truman Library)
Bess Wallace Truman lived almost her whole life in an age of hats. She loved hats. When she was young, she especially liked picture hats for occasions when she dressed up, and she liked her favorite and probably well-worn slouch hat when she was playing tennis or going fishing or motoring. A close friend of Bess’s in these young years said of her that she “had more stylish hats than the rest of us did, or she wore them with more style.”
As her husband’s political career developed and she became an increasingly public person, Bess wore hats that were conservative and stylish. Although she still enjoyed wearing a pretty hat, she usually did not enjoy the public role she had to play when she was First Lady. She once said that a woman’s place in public was “to sit beside her husband, be silent, and be sure her hat is on straight.” Unfortunately for Bess, much more than this was expected of the First Lady. Perhaps the beautiful hats which she was able to wear when she was First Lady were a compensation for her neverending duties.